greet-PRS.ACT.IMPERAT.2PL all-M.NOM.PL
Hello everyone!
Throughout this thread, I will be aiming to teach you basic Ancient Greek in which not only will I teach you how to write, but also how to speak and understand both spoken Attic Greek and 1st century CE Koine Greek. That said, I am not Grecian, let alone an ancient Athenian of any sort, but rather βάρβαρος and a student. If there is anything I say or teach that is wrong or in contradiction with anything I’ve said already, feel free to comment in-thread or in a pm so I can correct it.
Some basics:
Ancient Greek is a synthetic language spoken and written by the inhabitants of Greece c. 800BCE - 300CE in various dialects including prominently:
Homeric Greek - a hybrid of ancient dialects (mostly comprised of Ionic Greek) as represented in the Homeric epics c.760-710BCE
Attic Greek - the language spoken and written by the Ancient Athenians c.500-300BCE and direct ancestor of most or all variants of Modern Greek
Koine Greek - the common Greek as spoken across the Hellenistic kingdoms and the eastern Roman Empire c.300BC-300CE and also a direct ancestor of Modern Greek
τὸ πρῶτον μαθῆμα (1st Lesson)
Attic Greek and Koine Greek are generally similar in regards to morphology, grammar and vocabulary (of course there are exceptions and distinct idioms of which I shall address in due time); however the main differences are that of phonology and stress.
Phonology
Both phonologies are represented as what are generally accepted as reconstructed with their English transcriptions:
Attic:
/a e i o y/ <a e i o u/y>
/aː eː ɛː iː ɔː oː/uː yː/ <ā ei ē ī ō ou ū/ȳ>
/m n/ <m n>
/p t k/ <p t k>
/pʰ tʰ kʰ/ <ph th ch/kh>
/b d g/ <b d g>
/s h/ <s h>
/r l/ <r l>
Consonant clusters:
/zd/dz ks ps/ <z x ps>
Diphthongs:
/ai ɔi ui au eu/ <ai oi ui au eu>
/aːi ɛːi ɔːi uːi aːu eːu ɔːu/ <āi ēi ōi ūi āu ēu ōu>
Koine:
/a e ɛ i o u y/ <a ē e/ai i/ei o/ō ou u/y/oi/ui>
/aː eː ɛː oː uː/ <āi /āu ēi ēu ōi/ōu ūi>
/aβ eβ/ <au eu>
/m n/ <m n>
/p t k/ <p t k>
/ɸ θ x/ <ph th ch/kh>
/β ð ɣ/ <b d g>
/s z/ <s s/z>
/r l/ <r l>
Consonant clusters:
/ks ps/ <x ps>
Notes on pronunciation:
<p t k> are never aspirated in either dialect
<g> is never pronounced as [dʒ]
<l> is never pronounced as ‘dark’ l [ɫ]
<r> is trilled
<t d r th> were probably all pronounced dentally
/r/ is aspirated word-initially and is transcribed as <rh>
/r/ assimilates to [l] before /l/
/n/ assimilates to [l] before /l/
/n/ assimilates to [m] before <m p ph b>
/n/ assimilates to [ŋ] before <k ch g> and is transcribed as <g>
/s/ assimilates to [z] before voiced consonants and remains transcribed as <s>
Doubled consonants geminate
<tt> and <ss> are dialectal variants of the same gemination
eg. prattō and prassō mean exactly the same thing
Koine-Specific:
<au> & <eu> are partially assimilated to [aɸ] and [eɸ] before voiceless consonants
<b, d, g> retain their ancient pronunciations when preceded by a nasal consonant (eg. gambrós [ɣam'bros])
Tones and Stress
In Attic Greek and Koine Greek, tone and stress are crucial to each respectively.
Attic Tones:
Attic Greek is a tonal language similar to those like the Chinese languages and the Scandinavian languages, distinguishing four tones:
- On short vowels:
- 1: v˩
2: v˥ (specific tone is believed to be a fifth above 1)
- 3: v˩˥
4: v˥˩
- 1: v˩
- Acute accent á: represents tone 2 on a syllable with a short vowel and tone 3 on a syllable with a long vowel or diphthong
Circumflex accent â: represents tone 4
Grave accent à: represents tone 1 only on the last syllable as according to rules given below (tone 1 is left otherwise unmarked)
- Last syllable (Ultima): any tone
Second-last syllable (Penult): any tone; however 4 can only occur if the ultima doesn’t have a long vowel (with some simple exceptions)
Third-last syllable (Antepenult): any tone except for 4, only if the ultima doesn’t have a long vowel (again with some simple exceptions)
With the change of case ending from -os to -ou, the tone is forced from the antepenult to the penult.nom. sing. ánthrōpos vs. gen. sing. anthrṓpou
Another example, this time with two forms of the Greek word for road:
Here the tone keeps its position, but now shifts from tone 2 to tone 4.nom. sing. hodós vs. gen. sing. hodoû
One final example, with two forms of the Greek word for loosen:
With the new ending –ete, the tone keeps its position, but now is forced to move from tone 4 to tone 3.2nd. p. sing. act. impt. lûe vs. 2nd. p. plu. act. impt. lúete
Koine Stress:
Koine Greek unlike Attic Greek is a language based upon stress, much like languages like English, Latin, German, etc. Stress is applied as it would have been with tones (tones 2, 3 and 4 have all merged into one level of stress), however many of the syntactical rules which defined tone position in Attic Greek are invisible in Koine Greek.
Stress on a syllable is likely expressed by loudness and clarity as compared to other syllables.
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Alright, that’s enough raw detail. Memorise what you've learned, and attempt these exercises given below:
1. Transcribe into IPA or XSAMPA using the dialect of your choosing (or both if you like):
(for transcribing tones, simply use the ˥ characters as used in following questions)
- a. esómetha
b. tháptō
c. dôron
d. douleúō
e. máchē
- a. /skhe.don˥/, /sxɛ.'don/
b. /hɛːt.tuː˥˩.mai/, /es.'su.mɛ/
c. /ba.rys˥/, /βa.'rys/
d. /kha.ri˥.eːs/, /xa.'ri.is/
e. /an˥.ge.los/, /'an.ɣɛ.los/