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Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. Its symbolic boundaries start with the transfer of the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330 AD, and end with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD, spanning therefore more than a millennium. As Medieval Greek co-exists with the history of the Byzantine Empire, another term often used to describe the language of the period is Byzantine Greek.
History When the capital of the Roman Empire was transferred to Constantinople in the 4th century AD, the official language of the state continued to be Latin, yet the literary and spoken language of the entire Eastern part of the Empire continued to be Greek. Greek was also the language of the church and education, while the university preserved a diglossia between the two. Even though this new Greco-Latin diglossia lasted more than two centuries, the Byzantine emperors had been favouring the official use of Greek over Latin since the beginning. Latin was preserved on inscriptions and coinage until the 11th c. AD. The separation of the mixed or non Greek-speaking populations of the Western part of the Empire, accelerated the Hellenisation of the Eastern one. Later, when Greek dynasties of emperors established themselves on the Byzantine throne and changed the official language of the public services, Greek displaced Latin completely. The Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire retained the Roman name, and the medieval Greek state of Byzantium continued to refer to itself as "Ρωμανία" (Rome) long after the city of Rome and the western half of the Roman Empire were overrun by barbarians. Eventually "Romans" (Ρωμαίοι) became a synonym for "Greeks" (Έλλην); the name "Ρωμαίοι" (Romans) was used as a title of prestige, which symbolised the awe of the old Roman Empire, and typically declared the land claims of the Byzantine state. Evolution from Hellenistic to Medieval Koine The cultural and linguistic center of the Greek World during the Byzantine era, as it had once been Athens, was Constantinople. The capital acts as a linguistic center on Byzantine Hellenism, for both literary (Atticist) and popular-vulgar (spoken) forms of speech. The diglossia in Byzantium is defined by the medieval literary Koine, which has elements of archaism (equivalent to the Hellenistic Atticism), and the spoken or popular Koine which is the authentic successor of Koine Greek. In the way that the Western scholars use Classical Latin for their literary work, the Byzantines tend to use archaisms with elements of Atticism, and usually try to imitate in their works, in speech and manner, the great attic writers-models of the classical period. Paul the Silentiary writes at the time of Justinian I his "Description of Hagia Sophia" (Έκφρασιν του Ναού της Αγίας Σοφίας) with iambs and Homeric hexameters that were characterised as a dark and poetic language. The historians Procopius and Critobulus imitate Thucydides while Anna Comnena has a general Atticist literary style. The members of the Church up until the 4th c. AD follow the example of the Apostles and use the Medieval Koine. However from the 4th century and forth, the language of the church becomes Atticistic due to the intervention of the Cappadocian Fathers who had been educated in Greek schools of rhetoric. In that respect, the Church is using the older language of the Greeks in order to fight off their older pagan religion. By that time most of the popular masses had already been converted to Christianity, however the introduction of the Atticistic language attracts also rich Greek pagans of higher social status. Thus the Atticist rhetoric helped the Byzantine state to fight off the heresies, and the vernacular Koine enhanced the literary speech with elements from the spoken language. While there was a constant interaction and mutual influence between the written (namely the widely diffused text of the Gospels) and the spoken language, both vary significantly depending on the time or place that they were spoken, written or recorded. Thus, while the spoken language of the early centuries is still similar to the Hellenistic Koine , from the eight century onwards it takes up a form much nearer to Modern Greek, even though in vernacular texts, in their most part written down by educated monks and literati, the language is distorted so as to match the rules of classical Greek grammar. Vocabulary Due to the long-term diglossia between Latin and Greek, Medieval Greek borrowed various linguistic elements from the Latin language, many of which survive in Modern Greek — most having to do with administration, politics, public life, as well as everyday objects. A number of Latin words and popular phrases can be traced in Medieval Greek include the following (bold marking signifies assimilation to the language and survival into Modern Greek): Common phrases Court titles Αύγουστος (Avgoustos, Augustus), Καίσαρ (kesar, Caesar), πρίγκιψ (Prinkips, Prince), κόμης (Komis, Count), μάγιστρος (magistros, magister), κοιαίστωρ (quaestor), σιλεντιάριος, παλάτιον (palation, palace), κουροπαλάτης, ακτουάριος, καγκελλάριος (kankellarios, chancellor), σακελλάριος, τιτουλάριος (titoularios, title-bearer), οφφικιάλος (offikialos, an official). Names Μαγναύρα, etc. Nouns Αξούγγιον (axyggion, xigi, animal fat), βερίκοκον (verikokon, apricot), βίγλα (vigla, sentry), βούκα/μπούκα (bouka, point of entry, mouth), γούλα, εξέμπλιον, καλαμάριον (kalamarion, squid), καλλίγιον, κάγκελον (kankellon, railing), κάρβουνον (karvounon, coal), κουβούκλιον (kouvouklion, cubicle), στέρνα (sterna, cistern), λουκάνικον (loukanikon, sausage), λωρίον (> λουρί) (lorion, strap), μάγκιψ, μάγουλον (magoulon, cheek), μακελλάρης (makellaris, butcher), μανίκιον (manikion, sleeve), μαρούλιον (maroulion, lettuce), μενσάλιον, μίλλιον (million, mile), μουλλάριον (moularion, mule), οσπίτιον (ospition, house), παλούκιον (paloukion, stake or pike), πανάριον (panarion, breadbasket), πέδικλον, πουγγίον (poungion, purse), σέλλα (sella, saddle), σέρβουλον, σκαμνίον (skamnion, sitting stool), σκουτέλλιον, στάβλος (stavlos, stable), ταβέρνα (taverna, tavern), τάβλα (tavla, table), φλάσκα (flaska, flask), φόρος (foros, forum, later: tax), φούρκα (fourka, pitchfork), φούρνος (fournos, furnace), λάβαρον (lavaron, banner), βούλλα (voula, bulla, seal), τίτλος (titlos, title), αντιμήνσιον, κανδήλιον (kandilion, candle), μανουάλιον (manoualion, manual), φαιλόνιον (felonion, a priestly vestment), καλένδαι (kalendai, kalends), βίσεκτος/δίσεκτος (visektos, disektos, a leap year), etc. Adjectives Βαρβάτος (varvatos, bearded), βένετος, μπλάβος (blavos, blue) etc. Verbs Ακκομβίζω, βουλλώνω (boulono, to seal), καβαλικεύω (kavalikevo, to mount a horse), κανακεύω (kanakevo, to dote), μισσεύω (missevo, to emigrate), πλουμίζω (ploumizo, to embellish), φουρνίζω (fournizo, to bake) etc. Suffixes Phonology In phonology, both rare and common innovations described in Koine Greek become more generalised. | ||||||||
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