Ancient Greek
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
This text serves as an introduction to Classical Greek, appropriate for a first year course. A fluent knowledge of English is presumed.
This text is in the development phase. Please join the discussion if you'd like to contribute.
Contents |
[edit] Before You Begin
As you probably already know, Greek and English use different alphabets. Because of this, you need to download and install a Greek font to properly view any of the following pages. If you don't, they will appear as gibberish. Below, you should see the first line of the Iliad.
-
- μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
Don't worry if you can't read the letters yet (that's the first lesson). You should see five words with a few types of accents. If you see question marks or boxes (even if you see a few Greek letters interspersed), you need to install a font which supports Polytonic Unicode Greek, or upgrade your browser. If the size of the font makes reading uncomfortable for you, you may wish to adjust your browser or display settings.
[edit] Table of Contents
[edit] Chapter I: Introduction to Classical Greek
[edit] I.i Preface
[edit] I.ii The Greek Alphabet
[edit] I.iii The Dialects of Ancient Greek
A single language can comprise several different dialects, which are often dictated by geography. Consider the word aunt. In the Northeast of the United States, the word is often pronounced "ont"; in the South, however, one often hears it pronounced "aint"; in the Midwest, it is pronounced "ant".
So it was with Ancient Greek. Unlike American English, however, differences in Greek dialects led to differences not only in pronunciation, but in spelling, as well. Thus, in the Attic dialect the word for "sea" is θάλαττα, with a "t" sound. In the Ionic and Doric dialects, however, the word is spelled θάλασσα, with an "s" sound. Sometimes vowel sounds shift between dialects. For example, the Attic word μήτηρ ("mother") in Doric becomes μάτηρ. Ancient Greek has a number of dialects, chief among them being Attic, Ionic, Doric and Aeolic. Due to its prevalence in ancient Greek literature, Attic Greek is considered the "standard" form of the language, and is the dialect studied in most Greek language textbooks.
[edit] Chapter II: Basic Parts of Speech
[edit] II.i The Greek Noun
[edit] II.ii The Greek Verb
[edit] External Links
- The Perseus Classics Library at Tufts university has texts, grammars, and dictionary tools.
- For more free language-learning materials on classical Greek go to Textkit's website at http://www.textkit.com
- Greek Language Course and Libraries at Elpenor; audio files, forums, select links.
