ATTIC VS. KOINE
Roe
d.roe at t-online.de
Mon Dec 13 17:43:45 EST 1999
> James Dewan schrieb:
>
> This is a rather ignorant question, but I'm afraid I must ask it. My
> I hear what exactly the benefit is of learning Attic Greek for
> improving one's grasp of koine Greek? Is there a benefit? Should I
> take the time and effort to learn it, or continue to learn koine
> Greek? Much thanks
Neither to answer your question nor to assume able to, but only to
*parrot* Moule's comments in his idiom book as fodder for further
discussion...
"To call [ KOINH ] a new language serves to emphasize the fact that it
is not simply Classical Greek growing senile and going into a decline --
a mistake which it is easy for anybody to make who comes straight from a
Classical education to the study of the New Testament. KOINH is not, as
it were, pure gold accidentally contaminated, but something more like a
new and servicable alloy. The dominate component is the Attic dialect --
not because it was the most widely spoken dialect at the time, but
apparently because it had a certain vitality which asserted itself: in
fact (as D.-B § 2 puts it) Hellenistic Greek is a compromise between the
rights of the stronger minority (i.e. Attic) and the weaker majority
(other
dialects).1"
David
D. W. Roe
Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
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