This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Byzantine Greek is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| History of the Greek language (see also: Greek alphabet) |
| Proto-Greek (c. 2000 BC)
|
| Mycenaean (c. 1600–1000 BC)
|
| Ancient Greek (c. 1000–330 BC) Dialects: Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, Attic-Ionic, Doric, Locrian, Pamphylian; Homeric Greek. Possibly Macedonian. |
| Koine Greek (c. 330 BC–330)*
|
| Medieval Greek (330–1453)
|
| Modern Greek (from 1453) Dialects: Cappadocian, Cretan, Cypriot, Demotic, Griko, Katharevousa, Pontic, Tsakonian, Yevanic
|
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek (ISO639-3: gkm1), is a cover term for all forms of the Greek language that were spoken and written during the time of the Byzantine Empire. It is conventionally dated as beginning some time between the 4th and 6th centuries BC and lasting until the mid-15th century.
"Medieval Greek" refers not to a linguistically homogeneous form of Greek, but a whole spectrum of divergent varieties within the developing system of Greek diglossia.2 The spoken vernacular language developed on the basis of earlier spoken Koine Greek, and reached a stage that in many ways resembles present-day Modern Greek in terms of grammar and phonology by the turn of the first millenium AD. Written literature reflecting this demotic Greek begins to appear around 1100. Side by side with the spoken vernacular, most written Greek maintained consciously archaic forms. These forms can be further subdivided into different stylistic registers. They ranged from a moderately archaic style employed for most every-day writing and based mostly on the written Koine of the Bible and early Christian literature, to a highly artificial learned style, employed by authors with higher literary ambitions and closely imitating the model of classical Attic, in continuation of the movement of Atticism in late antiquity.
Notes
Further reading
- Andriotis, N. History of the Greek language.
- Tonnet, Henri. Histoire du grec moderne.
- Horrocks, G. Greek: A history of the language and its speakers.
 |
This language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
External links
- Use of Greek in the Byzantine Empire
- Grammar of Medieval Greek Project (1100-1700), University of Cambridge
|
||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 7 January 2009, at 12:54.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Byzantine Greek".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.