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[[Image:Odyssey.jpg|right]]

'''Greek''' is one of the continuously written languages since antiquity. It dates as a written language from 800 BC as the language of [[Homer]] and continues continuously to the present day, as four to five different language forms through time. It is an [[Indo-European language]].

'''Greek''' is an [[Indo-European language]], primarily spoken in [[Greece]] and [[Cyprus]]. It is one of the few continuously written languages since antiquity, though the modern form differs significantly from the classical dialect. It dates as a written language from 800 BC, and was as the language of the poet [[Homer]].

Homeric Greek, or simply ''Homeric'' is the earliest literary language, a form of Attic-Ionic. There is late Archaic Greek, which follows Homeric, and culminates in Classical Greek, with [[Aeschylus]] and [[Sophocles]], and then later Classical Greek, with [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]], into the plays of [[Euripides]] and [[Aristophanes]].  

Homeric Greek is one of the earliest literary languages, a form of Attic-Ionic. Archaic Greek followed Homeric, and culminated in Classical Greek with [[Aeschylus]] and [[Sophocles]], and then later Classical Greek, with [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] and the plays of [[Euripides]] and [[Aristophanes]].

The Greek spread by [[Alexander the Great]] was literary. By the 1st century AD, it evolved into Koine Greek. Koine Greek, meaning Common Greek, is comparable to [[Vulgar Latin]] because both Koine Greek and Vulgar Latin had phonological changes and simplifications in grammar and syntax that differed from Classical Greek and Classical Latin. This was the Greek in use in [[Palestine]] at the time of [[Jesus]] and was the language of the [[New Testament]]. Greek was the common trade language of the [[Roman Empire]].

The Greek spread by [[Alexander the Great]] was literary. By the 1st century AD, it had evolved into Koine Greek ("common" Greek), which is comparable to [[Vulgar Latin]]. Koine Greek and Vulgar Latin had phonological changes and simplifications in grammar and syntax that differed from Classical Greek and Classical Latin. This was the Greek in use in [[Palestine]] at the time of [[Jesus]] and was the language of the [[New Testament]]. Greek was the common trade language of the [[Roman Empire]].

Some centuries before, the [[Jews]] of Alexandria rendered a version of the [[Old Testament]] into Greek, the [[Septuagint]] (LXX), ('the seventy' or 'seventy-two' based on the number of translators). This version of the Old Testament differs from that used by most [[Protestants]] who use the [[Masoretic Hebrew]] text, but continues to be used by the [[Catholics]] (in [[Latin]]) and by the Greek [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] (untranslated).

Some centuries before, the [[Jews]] of Alexandria rendered a version of the [[Old Testament]] into Greek, the [[Septuagint]] (LXX), ("the seventy" or "seventy-two" based on the number of translators). This version of the Old Testament differs from that used by most [[Protestants]], who use the [[Masoretic Hebrew]] text, but continues to be used by the [[Catholic Church]] (in [[Latin]]) and by the Greek [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] (untranslated).

The early Greek language no longer exists in a spoken form today, modern Greek being as different from Classical Greek as Old English is from current English.  

The Greek language is divided up into three moods and three voices; the three moods being the indicative, subjunctive and optative, and the three voices being the active, passive and middle. Greek syntax and linguistic structure is similar to Latin, with several words sharing links with one another (for example, the word "pater").{{fact}} Ancient Greek is notorious for having a large proportion of irregular verbs; the scholar L. A. Wilding has calculated that most verbs show some degree of inconsistency.{{fact}}

 

Modern Greek is the modern variety of the Greek language, but separate from ancient Greek. It is the primary language of Greece and Cyprus.

== See Also ==

== See Also ==