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| Medieval Greek | |
|---|---|
| Byzantine Greek | |
Ῥωμαϊκή | |
| Region | EasternMediterranean (Byzantine Empire) : SouthernBalkans,Asia Minor,Byzantine Crimea,Cyprus,Southern Italy |
| Era | c. 600–1500 AD |
| Greek alphabet | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Byzantine Empire |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | el |
| ISO 639-2 | grc |
| ISO 639-3 | grc(i.e. withAncient Greek[1]) |
qgk | |
| Glottolog | medi1251 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Medieval Greek (also known asMiddle Greek,Byzantine Greek, orRomaic; Greek:Ῥωμαϊκή)[a] is the stage of theGreek language between the end ofclassical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of theMiddle Ages, conventionally dated to theOttoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
From the 7th century onwards, Greek was the only language of administration and government in theByzantine Empire. This stage of language is thus described as Byzantine Greek. The study of the Medieval Greek language and literature is a branch ofByzantine studies, the study of the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire.
The conquests ofAlexander the Great, and the ensuingHellenistic period, had caused Greek to spread throughoutAnatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean. The beginning of Medieval Greek is occasionally dated back to as early as the 4th century, either to 330 AD, when the political centre of theRoman Empire was moved toConstantinople, or to 395 AD, the division of the empire. However, this approach is rather arbitrary as it is more an assumption of political, as opposed to cultural and linguistic, developments. Indeed, by this time the spoken language, particularly pronunciation, had already shifted towards modern forms.[2]
Medieval Greek is the link between the oldervernacular, known asKoine Greek, andModern Greek.[2] Though Byzantine Greek literature was still strongly influenced byAttic Greek, it was also influenced by vernacular Koine, which is the language of theNew Testament and the liturgical language of theGreek Orthodox Church.
Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople) in 330. The city, though a major imperial residence like other cities such asTrier,Milan andSirmium, was not officially a capital until 359. Nonetheless, the imperial court resided there and the city was the political centre of the eastern parts of theRoman Empire where Greek was the dominant language. At first,Latin remained the language of both the court and the army. It was used for official documents, but its influence waned. From the beginning of the 6th century, amendments to the law were mostly written in Greek. Furthermore, parts of the RomanCorpus Iuris Civilis were gradually translated into Greek. Under the rule of EmperorHeraclius (610–641 AD), who also assumed the Greek titleBasileus (βασιλεύς, 'monarch') in 610, Greek became the official language of theEastern Roman Empire.[4] This was in spite of the fact that the inhabitants of the empire still considered themselvesRhomaioi ('Romans') until its end in 1453,[5] as they saw their State as the perpetuation of Roman rule. Latin continued to be used on the coinage until the ninth century and in certain court ceremonies for even longer.
Despite the absence of reliable demographic figures, it has been estimated that less than one third of the inhabitants of the Eastern Roman Empire, around eight million people, were native speakers of Greek.[6] The number of those who were able to communicate in Greek may have been far higher. The native Greek speakers consisted of many of the inhabitants of the southernBalkan Peninsula, south of theJireček Line, and all of the inhabitants ofAsia Minor, where the native tongues (Phrygian,Lycian,Lydian,Carian etc.), exceptArmenian in the east, had become extinct and replaced by Greek by the 5th century. In any case, all cities of the Eastern Roman Empire were strongly influenced by the Greek language.[7]
In the period between 603 and 619, the southern and eastern parts of the empire (Syria,Egypt,North Africa) were occupied by PersianSassanids and, after being recaptured byHeraclius in the years 622 to 628, were conquered by the Arabs in the course of theMuslim conquests a few years later.
Alexandria, a centre of Greek culture and language, fell to the Arabs in 642. During the seventh and eighth centuries, Greek was gradually replaced by Arabic as an official language in conquered territories such as Egypt,[7] as more people learned Arabic. Thus, the use of Greek declined early on in Syria and Egypt. The invasion of the Slavs into the Balkan Peninsula reduced the area where Greek and Latin was spoken (roughly north of a line fromMontenegro toVarna on theBlack Sea inBulgaria). Sicily and parts ofMagna Graecia, Cyprus, Asia Minor and more generally Anatolia, parts of theCrimean Peninsula remained Greek-speaking. The southern Balkans which would henceforth becontested between Byzantium and various Slavic kingdoms or empires. The Greek language spoken by one-third of the population of Sicily at the time of the Norman conquest 1060–1090 remained vibrant for more than a century, but slowly died out (as did Arabic) to a deliberate policy of Latinization in language and religion from the mid-1160s.[citation needed]
From the late 11th century onwards, the interior of Anatolia was invaded bySeljuq Turks, who advanced westwards. With theOttoman conquests of Constantinople in 1453, the Peloponnese in 1459 or 1460, theEmpire of Trebizond in 1461, Athens in 1465, and two centuries later theDuchy of Candia in 1669, the Greek language lost its status as a national language until the emergence of modern Greece in the year 1821. Language varieties after 1453 are referred to as Modern Greek.
As early as in theHellenistic period, there was a tendency towards a state ofdiglossia between theAttic literary language and the constantly developing vernacularKoine. By late antiquity, the gap had become impossible to ignore. In the Byzantine era, written Greek manifested itself in a whole spectrum of divergentregisters, all of which were consciously archaic in comparison with the contemporary spoken vernacular, but in different degrees.[8]
They ranged from a moderately archaic style employed for most every-day writing and based mostly on the written Koine of theBible and early Christian literature, to a highly artificial learned style, employed by authors with higher literary ambitions and closely imitating the model of classical Attic, in continuation of the movement ofAtticism in late antiquity. At the same time, the spoken vernacular language developed on the basis of earlier spoken Koine, and reached a stage that in many ways resembles present-dayModern Greek in terms of grammar and phonology by the turn of the first millennium AD. Written literature reflecting thisDemotic Greek begins to appear around 1100.
Among the preserved literature in the Attic literary language, various forms of historiography take a prominent place. They comprisechronicles as well as classicist, contemporary works ofhistoriography, theological documents, andsaints' lives. Poetry can be found in the form of hymns andecclesiastical poetry. Many of the Byzantine emperors were active writers themselves and wrote chronicles or works on the running of theByzantine state and strategic or philological works.
Furthermore, letters, legal texts, and numerous registers and lists in Medieval Greek exist. Concessions to spoken Greek can be found, for example, in John Malalas'sChronography from the 6th century, theChronicle ofTheophanes the Confessor (9th century) and the works of EmperorConstantine VII Porphyrogenitus (mid-10th century). These are influenced by the vernacular language of their time in choice of words andidiom, but largely follow the models of written Koine in theirmorphology andsyntax.
The spoken form of Greek was calledγλῶσσα δημώδης (glōssa dēmōdēs 'vernacular language'),ἁπλοελληνική (haploellēnikē 'basic Greek'),καθωμιλημένη (kathōmilēmenē 'spoken') orῬωμαιϊκή (Rhōmaiïkē 'Roman language'). Before the 13th century, examples of texts written in vernacular Greek are very rare. They are restricted to isolated passages of popularacclamations, sayings, and particularly common or untranslatable formulations which occasionally made their way into Greek literature. Since the end of the 11th century, vernacular Greek poems from the literary realm ofConstantinople are documented.
TheDigenes Akritas, a collection of heroic sagas from the 12th century that was later collated in averse epic, was the first literary work completely written in the vernacular. The Greek vernacular verse epic appeared in the 12th century, around the time of the French romance novel, almost as a backlash to the Attic renaissance during the dynasty of the Komnenoi in works likePsellos'sChronography (in the middle of the 11th century) or theAlexiad, the biography of EmperorAlexios I Komnenos written by his daughterAnna Komnena about a century later. In fifteen-syllableblank verse (versus politicus), theDigenes Akritas deals with both ancient and medieval heroic sagas, but also with stories of animals and plants. TheChronicle of the Morea, a verse chronicle from the 14th century, is unique. It has also been preserved in French, Italian andAragonese versions, and covers the history ofFrankish feudalism on thePeloponnese during theLatinokratia of thePrincipality of Achaea, a crusader state set up after theFourth Crusade and the 13th centuryfall of Constantinople.
The earliest evidence of prose vernacular Greek exists in some documents from southern Italy written in the tenth century. Later prose literature consists of statute books, chronicles and fragments of religious, historical and medical works. The dualism of literary language and vernacular was to persist until well into the 20th century, when theGreek language question was decided in favor of the vernacular in 1976.
The persistence until the Middle Ages of a single Greek speaking state, the Byzantine Empire, meant that, unlikeVulgar Latin, Greek did not split into separate languages. However, with the fracturing of the Byzantine state after the turn of the first millennium, newly isolated dialects such asMariupol Greek, spoken in Crimea,Pontic Greek, spoken along the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, andCappadocian, spoken in central Asia Minor, began to diverge. InGriko, a language spoken in the southern Italianexclaves, and inTsakonian, which is spoken on the Peloponnese, dialects of older origin continue to be used today.Cypriot Greek was already in a literary form in the late Middle Ages, being used in theAssizes of Cyprus and the chronicles ofLeontios Makhairas andGeorgios Boustronios.
It is assumed that most of the developments leading to thephonology ofModern Greek had either already taken place in Medieval Greek and itsHellenistic period predecessorKoine Greek, or were continuing to develop during this period. Above all, these developments included the establishment of dynamicstress, which had already replaced the tonal system of Ancient Greek during the Hellenistic period. In addition, the vowel system was gradually reduced to five phonemes without any differentiation in vowel length, a process also well begun during the Hellenistic period. Furthermore, Ancient Greekdiphthongs becamemonophthongs.
| Type | Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | rounded | |
| Close | /i/ι,ει,η | (/y/)υ,οι,υι | /u/ου |
| Mid | /e̞/ε,αι | /o̞/ο,ω | |
| Open | /a/α | ||
TheSuda, an encyclopedia from the late 10th century, gives some indication of the vowel inventory. Following the antistoichic[Note 1][jargon] system, it lists termsalphabetically but arranges similarly pronounced letters side by side. In this way, for indicatinghomophony,αι is grouped together withε/e̞/;ει andη together withι/i/;ο withω/o̞/, andοι withυ/y/. At least in educated speech, the vowel/y/, which had also merged withυι, likely did not lose lip-rounding and become/i/ until the 10th/11th centuries. Up to this point, transliterations into Georgian continue using a different letter forυ/οι than forι/ει/η,[11] and in the year 1030, Michael theGrammarian could still make fun of the bishop ofPhilomelion for confusingι forυ.[12] In the 10th century, Georgian transliterations begin using the letter representing/u/ (უ) forυ/οι, in line with the alternative development in certain dialects likeTsakonian,Megaran and South Italian Greek where/y/ reverted to/u/. This phenomenon perhaps indirectly indicates that the same original phoneme had merged with/i/ in mainstream varieties at roughly the same time (the same documents also transcribeυ/οι withი/i/ very sporadically).[13]
In the original closing diphthongsαυ,ευ andηυ, theoffglide[u] had developed into a consonantal[v] or[f] early on (possibly through an intermediate stage of[β] and[ɸ]). Before[n],υ turned to[m] (εὔνοστος['evnostos] →ἔμνοστος['emnostos],χαύνος['xavnos] →χάμνος['xamnos],ἐλαύνω[e'lavno] →λάμνω['lamno]), and before[m] it was dropped (θαῦμα['θavma] →θάμα['θama]). Before[s], it occasionally turned to[p] (ἀνάπαυση[a'napafsi] →ἀνάπαψη[a'napapsi]).[14]
Words with initial vowels were often affected byapheresis:ἡ ἡμέρα[ii'mera] →ἡ μέρα[i'mera] ('the day'),ἐρωτῶ[ero'to] →ρωτῶ[ro'to] ('(I) ask').[15]
A regular phenomenon in most dialects issynizesis ("merging" of vowels). In many words with the combinations[ˈea],[ˈeo],[ˈia] and[ˈio], the stress shifted to the second vowel, and the first became a glide[j]. Thus:Ῥωμαῖος[ro'meos] →Ῥωμιός[ro'mɲos] ('Roman'),ἐννέα[e'nea] →ἐννιά[e'ɲa] ('nine'),ποῖος['pios] →ποιός['pços] ('which'),τα παιδία[tape'ðia] →τα παιδιά[tape'ðʝa] ('the children'). This accentual shift is already reflected in themetre of the 6th century hymns ofRomanos the Melodist.[16] In many cases, the vowelo disappeared in the endings-ιον[-ion] and-ιος[-ios] (σακκίον[sa'cion] →σακκίν[sa'cin],χαρτίον[xar'tion] →χαρτίν[xar'tin],κύριος['cyrios] →κύρις['cyris]). This phenomenon is attested to have begun earlier, in the HellenisticKoine Greek papyri.[17]
The shift in theconsonant system fromvoicedplosives/b/ (β),/d/ (δ),/ɡ/ (γ) andaspiratedvoiceless plosives/pʰ/ (φ),/tʰ/ (θ),/kʰ/ (χ) to correspondingfricatives (/v,ð,ɣ/ and/f,θ,x/, respectively) was already completed duringLate Antiquity. However, the original voiced plosives remained as such after nasal consonants, with[mb] (μβ),[nd] (νδ),[ŋɡ] (γγ). Thevelar sounds/k,x,ɣ,ŋk,ŋɡ/ (κ,χ,γ,γκ,γγ) were realised aspalatalallophones ([c,ç,ʝ,ɲc,ɲɟ]) before front vowels. The fricative/h/, which had been present in Classical Greek, had been lost early on, although it continued to be reflected in spelling through therough breathing, a diacritic mark added to vowels.[18]
Changes in the phonological system mainly affectconsonant clusters that showsandhi processes. In clusters of two differentplosives or two differentfricatives, there is a tendency fordissimilation such that the first consonant becomes a fricative and/or the second becomes a plosive ultimately favoring a fricative-plosive cluster. But if the first consonant was a fricative and the second consonant was/s/, the first consonant instead became a plosive, favoring a plosive-/s/ cluster.[19] Medieval Greek also had cluster voicing harmony favoring the voice of the final plosive or fricative; when the resulting clusters became voiceless, the aforementioned sandhi would further apply. This process of assimilation and sandhi was highly regular and predictable, forming a rule of Medieval Greekphonotactics that would persist into EarlyModern Greek. When dialects started deleting unstressed/i/ and/u/ between two consonants (such as when Myzithras becameMystras), new clusters were formed and similarly assimilated by sandhi; on the other hand it is arguable that the dissimilation of voicelessobstruents occurred before the loss of close vowels, as the clusters resulting from this development do not necessarily undergo the change to [fricative + stop], e.g.κ(ου)τί as[kti] not[xti].[20]
The resulting clusters were:
For plosives:
For fricatives where the second was not/s/:
For fricatives where the second was/s/:
The disappearance of/n/ in word-final position, which had begun sporadically in Late Antiquity, became more widespread, excluding certain dialects such as South Italian and Cypriot. The nasals/m/ and/n/ also disappeared before voiceless fricatives, for exampleνύμφη['nyɱfi] →νύφη['nifi],ἄνθος['an̪θos] →ἄθος['aθos].[22]
A new set of voiced plosives[(m)b],[(n)d] and[(ŋ)ɡ] developed throughvoicing of voicelessplosives afternasals. There is some dispute as to when exactly this development took place but apparently it began during the Byzantine period. The graphemesμπ,ντ andγκ for/b/,/d/ and/ɡ/ can already be found in transcriptions from neighboring languages in Byzantine sources, like inντερβίσης[der'visis], fromTurkish:derviş ('dervish'). On the other hand, some scholars contend that post-nasal voicing of voiceless plosives began already inthe Koine, as interchanges withβ,δ, andγ in this position are found in the papyri.[23] The prenasalized voiced spirantsμβ,νδ andγγ were still plosives by this time, causing a merger betweenμβ/μπ,νδ/ντ andγγ/γκ, which would remain except within educated varieties, where spelling pronunciations did make for segments such as[ɱv,n̪ð,ŋɣ][24]
Many decisive changes between Ancient and Modern Greek were completed byc. 1100 AD. There is a striking reduction ofinflectional categories inherited fromIndo-European, especially in the verbal system, and a complementary tendency of developing new analytical formations and periphrastic constructions.
Inmorphology, the inflectional paradigms ofdeclension, conjugation and comparison were regularised through analogy. Thus, in nouns, the Ancient Greek third declension, which showed an unequal number of syllables in the different cases, was adjusted to the regular first and second declension by forming a newnominative form out of the oblique case forms: Ancient Greekὁ πατήρ[hopatɛ́ːr] → Modern Greekὁ πατέρας[opa'teras], in analogy to the accusative formτὸν πατέρα[tomba'tera]. Feminine nouns ending in-ις[-is] and-ας[-as] formed the nominative according to the accusative-ιδα[-iða]-αδα[-aða], as inἐλπίς[elpís] →ἐλπίδα[elˈpiða] ('hope'),πατρίς[patrís] →πατρίδα[paˈtriða] ('homeland'), and inἙλλάς[hellás] →Ἑλλάδα[eˈlaða] ('Greece'). Only a few nouns remained unaffected by this simplification, such asτὸ φῶς[tofos] (bothnominative andaccusative),τοῦ φωτός[tufo'tos] (genitive).
The Ancient Greek formation of thecomparative of adjectives ending in-ων,-ιον,[-oːn,-ion] which was partly irregular, was gradually replaced by the formation using the more regularsuffix-τερος,-τέρα (-τερη),-τερο(ν),[-teros,-tera(-teri),-tero(n)]:µείζων[méːzdoːn] →µειζότερος[mi'zoteros] ('the bigger').
Theenclitic genitive forms of the first and second personpersonal pronoun, as well as the genitive forms of the third persondemonstrative pronoun, developed into unstressed enclitic possessive pronouns that were attached to nouns:µου[mu],σου[su],του[tu],της[tis],µας[mas],σας[sas],των[ton].
Irregularities in verb inflection were also reduced through analogy. Thus, thecontracted verbs ending in-άω[-aoː],-έω[-eoː] etc., which earlier showed a complex set of vowel alternations, readopted the endings of the regular forms:ἀγαπᾷ[aɡapâːi] →ἀγαπάει[aɣaˈpai] ('he loves'). The use of the past tense prefix, known asaugment, was gradually limited to regular forms in which the augment was required to carry word stress.Reduplication in the verb stem, which was a feature of the oldperfect forms, was gradually abandoned and only retained in antiquated forms. The small ancient Greek class of irregular verbs in-μι[-mi] disappeared in favour of regular forms ending in-ω[-oː];χώννυμι[kʰóːnnymi] →χώνω['xono] ('push'). The auxiliaryεἰμί[eːmí] ('be'), originally part of the same class, adopted a new set of endings modelled on the passive of regular verbs, as in the following examples:
| Classical | Medieval | Regular passive ending | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | ||||||
| 1st person sing. | εἰμί | [eːmí] | εἶμαι | ['ime] | -μαι | [-me] |
| 2nd person sing. | εἶ | [êː] | εἶσαι | ['ise] | -σαι | [-se] |
| 3rd person sing. | ἐστίν | [estín] | ἔνι → ἔναι, εἶναι | ['eni→ˈene,ˈine] | -ται | [-te] |
| Imperfect | ||||||
| 1st person sing. | ἦν | [ɛ̂ːn] | ἤμην | ['imin] | -μην | [-min] |
| 2nd person sing. | ἦσθα | [ɛ̂ːstʰa] | ἦσοι | ['isy] | -σοι | [-sy] |
| 3rd person sing. | ἦν | [ɛ̂ːn] | ἦτο | [ˈito] | -το | [-to] |
In most cases, the numerousstem variants that appeared in the Ancient Greek system ofaspect inflection were reduced to only two basic stem forms, sometimes only one. Thus, in Ancient Greek the stem of the verbλαμβάνειν[lambáneːn] ('to take') appears in the variantsλαμβ-[lamb-],λαβ-[lab-],ληψ-[lɛːps-],ληφ-[lɛːpʰ-] andλημ-[lɛːm-]. In Medieval Greek, it is reduced to the formsλαμβ-[lamb-] (imperfective or present system) andλαβ-[lav-] (perfective oraorist system).
One of the numerous forms that disappeared was thedative. It was replaced in the 10th century by thegenitive and the prepositional construction ofεἰς[is] ('in, to') +accusative. In addition, nearly all the participles and the imperative forms of the 3rd person were lost. Thesubjunctive was replaced by the construction of subordinate clauses with the conjunctionsὅτι[ˈoti] ('that') andἵνα[ˈina] ('so that').ἵνα first becameἱνά[iˈna] and was later shortened toνα[na]. By the end of the Byzantine era, the constructionθέλω να[ˈθelona] ('I want that...') + subordinate clause developed intoθενά[θeˈna]. Eventually,θενά became the Modern Greek future particleθαMedieval Greek:[θa], which replaced the old future forms. Ancient formations like thegenitive absolute, theaccusative and infinitive and nearly all common participle constructions were gradually substituted by the constructions of subordinate clauses and the newly emergedgerund.
The most noticeable grammatical change in comparison to ancient Greek is the almost complete loss of theinfinitive, which has been replaced bysubordinate clauses with theparticle να. Possibly transmitted through Greek, this phenomenon can alsobe found in the adjacent languages and dialects of the Balkans.Bulgarian andRomanian, for example, are in many respects typologically similar to medieval and present day Greek, althoughgenealogically they are not closely related.
Besides theparticlesνα andθενά, the negation particleδέν[ðen] ('not') was derived fromAncient Greek:oὐδέν[uːdén] ('nothing').
Lexicographic changes in Medieval Greek influenced by Christianity can be found for instance in words likeἄγγελος[ˈaɲɟelos] ('messenger') → heavenly messenger → angel) orἀγάπη[aˈɣapi] 'love' → 'altruistic love', which is strictly differentiated fromἔρως[ˈeros], ('physical love'). In everyday usage, some old Greek stems were replaced, for example, the expression for "wine" where the wordκρασίον[kraˈsion] ('mixture') replaced the old Greekοἶνος[oînos]. The wordὄψον[ˈopson] (meaning 'something you eat with bread') combined with the suffix-αριον[-arion], which was borrowed from the Latin-arium, became 'fish' (ὀψάριον[oˈpsarion]), which after apheresis, synizesis and the loss of finalν[n] became the new Greekψάρι[ˈpsari] and eliminated the Old Greekἰχθύς[ikʰtʰýs], which became an acrostic for Jesus Christ and a symbol for Christianity.
Especially at the beginning of theByzantine Empire, Medieval Greek borrowed numerous words fromLatin, among them mainly titles and other terms of the imperial court's life likeΑὔγουστος[ˈavɣustos] ('Augustus'),πρίγκιψ[ˈpriɲɟips] (Latin:princeps, 'Prince'),μάγιστρος[ˈmaʝistros] (Latin:magister, 'Master'),κοιαίστωρ[cyˈestor] (Latin:quaestor, 'Quaestor'),ὀφφικιάλος[ofiˈcalos] (Latin:officialis, 'official'). In addition, Latin words from everyday life entered the Greek language, for exampleὁσπίτιον[oˈspition] (Latin:hospitium, 'hostel', therefore "house",σπίτι[ˈspiti] inModern Greek),σέλλα[ˈsela] ('saddle'),ταβέρνα[taˈverna] ('tavern'),κανδήλιον[kanˈdilion] (Latin:candela, 'candle'),φούρνος[ˈfurnos] (Latin:furnus, 'oven') andφλάσκα[ˈflaska] (Latin:flasco, 'wine bottle').
Other influences on Medieval Greek arose from contact with neighboring languages and the languages of Venetian, Frankish and Arab conquerors. Some of theloanwords from these languages have been permanently retained in Greek or in its dialects:
Middle Greek used the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet which, until the end of antiquity, were predominantly used as lapidary and majuscule letters and without a space between words and with diacritics.
The first Greek script, acursive script, developed from quick carving intowax tablets with aslate pencil. This cursive script already showeddescenders andascenders, as well as combinations of letters.
In the third century, theGreek uncial developed under the influence of the Latin script because of the need to write onpapyrus with areed pen. In the Middle Ages, uncial became the main script for the Greek language.
A common feature of the medievalmajuscule script like the uncial is an abundance of abbreviations (such asΧϹ forChristos) andligatures. Several letters of the uncial (Є for Ε, Ϲ for Σ, Ꞷ for Ω) were also used as majuscules especially in a sacral context. Thelunate sigma was adopted in this form as "С" in theCyrillic script.
The Greek uncial used theinterpunct in order to separate sentences for the first time, but there were still no spaces between words.
TheGreek minuscule script, which probably emerged from the cursive writing inSyria, appears more and more frequently from the 9th century onwards. It is the first script that regularly uses accents and spiritus, which had already been developed in the 3rd century BC. This very fluent script, with ascenders and descenders and many possible combinations of letters, is the first to use gaps between words. The last forms which developed in the 12th century wereIota subscript and word-finalsigma (ς). The type for Greek majuscules and minuscules that was developed in the 17th century by a printer from the Antwerp printing dynasty,Hendrik Wetstein [nl], eventually became the norm in modern Greek printing.
As the language of theEastern Orthodox Church, Medieval Greek has, especially with the conversion of the Slavs by the brothersCyril andMethodius, found entrance into theSlavic languages via the religious sector, in particular to theOld Church Slavonic and over its subsequent varieties, the differentChurch Slavonic manuscripts[clarification needed], also into the language of the countries with an Orthodox population, thus primarily intoBulgarian,Russian,Ukrainian andSerbian, as well as onRomanian, sometimes partly through South Slavic intermediates. For this reason, Greek loanwords andneologisms in these languages often correspond to the Byzantine phonology, while they found their way into the languages of Western Europe over Latin mediation in the sound shape of the classical Greek (compareGerman:Automobil withRussian:автомобильavtomobil, and thedifferences in Serbo-Croatian).
Some words in Germanic languages, mainly from the religious context, have also been borrowed from Medieval Greek and have found their way into languages like German through theGothic language. This includes the word the German word forPentecost,Pfingsten (fromπεντηκοστή‚ 'the fiftieth [day after Easter]').[citation needed]
Byzantine research played an important role in the Greek State, which was refounded in 1832, as the young nation tried to restore its cultural identity through antique and orthodox-medieval traditions.Spyridon Lambros (1851–1919), later Prime Minister of Greece, founded GreekByzantinology, which was continued by his and Krumbacher's students.
The following texts clearly illustrate the case of diglossia in Byzantine Greek, as they date from roughly the same time but show marked differences in terms of grammar and lexicon, and likely in phonology as well. The first selection is an example of high literary classicizing historiography, while the second is a vernacular poem which is more compromising to ordinary speech.
The first excerpt is from theAlexiad ofAnna Komnena, recounting the invasion byBohemond I of Antioch, son of Robert Guiscard, in 1107. The writer employs much ancient vocabulary, influenced by Herodotean Ionic, though post-classical terminology is also used (for example:δούξ, fromLatin:dux). Anna has a strong command of classical morphology and syntax, but again there are occasional 'errors' reflecting interference from the popular language, such as the use ofεἰς + accusative instead of classicalἐν + dative to mean 'in'. As seen in the phonetic transcription, although most major sound changes resulting in the Modern Greek system (including the merger ofυ/οι/y/ with/i/) are assumed complete by this period, learned speech likely resisted the loss of finalν,aphaeresis andsynizesis.[25]
Ὁ
o
δὲ
ðe
βασιλεὺς,
vasiˈlefs,
ἔτι
ˈeti
εἰς
is
τὴν
tim
βασιλεύουσαν
vasiˈlevusan
ἐνδιατρίβων,
enðjaˈtrivon,
μεμαθηκὼς
memaθiˈkos
διὰ
ðja
γραφῶν
ɣraˈfon
τοῦ
tu
δουκὸς
ðuˈkos
Δυρραχίου
ðiraˈçiu
τὴν
tin
τοῦ
du
Βαϊμούντου
vaiˈmundu
διαπεραίωσιν
ðjapeˈreosin
ἐπετάχυνε
epeˈtaçine
τὴν
tin
ἐξέλευσιν.
eˈkselefsin.
ἀνύστακτος
aˈnistaktos
γὰρ
ɣar
ὤν
on
ὁ
o
δοὺξ
ðuks
Δυρραχίου,
ðiraˈçiu,
μὴ
mi
διδοὺς
ðiˈðus
τὸ
to
παράπαν
paˈrapan
ὕπνον
ˈipnon
τοῖς
tis
ὀφθαλμοῖς,
ofθalˈmis,
ὁπηνίκα
opiˈnika
διέγνω
ˈðjeɣno
διαπλωσάμενον
ðjaploˈsamenon
τὸν
tom
Βαϊμούντον
vaiˈmundon
παρὰ
para
τὴν
tin
τοῦ
du
Ἰλλυρικοῦ
iliriˈku
πεδιάδα
peˈðjaða
καὶ
ce
τῆς
tiz
νηὸς
niˈos
ἀποβεβηκότα
apoveviˈkota
καὶ
ce
αὐτόθι
afˈtoθi
που
pu
πηξάμενον
piˈksamenon
χάρακα,
ˈxaraka,
Σκύθην
ˈsciθin
μεταπεψάμενος
metapemˈpsamenos
ὑπόπτερον
iˈpopteron
δή,
ði,
τὸ
to
τοῦ
tu
λόγου,
ˈloɣu,
πρὸς
pros
τὸν
ton
αὐτοκράτορα
aftoˈkratora
τὴν
tin
τούτου
ˈdutu
διαπεραίωσιν
ðjapeˈreosin
ἐδήλου.
eˈðilu.
Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς, ἔτι εἰς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν ἐνδιατρίβων, μεμαθηκὼς διὰ γραφῶν τοῦ δουκὸς Δυρραχίου τὴν τοῦ Βαϊμούντου διαπεραίωσιν ἐπετάχυνε τὴν ἐξέλευσιν. ἀνύστακτος γὰρ ὤν ὁ δοὺξ Δυρραχίου, μὴ διδοὺς τὸ παράπαν ὕπνον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, ὁπηνίκα διέγνω διαπλωσάμενον τὸν Βαϊμούντον παρὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἰλλυρικοῦ πεδιάδα καὶ τῆς νηὸς ἀποβεβηκότα καὶ αὐτόθι που πηξάμενον χάρακα, Σκύθην μεταπεψάμενος ὑπόπτερον δή, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα τὴν τούτου διαπεραίωσιν ἐδήλου.
o ðe vasiˈlefs, ˈeti is tim vasiˈlevusan enðjaˈtrivon, memaθiˈkos ðja ɣraˈfon tu ðuˈkos ðiraˈçiu tin du vaiˈmundu ðjapeˈreosin epeˈtaçine tin eˈkselefsin. aˈnistaktos ɣar on o ðuks ðiraˈçiu, mi ðiˈðus to paˈrapan ˈipnon tis ofθalˈmis, opiˈnika ˈðjeɣno ðjaploˈsamenon tom vaiˈmundon para tin du iliriˈku peˈðjaða ce tiz niˈos apoveviˈkota ce afˈtoθi pu piˈksamenon ˈxaraka, ˈsciθin metapemˈpsamenos iˈpopteron ði, to tu ˈloɣu, pros ton aftoˈkratora tin ˈdutu ðjapeˈreosin eˈðilu.
'When the emperor, who was still in the imperial city, learned of Bohemond's crossing from the letters of the duke (military commander) of Dyrráchion, he hastened his departure. For the duke had been vigilant, having altogether denied sleep to his eyes, and at the moment when he learned that Bohemond had sailed over beside the plain of Illyricum, disembarked, and set up camp thereabouts, he sent for a Scythian with "wings", as the saying goes, and informed the emperor of the man's crossing.'
The second excerpt is from the epic ofDigenes Akritas (manuscript E), possibly dating originally to the 12th century. This text is one of the earliest examples of Byzantine folk literature, and includes many features in line with developments in the demotic language. Thepoetic metre adheres to the fully developed Greek 15-syllablepolitical verse. Features of popular speech like synezisis, elision and apheresis are regular, as is recognized in the transcription despite the conservative orthography. Also seen is the simplification ofδιὰ to modernγιὰ. In morphology, note the use of modern possessive pronouns, the concurrence of classical-ουσι(ν)/-ασι(ν) and modern-ουν/-αν 3rd person plural endings, the lack of reduplication in perfect passive participles and the addition ofν to the neuter adjective inγλυκύν. In other parts of the poem, the dative case has been almost completely replaced with the genitive and accusative for indirect objects.[26]
Καὶ
c
ὡς
os
εἴδασιν
ˈiðasin
τὰ
t
ἀδέλφια
aˈðelfja
της
tis
τὴν
tiŋ
κόρην
ˈɡorin
μαραμένην,
maraˈmeni(n)
Καὶ ὡς εἴδασιν τὰ ἀδέλφια της τὴν κόρην μαραμένην,
c os ˈiðasin t aˈðelfja tis tiŋ ˈɡorin maraˈmeni(n)
ἀντάμα
anˈdama
οἱ
i
πέντε
ˈpende
ἐστέναξαν,
ˈstenaksan,
τοιοῦτον
tiˈuto(n)
λόγον
ˈloɣon
εἶπαν:
ˈipa(n):
ἀντάμα οἱ πέντε ἐστέναξαν, τοιοῦτον λόγον εἶπαν:
anˈdama i ˈpende ˈstenaksan, tiˈuto(n) ˈloɣon ˈipa(n):
'Ἐγείρου,
eˈjiru,
ἠ
i
βεργόλικος,
verˈɣolikos,
γλυκύν
ɣliˈci(m)
μας
mas
τὸ
to
ἀδέλφιν˙
aˈðelfi(n);
'Ἐγείρου, ἠ βεργόλικος, γλυκύν μας τὸ ἀδέλφιν˙
eˈjiru, i verˈɣolikos, ɣliˈci(m) mas to aˈðelfi(n);
ἐμεῖς
eˈmis
γὰρ
ɣar
ἐκρατοῦμαν
ekraˈtuman
σε
se
ὡς
os
γιὰ
ja
ἀποθαμένην
apoθaˈmeni(n)
ἐμεῖς γὰρ ἐκρατοῦμαν σε ὡς γιὰ ἀποθαμένην
eˈmis ɣar ekraˈtuman se os ja apoθaˈmeni(n)
καὶ
c
ἐσὲν
eˈsen
ὁ
o
Θεὸς
ˈθjos
ἐφύλαξεν
eˈfilakse(n)
διὰ
(ð)ja
τὰ
t
ὡραῖα
oˈrea
σου
su
κάλλη.
ˈkali.
καὶ ἐσὲν ὁ Θεὸς ἐφύλαξεν διὰ τὰ ὡραῖα σου κάλλη.
c eˈsen o ˈθjos eˈfilakse(n) (ð)ja t oˈrea su ˈkali.
Πολέμους
poˈlemus
οὐ
u
φοβούμεθα
foˈvumeθa
διὰ
ðiˈa
τὴν
ti
σὴν
ˈsin
ἀγάπην.'
aˈɣapi(n)
Πολέμους οὐ φοβούμεθα διὰ τὴν σὴν ἀγάπην.'
poˈlemus u foˈvumeθa ðiˈa ti ˈsin aˈɣapi(n)
'And when her brothers saw the girl withered, the five groaned together, and spoke as follows: "Arise, lissom one, our sweet sister; we had you for dead, but you were protected by God for your beautiful looks. Through our love for you, we fear no battles.'
In the Byzantine Empire,Ancient and Medieval Greek texts were copied repeatedly; studying these texts was part of Byzantine education. Several collections of transcriptions tried to record the entire body of Greek literature since antiquity. As there had already been extensive exchange with Italian academics since the 14th century, many scholars and a large number of manuscripts found their way to Italy during the decline of theEastern Roman Empire. Renaissance Italian and Greekhumanists set up important collections in Rome, Florence and Venice. The conveyance of Greek by Greek contemporaries also brought about theitacistic tradition of Greek studies in Italy.[citation needed]
The Greek tradition was also taken to Western and Middle Europe in the 16th century by scholars who had studied at Italian universities. It included Byzantine works that mainly had classical Philology, History and Theology but not Medieval Greek language and literature as their objects of research.Hieronymus Wolf (1516–1580) is said to be the "father" of German Byzantism. In France, the first prominent Byzantist wasCharles du Fresne (1610–1688). As the Enlightenment saw in Byzantium mainly the decadent, perishing culture of the last days of the empire, the interest in Byzantine research decreased considerably in the 18th century.[citation needed]
It was not until the 19th century that the publication of and research on Medieval Greek sources began to increase rapidly, which was particularly inspired byPhilhellenism. Furthermore, the first texts in vernacular Greek were edited. The branch ofByzantinology gradually split from Classical Philology and became an independent field of research. The Bavarian scholarKarl Krumbacher (1856–1909) carried out research in the newly founded state of Greece, and is considered the founder of Medieval and Modern Greek Philology. From 1897 onwards, he held the academic chair of Medieval and Modern Greek at the University of Munich. In the same century Russian Byzantinology evolved from a former connection between the Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Empire.[citation needed]
Byzantinology also plays a large role in the other countries on the Balkan Peninsula, as Byzantine sources are often very important for the history of each individual people. There is, therefore, a long tradition of research, for example in countries like Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Further centres of Byzantinology can be found in the United States, Great Britain, France and Italy. Today the two most important centres of Byzantinology in German speaking countries are the Institute for Byzantine Studies, Byzantine Art History and the Institute of Modern Greek Language and Literature at theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the Institute of Byzantine Studies and of Modern Greek Language and Literature at theUniversity of Vienna. The International Byzantine Association is the umbrella organization for Byzantine Studies and has its head office inParis.[citation needed]
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