[B-Greek] Knowledge of Ancient Greek

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Feb 22 09:55:55 EST 2006


On Feb 22, 2006, at 9:33 AM, Ernest Blum wrote:

> In answer to the question of whether the ancient greeks thought up
> "grammar," I'm disappointed that not too much light has been thrown  
> on this
> question.
>
> Just how the ancient Greeks, Romans and speakers and writers of Koine
> learned Greek is a matter of great interest to those of us who are  
> eager to
> learn Greek today.
>
> Is there any book that addresses these matters and explains how  
> Greek was
> taught and learned over the milleninia?  Sincerely, Ernest Blum

I don't really understand why one should imagine that ancient (or  
modern) Greeks learned Greek in some way other than human beings in  
general learn their native languages. How they TAUGHT it in the  
schools is another matter altogether. Inasmuch as Plato's Republic  
focuses on the "reform" of traditional education in order to produce  
a better society, one might learn something from it about traditional  
"music and gymnastics" and what all was involved in that, and one  
might check them encyclopedias (and Wikipedia) under "gymnasium," the  
primary educational institution of the Hellenistic Greek-speaking  
world..

There are books on the history of Greek, including the recently- 
appearing book by Chrys Caragounis, (The Development of Greek and the  
New Testament: Morphology, Syntax, Phonology, and Textual  
Transmission.  Mohr Siebeck, 2004. XX, 732 pages  (Wissenschaftliche  
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament / 167) ISBN 3-16-148290-5.  cloth  
129.00 Euro); there's Geoffrey Horrocks' book (Greek: a history of  
the language and its speakers, 1997), which is, unfortunately, now  
out of print. Neither of these focuses upon pedagogical concerns as  
such.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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