Unsurprisingly, some common expressions in English derive from these ancient myths and beliefs. Greek mythology has been very influential in Western culture, particularly its art and literature. Xenophon Zolotas, who was also an economist.Įnglish expressions derived from Ancient Greek culture demos (people) as in democracy – government by the peopleĪ great example of the influence of the Greek language are the two speeches written in English but actually consisting of only Greek words (with the exception of articles and prepositions) by the former Prime Minister Prof.micro (small), as in microscopic – so small it's hard to see.phobia (fear of), as in arachnophobia – the fear of spiders.Many English words are formed of parts of words (morphemes) that originate from the Greek language, including the following examples: Words that starts with 'ph-' are usually of Greek origin, for example: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy. These include technical and scientific terms but also more common words like those above. The Oxford Companion to the English Language states that the 'influence of classical Greek on English has been largely indirect, through Latin and French, and largely lexical and conceptual.'.Īccording to one estimate, more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words. Indeed, the word 'alphabet' is formed of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, 'alpha' and 'beta'. Daniels, the Ancient Greeks were the first to use a 'true' alphabet, that is, one representing both vowels and consonants. In the 19th century, Modern Greek became the official language of the Kingdom of Greece.Īccording to Peter T. Modern Greek is derived from Koine, a common dialect of Ancient Greek that was understood throughout the Greek-speaking world at that time. Greek is one of the oldest Indo-European languages and is usually divided into Ancient Greek (often thought of as a dead language) and Modern Greek. Let's take a closer look.Ī very brief history of the Greek language To this list, we could add thousands more words, some common and others less so. Clearly, the Greek language has had an important influence on the English language. How many words derived from Greek have you used today? British Council teachers in Greece, Martha Peraki and Catherine Vougiouklaki, explain why English owes so much to the Greek language.Īntique, idol, dialogue, geography, grammar, architect, economy, encyclopaedia, telephone, microscope. all these common English words have something in common: they're derived from Greek.
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