Can Modern Greeks Understand Ancient Greek?

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Ancient Greek vs Modern Greek!
In today's video we'll take a look at how well modern Greek speakers understand Ancient Greek. Contrary to what many people think, "Ancient Greek" is not a dead language, just like many other languages, the modern form of the language is not completely separate. Language is a living entity and it changes and evolves over the course of time, and this is precisely the case with the Greek language. It starts with Ancient Greek with its different dialects and continues to Koine Greek. Throughout the 4th century BCE, Alexander spread the Greek culture and language throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East and Greek became the lingua franca of a vast region. Between the 5th century until the end of the Middle Ages the Greek language evolved into the stage known as the medieval Greek or Byzantine Greek (Eastern Roman empire) that would ultimately develop into what we know today as modern Greek.

The world owes a huge debt of gratitude to the ancient Greeks for so much that we take for granted. Western civilization would not be what it is today without the Greeks. From the concept of democracy, which gets its name from the Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (demokratía), to the Olympics, “Ὀλυμπικός (Olumpikós)” in Ancient Greek, to the immense contributions to science, math, philosophy, architecture, engineering, biology, astrology, linguistics, medicine, and of course the numerous Greek inventions.

I am very happy to feature the Ancient Greek language in this video! This is a language that has had a massive global impact, and there are various terms which come from Ancient Greek being used in every corner of the world. The Greek alphabet is the basis of the Latin and Cyrillic writing systems used in English and many different languages today, and the Greek letters are utilized in math and science everywhere. Even the terms mathematics “μαθηματικός (mathematikós)”, physics “φυσικός (phusikós)”, pharmacy “φαρμακεία (pharmakeía)”, and many others are derived from Ancient Greek.

Quite simply, we have all benefited from the Ancient Greek language and culture. I hope you enjoy the video.

The statements in the video are from:

- Nicomachean Ethics (Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια) - By Aristotle
- Odyssey (Ὀδύσσεια) - By Homer
- The Apology of Socrates (Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους) - By Plato
- Critias (Κριτίας): An ancient Athenian political figure and author

Greek (ελληνικά) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages with a written record of over 3,000 years, easily making it the oldest documented Indo-European language. The Greek alphabet, originating from the Phoenician script, was the basis of numerous other scripts, such as Latin, Cyrillic, Coptic, Gothic, and Armenian. The Greek language has virtually impacted other languages in every corner of the world, being an important component of Western civilization, the Christian religion, and the language of some of the fundamental texts of science, astronomy, and mathematics. The Greek language today holds official status in Greece and Cyprus, and is recognized as a minority language in Albania, Armenia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Ukraine.
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Contrary to what many people think, "Ancient Greek" is not a dead language. Language is a living entity and it changes and evolves over the course of time, and this is precisely the case with the Greek language. Ancient Greek with its different dialects evolved to Koine Greek which eventually evolved into medieval Greek or Byzantine Greek, which ultimately developed into what we know today as modern Greek. Hope you enjoy this one and if you want to participate in future video please contact me on Instagram.

BahadorAlast
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Hello everyone ❤️ This is Athina from the video. I hope everyone enjoyed this video and learned something new.I would like to clarify that I used the "modern" day pronunciation of ancient Greek meaning the pronunciation that we are being taught in schools today in the ancient Greek subject. That being said we are not using the Erasmian pronunciation that many people may know:). I hope I did well on the video. A big big thank you to Bahador for giving me the opportunity to experience this beautiful process and a big thanks to Nikos and Stavros.
Xoxoxo❤️

athina
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Of all the peoples, only the Greeks, without having been taught ancient Greek, can read and understand several texts written in their language 2700 years ago.

wardafournello
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Wow!! That's so fascinating and I loved Athina ❤ As a native Arabic speaker I know there's a lot of history between Arabic and Greek dating back to many centuries ago. Greek was a lingua franca in many parts of the Middle East.

minaal-lami
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That proves that Greek is one evolving language. These guys were clueless in ancient Greek, they didn't even know the word 'gar" (well, because) or ouk (not), yet they managed to translate or get a complete meaning of Plato and Homer in such a short time, without even seeing it writen

TMPOUZI
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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle

samspear
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You outdid yourself on this one! Wow! Such intelligence and kindness. I really enjoyed it. Thanks!

dragasan
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This is great! Would be really interesting to get a native Cypriot, or even a speaker of another dialect of Greek & someone who speaks Ancient Greek too, as those dialects has a lot of ‘archaic’ words like πόθεν etc

charlieg
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This is amazing!! I enjoyed every minute of it.
❤🇬🇷🇬🇷❤

zhyrupg
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A very influential language that shaped our civilization 🇬🇷

louisfisher
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One of the most creative and inspiring nations in the world. You’re one of a kind, Greece. Ζήτω η Ελλάδα! 🇬🇷✨

elizaa.
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This was so fun and enjoyable. As a beginner level Greek student very useful as well. Thank you ❤🇬🇷

emmahirschfeld
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I always love your videos, and thanks for yet another great one. This one is especially close to my heart, as I am a student of modern Greek. I am also fascinated by ancient Greek and the similarities and differences. Thank you to everyone who participated and Athena, you were brilliant.

naamashang
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how refreshing is this channel! Big up and cheers from France

damien.bonneau
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Love you Greece! Our historical enemeies and contemporary friends 😁
Greetings to our ancient rivals from Iran ❤

sepidehzandi
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Marvelous job by everyone!! Thank you for the highly educational content!! 💓

gloriamccarthy
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Thank you Bahador 😊 another awesome episode

jmudikun
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Very interesting and cool!
Love from Turkey ❤🇬🇷🇹🇷❤

berkcandar
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6:22 They are both right. Apparently Nicomachus is the name of both the father of Aristotle and his son.

MrEVAQ
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as an Indian, I find it interesting that we have Unani (literally Greek) system of medicine. It's even officially taught in university and practiced.

aprendoespanol