Noun

Singular Greek

Plural countable and uncountable; plural Greeks

Greek (countable and uncountable; plural Greeks)

1. (countable) An inhabitant, resident, or a person of descent from Greece.
2. (US, countable) A member of a college fraternity or sorority, which are commonly characterised by being named after Greek letters. (See also Greek system)

   "Was Joe a Greek in college?"

3. (Can we verify this sense?) (uncountable) Unintelligible speech or text, such as foreign speech or text, or regarding subjects the listener is not familiar with, such as mathematics or technical jargon; or statements that the listener does not understand or agree with.
   • 1821, Mary Jane Mackenzie, Geraldine, or Modes of faith and practice, page 8:

     "I don't hear one word in ten that they say," continued Mrs. Abingdon; "it's Greek to me. However, ..."

   • 1859, Kinahan Cornwallis, Two journeys to Japan, 1856-7, Volume 2, page 246:

     "It's all Greek to me," said my companion at the outset, but as the warrior continued, his fears arose within him; it might be sentence of death — what did he know what it might not be?

   • 1951 December, “Which Kind of Life Insurance Policy?”, Changing Times - The Kiplinger Magazine, vol. 5, no. 12, page 28: 

     ...preferred risk...family maintenance...20-pay life. That's a bare sampling of the merchandise you're asked to pick and choose from. If it sounds like Greek to you, don't worry. It sounds like Greek to most people.

Greek (ελληνικά, IPA: [eliniˈka] or ελληνική γλώσσα, IPA: [eliniˈci ˈɣlosa]), an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It has been spoken as the major language of the Ancient Classical World, and it then became the official language of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. In its modern form, it is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 23 official languages of the European Union. Spoken by approximately 13 million people inside Greece, including minority and emigrant communities worldwide in numerous parts of the world, its written form uses the Greek alphabet. Many modern languages, such as the English language, have adopted words from Greek. The English language has over 50,000 words in its lexicon which are derived from the Greek language, especially in the arts of the Sciences, Medicine, and other fields of studies and literature.

Greek (Ελληνικά "Hellenic") is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people, mainly in Greece. It is one of the world's oldest recorded living languages.

Contents

• 1 Ancient Sources
  • 1.1 Historians
• 2 Modern Sources
  • 2.1 Historians
  • 2.2 Linguists
• 3 External links

Ancient Sources

Historians

• Holy shadows of the dead, I’m not to blame for your cruel and bitter fate, but the accursed rivalry which brought sister nations and brother people, to fight one another. I do not feel happy for this victory of mine. On the contrary, I would be glad, brothers, if I had all of you standing here next to me, since we are united by the same language, the same blood and the same visions.
  • Alexander the Great addressing the dead Greeks of the battle of Chaeronia. Curtius Rufus, "Historia"

Modern Sources

Historians

• He was still in a world of Greek gods and sacrifices, of Greek plays and Greek language, though the natives might speak Greek with a northern accent which hardened 'ch' into 'g','th' into 'd' and pronounced King Philip as Bilip.
  • Robin Lane Fox, "Alexander the Great", p.30

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Thu Sep 2 21:21:13 2010