[B-Greek] Transition from Classical to Koine

Barry nebarry at verizon.net
Sun Dec 27 21:26:28 EST 2009



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Stephen Kirkman" <stephen.kirkman at live.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2009 7:50 PM
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Transition from Classical to Koine

>
> Aren't there certain differences between the two though (or so I've been 
> told)?
>

They aren't the sort of differences that cause you difficulty.  Most 
students find NT Greek simpler than Classical (Attic).  You'll find some 
non-classical vocabulary, but you would still be looking up lots of 
vocabulary if your first author out of elementary were, say, Xenephon. 
You'll find very few usages of the optative (you probably won't miss it very 
much), and some other variations from Classical syntax.  It's not learning a 
new language, but becoming familiar with a somewhat different dialect of a 
language you've learned.  In my case, I found it amusing that I only 
occasionally had to look up the "less than ten times" usages, because that 
vocabulary was fairly common in the Classical authors that I had read.  I 
had more trouble with some of the more frequent NT vocabulary, which was 
less common in those same authors...  :)

Trust me -- many of us have been there, done that, and had the same 
experience.

N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te...
    -- Augustine, Confessions 1:1

http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry/
http://my.opera.com/BarryHofstetter/blog/

 




More information about the B-Greek mailing list