Grammar of the Greek language: DIALECTS OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE

DIALECTS OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE

DIALECTS OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE

1. The Greek language was divided into many different dialects, the most highly cultivated of which were the Æolic, Doric, Ionic, and Attic. The Æolic prevailed in Bœotia, Thessaly, and in the Æolian colonies in Asia Minor; the Doric, throughout the Peloponnesus, and in the Dorian colonies in Asia Minor, Italy, and Sicily; the Ionic, in the Ionian colonies in Asia Minor; the Attic, in Attica.

2. The Æolic and Doric dialects are characterized by harshness and roughness, being the opposite of the Ionic, which is distinguished for delicacy and softness. The Attic dialect holds a beautiful medium between the two former and the Ionic, as it skilfully combines the soft and pleasant forms of the Ionic with the strong and full-toned forms of the Doric.

3. The Ionic dialect is divided into the Older and the Later Ionic. The older Ionic is the language of Homer and of his school, although these poets were not satisfied with their own dialect merely, but were able, in accordance with the true principles of art, to select, from all the dialects, those forms which corresponded to the nature of their poetry; and to employ—since the regular laws of versification had much influence in forming the language — a peculiar and definite poetic language, called the Epic, or Homeric. This had a great effect on the language of all the Greek poets even to the latest times. We find the later Ionic in the works of the historian Herodotus, born 484 B. C., and of Hippocrates, b. 460 B. C.

4. The Attic dialect is divided, in accordance with certain peculiarities, into the Older, the Middle, and the Later Attic. The older is used by Thucydides, b. 472 B. C.; the tragic poets; Æschylus, who died 456 B. C.; Sophocles, b. 497 B. C., d. 405 B. C.; Euripides, b. 480 B. C.; and the more ancient comic writers, e. g. Aristophanes, d. 390 B. C.; by several orators, e. g. Antiphon, b. 479 B. C., and Andocides, b. 467 B. C. The middle Attic is used by Plato, b. 430 B. C.; Xenophon, b. 447 B. C.; and the orator Isocrates, b. B. C. 436. The later Attic is employed by Demosthenes, b. 385 B. C., and other orators, the later comic writers, and the prose authors in more recent times, who sought to preserve in their works the language of the earlier writers.

5. After the freedom of the Greeks had been destroyed by Philip, king of Macedon, the Attic dialect came to be the common written language. As it extended, not only over all Greece, but also over the Macedonian provinces of Syria and Egypt, it lost much of its peculiar stamp by the introduction of foreign forms and words, and it then received the name of the Common, or Hellenic language, ἡ κοινή, or Ἑλληνικὴ διάλεκτος. It was used, e. g. by Apollodorus, Diodorus, and Plutarch.

1. The Greek language was divided into many different dialects, the most highly cultivated of which were the Æolic, Doric, Ionic, and Attic. The Æolic prevailed in Bœotia, Thessaly, and in the Æolian colonies in Asia Minor; the Doric, throughout the Peloponnesus, and in the Dorian colonies in Asia Minor, Italy, and Sicily; the Ionic, in the Ionian colonies in Asia Minor; the Attic, in Attica.

2. The Æolic and Doric dialects are characterized by harshness and roughness, being the opposite of the Ionic, which is distinguished for delicacy and softness. The Attic dialect holds a beautiful medium between the two former and the Ionic, as it skilfully combines the soft and pleasant forms of the Ionic with the strong and full-toned forms of the Doric.

3. The Ionic dialect is divided into the Older and the Later Ionic. The older Ionic is the language of Homer and of his school, although these poets were not satisfied with their own dialect merely, but were able, in accordance with the true principles of art, to select, from all the dialects, those forms which corresponded to the nature of their poetry; and to employ—since the regular laws of versification had much influence in forming the language — a peculiar and definite poetic language, called the Epic, or Homeric. This had a great effect on the language of all the Greek poets even to the latest times. We find the later Ionic in the works of the historian Herodotus, born 484 B. C., and of Hippocrates, b. 460 B. C.

4. The Attic dialect is divided, in accordance with certain peculiarities, into the Older, the Middle, and the Later Attic. The older is used by Thucydides, b. 472 B. C.; the tragic poets; Æschylus, who died 456 B. C.; Sophocles, b. 497 B. C., d. 405 B. C.; Euripides, b. 480 B. C.; and the more ancient comic writers, e. g. Aristophanes, d. 390 B. C.; by several orators, e. g. Antiphon, b. 479 B. C., and Andocides, b. 467 B. C. The middle Attic is used by Plato, b. 430 B. C.; Xenophon, b. 447 B. C.; and the orator Isocrates, b. B. C. 436. The later Attic is employed by Demosthenes, b. 385 B. C., and other orators, the later comic writers, and the prose authors in more recent times, who sought to preserve in their works the language of the earlier writers.

5. After the freedom of the Greeks had been destroyed by Philip, king of Macedon, the Attic dialect came to be the common written language. As it extended, not only over all Greece, but also over the Macedonian provinces of Syria and Egypt, it lost much of its peculiar stamp by the introduction of foreign forms and words, and it then received the name of the Common, or Hellenic language, ἡ κοινή, or Ἑλληνικὴ διάλεκτος. It was used, e. g. by Apollodorus, Diodorus, and Plutarch.