Greek language

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Greek (Ελληνικά)
Spoken in: Greece, Cyprus
Region: The eastern Mediterranean
Total speakers: 15 million
Ranking: 74
Genetic classification: Indo-European
 Greek
  Attic
   Modern Greek
Official status
Official language of: Greece, Cyprus (and the European Union)
Regulated by: –
Language codes
ISO 639-1el
ISO 639-2gre (B) / ell (T)
SILGRK
See also: Language – List of languages

Greek (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA /ɛˌliniˈka/ – "Hellenic") constitutes its own branch of the Indo-European languages. It has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any Indo-European language. It is spoken by 15 million people primarily in Greece and Cyprus, but also in many Greek emigrant communities around the world.

Greek is written in the Greek alphabet, the first true alphabet (as opposed to an abjad or abugida) and the ancestor of the Latin. The Cyrillic alphabet was originally framed by writers of Greek, and several of its letters are direct borrowings. Ulfilas took letters from both Greek and Roman scripts for his Gothic alphabet; the Norse runes may also have been influenced directly by Greek as well as by Latin.

Contents

History

Main article: History of the Greek language

This article does not cover the reconstructed history of Greek prior to the use of writing. For more information, see main article on Proto-Greek language.

Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest evidence of this is found in the Linear B tablets dating from 1500 BC. The later Greek alphabet is unrelated to Linear B, and was derived from the proto-Sinaitic writing system in parallel with Phoenician (abjad) between c. 1450 BC and 1100 BC, with minor modifications, is still used today. Greek is conventionally divided into the following periods:

  • Hellenistic Greek (also known as Koine Greek): The fusion of various ancient Greek dialects with Attic (the dialect of Athens) resulted in the creation of the first common Greek dialect, which gradually turned into one of the world's first international languages. Koine Greek can be initially traced within the armies and conquered territories of Alexander the Great, but after the Hellenistic colonisation of the known world, it was spoken from Egypt to the fringes of India. After the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial diglossy of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. Through Koine Greek it is also traced the origin of Christianity, as the Apostles used it to preach in Greece and the Greek-speaking world. It is also known as the Alexandrian dialect, Post-Classic Greek or even New Testament Greek (after its most famous work of literature).

Two main forms of the language have been in use since the end of the medieval Greek period: Dhimotikí (Δημοτική), the Demotic (vernacular) language, and Katharévousa (Καθαρεύουσα), an imitation of classical Greek, which was used for literary, juridic, and scientific purposes during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Demotic Greek is now the official language of the modern Greek state, and the most widely spoken by Greeks today.

It has been claimed that an "educated" speaker of the modern language can understand an ancient text, but this is surely as much a function of education as of the similarity of the languages. Still, Koinē /ciˈni/, the version of Greek used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint, is relatively easy to understand for modern speakers.

Greek words have been widely borrowed into the European languages: astronomy, democracy, philosophy, thespian, etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as a basis for coinages: anthropology, photography, isomer, biomechanics etc. and form, with Latin words, the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary. See English words of Greek origin, and List of Greek words with English derivatives.

Classification

Greek is its own independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient languages which were probably most closely related to it, Ancient Macedonian language (which in fact is a dialect of Greek) and Phrygian, are not well enough documented to permit detailed comparison. Among living languages, Armenian seems to be the most closely related to it.

Geographic distribution

Modern Greek is spoken by about 15 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus. There are also autochthonus greek-speaking polupations in Turkey, southern Albania, southern FYR Macedonia and in Sicily. The language is spoken also in many other countries where Greeks have settled, including Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, UK, and the USA.

Official status

Greek is the official language of Greece where it is spoken by about 99.5% of the population. It is also, alongside Turkish, the official language of the Republic of Cyprus.

Sounds

This section describes the phonology of the Modern Greek language.

In Greek the letters π, τ, κ do not correspond phonetically to the English letters p, t and k. Whereas in English p, t and k are aspirated in Greek they are unaspirated, corresponding most closely to the IPA symbols [p], [t], and [k] rather than the English letters. They tend to be voiced to [b], [d] and [g] in Cretan and Cypriot dialects. The Greek word kai (και) meaning "and" is usually pronounced ke on the Greek mainland but is pronounced je in Crete and Cyprus.

The Modern Greek language contains certain sandhi rules, some written, some not. N (ν) before bilabials and velars becomes /m/ and /ŋ/ respectively, and is written μ (συμπάθεια, "sympathy") and γ (συγχρονίζω, "synchronize").

One should note that, when n (ν) becomes m (μ) it is also pronounced as /m/ in Northern Greece (/sympathia/), whereas Southern Greeks conflate μ+π to /b/ (/sybathia/).

Pre-velar N changes to (γ) and may be pronounced /ŋ/ or /n/, although the latter is usually indicative of careless enunciation. An exception to this rule is the word συγγνώμη (freely translated "I'm sorry") in which /n/ is phonetically dropped and the word is pronounced "si/ŋ/γ/nomi" (this is actually an older form of the word, the current orthography is συγνώμη in which /n/ is dropped both phonetically and literally).

The word ἐστὶ (estí, IPA /ˌɛsˈti/), which means "is" in Ancient Greek (q.v. Modern Greek είναι), gains a "euphonic" n, and the accusative articles τόν and τήν in Modern Greek lose it, depending on the beginning letter of the next word (if it's a consonant, n is usually dropped). In the phrase "tón patéra" (τον πατέρα), which means "the father" (accusative case), instead of being dropped, n is assimilated into the second word (creating "to npatera") and, following the example above, np is pronounced /mp/ in Northern Greece and /b/ in Southern Greece, thus producing the sound /to batera/.

It should be noted that the latter example is analogous to the English use of "gimme" instead of the correct "give me", and it certainly is not an obligatory phonological rule of the Greek language. Indeed, while everyday spoken Greek sounds artificial if the sandhi rules are not used, a formal or official speech may sound equally awkward if sandhi rules are used. The general concept is described as ευφωνία (euphonia, i.e. beauty of sound) and as such it is largely left upon the intent and taste of each speaker.

Vowels

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

The systematic distinction between long and short vowels has been lost in Hellenistic Greek.

<tr> <th width="25%">  <th width="20%">Front <th width="20%">Back <tr> <th align="left">Close <td>i <td align="right">u <tr> <th align="left">Close-mid             <td align="center">  <td align="right">o <tr> <th align="left">Open-mid <td align="center">ɛ <td align="right">  <tr> <th align="left">Open <td align="right">a <td align="left">  </table>

Consonants

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Plosive p b t d c ɟ k g
Nasal m ɱ n ɲ ŋ
Tap or Flap ɾ
Fricative f v θ ð s z ç ʝ x ɣ
Affricate ts dz
Approximant j
Lateral approximant l ʎ

Historical sound changes

People from non-Greek speaking nations tend to pronounce ancient Greek in the same way they pronounce their own native language but in Greece, the Demotic pronunciation of Greek is used also for ancient Greek. Most modern Greeks believe that this is not merely convenience, but that the pronunication of the Greek alphabet has remained fixed for two millennia. [1].

The main phonetic changes between Classical and modern Greek that both Greek and non-Greek linguists agree on are that a simplification in the vowel system took place. Koine had seven vowels, two of which η and ω were long, two ε and ο were short and three α, ι, υ were either long or short. Alongside the individual vowels there were diphthongs αι, αυ, ει, ευ, οι and ου, and several rarer ones. Most noticeably, the vowels i, ē, y, and diphthongs ei, oi (ι, η, υ, ει, οι) have all become i in modern Greek.

The Erasmian/English school (also referred to by Greeks as the scientific school) claims that several consonants have become fricatives: The consonants b, d, g (β, δ, γ) became v, dh, gh (dh is /ð/ and gh is /ɣ/). The aspirated consonants pʰ, tʰ, kʰ (φ, θ, χ) became f, th, kh (where the new pronunciation of th is /θ/ and the new pronunciation of kh is /x/). Greeks do not believe that these consonants have ever changed their sounds since the time of the first inscriptions because un-Greek sounding consonants such as those depicted above would make Greek unpronounceable. There is evidence that the Dorian pronunciation of θ may always have been /th/.

The arguments on both sides of the divide are as follows:

Spelling

Non-Greek view

  • That the ancient Greeks, despite being the first to record vowels, chose to write the identical vowels of Mytilene with three different letters; and the same sound with five distinct digraphs.

Greek view

  • Evidence from different spellings of the same words in ancient Greek inscriptions shows that Demotic pronunciation was already beginning to take hold in the late Archaic period and that by the time of Christ all of the Greek vowels and diphthongs except for eta (η) were pronounced the same way as in Demotic Greek. Eta only adopted its modern pronunciation in Byzantine times.
  • The Greek Digraphs ΤΗ, ΠΗ, ΚΗ represented the sounds θ, φ, χ and in Latin were depicted as TH, PH, KH. Later the symbols for θ, φ, χ were added to the Greek alphabet to denote these fricative sounds but not to the Latin alphabet which took a different course. The letter Η in these ancient Greek digraphs acted in the same way as the h does in the English sound /th/. The letter Η was not pronounced separately but denoted that the consonant it followed should be pronounced as a fricative.
  • The symbol F (digamma) was substituted for PH by the Romans later on.
  • The letter Φ is confused with the f sound of diphthongs αυ and ευ showing it to be fricative and the υ sound in these diphthongs to be v or f.
  • The spelling εκ stays the same in front of κ, τ, π, but often becomes εχ in front of θ, φ, χ which indicates that θ, φ, χ must be fricatives.
  • The κ of εκ before Β, Γ, Δ as well as Λ, Μ and Ν regularly changed to Γ indicating that Gamma could not have been pronounced as G but as /GH/.
  • The letter β is confused with υ of diphthongs αυ, ευ, ηυ indicating that beta is a /v/ sound and that the υ in these diphthongs was pronounced with the same /v/ sound.
  • The letter β also replaces F (digamma) thus must have sounded as /v/.
  • Latin U or V are often transliterated with β in Greek thus beta must be /v/.
  • The letter δ was closer to θ but never sounded as d. The fact that the letter δ interchanges with β in inscriptions precludes d.
  • The δ also interchanges with γ precluding d again.
  • The ζ frequently replaces σ before Β, Γ, Δ shows it had a voiced σ sound.
  • Misspelling using σ for ζ and σ before ζ shows that zeta is /z/.
  • The letter δ is often substituted by ζ in Elis and Athens and shows that delta must be /dh/ and not d and also shows that zeta must be /z/.
  • The doubling of ζ impossible to pronounce as zdzd. [2]

Comparative Linguistics

Non-Greek view

Greek view

  • Non-Greek linguists have chosen to take no notice of modern Greek pronunciation in their various attempts to reconstruct the ancient pronunciation of other indo-European languages such as Irish, English, Sanskrit and Lithuanian [3].. That the English pronunciation of the alphabet should be taken as a guide, because in the minds of English linguists it is more authentic than the way the Greeks pronounce the alphabet, which they themselves gave to everyone else, is highly unscientific and has led to false conclusions being arrived at. That the sounds of Irish, English, Sanskrit and Lithuanian alphabets have remained essentially unchanged in their pronunciation for over 3000 years whereas Greek, which has been recorded alphabetically for between 1000 and 2000 years longer than any of these, is the only language to have undergone fundamental pronunciation changes is ridiculous. Whereas Greek is a phonetic language meaning that it is always pronounced exactly as it is written down and spelled, English has never been a phonetic language and it's pronunciation has never been consistent with the way it is spelled. This has resulted in many regional English accents and the American claim that British English is incomprehensible. In Greece however there are virtually no noticeable accents between Greek speakers and the degree of difference between say Cretan and mainland Greek dialects is so minuscule compared to the huge differences between southern home counties English and northern English that it is not worth discussing. Most linguists have not experienced the sound of languages other than their own in the real world. Experience shows that native Italian or Albanian pronunciation of Greek sounds closer to native Greek pronunciation of Greek than home counties English pronunciation of Greek does. This indicates that the unvoiced and voiced sounds that English linguists have assigned to the consonantal groups p, t, k and b, d, g do not accurately reflect the pronunciation of these consonants in either Italian or Albanian which are closer to the sounds of the corresponding consonants in Greek where π, τ, κ are normally voiced and β, δ, γ are voiced aspirated fricatives.

Spelling Reform

Non-Greek view

  • That when the Athenians reformed their spelling in 403 BC, they did not fix this situation; but divided /o/ between three different symbols.

Greek view

  • It is a historical fact that the letter omega was not present in the Attic Greek alphabet and was an addition from the Ionian alphabet. Omega represented a long /o/ sound and Omicron represent a short /o/. [4].

Accents and Breathings

Non-Greek view

  • That when the Alexandrians added new symbols to the writing system, they distinguished between a rough and smooth breathing, neither of which meant anything. They also invented three different accents, all meaning the same thing. (The spelling of Demotic has recently been reformed to get rid of the breathings and make all the accents the same.)

Greek view

  • Non-Greek linguists have consistently misinterpreted the meaning of Greek accents, breathings and other dialectical marks which for Greek linguists pose none of the above problems because non-Greek linguists wrongly attribute a musical pitch-accent to Greek whereas Greek linguists attribute a stress accent. [5].

Grammarians accounts

Non-Greek view

  • That when the later grammarians, such as Dionysius Thrax, told their students how the Athenians pronounced the letters, they were making it all up. (Some of their examples suggest that the modern pronunciation was already known, but the grammarians were firmly opposed to it.)

Greek view

  • The description of Greek pronunciation c.100 BC, given by Dionysus Thrax is completely unworkable and unpronounceable using the Erasmian or any other un-Greek system of pronunciation. Dionysios Thrax states that the sound of the letters β, δ, γ was the middle (μέσον) sound produced by combining the letters π, τ, κ with φ, θ, χ respectively, thus "β is the middle (sound) of π and φ", "δ is the middle (sound) of τ and θ" and "γ is the middle (sound) of κ and χ", thus the Greek letters β, δ, γ were voiced and aspirated (v, dh, gh), and the Greek letters φ, θ, χ were aspirated fricatives (f, th, h). According to Dionysios Thrax the sound of ζ is made by the combination of σ and δ or σδ therefore it is pronounced /z/. The study of Greek dialects such as Cretan and Cypriot which through their isolation are believed to better reflect ancient pronunciation, indicates that the letters π, τ, κ are pronounced b, d, g/j. This pronunciation is dominant in traditional and modern Greek music recorded from the 1930's to the present day. [6] [7]

Grammar

Ancient Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages, was highly inflected. For example nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated in four main tenses (present, aorist, perfect, and future), with a full complement of moods for each main tense, although there is no future subjunctive or future imperative. (The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is actually mostly of aspect.) In addition, indicative forms of the imperfect, pluperfect and future perfect exist. There are infinitives and participles for all corresponding finite combinations of tense and voice, excluding the imperfect and pluperfect. However, usage of ancient/obsolete grammatical forms and phrases is becoming increasingly common in current language in the absence of similar modern forms (e.g.: ειρήσθω εν παρόδω, French: a propos ; ευκαιρίας δοθείσης, Latin: data occasione).

Modern Greek has simplified some aspects of this system but is still largely a synthetic language. It is one of the few Indo-European languages that has retained a synthetic passive. The dative is lost except for in a few expressions like εν τάξει (en táxei /ɛn ˈdaˌksi/), which means "OK" (literally: "in order"). Other noticeable changes in its grammar include the loss of the optative, infinitive and the dual number (with the exception of δύο, the numeral two, used undeclined in all cases); the reduction in the number of noun declensions, and the number of distinct forms in each declension; the adoption of the modal particle θα (a corruption of ἐθέλω ἵνα > θέλω να > θε' να > θα) to denote future and conditional tenses; the introduction of auxiliary verb forms for certain tenses; the reduction of participles to only two, one active and one passive; the extension to the future tense of the aspectual distinction between present/imperfect and aorist; the loss of the third person imperative, except in archaicisms such as ζήτω! ('long live!'); and the simplification of the system of grammatical prefixes, such as augmentation and reduplication.

Writing system

Modern Greek is written in the late Ionic variant of the Greek alphabet, the oldest discovered inscriptions of which date to the 8th or 9th Century BCE, assumed its final form in 403 BCE, and displaced other regional variants due to its use for the Attic Koine dialect during the Hellenistic era.

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with a capital and small form: Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ ς (word-final form), Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.

Ancient Greek subordination rules and verbs meaning

Ancient Greek is probably the closest language in syntax to Indoeuropean, spoken by the ancient Indoeuropean population before their migration over Europe. This similiarity has to be noted on the verb meaning, Greek verb, either ancient or modern does not indicate tense,the sensation of time as primary information, but the Greek verb describes the aspect of an action. "Aspect" means the quality of an action seen by the man who is talking or writing. Three aspects are used. The time information coexists with the aspect meaning only in the indicative mode, and only the future express the time in all the modes.

Present: indicates an evolving present action.

Aorist: indicates an action that is done and concluded in the same time or the action on its time of birth, without any time extension, as it is focused on a point, this is probably the hardest tense to translate, because in all modern languages, time is primary, not aspect.

Perfect: that can be stative, resultative or the most common, perfective, which means an action that is finished by the time of speaking, while stative presents the action of himself previously in movement now finished as the result of the previous movement.

  • Present: Tρεχoμεν εις τον ποταμον, we run to the river, in the meaning we continue, are in progress to, we are running to the river.
  • Aorist: Aυτος επεσε, he fell down, without any time extension, he fell, stop, the action ends in the same time of its birth.
  • Perfect: Oι πλειους γεγραφασιν ουτω, the most have written this way, the action is now "perfect", concluded, this is an example of resultative perfect. Kεκτημαι χρηματα, I possess goods, in the sense I possess them because I've bought them, this is an example of stative perfect, this the stative consequence of the action that was previously moving.

The most important rule that directs the Greek subordination is consecutio modorum that is a kind of consecutio temporum less rigid and more flexible. This rule orders the verb in the subordinate sentence, but not in order to express anteriority or posteriority. In fact, this rule orders that the mode of the subordinate sentence has to be storic or present according to the mode of the pricipal sentence. The modes are: indicative, that is storic or present according of which aspect is there, imperfect aorist and perfect, but not all perfect are considered storic indicatives. Subjunctive and imperative are always considered principal modes or present, while optative is always considered a storic mood. Infinite participle always accords to the principal mode. So, an aorist participle often does not express anteriority between his regent and his action. When in the principal, there is a storic indicative the subordinate has to be in the optative mode, doesn't matter which tense this optative is because the verb in Greek does not express time except in the indicative, so a present or aorist or perfect does not express present or anteriority, only the future optative expresses posteriority. When in the principal sentence there is a principal indicative or imperative or subjunctive the subordinate had to adopt sujunctive or indicative, subjunctive is used when the sentence has to express eventuality or consequentiality, indicative when the sentence has to be more certain and to express time. Some examples:

  • O Γυβριας ειπεν οτι Κυρον βυλοιτο ιδειν, Gruibias said that he wanted to see Cyrus, ειπεν is indicative aorist so a storic mode, βυλοιτο is as the rules command present optative ,while ιδειν is aorist infinite and as could be seen by the translation does not express anteriority in relationship to its regent, ειπεν.

Examples

Some common words and phrases

  • Greek (man): Έλληνας, IPA /ˈɛliˌnas/
  • Greek (woman): Ελληνίδα /ˌɛliˈniða/
  • Greek (language): Ελληνικά /ɛˌliniˈka/
  • hello: γεια /ʝa/ (informal, literally "health"), you say this only to people that you know well. When you address a stranger you use the more formal "good morning": καλημέρα /ˌkaliˈmɛɾa/
  • good-bye: αντίο /aˈdiˌo/ (formal), γεια /ʝa/ (informal)
  • please: παρακαλώ /paˌɾakaˈlo/
  • I would like ____ please: θα ήθελα ____ παρακαλώ /θa ˈiθɛˌla ____ paˌɾakaˈlo/
  • sorry: συγγνώμη /ˌsiˈɣnomi/
  • thank you: ευχαριστώ /ɛˌfxaɾiˈsto/
  • that/this: αυτό /ˌaˈfto/
  • how much?: πόσο; /ˈpoˌso/
  • how much does it cost?: πόσο κοστίζει; /ˈpoˌso ˌkoˈstizi/
  • yes: ναι /nɛ/
  • no: όχι /ˈoˌçi/
  • I don't understand: δεν καταλαβαίνω /ðɛŋ gaˌtalaˈvɛno/ (sandhi - see above) or /ðɛŋ kaˌtalaˈvɛno/
  • I don't know: δεν ξέρω /ðɛŋ ˈgzɛˌɾo/ (sandhi - see above) or /ðɛŋ ˈksɛˌɾo/
  • where's the bathroom?: πού είναι η τουαλέτα; /pu ˈiˌnɛ i ˌtuaˈlɛta/
  • generic toast: εις υγείαν! /is iˈʝiˌan/
  • juice: χυμός /ˌçiˈmos/
  • water: νερό /ˌnɛˈɾo/
  • wine: κρασί /ˌkɾaˈsi/
  • beer: μπύρα /ˈbiˌɾa/
  • milk: γάλα /ˈɣaˌla/
  • Do you speak English?: Μιλάτε Αγγλικά; /miˈlaˌtɛ ˌaŋgliˈka/
  • I love you: σ’ αγαπώ /ˌsaɣaˈpo/
  • Help!: Βοήθεια! /voˈiθiˌa/

The Lord's Prayer in Greek (Matt. 6:9-13)

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφελήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ρῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.
Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας·
ἀμήν.


Pater imon, o en tis uranis, ayiasthito to onoma su;
eltheto i basilia su; yenithito to thelima su, os en urano, ke epi tis yis;
ton arton imon ton epiusion dos imin simeron;
ke afes imin ta ofilimata imon, os ke imis afiemen tis ofiletes imon;
ke mi isenengis imas is pirasmon, ala rise imas apo tu poniru.
Oti su estin i basilia, ke i dinamis, ke i doksa is tus eonas;
amin.

The Nicene Creed in Greek

Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, Πατέρα, παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων.
Καὶ εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων. Φῶς ἐκ φωτός, Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο.
Τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ σαρκωθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς Παρθένου καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα.
Σταυρωθέντα τε ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου καὶ παθόντα καὶ ταφέντα.
Καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς.
Καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς καὶ καθεζόμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρός.
Καὶ πάλιν ἐρχόμενον μετὰ δόξης κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς, οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.
Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, τὸ κύριον, τὸ ζωοποιόν, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον, τὸ σὺν Πατρί καὶ Υἱῷ συμπροσκυνούμενον καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον, τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν.
Εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν, καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν Ἐκκλησίαν.
Ὁμολογῶ ἓν βάπτισμα εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν.
Προσδοκῶ ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν.
Καὶ ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος.
Ἀμήν.

References

W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca - a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1968-74. ISBN 0-521-20626-X

Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers (Longman Linguistics Library). Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 0582307090

Crosby and Schaeffer, An Introduction to Greek, Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 1928.

Dionysius of Thrace, "Art of Grammar", "Τέχνη γραμματική", c.100 BC

Chrys C. Caragounis, The error of Erasmus and un-greek pronunciations of Greek, Filologia Neotestamentaria 8 (1995), pp. 151-185.

See also

History of the
Greek language
(see also: Greek alphabet)
Proto-Greek (c3000BC)
Mycenaean (c1600BC-1100BC)
Ancient Greek
Dialects: Ionic, Attic, Doric, Aeolic
Koine Greek (from c323 BC)
Medieval Greek (c330-1453)
Modern Greek (from 1453)
Dialects: Tsakonic, Pontic, Katharevousa

External links

General background

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Language learning

Literature

Typography

Lexica

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