Similarities Between Greek and Sicilian

In this video, we compare some of the common words between Sicilian (sicilianu) and Greek (ελληνικά) with Gaia, representing Sicilian, and Athina, as the Greek speaker.

The Greek history in Sicily goes back to the 8th century BCE when the first Greek colonies were founded in eastern Sicily as the Chalcidian Greeks founded Zancle, Naxos, Leontinoi and Katane. The Corinthians founded Syracuse and the Megareans Megara Hyblaea, while the Cretans and Rhodians founded Gela.

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.

Sicilian is a Romance language primarily spoken on the Italian island of Sicily.

[joececere]

My parents were born outside of Naples in 1934 and came to USA as teenagers. I’m 62 years old now and found out about two years ago that I have 25 % Greek ancestry after taking one of those DNA tests. No one in my family ever knew of any Greek ancestry. Anyway now I tell anyone who will listen how proud I am of being of Greek descent. I had recently bought the flag of Greece to fly next to my American and Italian flag.

[parisalexandrou]

I like that the Sicilian girl's name is Gaia (=Γαία in Greek), which means Earth... And nobody noticed that

[leonoranorman]

Thank you . I truly enjoyed this. I’m Sicula American
My mother was born in Calatafimi. Talk about our culture and language being so colorful . I love to keep on learning … Grazie Mille
Una razza una faccia !!!

[hassanalast]

Good to know about some of the common words between Sicilian and Greek

[fivetimesyo]

I adore the way Athina speaks greek!! I have said this in every episode she's been in. It's just so beautiful!

[GeorgesChannel]

Great video. Gaia (Miss Earth) totally looks like a classic greek beauty. Love Sicilian people, very much like us. Btw i am a greek from german diaspora.

[cirocbusato]

In Portuguese:

cirasa / κεράσι (kerási) = cereja
fantasimu / φάντασμα (fántasma) = fantasma
codda / κόλλα (kólla) = cola
cunigghiu / κουνέλι (kounéli) = coelho
raloggiu / ρολόι (rolói) = relógio
arpa / άρπα (árpa) = harpa

[Athena-]

Being from the province of Reggio Calabria, we share many words with the sicilian dialect. Also here in Calabria as well as in Salento (Puglia) there are minorities of greek speaking communities. They speak a variant of greek, not the modern one.

[Paulo]

cherry = cereja
glue = cola
rope/chord = corda
harp = harpa
ghost = fantasma
rabbit/bunny = coelho
clock/watch = relógio
diamond = diamante
See how similiar the words in Portuguese are.
Greetings from Brazil.

[eaglemars]

Languages are the evidence of our history. They speak for us

[ElTompito]

I am Hungarian, and there were many Greek words that we write in Hungarian only with a different meaning.. for example: kóros, árpa, apó

[AjitJoshi]

Both are Goddesses name . Athena & Gaia

[fivetimesyo]

My goodness the Mediterranean must really have the elixir of beauty in its waters.

[ArniPara]

Loved this 💕 As for the first Greek word for a young boy (koros), in Cypriot Greek we still use its feminine form -- Kori -- to address girls we're friends with. Only in the vocative form, but yes, ever so frequently!

Well done, all of you. It was fun to play along and find out new nuggets of information :)

[MrTziazas]

In Cyprus till this day we use the word “Koroua” which means young girl !

[petera]

Another word in Sicilian is "bucale" a glass pitcher to dispense water. I believe there is a similar word in Greek that means glass bottle.

[franzaepinus]

This video is really fascinating because it demonstrates the Greek history that is very ancient in Sicily actually going back to the foundation of the first Greek colonies around the mid 8th century BC. The Greeks of Sicily were known as Siceliotes. Over the following centuries many conflicts between the city-states occurred until around 276 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus managed to conquer the whole island except Carthaginian Lilybaeum. After the First Punic War in 241 BC the island was conquered by the Romans.

[emanueletardino]

In some calabrian villages and in the sicilian city of Messina there are people who speaks old greek

[lamaalnajjar]

Fasolia is also beans in Arabic! In standard Arabic we’d add an additional “a” to the word. And can be pronounced as Fasoliaa’ .
Great video!

[_juan.joao_]

Thank you from the video! I loved it as, according to MyHeritage, I am 88% Greek/southern Italian :)