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Category: Ancient Greek
Who is Michael Masiello?
Translation into English follows. Μιχαὴλ ὁ Μασιέλλος διδάκτωρ, ἀνήρ ἐστι σοφολογιώτατος ἅμα καὶ ἐναρετότατος. Ἄλλ’ ἄλλοι περὶ αὐτοῦ καλῶς ἔφησαν· τοῦτ’ ἐγῶ φαίην. Πῶς οὖν σοφολογιώτατος; Οὐ γε πυκνοὶ οἱ τῆς Κυόρας τρίβοι σοφολογιωτάτοις; Πάνυ γε. Ἀλλὰ τοιούτου εὔρους, οὕτω τε διδακτοφιλικῶς, οὐδαμῶς. Πῶς γ’ οὖν ἐναρετότατος; Οὐ δὴ ὀργίλος καὶ βωμολόχος; Πάνυ γε. Φαῦλα […]
What are some (longer) words that appear or are considered false cognates, but which could plausibly be actual cognates?
My favourite example is Hawaiian meli “honey” and Greek meli “honey”. I have even seen a historical linguistics textbook say that’s a coincidence (Trask’s, I think.) It’s not a coincidence. The honeybee is not native to Hawaii. Honey is referenced in the New Testament. The New Testament needed to be translated by missionaries into Hawaiian. […]
Ancient Greek transliteration: why does the letter κ become c, and the letter υ become y?
Vote #1 Amy Dakin: Amy Dakin’s answer to Ancient Greek transliteration: why does the letter κ become c, and the letter υ become y? Bear in mind that K was imported into Latin from Greek, but it was a something of an affectation. It was never used seriously, so it was never going to be […]
During antiquity, did anyone in Greece or Rome recognize similarities between Greek and Latin languages and hypothesized relationships between them?
Yup. Aeolism: Latin as a Dialect of Greek/Aeolism: Latin as a Dialect of Greek is a paper on that. And Are there any accounts of the Romans realizing linguistic similarity between Latin and Germanic languages? • /r/AskHistorians is a Reddit thread of it. The locus classicus is Dionysius of Halicarnassus, but the idea was doing […]
Is anyone eligible to distribute ancient and classical texts commercially?
What Gwydion Madawc Williams said: Vote #1 Gwydion Madawc Williams’ answer to Is anyone eligible to distribute ancient and classical texts commercially? With one edge case as an exception. An editor does work in reconstructing the original form of an ancient text preserved in manuscripts. That work is intellectual labour, and it can end up […]
Is there a word for “time travel” using Greek or Latin parts of speech?
The Modern Greek for “time travel” is the unimaginative calque Ταξίδι στο χρόνο (“travel in time”). It does indeed use the chronos word; but taxidi is a mediaeval word which now means “travel, journey” (originally, it was “expedition”). Star Trek was originally rendered in Greek as Ταξίδι στα Άστρα “Journey to the Stars”. For a […]
What is the difference between athematic and irregular verbs?
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/byti I’ll answer this for Greek. Irregular verbs are really irregular, to the extent of suppletion between different persons, and all sorts of other shenanigans. Thematic and athematic are two different classes of regular verb. The athematic class is smaller, and has more core vocabulary verbs, so we presume it to be older; it’s like […]
What is it called when you get aroused by watching people die?
Vote #1 Vicky Prest: Vicky Prest’s answer to What is it called when you get aroused by watching people die? No, seriously. Because this answer is just pedantic commentary on her answer, from someone who knows too much Greek, and can look up words on Wikipedia: List of paraphilias – Wikipedia. Symphorophilia. Literally, “misfortune-love”. Not […]
Why is it that the Oedipus myth resonates so much with a Westerner (Generic collective)?
Thank you for your A2A, Daniel. Jessica Lee has given an excellent answer; Vote #1 Jessica Lee’s answer to Why is it that the Oedipus myth resonates so much with a Westerner (Generic collective)? I’m answering more because Daniel isn’t convinced: As for the myth, it appears that the Westerner is afraid of being caught […]
Would modern Greek speakers understand Longus, Daphnis, and Chloe in original Greek?
I’ve written a couple of answers where I’ve translated Classical Greek using only my knowledge of Modern Greek—although I was being overly permissive about understanding Classical grammar. So. Daphnis & Chloe, 2.5. https://msu.edu/~tyrrell/daphchl… Thereupon, he burst into loud laughter with a voice unlike that of a swallow or nightingale or swan. At the same time, […]