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Category: Linguistics
How did Greek language survive despite centuries of foreign domination?
For all that Greek was spoken in areas of foreign domination, It was the prestige and government language in the East Roman Empire—Latin never had a serious chance of displacing it. It was the acknowledged and prestige language of the Rum millet under the Ottomans—Turkish never had a serious chance of displacing it, except in […]
If I learned modern Greek, would I be able to read the New Testament in its original language?
Like the others said: no. Certainly not the more educated writing, like Paul or Luke. You’d know what was going on, more or less, but you would be liable to be confused, by the syntax or by the false friends. I’ve just gone through an exercise in Nick Nicholas’ answer to How much of a […]
If somebody with no Arpitan heritage wanted to learn the Arpitan language, which dialect of Arpitan would you recommend that they learn?
All other things being equal, I’d be heading for a dialect that has had significant literary production (so you can find things to read in Arpitan), and a dialect that still survives to at least some extent (so you can at least theoretically find someone to talk to in it). I’m biased, as my bio […]
Why are OSV order languages so rare?
Brian Collins says: Those are the type of questions only a few people like Bob Dixon are willing to touch with a 17ft pole. Only Dixon, may his soul be blackened (or indeed blacklisted)? Surely not. Surely we haven’t run out of functionalists in Australia! Here’s a functionalist take, though it will have some holes […]
How heated was the Greek Language Question?
https://www.quora.com/Who-were-the-biggest-enemies-of-Greek/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5/comment/27674526 If you don’t know about the Greek language question, look at the link: this won’t really make sense otherwise. Neeraj Mathur asked in comments to Nick Nicholas’ answer to Who were the biggest enemies of Greek? So in a sense, the Katharevousa partisans would have portrayed the Demotic advocates as the enemies of Greek […]
How much of a text by Aristotle or Procopius would speakers of modern Greek get?
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0055 Nick, what are you doing responding to this question?! You’re a PhD in Greek linguistics, with 18 years of working at the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae! Yes, but I never did formally study Ancient Greek. And I know enough linguistics that I can filter out stuff about Ancient Greek that I’m not supposed to know. […]
Should I take that some Cypriot Greek speakers do call Pounds sterling as “λίρες εγγλέζικες” (English pounds) because the notes…?
Cypriots refer to English pounds, for the simple reason that colloquial Greek refers to English rather than British exclusively. Note that your phrase uses the colloquial εγγλέζικη, rather than the formal αγγλική for “English”. The formation of the United Kingdom never made much of a popular impression on Greeks. In fact even in more formal […]
Which language is older, Persian or Arabic?
Mehrdad, unlike the other respondents, I will disappoint you with a meta-answer. But it is the truer answer. There’s no such thing as an older language. Let me transpose the question to Iberia. People often say, “Woah, man, Basque is like, the oldest language in Europe, man! It’s like, as old as the Cro-Magnon!” That’s […]
Who were the biggest enemies of Greek?
Originally asked: Who were the biggest enemies of Greek? Austin R. Justice writes in his excellent answer (Vote #1 Austin R. Justice’s answer to Who were the biggest enemies of Greek? ): I’m going to assume that you meant “enemies of the Greeks” or “of Greece.” Personally, I don’t know anyone opposed to the language! […]
What is the Latin translation for “I am broken, the only one who can fix me is the one who broke me”?
Fractus sum: solus qui me fregit me reparabit. (or, less elegantly: me reparare potest: “can fix me”, as opposed to “will fix me”.) Answered 2016-12-14 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-the-Latin-translation-for-I-am-broken-the-only-one-who-can-fix-me-is-the-one-who-broke-me/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]