Greek speek11/19/2022 ![]() It evolved from Attic Greek, the dialect spoken in Athens. In roughly the 4th century BCE, one form of Greek became popular enough to become the lingua franca of the region: Koine Greek. During this period, Homer’s epics were written, the Roman Empire rose and fell, and the basis for all Western Civilization was constructed. Ancient Greek comprises the language spoken in the region of Greece from about the 9th century BCE to the 6th century CE, thus encompassing a huge amount of time. The dialects could roughly be divided into West, Aeolic, Arcado-Cypriot and Ionic-Attic groups, all of which formed Ancient Greek. The Greek language evolved over the next several centuries, and there was a variety of dialects spoken throughout the Mediterranean region. There isn’t a huge amount of Linear B writing that has survived until today - mainly clay tablets that record accounts of Mycenaean palaces - but it’s the first record we have of Greek culture. ![]() The first written evidence of Greek comes from the 15th century BCE in the form of Linear B, a writing system that the Mycenaean Greeks adapted from the neighboring Minoans. As Indo-European splintered into various languages thousands of years ago, the Hellenic branch broke off, and Greek is the primary (if not the sole) member of this language group. Greek is a part of the Indo-European language family, meaning it’s distantly connected with a huge number of languages spoken in the world, including English, Spanish, German, Bulgarian and Iranian. ![]() Before we get to how many people speak Greek, a brief history, then, is in order and it’s going to have to skim over quite a few details. Going back to the earliest Greek writings, there are over 3,400 years of documentable history contained within. The Greek language has been around for a very long time. ![]()
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