Introduction. The Greek Language

Greek is the language of a people inhabiting not only the mainland of Greece, but also the islands of the Aegean Sea and the adjacent shores, together with a small part of Italy. The Greeks called themselves Hellenes (Ἕλληνες), but the Romans called them Graeci, and hence the English word Greek.

The Greek language belongs to the Indo-European group of languages, and is related to Sanskrit, Latin, Persian, Slavonic, Celtic, and Germanic. Hence comes the relation which exists between many English and Greek words. A greater number of English words, however, are derived directly from Greek words. For example, English know is the same as Greek γι-γνώ-σκω, but the English words gnomic and arithmetic are derived from the Greek γνωμικός and ἀριθμητική.

For over twenty-five hundred years Greek has been spoken and written, with such changes as are inevitable in the growth and development of any language, but the masterpieces of Greek literature were written some centuries before the Christian era. In the neighborhood of 400 b.c. Greek may be said to have reached its highest development, and it is customary to take the language of that time as a sort of standard.

In ancient times the Greek people did not all speak their language just alike, but each little country had its own dialect, which often differed considerably from the dialect of a neighboring country only a few miles away. All the dialects may be roughly divided into three different groups; namely, Aeolic, Doric, and Ionic. To the Ionic group belongs the Ionic dialect proper, together with the dialect of Attica, which is known as Attic.

In the Ionic dialect were written, among other things, the poems of Homer and Hesiod, and the history of Herodotus. In the Attic dialect were written nearly all the other great works of Greek literature which have come down to us, and which, either directly, or through the medium of their Latin imitations, have influenced to such a vast extent the literature of the world. The dramatic poets Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, the historians Thucydides and Xenophon, the orators Lysias and Demosthenes, and the philosopher, Plato, all wrote in the Attic dialect.

Attic, the most elegant and refined of all the Greek dialects, finally superseded the others in literary use. At the same time it began to lose some of its earlier purity and refinements, and after about 330 b.c. it is known as the κοινή or Common Greek. From this Common Greek there was evolved in the long course of years, with a considerable admixture of foreign elements, the present language of the Greek people, Romaic or Modern Greek.

Modern Greek differs so considerably from Ancient Greek, that, although a knowledge of it is helpful, yet one can soonest learn to comprehend the great works of Greek literature by studying directly the language of Ancient Greece.

This grammar deals only with the Attic and Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek.