Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

(Some entries are included in more than one category) 1. Ancient Grammatical Theory Allegory ( allēgoría), Ancient Theories of Ancient Philosophers on Language Ancient Prose Rhythm Aorist ( aóristos), Ancient Theories of Case ( ptôsis), Ancient Theories of Declension/Conjugation ( klísis), Ancient Theories of Dialectology ( diálektos), Ancient Theories of Diathesis ( diáthesis), Ancient Theories of Etymology ( etumología), Ancient Theories of Figures ( skhḗmata), Ancient Theories of Linguistic Correctness ( hellēnismós), Ancient Theories of Metaphor ( metaphorá), Ancient…

Abstract   See Semantic Change See Euphemism and Dysphemism See Aischrology Bibliography  

Abstract This article outlines the study of Ancient Greek in Italy from its beginnings in the Roman world down to the modern age. The long-standing tradition of the teaching of Ancient Greek (AG) in Italy is rooted in at least the Roman world. Suetonius ( Gram. 1.2) claims that Livius Andronicus, the initiator of Latin literature, and Ennius were recorded to have taught in both languages [i.e., Greek and Latin] in Rome and abroad. Further, Ennius used to say that he had three hearts because he could speak Greek, Oscan, and Latin ( Gell. NA 17.17). These and a variety of other testimonies (Joyal e…

Abstract The teaching of Ancient Greek is closely associated with the aims and objectives it is called to fulfill in the educational system in each country. The long history of the teaching of Greek reveals that the subject has been approached as a high quality educational good on the grounds it nurtured students’ linguistic and mental development. For over two centuries, the main emphasis was placed primarily on form, i.e., grammar and syntax, leaving little space for interpretation and meaning.…

Abstract Temporal clauses are subordinate clauses that express the reference time with respect to which the main clause must be interpreted. They usually have a finite verbal form, but with some markers the infinitive can instead be selected. Functionally, temporal clauses are equivalent to time adverbials or to prepositional phrases with temporal meaning. They tend to appear in an iconical order with respect to the main clause: temporal clauses referring to a prior event usually appear before th…

Abstract This contribution focuses on tense and aspect in post-Classical and early Byzantine Greek. After discussing some recent contributions concerning so-called ‘Biblical Greek’, there follows an overview of the diachronic evolution of the temporal-aspectual system. A number of main structural tendencies are outlined, such as the loss of the synthetic Perfect and Future, the restructuring of the verbal system on the basis of two aspects and the use of periphrastic constructions.  1. Introduction Ancient (Classical) Greek is commonly said to have seven synthet…

Abstract Tense and aspect are two different verbal categories in Ancient Greek. Tense refers externally to the moment when a certain event takes place, be it either in the past, in the present or in the future. Aspect, also known as ‘grammatical aspect’, refers to the internal temporal characteristics of the event, that is, if it is still in its development (imperfective), or if it is considered to be a finished event (perfective), or, finally, if it is considered to be finished but has left some…

Abstract The Greek term khrónos denotes the values both of time and tense. In the latter sense, it refers to one of the eight temporal attributes of the verb. Each of the six paradigms of the indicative (present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, aorist, future) is a khrónos . The analysis of the respective values of the various khrónoi, proposed by the Greek grammarians appeals principally to a temporality pivoted about the moment of enunciation. However, some modal usages (optative, imperative) of the present and aorist stems led the ancient analysts…

Abstract Text linguistics is the part of linguistics that studies texts as communication systems. Text linguistics takes into account not only the form of a text, but also its setting, its (linguistic and non-linguistic, situational) context. Text linguistics was developed in order to account for phenomena that could not be described by means of a sentence-based approach. More or less simultaneously, from the 1970s onwards, text linguistics entered the study of Ancient Greek as well. It brought n…