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Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek () is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. Its symbolic boundaries start with the transfer of the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium (Constantinople) in 330 AD, and end with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD, therefore spanning more than a millennium. As medieval Greek co-exists with the history of the Byzantine Empire, another term often used to describe the language of the period is Byzantine Greek.
History
The Jire?ek Line. Evolution from Hellenistic to Medieval KoineThe cultural and linguistic center of the Greek World during the Byzantine era, as it had once been Athens, was Constantinople. The capital acted as a linguistic center on Byzantine Hellenism, for both literary (Atticist) and popular-vulgar (spoken) forms of speech. The diglossia in Byzantium was defined by the medieval literary Koine, which had elements of archaism (equivalent to the Hellenistic Atticism), and the spoken or popular Koine which was the authentic successor of Koine Greek. In the way that Western scholars used Classical Latin for their literary work, the Byzantines tended to use archaisms with elements of Atticism, and usually tried to imitate in their works, in speech and manner, the great attic writers-models of the classical period. Paul the Silentiary wrote at the time of Justinian I his "Description of Hagia Sophia" (???????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ??????) with iambs and Homeric hexameters that were characterised as a dark and poetic language. The historians Procopius and Critobulus imitated Thucydides while Anna Komnene had a general Atticist literary style. The members of the Church up until the 4th century AD followed the example of the Apostles and used the Medieval Koine. However from the 4th century onward, the language of the church became Atticistic due to the intervention of the Cappadocian Fathers who had been educated in Greek schools of rhetoric. In that respect, the Church was using the older language of the Greeks in order to fight off their older pagan religion. By that time most of the popular masses had already been converted to Christianity, however the introduction of the Atticistic language attracted also rich Greek pagans of higher social status. Thus the Atticist rhetoric helped the Byzantine state to fight off the heresies, and the vernacular Koine enhanced the literary speech with elements from the spoken language. While there was a constant interaction and mutual influence between the written (namely the widely diffused text of the Gospels) and the spoken language, both vary significantly depending on the time or place that they were spoken, written or recorded. Thus, while the spoken language of the early centuries is still similar to the Hellenistic Koine , from the eighth century onwards it takes up a form much nearer to Modern Greek, even though in vernacular texts, in their most part written down by educated monks and literati, the language is distorted so as to match the rules of classical Greek grammar. VocabularyDue to the long-term diglossia between Latin and Greek, Medieval Greek borrowed various linguistic elements from the Latin language, many of which survive in Modern Greek most having to do with administration, politics, public life, as well as everyday objects. A number of Latin words and popular phrases can be traced in Medieval Greek include the following (bold marking signifies assimilation to the language and survival into Modern Greek): Common phrases
Names???????? (from Latin magna aula, "great hall")[2][3], ????????, etc. Nouns????????? (axungion, xigi, animal fat (from axis, axis, + unguen (grease)), ????????? (verikokon, apricot, from praecoquium), ????? (vigla, sentry, vigilia), ?????/?????? (bouka, point of entry, mouth, from bucca), ?????, from gula, ?????????, from exemplum, ?????????? (kalamarion, squid, from calamarium, "pen case" (in its turn from Greek kalamos, reed)), ?????????, ???????? (kankellon, railing), ????????? (karvounon, coal), ??????????? (kouvouklion, cubiculum, cubicle), ?????? (sterna, cistern), ?????????? (loukanikon, sausage), ?????? (> ?????) (lorion, strap), ??????, ???????? (magoulon, cheek), ?????????? (makellaris, butcher), ???????? (manikion, sleeve), ????????? (maroulion, lettuce), ?????????, ??????? (million, mile), ?????????? (moularion, mule), ???????? (ospition, hospitium, house), ????????? (paloukion, stake or pike), ???????? (panarion, breadbasket), ????????, ???????? (poungion, purse), ????? (sella, saddle), ?????????, ???????? (skamnion, sitting stool), ???????????, ??????? (stavlos, stabula, stable), ??????? (taverna, tavern), ????? (tavla, table), ?????? (flaska, flask), ????? (foros, forum, later: tax), ?????? (fourka, pitchfork), ??????? (fournos, furnace), ??????? (lavaron, banner), ?????? (voula, bulla, seal), ?????? (titlos, title), ???????????, ????????? (kandilion, candle), ?????????? (manoualion, manual), ????????? (felonion, a priestly vestment), ???????? (kalendai, kalends), ????????/???????? (visektos, disektos, a leap year), etc. Adjectives???????? (varvatos, bearded), ???????, ??????? (blavos, blue) etc. Verbs?????????, ???????? (voulono, to seal), ?????????? (kavalikevo, to mount a horse), ???????? (kanakevo, to dote), ??????? (missevo, to emigrate), ???????? (ploumizo, to embellish), ???????? (fournizo, to bake) etc. Suffixes
PhonologyIn phonology, both rare and common innovations described in Koine Greek become more generalised.
NotesSee alsoReferences
External links
de:Mittelgriechische Sprache el:?????????? ???????? ?????? es:Griego medieval fr:Grec médiéval ko:?? ???? it:Greco bizantino he:?????? ??????? nds:Middelgreeksche Spraak pt:Grego medieval ru:???????????? ???? sk:Stredoveká gré?tina Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
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