[B-Greek] The value of reading the NT in Modern Greek

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Aug 8 13:32:43 EDT 2008


On Aug 8, 2008, at 12:17 PM, Randall Buth wrote:

>> I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Carl for the
> PDF of annotated readings from several periods of Greek.
> The NEILOYTI letter (Antonios to mama Nilotis) is a riot to read
> (fun), and also one that we gave our summer SXOLH at the end.
> Antonios' pain is palpable, and his spelling is "charming". It
> was justly chosen for the Loeb collection.

I got most of what I used in this collection from George Thomson's  
splendid little book, The Greek Language (published by Brill in 1950,  
intended originally as an introduction to Greek studies at the  
University of Birmingham (UK) and infused with the same conviction  
that Caragounis expresses, i.e., the Greek language and Greek culture  
from earliest antiquity up to the present day represent a continuity  
and a whole. Thomson's Marxist perspective never got in the way of his  
clear grasp of the realities of Greek language.

> On PHROS as EMPEIROS 'experienced' = 'aware', I read the
> line as written QELW PHROS GENESQAI 'I would be maimed'
> [="I'd give my right arm ... not to ..."]

I've no doubt you are right about this and I'll make the correction on  
my work. Much of the annotation is, in fact, my own guesswork.

> On the flow of the language:
> I don't think that OI or Y had yet merged with EI and I in the
> second century CE/AD, though mistakes had started in
> unaccented initial syllables. Hta is something of a coin-toss,
> perhaps it was already EI=I, or perhaps the Egyptian Greek
> had developed an extended meaning of EI 'if, whether,
> into "than".
>
> Still, the letter is a must read for all lovers of the KOINH.
>
> AIROSQE
>
> IWANHS

AMHN, let's throw caution to the winds and spell everything the way we  
THINK it should be pronounced!

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)





More information about the B-Greek mailing list