The Greek Language: From the Past to the Present and Everything in Between

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. The earliest written evidence of Greek is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world’s oldest recorded living language.

But wait, there’s more! Did you know that the ancient Greeks believed that their language was a gift from the gods? According to legend, the god Hermes created the Greek alphabet and taught it to mortals so that they could communicate with the gods. How cool is that?

The Greek language has gone through many changes over time. It has been conventionally divided into several periods: Proto-Greek, Mycenaean Greek, Ancient Greek, Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, and Modern Greek. Each period has its own unique characteristics and quirks. For example, did you know that Ancient Greek had three genders for nouns (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative)? That’s a lot of grammar rules to remember!

Greek has been spoken for over 3,000 years and has a long and rich history stretching all the way from the thirteenth century B.C. to the present. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years 1. Previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary.

Greek holds a very important place in the history of Western civilization. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon. Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, they constitute objects of study in Classics.

Sources: 

Greek language | Definition, Alphabet, Origin, & Facts | Britannica

2000horrocksrev.pdf (ohio-state.edu)