Doric Greek
From Freepedia
Image:Greek dialects.png Doric Greek is an ancient Greek dialect; it was likely introduced to mainland Greece from the Balkans during the Dorian invasion, and in classical times it was spoken in large parts of the Peloponnese, plus Crete and Rhodes.
It preserves long a (alpha) where southern dialects change it to long open e (eta), as in γᾶ μάτηρ (gā mātēr) "earth mother" — Attic and Koine γῆ μήτηρ (gē mētēr), and preserves original -τι (-ti) endings that Attic changed to -σι (-si) for instance in the third person plural ending -οντι (-onti) — Attic/Koine -ουσι (-ousi).
Early authors who wrote in Doric were Alcman and Ibycus of Rhegium. During Hellenism, under the influence of Theocritus, the Doric dialect became associated with rural, pastoral ("bucolic") poetry. In English, "Doric" can be used as a synonym for "pastoral" because of this, compare e.g. the "Doric lay" of John Milton's Lycidas. From this usage, a rural variety of Lowland Scots is sometimes referred to as the "Doric dialect".
North-Western Greek is very similar to Doric, but while the Doric dialect came to some literary fame, it is only known from inscriptions. One Shibboleth between Doric and NW Greek is the NW Dative plural in -ois (instead of -si), taken from the pronoun, e.g. tois podois "to the feet".
See also
| History of the Greek language (see also: Greek alphabet) |
| Proto-Greek (c3000BC)
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| Mycenaean (c1600BC-1100BC)
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| Ancient Greek Dialects: Ionic, Attic, Doric, Aeolic |
| Koine Greek (from c323 BC)
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| Medieval Greek (c330-1453)
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| Modern Greek (from 1453) Dialects: Tsakonic, Pontic, Katharevousa |
