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Category: Linguistics
Can broad Australian English be easily understood outside Australia?
My fellow respondents should be aware the question asks about Broad Australian (= ocker), not General Australian (= “neutral”). I would like to think I’m General not Broad (as would any would-be member of the middle classes). People in California did have occasional difficulty with my accent; e.g. my pronunciation of Apple Cider coming across […]
Can the Greek word Teknon ever be used to mean young or dependent child as opposed to strictly son or daughter of any age?
Ioannis Manomenidis has tackled Modern Greek. Let me summarise: Téknon gets used by priests to their spiritual children, their congregation. There, it means neither offspring, nor child: it’s a metaphorical extension of the “child of God” or “child that I mentor” notion. But that’s an ancient Greek expression, limited to the ecclesiastical register. Evangelos Lolos […]
What was the reason for the dramatic changes that marked the transition from Ancient Greek to Koine (Hellenistic) Greek?
I don’t have a good answer, as (surprisingly) I have not paid close attention to the genesis of Koine. But let’s separate out the various things that happened, and that other respondents have highlighted. Eleftherios V. Tserkezis correctly highlights that the koine was a dialect koine before it was anything else. And the dialect koine […]
What is a Hebrew word and a Greek word meaning “fragrance” or “perfume” GENERALLY?
I assume you are asking about Ancient Greek. IGNORE all the Greeks that are about to say ἄρωμα arōma. The ancient meaning of that word, per the Liddell–Scott dictionary, is aromatic herb or spice; not fragrance. Going through Liddell–Scott, I find, in descending order of fit to what you want: εὐοσμία euosmia, “fragrance, perfume”. Literally, […]
What does this mean in Ancient Greek?
All hail Steve Theodore’s answer, which is exemplary. OP has been kind enough to provide the original in https://www.quora.com/What-does-…. It is from a modern textbook: Ἐγώ εἰμι Ἑλληνικὸν παιδίον καὶ οἰκῶ ἐν ἀγροῖς. Ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς ὁ Φίλιππος γεωργός ἐστιν: αὐτὸς γεωργεῖ καὶ ἔχει χωρίον. Ἆρ΄ ἐροτᾷς τίς μὲν εγώ, τίς δ΄ ὁ Φίλιππος; What […]
What are some Greek terms of endearment?
To add to others: We use the neuter to address or refer to someone cute; desexing them is infantilising them, and infantilising them is a sign of affection, even if you are otherwise sexual with them. It’s the same thinking as using baby or babe in English. So χρυσέ μου “my golden one” (masculine) or […]
What is the translation of the word “fox” to Greek?
Ancient Greek ἀλώπηξ /alɔ́ːpɛːks/; this ends up as Modern /aleˈpu/ via the Hellenistic variant ἀλωπά, somehow: Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής. In English, the Ancient word for fox has given us alopecia: Hair loss The origin of this usage is because this animal sheds its coat twice a year, or because in ancient Greece foxes often […]
Provided you speak greek, how would you respond if someone used the word “ταχυδρόμος” for someone crossing a distance fast, not for the postman?
To explain the question: Tachy-dromos, “quick-runner”, was originally a word for a courier. Couriers deliver mail, and tachy-dromos is now the word for mailman. If someone uses tachy-dromos in its original original meaning of “fast runner”, rather than its community accepted meaning of “mailman”, how do I react? I react by telling them to stop […]
Ancient Greek: What pronunciation scheme do you use for 5th-4th century B.C.E. writings? Modern, reconstruction with pitch, Erasmian, etc. and why?
Ah, I see this is the question where all the cool people hang out! Νικόλαος Στεφάνῳ, Δημήτρᾳ, Μιχαήλ, Ἰωακείμ, Βενιαμείν, Ῥοβέρτῳ τε ἐρωτήσαντι, εὗ πράττειν. Related question, with rationales: What are the pros and cons of the Erasmian pronunciation? When I am on my own, I actually mutter Ancient Greek aloud to myself, to try […]
Did the written word slow the evolution of language?
Yes. Not by the magic of the fact that it is in writing, but by the fact that it has helped immensely in establishing and propagating conservative versions of the language, based on written records, as the most prestigious versions, which are learned in education and emulated in formal registers. Given the time depth of […]