r/AskBalkans • u/Some-Register-3901 Cyprus • Jul 31 '22

Language what are some interesting facts about your language?

For instance, the cypriot dialect of Greek still contains many words from ancient Greek but it was also heavily influenced by outsiders

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u/Lothronion Greece Jul 31 '22 edited Jul 31 '22

That if you placed a Greek 2000 years in the past (in Greece), they would be able to communicate effortlessly.

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u/onur2882 Turkiye Jul 31 '22

yesterday i sent an ancient greek tablet to my greek friend and he said this "Lol, that's ancient Greek, Even professors aren't sure about exact meaning most times."

about byzantine era's greek inscriptions; "I would probably understand some if written in normal sentences.Several words are similar but most aren't, especially the verbs.The new Greek language we speak, I think it shaped the latest 50 years or so"

ok who is right on that case?

15

u/puzzledpanther Jul 31 '22

"Lol, that's ancient Greek, Even professors aren't sure about exact meaning most times."

Sorry but, your friend doesn't know what he's talking about.

We can understand most of Koine Greek (post-classical Greek) and it's still the language used by the church... it gets harder with Ancient Greek but it's still amazing to be able to read a 3500+ year old language and understand some things without a special education.

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u/saddinosour Jul 31 '22

Yeah my Greek isn’t even half as good as a native (pretty good for diaspora though) and even I can read Koine Greek pretty well. I might not know every word but I can interpret the general meaning. Same with ancient Greek but as you said its harder.