Peter Mackridge
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199214426
- eISBN:
- 9780191706721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214426.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This chapter discusses the linguistic theory and practice of the chief proponent of language reform at the time, Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). The origins of Korais' linguistic theory are traced to ...
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This chapter discusses the linguistic theory and practice of the chief proponent of language reform at the time, Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). The origins of Korais' linguistic theory are traced to the work of 18th-century theorists, particularly Condillac. His proposals for the reform of the Modern Greek language are analysed in terms of the following: his worship of ancient Greek perfection; his defence of Modern Greek against the aspersions cast on it by the archaists; and his ‘correction’ of Modern Greek according to the morphological rules of Ancient Greek. The chapter ends with an assessment of Korais' contribution to the language question and an account of the impact of Korais' ideas on later developments. The assessment is broadly negative, because Korais lent his enormous prestige to the already existing habit of mixing the modern language with grammatical features of the ancient, thereby encouraging later Greeks to use yet more ancient features in their writing.Less
This chapter discusses the linguistic theory and practice of the chief proponent of language reform at the time, Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). The origins of Korais' linguistic theory are traced to the work of 18th-century theorists, particularly Condillac. His proposals for the reform of the Modern Greek language are analysed in terms of the following: his worship of ancient Greek perfection; his defence of Modern Greek against the aspersions cast on it by the archaists; and his ‘correction’ of Modern Greek according to the morphological rules of Ancient Greek. The chapter ends with an assessment of Korais' contribution to the language question and an account of the impact of Korais' ideas on later developments. The assessment is broadly negative, because Korais lent his enormous prestige to the already existing habit of mixing the modern language with grammatical features of the ancient, thereby encouraging later Greeks to use yet more ancient features in their writing.
Peter Mackridge
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199214426
- eISBN:
- 9780191706721
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214426.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This book provides a history of the great language controversy that has occupied and impassioned Greeks — sometimes with fatal results — for over two hundred years. It begins in the late 18th century ...
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This book provides a history of the great language controversy that has occupied and impassioned Greeks — sometimes with fatal results — for over two hundred years. It begins in the late 18th century when a group of Greek intellectuals sought to develop a new, Hellenic, national identity alongside the traditional identity supplied by Orthodox Christianity. The ensuing controversy focused on the language, fuelled by a desire to develop a form of Greek that expressed the Greeks' relationship to the ancients, and by the different groups'contrasting notions of what the national image so embodied should be. The purists wanted a written language close to the ancient. The vernacularists — later known as demoticists — sought to match written language to spoken, claiming the latter to be the product of the unbroken development of Greek since the time of Homer. The book explores the political, social, and linguistic causes and effects of the controversy in its many manifestations. Drawing on a wide range of evidence from literature, language, history, and anthropology, it traces its effects on spoken and written varieties of Greek and shows its impact on those in use today. The book describes the efforts of linguistic elites and the state to achieve language standardization and independence from languages such as Turkish, Albanian, Vlach, and Slavonic. The sense of national and linguistic identity that has been inculcated into generations of Greeks since the start of the War of Independence in 1821 has, in the last twenty-five years, received blows from which it may not recover. Immigration from Eastern Europe and elsewhere has introduced new populations whose religions, languages, and cultures are transforming Greece into a country quite different from what it has been and from what it once aspired to be.Less
This book provides a history of the great language controversy that has occupied and impassioned Greeks — sometimes with fatal results — for over two hundred years. It begins in the late 18th century when a group of Greek intellectuals sought to develop a new, Hellenic, national identity alongside the traditional identity supplied by Orthodox Christianity. The ensuing controversy focused on the language, fuelled by a desire to develop a form of Greek that expressed the Greeks' relationship to the ancients, and by the different groups'contrasting notions of what the national image so embodied should be. The purists wanted a written language close to the ancient. The vernacularists — later known as demoticists — sought to match written language to spoken, claiming the latter to be the product of the unbroken development of Greek since the time of Homer. The book explores the political, social, and linguistic causes and effects of the controversy in its many manifestations. Drawing on a wide range of evidence from literature, language, history, and anthropology, it traces its effects on spoken and written varieties of Greek and shows its impact on those in use today. The book describes the efforts of linguistic elites and the state to achieve language standardization and independence from languages such as Turkish, Albanian, Vlach, and Slavonic. The sense of national and linguistic identity that has been inculcated into generations of Greeks since the start of the War of Independence in 1821 has, in the last twenty-five years, received blows from which it may not recover. Immigration from Eastern Europe and elsewhere has introduced new populations whose religions, languages, and cultures are transforming Greece into a country quite different from what it has been and from what it once aspired to be.
Nikolaos Lavidas and Dimitra Papangeli
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264102
- eISBN:
- 9780191734380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264102.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter discusses an investigation of deponent verbs that bear the middle/passive morphology of the Greek language and take an object in the accusative case. It attempts to determine whether ...
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This chapter discusses an investigation of deponent verbs that bear the middle/passive morphology of the Greek language and take an object in the accusative case. It attempts to determine whether there exist any systematic factors from the areas of syntax and semantics that influence the presence of deponent verbs throughout the history of the Greek language. It is concluded that deponent verbs require an independent theoretical explanation, which is drawn from the properties of morphology.Less
This chapter discusses an investigation of deponent verbs that bear the middle/passive morphology of the Greek language and take an object in the accusative case. It attempts to determine whether there exist any systematic factors from the areas of syntax and semantics that influence the presence of deponent verbs throughout the history of the Greek language. It is concluded that deponent verbs require an independent theoretical explanation, which is drawn from the properties of morphology.
Helma Dik
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279296
- eISBN:
- 9780191706905
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279296.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book approaches word order in Greek tragic dialogue from the perspective of language rather than metre. The tragic poets engaged in mimesis of natural dialogue; therefore the analysis of the ...
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This book approaches word order in Greek tragic dialogue from the perspective of language rather than metre. The tragic poets engaged in mimesis of natural dialogue; therefore the analysis of the linguistic characteristics of the dialogue precedes exploration of the metrical dimension, on the assumption that poets would not be overly constrained by the iambic trimeter, which, after all, was the most natural speaking verse according to Aristotle. The book analyses the word order of tragic dialogue in pragmatic terms, arguing that, in sentences, words functioning as Topic (the ‘starting point’ of an utterance) or Focus (the most salient piece of information) will come early, and that other less important words will follow. Similarly, the position of adjectives within noun phrases is analysed as a function of their relative salience rather than in terms of their semantics. This approach aims to account for word order in sentences generally, but it also allows for a new interpretation of familiar phenomena in Greek, such as ‘postponed interrogatives’. The book concludes with a commentary on the word order in four passages of Sophocles' Electra.Less
This book approaches word order in Greek tragic dialogue from the perspective of language rather than metre. The tragic poets engaged in mimesis of natural dialogue; therefore the analysis of the linguistic characteristics of the dialogue precedes exploration of the metrical dimension, on the assumption that poets would not be overly constrained by the iambic trimeter, which, after all, was the most natural speaking verse according to Aristotle. The book analyses the word order of tragic dialogue in pragmatic terms, arguing that, in sentences, words functioning as Topic (the ‘starting point’ of an utterance) or Focus (the most salient piece of information) will come early, and that other less important words will follow. Similarly, the position of adjectives within noun phrases is analysed as a function of their relative salience rather than in terms of their semantics. This approach aims to account for word order in sentences generally, but it also allows for a new interpretation of familiar phenomena in Greek, such as ‘postponed interrogatives’. The book concludes with a commentary on the word order in four passages of Sophocles' Electra.
Tessa Rajak
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199558674
- eISBN:
- 9780191720895
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558674.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was a major translation in Western culture. This literary and social study is about the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and ...
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The first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was a major translation in Western culture. This literary and social study is about the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and about their impact. The book shows how the Greek Bible served the Jewish diaspora for over half a millennium, providing the foundations of life for a highly text-centred ethnic and religious minority as they fell under the pressures of the powerful imperial cultures of Greece and Rome, and of a dominant, ‘colonial’ language, Greek. Those large communities of the eastern Mediterranean, with their converts and sympathizers, determined the pattern of Jewish existence outside Palestine for centuries. Far from being isolated and inward-looking, they were, we now know, active members of their city environments. Yet they were not wholly assimilated. The book asks exactly how the translations operated as tools for the preservation of group identity and how, even in their language, they offered a quiet cultural resistance. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of the remarkable hybrid culture of Hellenistic Judaism, during the process of the Church's long drawn-out parting from the Synagogue. That transference allowed the recipients to sideline Christianity's original Jewishness and history to be re-written. In this book, history is recovered and a great cultural artifact is restored to its proper place.Less
The first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was a major translation in Western culture. This literary and social study is about the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and about their impact. The book shows how the Greek Bible served the Jewish diaspora for over half a millennium, providing the foundations of life for a highly text-centred ethnic and religious minority as they fell under the pressures of the powerful imperial cultures of Greece and Rome, and of a dominant, ‘colonial’ language, Greek. Those large communities of the eastern Mediterranean, with their converts and sympathizers, determined the pattern of Jewish existence outside Palestine for centuries. Far from being isolated and inward-looking, they were, we now know, active members of their city environments. Yet they were not wholly assimilated. The book asks exactly how the translations operated as tools for the preservation of group identity and how, even in their language, they offered a quiet cultural resistance. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of the remarkable hybrid culture of Hellenistic Judaism, during the process of the Church's long drawn-out parting from the Synagogue. That transference allowed the recipients to sideline Christianity's original Jewishness and history to be re-written. In this book, history is recovered and a great cultural artifact is restored to its proper place.
Dimitris N. Maronitis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199288076
- eISBN:
- 9780191713439
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288076.003.0017
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter scrutinises intralingual translation in the wider context of interlingual translation, while focusing specifically on the translation of ancient Greek texts into modern Greek. In the ...
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This chapter scrutinises intralingual translation in the wider context of interlingual translation, while focusing specifically on the translation of ancient Greek texts into modern Greek. In the process, it sheds light on certain problems and dilemmas that interlingual translation has bequeathed to intralingual translation, both on a theoretical and a practical level, such as: a) the degree of translatability of classical texts; b) the conventional distinctions between scholarly, word-for-word translations and freer, literary ones; and c) the dilemma between a ‘retrospectively’ linguistic and stylistic translation, and a synchronic translation. The chapter also attempts to sketch, classify, and comment upon the long history of intralingual translation from Greek antiquity to the present day, and to discuss in detail the ideologically motivated comparisons of and conflicts between ancient and modern Greek with particular reference to intralinguistic translations. It draws attention to and exemplifies certain positive and certain negative or problematic aspects of intralingual translation, as the latter has been and is still practised in the educational, academic, and public space of modern Greece.Less
This chapter scrutinises intralingual translation in the wider context of interlingual translation, while focusing specifically on the translation of ancient Greek texts into modern Greek. In the process, it sheds light on certain problems and dilemmas that interlingual translation has bequeathed to intralingual translation, both on a theoretical and a practical level, such as: a) the degree of translatability of classical texts; b) the conventional distinctions between scholarly, word-for-word translations and freer, literary ones; and c) the dilemma between a ‘retrospectively’ linguistic and stylistic translation, and a synchronic translation. The chapter also attempts to sketch, classify, and comment upon the long history of intralingual translation from Greek antiquity to the present day, and to discuss in detail the ideologically motivated comparisons of and conflicts between ancient and modern Greek with particular reference to intralinguistic translations. It draws attention to and exemplifies certain positive and certain negative or problematic aspects of intralingual translation, as the latter has been and is still practised in the educational, academic, and public space of modern Greece.
T. V. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198270102
- eISBN:
- 9780191683909
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270102.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book is a study of verbal syntax that addresses the entire Greek Pentateuch and investigates the value of these translations as evidence for the history of the Greek language. The nature and ...
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This book is a study of verbal syntax that addresses the entire Greek Pentateuch and investigates the value of these translations as evidence for the history of the Greek language. The nature and degree of Hebrew interference are assessed, including analysis of Hebrew text components underlying all Greek verbal forms in the Pentateuch. This data allows conclusions to be drawn on natural Greek usage of aspect, tense, and mood. Their implications extend well beyond the special issues of translation Greek, casting significant light on the development of the verbal system in the Koine period, the period in which a non-dialectic form of the Greek language was used, post-Alexander the Great.Less
This book is a study of verbal syntax that addresses the entire Greek Pentateuch and investigates the value of these translations as evidence for the history of the Greek language. The nature and degree of Hebrew interference are assessed, including analysis of Hebrew text components underlying all Greek verbal forms in the Pentateuch. This data allows conclusions to be drawn on natural Greek usage of aspect, tense, and mood. Their implications extend well beyond the special issues of translation Greek, casting significant light on the development of the verbal system in the Koine period, the period in which a non-dialectic form of the Greek language was used, post-Alexander the Great.
David Langslow
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600755
- eISBN:
- 9780191738791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600755.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter undertakes a provisional reassessment, first, of Polybius' Greek against nine syntactic/stylistic features, comparing his usage with that of both classical and later Hellenistic ...
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This chapter undertakes a provisional reassessment, first, of Polybius' Greek against nine syntactic/stylistic features, comparing his usage with that of both classical and later Hellenistic historians; and, secondly, of the influence of Latin on his Greek syntax and vocabulary. It suggests on the strength of examples and case studies a series of working hypotheses for further investigation, including the following: that Polybius' use of (near)synonyms is less haphazard than is often supposed; that his similes and metaphors contain further evidence of his natural fondness for everyday language; and that, notwithstanding the last, he may occasionally use syntax or vocabulary to allude to a famous predecessor historian.Less
This chapter undertakes a provisional reassessment, first, of Polybius' Greek against nine syntactic/stylistic features, comparing his usage with that of both classical and later Hellenistic historians; and, secondly, of the influence of Latin on his Greek syntax and vocabulary. It suggests on the strength of examples and case studies a series of working hypotheses for further investigation, including the following: that Polybius' use of (near)synonyms is less haphazard than is often supposed; that his similes and metaphors contain further evidence of his natural fondness for everyday language; and that, notwithstanding the last, he may occasionally use syntax or vocabulary to allude to a famous predecessor historian.
Fernanda Moore
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199212989
- eISBN:
- 9780191594205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212989.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter contrasts La Chanson de Roland's successful canonization as France's national epic with the Byzantine epic Digenes Akrites, which seemed destined to serve the same function for Modern ...
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This chapter contrasts La Chanson de Roland's successful canonization as France's national epic with the Byzantine epic Digenes Akrites, which seemed destined to serve the same function for Modern Greece when it was rediscovered in 1868. However, Digenes’ manuscript problems became embroiled in contentious and crippling debates between demoticists and purists. The epic suffered further from Henri Grégoire's erudite but naive attempt to ground it in historical fact and from his failure to link the poem to the current political climate. By contrast, Gaston Paris, France's pre‐eminent late nineteenth‐century medievalist, secured Roland's spot at the head of the French literary canon by appealing to nationalist sentiment and establishing a powerful analogy between the France of the poetic Charlemagne and the nineteenth‐century French nation. A close examination of each scholar's methods reveals the cultural and intellectual climate necessary to produce a national epic.Less
This chapter contrasts La Chanson de Roland's successful canonization as France's national epic with the Byzantine epic Digenes Akrites, which seemed destined to serve the same function for Modern Greece when it was rediscovered in 1868. However, Digenes’ manuscript problems became embroiled in contentious and crippling debates between demoticists and purists. The epic suffered further from Henri Grégoire's erudite but naive attempt to ground it in historical fact and from his failure to link the poem to the current political climate. By contrast, Gaston Paris, France's pre‐eminent late nineteenth‐century medievalist, secured Roland's spot at the head of the French literary canon by appealing to nationalist sentiment and establishing a powerful analogy between the France of the poetic Charlemagne and the nineteenth‐century French nation. A close examination of each scholar's methods reveals the cultural and intellectual climate necessary to produce a national epic.
T. P. WISEMAN
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264010
- eISBN:
- 9780191734946
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264010.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, ...
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This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, conventionally called Mycenaean. The destruction of the palace centres – at Knossos, Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes – was responsible for preserving the ‘Linear B’ tablets, which form the earliest evidence for the Greek language. By the sixth century, Greek city-states were established widely round the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This is the time of what is sometimes called ‘the Greek miracle’, the origin of philosophy and science as well as historiography. The chapter draws attention to three archaeological discoveries and the way their evidential value has been assessed: a gold mask, discovered in 1876 in the first of the ‘shaft graves’ at Mycenae, the so-called tomb of Agamemnon; an artefact discovered in 1977 by the Dutch archaeological team excavating the temple of Matuta at the Latin town of Satricum; and a gold bulb, or locket, discovered in 1794.Less
This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, conventionally called Mycenaean. The destruction of the palace centres – at Knossos, Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes – was responsible for preserving the ‘Linear B’ tablets, which form the earliest evidence for the Greek language. By the sixth century, Greek city-states were established widely round the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This is the time of what is sometimes called ‘the Greek miracle’, the origin of philosophy and science as well as historiography. The chapter draws attention to three archaeological discoveries and the way their evidential value has been assessed: a gold mask, discovered in 1876 in the first of the ‘shaft graves’ at Mycenae, the so-called tomb of Agamemnon; an artefact discovered in 1977 by the Dutch archaeological team excavating the temple of Matuta at the Latin town of Satricum; and a gold bulb, or locket, discovered in 1794.
David H. Price
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394214
- eISBN:
- 9780199894734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394214.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Not the study of antiquity in isolation but the ideal of a seamless unity of classicism and Christianity is what made Johannes Reuchlin's humanist perspective compelling to the scholars and students ...
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Not the study of antiquity in isolation but the ideal of a seamless unity of classicism and Christianity is what made Johannes Reuchlin's humanist perspective compelling to the scholars and students of his time. Although well-known as the founder of Christian Hebrew studies, Reuchlin also emerges as a harbinger of the recovery of Greek language, literature, early Christian writings, and biblical philology. This chapter defines Renaissance humanism (the studia humanitatis) and traces Reuchlin's contributions to the movement, in particular, to the evolution of Christian humanism. His contributions to early printing and the career of Philipp Melanchthon are also assessed.Less
Not the study of antiquity in isolation but the ideal of a seamless unity of classicism and Christianity is what made Johannes Reuchlin's humanist perspective compelling to the scholars and students of his time. Although well-known as the founder of Christian Hebrew studies, Reuchlin also emerges as a harbinger of the recovery of Greek language, literature, early Christian writings, and biblical philology. This chapter defines Renaissance humanism (the studia humanitatis) and traces Reuchlin's contributions to the movement, in particular, to the evolution of Christian humanism. His contributions to early printing and the career of Philipp Melanchthon are also assessed.
Torsten Meissner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280087
- eISBN:
- 9780191707100
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280087.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book deals with one aspect of Greek and Proto-Indo-European nominal morphology: the formation, inflection, and semantics of s-stem nouns and adjectives. It uncovers the mechanisms of their ...
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This book deals with one aspect of Greek and Proto-Indo-European nominal morphology: the formation, inflection, and semantics of s-stem nouns and adjectives. It uncovers the mechanisms of their creation and shows their limitation. The established view that the nouns are an unproductive category is challenged; at the same time, the expanding and partly changing nature of the basis governing the creation of the adjectives is explained. Morphology and semantics are studied in tandem, and a large chronological span of the Greek language is covered. The historical side is then extended into prehistory, and in particular the Greek evidence is tested against recent theories on Proto-Indo-European ablaut, leading to a reassessment of the morphonological characteristics in question.Less
This book deals with one aspect of Greek and Proto-Indo-European nominal morphology: the formation, inflection, and semantics of s-stem nouns and adjectives. It uncovers the mechanisms of their creation and shows their limitation. The established view that the nouns are an unproductive category is challenged; at the same time, the expanding and partly changing nature of the basis governing the creation of the adjectives is explained. Morphology and semantics are studied in tandem, and a large chronological span of the Greek language is covered. The historical side is then extended into prehistory, and in particular the Greek evidence is tested against recent theories on Proto-Indo-European ablaut, leading to a reassessment of the morphonological characteristics in question.
CATHERINE OSBORNE
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198267669
- eISBN:
- 9780191683336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198267669.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
In the Patristic period, the education and background of the writers are reflected in their writings. The same is also true of the New Testament, which was not written in a vacuum. The New Testament ...
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In the Patristic period, the education and background of the writers are reflected in their writings. The same is also true of the New Testament, which was not written in a vacuum. The New Testament writers were writing in Greek and clearly inherited with their Greek language a certain amount of the prevailing Greek culture; but they also came from a background more or less strongly influenced by Semitic languages and styles of thought. Our immediate concern now is not with the overall style or characteristics of the New Testament, but with one particular feature that has been considered significant; that is, the prominence of the noun agape (love). It might seem more plausible to argue that agape appeared in the New Testament because the writers were familiar with the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, this also is insufficient to account for the facts.Less
In the Patristic period, the education and background of the writers are reflected in their writings. The same is also true of the New Testament, which was not written in a vacuum. The New Testament writers were writing in Greek and clearly inherited with their Greek language a certain amount of the prevailing Greek culture; but they also came from a background more or less strongly influenced by Semitic languages and styles of thought. Our immediate concern now is not with the overall style or characteristics of the New Testament, but with one particular feature that has been considered significant; that is, the prominence of the noun agape (love). It might seem more plausible to argue that agape appeared in the New Testament because the writers were familiar with the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, this also is insufficient to account for the facts.
Susan Hockey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198711940
- eISBN:
- 9780191694912
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198711940.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter looks at how text-analysis tools can be used for literary analysis, and what is needed to make these new modes of scholarship happen. It also attempts to cut through the criticism of ...
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This chapter looks at how text-analysis tools can be used for literary analysis, and what is needed to make these new modes of scholarship happen. It also attempts to cut through the criticism of literary computing to survey a number of projects and methodologies. It investigates methodologies which have helped to throw new light on and to derive new knowledge about works of literature, drawing attention to pitfalls and problems. Many of these projects are based on concordance and word-count applications, but computers can help to study sound patterns in verse and the structure of some kinds of dramatic works.Less
This chapter looks at how text-analysis tools can be used for literary analysis, and what is needed to make these new modes of scholarship happen. It also attempts to cut through the criticism of literary computing to survey a number of projects and methodologies. It investigates methodologies which have helped to throw new light on and to derive new knowledge about works of literature, drawing attention to pitfalls and problems. Many of these projects are based on concordance and word-count applications, but computers can help to study sound patterns in verse and the structure of some kinds of dramatic works.
Peter Mackridge
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199672752
- eISBN:
- 9780191774324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672752.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The priest and teacher Neofytos Doukas (c.1760–1845) was one of the chief proponents of linguistic archaism in modern Greece. A romantic religious nationalist, he believed that the Greeks (i.e. the ...
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The priest and teacher Neofytos Doukas (c.1760–1845) was one of the chief proponents of linguistic archaism in modern Greece. A romantic religious nationalist, he believed that the Greeks (i.e. the Orthodox Christians who recognized the Patriarch of Constantinople as their religious leader) should learn to speak Ancient Greek as their natural language. This chapter analyses the ideological presuppositions behind Doukas’ rhetoric (with its mixture of pagan Greek, Jewish, and Christian references) within the context of the Greek language question and nation-building, and against the background of attitudes to the Ancient Greek language adopted by other leading contemporaneous Greek intellectuals. The chapter also compares and contrasts Doukas’ failed attempt to revive Ancient Greek as a spoken language with the successful revival of Hebrew in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.Less
The priest and teacher Neofytos Doukas (c.1760–1845) was one of the chief proponents of linguistic archaism in modern Greece. A romantic religious nationalist, he believed that the Greeks (i.e. the Orthodox Christians who recognized the Patriarch of Constantinople as their religious leader) should learn to speak Ancient Greek as their natural language. This chapter analyses the ideological presuppositions behind Doukas’ rhetoric (with its mixture of pagan Greek, Jewish, and Christian references) within the context of the Greek language question and nation-building, and against the background of attitudes to the Ancient Greek language adopted by other leading contemporaneous Greek intellectuals. The chapter also compares and contrasts Doukas’ failed attempt to revive Ancient Greek as a spoken language with the successful revival of Hebrew in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
W. Underhill James
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638420
- eISBN:
- 9780748671809
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638420.003.0012
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
This chapter develops the idea that discerning and defining the character of the language is the ultimate goal of Humboldt's research. All comparative studies had to be based upon comparing their ...
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This chapter develops the idea that discerning and defining the character of the language is the ultimate goal of Humboldt's research. All comparative studies had to be based upon comparing their characters. The thrust of this ethnolinguistic adventure still proves inviting and fruitful. But the author demonstrates that this aspect also turns out to be the weak point in Humboldt's project. The great linguist manages to achieve a profound insight into the grammatical working of multiple languages, and he understands the importance and the specific nature of the way many foreign authors are using and transforming the character of their languages. Nevertheless, the author shows that Humboldt does fall into clichés, in attributing to the language the qualities of individual authors.Less
This chapter develops the idea that discerning and defining the character of the language is the ultimate goal of Humboldt's research. All comparative studies had to be based upon comparing their characters. The thrust of this ethnolinguistic adventure still proves inviting and fruitful. But the author demonstrates that this aspect also turns out to be the weak point in Humboldt's project. The great linguist manages to achieve a profound insight into the grammatical working of multiple languages, and he understands the importance and the specific nature of the way many foreign authors are using and transforming the character of their languages. Nevertheless, the author shows that Humboldt does fall into clichés, in attributing to the language the qualities of individual authors.
Garth Fowden
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520236653
- eISBN:
- 9780520929609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520236653.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
This chapter bridges the gap between the iconographical studies and the hoped-for historical conclusions by examining those aspects of the monument that can not just show the identity and ideas of ...
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This chapter bridges the gap between the iconographical studies and the hoped-for historical conclusions by examining those aspects of the monument that can not just show the identity and ideas of the patron, but also the social and intellectual milieu in which that patron lived and sought to communicate with his fellow men. Two very different but equally suggestive paintings are explored. The chapter addresses the linguistic environment and other comparable structures. Study of Quṣayr 'Amra's use of texts and labels in the Arabic and Greek languages offers hope of a more explicit approach to the problem of cultural contextualization. The chapter moves on beyond the venues of contextualization suggested by the frescoes and the texts inscribed upon them, to consider the problem from the perspective of the whole site. The typical Syrian or Jordanian qaQuṣr served primarily as the residence of a prosperous man, and his family, retainers, and fighters.Less
This chapter bridges the gap between the iconographical studies and the hoped-for historical conclusions by examining those aspects of the monument that can not just show the identity and ideas of the patron, but also the social and intellectual milieu in which that patron lived and sought to communicate with his fellow men. Two very different but equally suggestive paintings are explored. The chapter addresses the linguistic environment and other comparable structures. Study of Quṣayr 'Amra's use of texts and labels in the Arabic and Greek languages offers hope of a more explicit approach to the problem of cultural contextualization. The chapter moves on beyond the venues of contextualization suggested by the frescoes and the texts inscribed upon them, to consider the problem from the perspective of the whole site. The typical Syrian or Jordanian qaQuṣr served primarily as the residence of a prosperous man, and his family, retainers, and fighters.
Vangelis Karamanolakis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199672752
- eISBN:
- 9780191774324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672752.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The University of Athens played a decisive role in forming the modern Greek conception of Greek antiquity and the way it was perceived by the general public. This chapter attempts to explore the ...
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The University of Athens played a decisive role in forming the modern Greek conception of Greek antiquity and the way it was perceived by the general public. This chapter attempts to explore the multi-faceted dominance of antiquity within the university by contrast with the two other significant periods of the Greek ancestral narrative (Byzantine and modern). In particular, it focuses on two important factors relating to the Greek sense of national identity: the formation of a national history and the Greek language question. Seen as an integral part of the 3,000-year continuum of the Greek nation, the very notion of Greek antiquity was expanded chronologically in the university curriculum and subjected to various methodological approaches in the interests of promoting the aspirations of the nation through the shaping of the Humanities in Greece.Less
The University of Athens played a decisive role in forming the modern Greek conception of Greek antiquity and the way it was perceived by the general public. This chapter attempts to explore the multi-faceted dominance of antiquity within the university by contrast with the two other significant periods of the Greek ancestral narrative (Byzantine and modern). In particular, it focuses on two important factors relating to the Greek sense of national identity: the formation of a national history and the Greek language question. Seen as an integral part of the 3,000-year continuum of the Greek nation, the very notion of Greek antiquity was expanded chronologically in the university curriculum and subjected to various methodological approaches in the interests of promoting the aspirations of the nation through the shaping of the Humanities in Greece.
Sophia Papaioannou
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198810810
- eISBN:
- 9780191847950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810810.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Eugenios Voulgaris, whose Greek translation of Virgil’s epic is the subject of this chapter, is another example of how translation was used for cultural ideology. Voulgaris, who was invited by ...
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Eugenios Voulgaris, whose Greek translation of Virgil’s epic is the subject of this chapter, is another example of how translation was used for cultural ideology. Voulgaris, who was invited by Catherine the Great of Russia to serve as archbishop of Cherson and Slaviansk, translated the Aeneid into Homeric Greek. This odd translation also had a pronounced pedagogical mission for an intended audience that was not Russian, but rather belonged to the Greek diaspora. Furthermore, as Papaioannou shows, Voulgaris’s strange undertaking was closely intertwined with Catherine’s political and cultural aspirations: her ‘Greek Project’, which aimed at projecting Russia both as a Western military power in the likeness of Rome and as the heir to Greek Orthodox Byzantium.Less
Eugenios Voulgaris, whose Greek translation of Virgil’s epic is the subject of this chapter, is another example of how translation was used for cultural ideology. Voulgaris, who was invited by Catherine the Great of Russia to serve as archbishop of Cherson and Slaviansk, translated the Aeneid into Homeric Greek. This odd translation also had a pronounced pedagogical mission for an intended audience that was not Russian, but rather belonged to the Greek diaspora. Furthermore, as Papaioannou shows, Voulgaris’s strange undertaking was closely intertwined with Catherine’s political and cultural aspirations: her ‘Greek Project’, which aimed at projecting Russia both as a Western military power in the likeness of Rome and as the heir to Greek Orthodox Byzantium.
Margaret Alexiou and Douglas Cairns (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474403795
- eISBN:
- 9781474435130
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474403795.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This volume brings together an international team of scholars to explore the shifting shapes and functions of laughter and tears in the history, religion, art and literature of Greek communities from ...
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This volume brings together an international team of scholars to explore the shifting shapes and functions of laughter and tears in the history, religion, art and literature of Greek communities from Antiquity to Byzantium and beyond. What makes us laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time? How do these two primal, seemingly discrete and non-verbal modes of expression intersect in the everyday life and ritual of Greek communities, and what range of emotions do they entail? How may they be voiced, shaped and coloured in literature and liturgy, art and music? What happens when laughter and tears slip into each other and back again? What can we learn about human emotions and communicative modes across the ages, genres and cultures of Hellenic civilisation? The book breaks new ground in tracing the emotional, socio-cultural, religious and literary aspects of laughter and tears in a range of different artistic, cultural and historical contexts, across the longue durée of Greek civilisation. It brings students of ancient and Byzantine emotion into dialogue and shows how much is to be gained by collaborating across the disciplinary and chronological boundaries that demarcate the historical study of the Greek world.Less
This volume brings together an international team of scholars to explore the shifting shapes and functions of laughter and tears in the history, religion, art and literature of Greek communities from Antiquity to Byzantium and beyond. What makes us laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time? How do these two primal, seemingly discrete and non-verbal modes of expression intersect in the everyday life and ritual of Greek communities, and what range of emotions do they entail? How may they be voiced, shaped and coloured in literature and liturgy, art and music? What happens when laughter and tears slip into each other and back again? What can we learn about human emotions and communicative modes across the ages, genres and cultures of Hellenic civilisation? The book breaks new ground in tracing the emotional, socio-cultural, religious and literary aspects of laughter and tears in a range of different artistic, cultural and historical contexts, across the longue durée of Greek civilisation. It brings students of ancient and Byzantine emotion into dialogue and shows how much is to be gained by collaborating across the disciplinary and chronological boundaries that demarcate the historical study of the Greek world.