Medieval Greek facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Medieval Greek
Byzantine Greek, Romaic Ῥωμαϊκή Rhōmaïkḗ Romaïkí
Region	Eastern Mediterranean (Byzantine Empire) : Southern Balkans, Asia Minor, Byzantine Crimea, Cyprus, Southern Italy
Era	c. 600–1500 AD; developed into Modern Greek
Language family	Indo-European Hellenic Greek Attic-Ionic Koine Greek Medieval Greek
Writing system	Greek alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Byzantine Empire
Linguist List	qgk
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Medieval Greek (also called Middle Greek or Byzantine Greek) was the form of the Greek language used during the Middle Ages. It was spoken from about 500 AD until 1453, when the Ottoman Empire took over Constantinople.

This language was the main one used for government and daily life in the Byzantine Empire. It connects Koine Greek (the language of the New Testament) to Modern Greek. Studying Medieval Greek helps us understand the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire.

History of the Greek Language

How Greek dialects changed from the late Byzantine Empire to the early 1900s. Demotic is yellow, Pontic is orange, and Cappadocian is green.

In 330 AD, Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to a city called Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. This city became the political center of the eastern Roman Empire, where Greek was widely spoken.

At first, Latin was the official language of the court and army. But over time, Greek became more important. By the early 600s, most new laws were written in Greek. Under Emperor Heraclius (610–641 AD), Greek officially became the language of the Eastern Roman Empire. Even though people still called themselves "Romans," Greek was their main language.

Many people in the Byzantine Empire spoke Greek. This included people in the southern Balkan Peninsula and nearly everyone in Asia Minor. In Asia Minor, older local languages had mostly disappeared and were replaced by Greek by the 5th century.

However, the empire faced many invasions. In the 7th century, Arabs conquered large parts of the empire, including Syria and Egypt. In these areas, Arabic slowly replaced Greek as the main language. Slavs also moved into the Balkan Peninsula, which reduced the areas where Greek was spoken.

Despite these changes, Greek remained strong in places like Sicily, Cyprus, and Anatolia. But after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Greek lost its status as a national language. It wasn't until modern Greece was formed in 1821 that Greek became a national language again.

Two Kinds of Greek

During the Byzantine era, there were two main forms of Greek used at the same time. This is called diglossia.

One form was a more formal, old-fashioned style. Writers used it for important books, history, and religious texts. It was based on older forms of Greek, like the language of the Bible.

The other form was the everyday spoken language, which kept changing over time. By about 1000 AD, this spoken Greek was very similar to Modern Greek in its grammar and sounds. Books written in this everyday style started appearing around 1100 AD.

One of the first major literary works written entirely in the common language was the Digenes Akritas. This was a collection of heroic stories from the 12th century. It was like an epic poem, similar to French romance novels of that time.

This difference between formal written Greek and everyday spoken Greek continued for a long time. It wasn't until 1976 that the spoken form officially became the standard for the Greek language.

Greek Dialects

Because the Byzantine Empire was a single Greek-speaking state for so long, Greek didn't split into many separate languages like Latin did. However, as the empire started to break apart, some new dialects appeared. These included Mariupol Greek (spoken in Crimea), Pontic Greek (along the Black Sea), and Cappadocian (in central Asia Minor).

Even today, some older Greek dialects are still spoken, such as Griko in southern Italy and Tsakonian in Greece.

How Greek Sounds Changed

Many changes in how Greek sounds happened during the Medieval Greek period. The way words were stressed changed, and the vowel system became simpler, with fewer distinct vowel sounds. Old Greek diphthongs (two vowel sounds together) often became single vowel sounds.

For example, the letters αι started to sound like ε, and ει and η started to sound like ι.

The sounds of some consonants also changed. For instance, the letters β, δ, and γ used to be like 'b', 'd', 'g'. But in Medieval Greek, they became more like 'v', 'th' (as in 'the'), and 'gh' (as in 'ghost' but softer). Also, φ, θ, and χ became like 'f', 'th' (as in 'thin'), and 'ch' (as in 'loch').

Grammar Changes

Many important grammar changes happened in Medieval Greek, making it more like Modern Greek.

• Nouns: The way nouns changed their endings (declension) became simpler. For example, the old way of saying "father" (ὁ πατήρ) changed to ὁ πατέρας, which was more regular.
• Pronouns: Short forms of pronouns like μου ('my'), σου ('your'), and του ('his') became common.
• Verbs: Verb endings also became more regular. Old irregular verbs disappeared. The verb "to be" (εἰμί) started using new endings similar to other verbs.
• Cases: The dative case (which showed "to whom" or "for whom") disappeared around the 10th century. It was replaced by the genitive case or by using prepositions like εἰς ('to') with the accusative case.
• Infinitive: One of the biggest changes was the almost complete loss of the infinitive (the "to do" form of a verb). Instead, people started using short clauses with the word να ('that' or 'to'). For example, instead of "I want to go," they would say "I want that I go." This change also happened in other languages nearby, like Bulgarian and Romanian.
• Future Tense: The old way of forming the future tense was replaced. A new word, θα, developed from θέλω να ('I want that'), and it is now used to show future actions in Modern Greek.
• Negation: The word for "not" changed from Ancient Greek: oὐδέν ('nothing') to δέν.

Words and Writing

New Words and Meanings

Christianity brought new meanings to some Greek words. For example, ἄγγελος originally meant "messenger," but it came to mean "angel." ἀγάπη meant "love," but it started to mean a special kind of "altruistic love" (caring for others without expecting anything back), different from physical love.

Some old Greek words were replaced by new ones. For instance, the word for "wine" changed from οἶνος to κρασίον. The word for "fish" changed from ἰχθύς to ψάρι.

Words from Other Languages

Medieval Greek borrowed many words from Latin, especially at the beginning of the Byzantine Empire. These were often titles or words related to the imperial court, like Αὔγουστος ('Augustus') or πρίγκιψ ('Prince'). Everyday Latin words also entered Greek, such as ὁσπίτιον (from Latin hospitium, meaning "house," which became σπίτι in Modern Greek).

Greek also borrowed words from other languages it came into contact with, like Italian, French, and Turkish.

• κάλτσα ('stocking') came from Italian.
• ντάμα ('dame') came from French.
• παζάρι ('market') came from Turkish.

How Greek Was Written

Medieval Greek used the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. Over time, the way these letters were written changed.

Uncial and Cursive Writing

Early Greek writing often used a cursive (flowing) style. Later, a more formal style called "uncial" developed, especially for writing on papyrus. Uncial writing often used many abbreviations and combined letters. It was also the first Greek script to use a dot to separate sentences, but words were still written without spaces between them.

Minuscule Writing

From the 9th century onwards, a new style called "minuscule" became popular. This was a very flowing script with ascenders and descenders (parts of letters going above or below the line). It was the first Greek script to regularly use accents and marks that showed breathing sounds. Importantly, minuscule writing also started using spaces between words, making texts much easier to read.

Influence on Other Languages

Medieval Greek had a big impact on other languages, especially those in Eastern Europe. As the language of the Eastern Orthodox Church, it influenced Slavic languages like Russian, Bulgarian, and Serbian, especially after the Slavs converted to Christianity. Many religious words and new terms in these languages came from Byzantine Greek.

Some words in Germanic languages, like German, also came from Medieval Greek, often through the Gothic language. For example, the German word for Pentecost (Pfingsten) comes from the Greek word πεντηκοστή, meaning "the fiftieth day."

Studying Byzantine Greek is still very important today. It helps us understand the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire and its lasting impact.

Sample Medieval Greek Texts

These two examples show the difference between the formal and everyday Greek used in the Byzantine Empire. They are from around the same time but look very different.

Sample 1 – Anna Komnena

This text is from the Alexiad, written by Anna Komnena in the 12th century. She used a very formal, old-fashioned style, similar to ancient Greek writers. Even though it's from the Middle Ages, it tries to sound like much older Greek.

Sample 2 – Digenes Akritas

This text is from the epic poem Digenes Akritas, also from the 12th century. This poem is a great example of early Byzantine folk literature. It uses many features of the everyday spoken language of the time.

See also