Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (c. 1400–1200 BC), Dark Ages (c. 1200–800 BC), the Archaic or Epic period (c. 800–500 BC), and the Classical period (c. 500–300 BC).[1]
This article is about the language. For ancient Greek population groups, see List of ancient Greek tribes.Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek.
From the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BC), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek, which is regarded as a separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek, and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine.
Doric
Aeolic Group
Attic
Arcadocypriot Greek
PIE *s became /h/ at the beginning of a word (): Latin sex, English six, ancient Greek ἕξ /héks/.
debuccalization
PIE *y /j/ became /h/ (debuccalization) or /(d)z/ (): Sanskrit yas, ancient Greek ὅς /hós/ "who" (relative pronoun); Latin iugum, English yoke, ancient Greek ζυγός /zyɡós/.
fortition
PIE *w, which occurred in and some non-Attic dialects, was lost: early Doric ϝέργον /wérɡon/, English work, Attic Greek ἔργον /érɡon/.
Mycenaean
PIE and Mycenaean labiovelars changed to plain stops (labials, dentals, and velars) in the later Greek dialects: for instance, PIE *kʷ became /p/ or /t/ in Attic: Attic Greek ποῦ /pôː/ "where?", Latin quō; Attic Greek τίς /tís/, Latin quis "who?".
PIE "voiced aspirated" stops *bʰ dʰ ǵʰ gʰ gʷʰ were devoiced and became the aspirated stops φ θ χ /pʰ tʰ kʰ/ in ancient Greek.
a, ā, e, ē → ē
i, ī → ī
o, ō → ō
u, ū → ū
ai → ēi
ei → ēi or ei
oi → ōi
au → ēu or au
eu → ēu or eu
ou → ou
– Varieties of Ancient Greek in classical antiquity
Ancient Greek dialects
– Grammar of the Ancient Greek language
Ancient Greek grammar
Ancient Greek accent
– Script used to write the Greek language
Greek alphabet
– Marks added to letters in Greek
Greek diacritics
– Indo-European language
Greek language
– Branch of Indo-European language family
Hellenic languages
– Former prestige form of the Modern Greek language
Katharevousa
– Dialect of Greek in the ancient world
Koine Greek
List of Greek and Latin roots in English
(mostly ancient Greek)
List of Greek phrases
– Medieval stage of the Greek language
Medieval Greek
– Dialects and varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era
Modern Greek
– Earliest attested form of the Greek language, from the 16th to the 12th century BC
Mycenaean Greek
– Last common ancestor of all varieties of Greek
Proto-Greek language
– Dialects and differences between the written standard and spoken speech
Varieties of Modern Greek
Adams, Matthew. "The Introduction of Greek into English Schools." Greece and Rome 61.1: 102–13, 2014. 43297490.
JSTOR
Allan, Rutger J. "Changing the Topic: Topic Position in Ancient Greek Word Order." Mnemosyne: Bibliotheca Classica Batava 67.2: 181–213, 2014.
Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek (Oxford University Press). [A series of textbooks on Ancient Greek published for school use.]
Bakker, Egbert J., ed. A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Beekes, Robert S. P. Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2010.
. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque, new and updated edn., edited by Jean Taillardat, Olivier Masson, & Jean-Louis Perpillou. 3 vols. Paris: Klincksieck, 2009 (1st edn. 1968–1980).
Chantraine, Pierre
Christidis, Anastasios-Phoibos, ed. A History of Ancient Greek: from the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Easterling, P and Handley, C. Greek Scripts: An Illustrated Introduction. London: , 2001. ISBN 0-902984-17-9
Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Fortson, Benjamin W. Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. 2d ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Horrocks, Geoffrey. Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers. 2d ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Janko, Richard. "The Origins and Evolution of the Epic Diction." In The Iliad: A Commentary. Vol. 4, Books 13–16. Edited by Richard Janko, 8–19. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992.
Jeffery, Lilian Hamilton. The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: Revised Edition with a Supplement by A. W. Johnston. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1990.
Morpurgo Davies, Anna, and Yves Duhoux, eds. A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World. Vol. 1. Louvain, Belgium: Peeters, 2008.
Swiggers, Pierre and Alfons Wouters. "Description of the Constituent Elements of the (Greek) Language." In Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship. Edited by Franco Montanari and Stephanos Matthaios, 757–797. Leiden : Brill, 2015.
by Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin
Classical Greek Online
– Dictionaries, grammar, virtual libraries, fonts, etc.
Online Greek resources
– Combines LSJ, Autenrieth, Smyth's grammar and inflection tables in a browser add-on for use on any web site
Alpheios
Ancient Greek basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
– online editor for Ancient Greek
Slavonic
an online collection of videos on various Ancient Indo-European languages, including Ancient Greek