Had a student (college) ask me today: What language did they speak in ancient Greece?

[Coventina]

[sharp_stick]

1. The Queens English Damn It.

They didn't forget to add the u to words like colour.

[Girard442]

2. Ancient Grecian.

Do I have to explain everything?

[Coventina]

3. No, the Grecian Formula is secret!!!

[ret5hd]

4. Greco-Roman, right?

[DBoon]

5. not such a stupid question

What language did the Roman Britons speak? A celtic dialect, a low German dialect, or some form of latin?

[Coventina]

7. Don't worry, I didn't mock her. It's actually a resonable question, considering the

many different cultures the Greeks contacted.

It just struck me as a little funny, considering I had just spent a lot of time talking about the formation of Greece and the ties of religion and language. (And yes, I did say ancient Greek, which does have differences from the modern language).

[Aristus]

13. It depends on how far back you go.

Even Greek had to start somewhere, and linguists think that Cretan Linear B is an embryonic form of Greek, found in inscriptions in the Palace of Knossos on Crete.

[Coventina]

14. Yes, I had actually discussed that in a previous lecture.

Linear A, last I heard, seems to be related to ancient Persian.

[Aristus]

16. That's more than I knew.

Last I read, Linear A was still unidentified.

Nice to know the connection now.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

24. It's all Greek to me!

[DBoon]

38. So Linear A is possibly indo-european?

NT

[geardaddy]

22. Roman Britons did speak Brythonic

the precursor to modern Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Though Latin was definitely used in the ecclesiastical realm. The Roman Britons never spoke a low German dialect. At least not until until the incursion of the Angles and Saxons in the 5th century.

[DBoon]

36. This book suggests a Germanic dialect was present at the Roman invasion

https://www.amazon.com/Origins-British-Stephen-Oppenheimer/dp/1845294823

[geardaddy]

37. Present maybe, but not prevalent is my guess.

[area51]

44. Interesting

One of my ancestors was supposedly from Wales.

[Kaleva]

25. It's a very good question.

[underpants]

6. Nambian?

[Coventina]

9. LOL!!

DUzy!

[Tiggeroshii]

8. Klingon

[Coventina]

10. Lugh!

[ProfessorGAC]

40. Oh Don't Be Ridiculous

Everyone knows it was Vulcan. Sheesh!

[Tiggeroshii]

43. Epiphany

Ancient Greek were clearly Vulcan...

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

11. I might have told him

"Pig Latin".

[Coventina]

12. Good one!

[unblock]

15. WELL DON'T JUST LEAVE US HANGING!!!!

[Coventina]

17. Είναι όλα ελληνικά για μένα!

[unblock]

18. I can't read your scribbles! It's all Greek to me!

[Coventina]

21. LOL!

[k8conant]

31. Στα ελληνικά Είναι όλα κινέζικα

Last edited Fri Sep 29, 2017, 10:40 PM - Edit history (3)

(In Greek it's said "It's all Chinese" !!)

[procon]

19. Covfefe, the ancient language that originated on the Greek island Corfu,

is still spoken by scholars, learned academicians and philosophers throughout modern day Greece.

[Turbineguy]

20. Murkan

Everybody always spoke Murkan. Well, anybody who counts anyway.

[whistler162]

41. Dang straight skippy!

[TlalocW]

23. The ancient and proud language of

Covfefe.

TlalocW

[guillaumeb]

26. Trump University?

One hopes.

[3catwoman3]

27. A friend of ours, whose ex-husband...

...used to be a Methodist minister, once told us about a member of the congregation who did not approve of foreign languages being taught in US schools.

His rationale - "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

[Lebam in LA]

28. Let me guess, red state HS grad?

[Coventina]

32. As it happens, yes....

[Lebam in LA]

33. How did I guess

[Eko]

29. They spoke the only language.

Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aoelin, and Locrian.

[Ohiya]

35. A mnemonic to help one remember

I Don't Punch Like Mohammed Ali Lately

[edbermac]

30. Moe will translate.

[UrbScotty]

34. AMERICAN!!

[Dave Starsky]

39. They spoke the language of love.

[DFW]

42. There was a "Greek" language at the time, surely with many local variations.

Even today, in the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium, there are villages 30 miles apart with such varying versions of Flemish (antiquated Dutch, basically) that the can hardly understand each other. Besides, borders had a whole other meaning back then. City-states like Athens,, Corinth and Sparta considered the others to be foreign countries. But if one studies the carvings and the coins--practically the only writings from the time that are intact--there was a Greek language back then, just like there was Latin compared to today's Italian today.

While in college in the seventies, I knew a classics major who had studied ancient Greek intensively in the USA, but had never learned modern Greek. One summer, he hiked through the rural regions of Greece, and tried to get by using the ancient Greek he knew. He said that in some of the more remote villages, they treated him like some living religious icon, since he was speaking the language their bibles were printed in.

[Generic Brad]

45. Ancient Greeks spoke Ancient Greek

Just like we speak Ancient English at this time in history.