History of Greek Language

Greek is one of the first languages developed in human civilization. It is a part of Indo-European languages spoken by 13.5 million people in the regions of modern-day Greece Italy, Albania, Turkey, and Cyprus. It is also the official language of Greece, Cyprus, and European Union. The roots of this language dated back to around 1500 BC.

Evolution of Greek Language

The history of Greek language starts from Proto Greek language when number of tribes migrated to Greek Peninsula and settled there. In this era, the language was in its adolescent form lacking the alphabet. Greek was written in the two main scripts Linear-A and Linear B.  Linear-A script was developed by the Hellenistic tribes in Balkan Peninsula during Minoan Civilization. Linear A script was similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphs used in Temples and Palaces. Linear-B writing script emerged during Mycenean Civilization and it was the upgraded form of Linear-A script. There is no evidence available on literature produced in the period.

Ancient Greek language was pluricentric meaning having multiple dialects all of the same language. In this period early form of writing was invented by adopting 22 letters from Phoenician and few were its own. The common dialects of ancient Greek language were Classical Attic, Ionic, Athens, Doric, or Macedonian. The great literature like The Illiad, The Odyssey were written by Homer in this period in Ionic Attic dialect.

Classical Greek period is accepted as a golden age of classical Greek Philosophy. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle etc. lived in this timeline. The development of language helped in advancement of scientific work as the alphabet and letters were invented.

Koine Greek Period is also known as the Biblical Greek period because the scriptures (Old and New Testament) were written around this time. The word Koine refers to the language of the common people implying that Attic ionic dialects were spread across the Greek Peninsula. Besides it is also the era of Conquests of Alexander the Great and introducing language in North Africa and Asia. In the Byzantine Empire, the official and administrative language was Greek. Language further flourished during the Ottoman rule.

 

The simplified version of Greek language developed during the Ottoman rule and led to the emergence of Modern Greek. Today Greek language has two forms of dialects, the Demotic (of the people ) and Katharevousa is the literary form of Greek language an combination of both Demotic and Ancient Greek. Modern Greek was adopted as an official language with creation of modern Greek state in the 19^th century and spoken by the people in Greece today.