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Category: Modern Greek
How does the Modern Greek pronoun το modify verbs?
As a pronoun, το is the clitic accusative neuter third person pronoun, and it corresponds to “that” or “it”. So, ξέρω “I know”; το ξέρω “I know that”. Which means that, in the first instance, το is not modifying the meaning of a verb; it is completing it by providing an explicit object. You could […]
How is “o po po” written in Greek?
Ω πω πω. You will also see ωπωπω, and πω πω πω and πωπωπω are more frequent. They’re interjections, so their spacing has not been normalised. The initial ω is so spelled by analogy with ancient Greek ὦ “O!”, though it’s not strictly speaking the same thing. No idea why πω has an omega, maybe […]
What is the Modern Greek equivalent of the English phrase “I know, right?”
Good question. The English phrase expresses acknowledgement of the interlocutor’s surprise at something the speaker has just said. The Greek idiomatic equivalent, I’d say, is Είδες; “See?” Updated 2016-07-18 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-the-Modern-Greek-equivalent-of-the-English-phrase-I-know-right/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
Who composed the National Hymn of Palestine. Not an Arab?
There’s plenty of evidence online that Arafat got Mikis Theodorakis to write A National Hymn of Palestine, when he visited Greece in 1981: The Jewish problem, according to Theodorakis (Haaretz interview, 2006) THEODORAKIS, A MAN OF PEACE (Theodorakis website) Μίκης Θεοδωράκης (Theodorakis website) PLO Commissions ‘national Anthem’ by Greek Composer (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 1982) It’s […]
Why does the third generation of Greek immigrants in Belgium use only French, while their counterparts in Germany speak excellent Greek?
Really, the question boils down to, why are Greeks in Belgium assimilating faster than Greeks in Germany. At a guess, critical mass: lots more Greeks in Germany, so much more community life, much more community use of Greek. I don’t know enough to speculate further, and I invite others to. Other factors could include: Demographics […]
Should Greek write Tαβου instead of Tαμπου (for taboo) and Bιδεο instead of Bιντεο (video), as done in Cyprus?
A: no. 🙂 Transliteration reform has already happened in Greek, and it’s concentrated around simplifying vowels. No more omega for long o’s or eta for long i’s or <ai> for long e’s, as in Φλωμπέρ <Flōmper> = Flaubert, Σαίξπηρ <Saixpēr> = Shakespeare. But at least those reforms have made phonological sense. This wouldn’t. And B: […]
What is the Greek name of violet?
The flower violet is ἴον /íon/ in Ancient Greek. In Modern Greek, μενεξές /menekses/ < Turkish menekşe < Persian بنفشه /banafše/ and βιολέτα < Italian violetta are more common. Βιολέτα – Βικιπαίδεια EDIT: the colour: in Ancient Greek ἰάνθινος “violet-flowered” or ἰόεις. Just as well, because ἰώδης is “rust-coloured = verdigris, green” (from the similar […]
How are Greek characters written with Latin script?
To add to Aaron Walton’s answer: chat and YouTube comments use ad hoc romanisations of Greek, which are called Greeklish. Greeklish is kind of unstable, and there are two different families of transliteration, phonetic and orthographic. Bizarrely, I can’t find a mapping anywhere. FWIW, this is my Greeklish alphabet: abgdezhqiklmnjoprstufxyw. EDIT: Many thanks to Uri […]
Is the word Synagogue Greek and the word Havra Spanish?
Thanks to all respondents. As Dimitris said, χάβρα is the colloquial Greek word for synagogue, typically derogatory (unsurprisingly 🙁 ). It is used in two expressions I know of: (Antisemitism alert, with apologies to respondents) 1. As Dimitris also said, χάβρα Ιουδαίων, “a synagogue of the Judaeans”, meaning “confusion, free for all”. Pretty rich, you’d […]
What religion are Greek people?
Religion in Greece Which leads to the uncomfortable question, who counts as Greek people. Well, if we leave out migrants from the past couple of generations, and talk about religions of long standing in Greece (using counts from the Wikipedia article linked, which also skip immigrants). The overwhelming majority is Greek Orthodox. 88% of 11 […]