Greek Influence on English Language

Roundabout and direct borrowings Since the living Greek and English dialects were not in direct contact until present day times, borrowings were fundamentally backhanded, coming either through Latin (through writings or different vernaculars), or from Ancient Greek writings, not the living language. Some Greek words were acquired into Latin and its relatives, the Romance dialects. English regularly got these words from French. Their phonetic and orthographic structure has once in a while changed considerably.For instance,â placeâ was obtained both by Old English and by French from Latinâ platea, itself acquired from Greek ( ) ‘broad (road)'; the Italianâ piazzaâ and Spanishâ plazaâ have a similar inception, and have been acquired into English in equal. The wordâ oliveâ comes through the Romance from the Latin wordâ oliva, which thusly originates from the Greek (elaiwa). [1][2] A later Greek word,â (bouturon)[3]â becomes Latinâ butyrumâ and in the en d Englishâ butter. A huge gathering of early borrowings, again transmitted first through Latin, at that point through different vernaculars, originates from Christian vocabulary:â bishopâ < episkoposâ ‘overseer'),â priestâ < (presbyterosâ ‘elder'), andâ churchâ <â ? (kyriakon). [4] In a few cases, the orthography of these words was later changed to mirror the Greek spelling:â e. g. quireâ was respelled asâ choirâ in the seventeenth century. A lot more words were obtained by researchers writing in post-old style Latin. A few words were acquired in basically their unique significance, frequently transmitted through old style Latin:â physics,iambic,â eta,â necromancy. A couple of result from scribal errors:â encyclopediaâ < ‘the hover of learning', not a compound in Greek;â acneâ (skin condition) < incorrect lt; ‘high point, zenith'. Others were acquired unaltered as specialized terms, however with explic it, novel meanings:â telescopeâ < ‘far-seeing' alludes to anâ optical instrument for seeing far away;â phlogistonâ < ‘burnt thing' is a supposedâ fire-production potential. In any case, by a long shot the biggest Greek commitment to English jargon is the gigantic number of logical, clinical, and technicalâ neologismsâ that have been authored byâ compounding Greek roots and affixesto produce novel words which never existed in the Greek language:â utopiaâ (1516, ‘not' + ‘place'),â zoologyâ (1669, ), hydrodynamicsâ (1738, + ), photography(1834, + ), oocyteâ (1895, + ), helicobacterâ (1989, + ). Such terms are authored in all the European dialects, and spread to the others freelyâ€including to Modern Greek. Generally, these coinages were developed utilizing just Greek morphemes,â e. g. metamathematics, however progressively, Greek, Latin, and different morphemes are consolidated, as intelevision (Greek †+ Latin v ision), metalinguistic (Greek + Latinâ linguaâ + Greek - + Greek - ), and garbology (English garbage + Greek - . Theseâ hybrid wordsâ were once viewed as ‘barbarisms'. Numerous Greek joins such asâ anti- andâ -icâ have becomeâ productiveâ in English, consolidating with subjective English words: antichoice, Fascistic. Most learned borrowings and coinages follow the old style Latin Romanization framework, where ‘c' speaks to ? and so forth , with a couple exceptions:â eurekaâ (cf. heuristic),â kineticâ (cf. cinematography),kryptonâ (cf. obscure). Some Greek words were acquired through Arabic and afterward Romance:â alchemyâ ( or ), elixirâ ( ), alembicâ ( ), botargoâ ( , and possiblyâ quintalâ ( < Latincentenarium (pondus)). Curiously,â chemistâ appears to be aâ back-formationâ fromâ alchemist. In the nineteenth and twentieth hundreds of years a couple of educated words and expressions were presented utilizing a pr etty much direct transliteration of Ancient Greek (as opposed to the conventional Latin-based morphology and dropped inflectional endings),â e. g. nousâ ( ), hoi polloiâ ( ). Some Greek words have given ascent toâ etymological doublets, being acquired both through a natural, backhanded course, and an educated, direct course into English:â anthemâ andâ antiphonâ ( ,franticâ andâ freneticâ ( ), butterâ andâ butyr(ic)â ( ), bishopâ andâ episcop(al)â ( ), balmâ andâ balsamâ ( , likely itself a getting from Semitic),â blameâ andâ blasphemy( ), boxâ andâ pyx(is)â ( ), choirâ andâ chorusâ ( ), trivetâ andâ tripodâ (/ - ), slanderâ andâ scandalâ ( ), oil,â olive,â oleum, andâ elaeo- ( ); almondâ andâ amygdala( ); dramâ andâ drachmaâ ( ); paperâ andâ papyrusâ ( ); caratâ andâ keratinâ ( , - ). [5][6] Finally, with the development of the travel industry, a few words reflecting current Greek ulture have been obtained into Englishâ€many of them initially borrowings into Greek themselves:â retsina,â souvlaki,tavernaâ (< Italian),â ouzoâ (disputed etymology),â moussakaâ (< Turkish < Arabic),â baklavaâ (< Turkish),â fetaâ (< Italian),â bouzoukiâ (< Turkish),â gyroâ (the food, a calque of Turkishâ doner). â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€- [edit]Greek as a middle person Many words from the Hebrew Bibleâ were transmitted toward the western dialects through the Greek of the Septuagint, frequently without morphological regularization:â pharaohâ ( ), seraphim( , , paradiseâ ( < Hebrew < Persian),â rabbiâ ( ). â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€- [edit]The composed type of Greek words in English Many Greek words, particularly those acquired through the abstract convention, are conspicuous as such from their spelling. As of now in Latin, there were explicit shows for getting Greek. So Greekâ ? was composed as ‘y',â as ‘? ‘,â as ‘? ‘,â ? as ‘ph', andâ ? as ‘c'. These shows (which initially reflected elocution) have extended into English and different dialects with authentic orthography (like French).They make it conceivable to perceive expressions of Greek starting point, and give indicates regarding their articulation and enunciation. Then again, the spelling of certain words was refashioned to mirror their etymology: Middle Englishâ caracterâ becameâ characterâ in the sixteenth century. [7] The Ancient Greek diphthongsâ andâ might be spelled in three distinct manners in English: the digraphsâ aeâ andâ oe; the ligaturesâ ? andâ ? ; or the basic letterâ e. Both the digraphs and ligatures are unprecedented in American utilization, yet the digraphs stay normal in British use. Models are: reference book/encyclop? ia/reference book, hemoglobin/h? moglobin/hemoglobin, oedema/? dema/edema, Oedipus/? dipus/Edipus (uncommon). The verbal endingâ -is spelledâ -izeâ in American English andâ -iseâ orâ -izeâ in British English. Now and again, a word's spelling obviously shows its Greek starting point. In the event that it includesâ phâ or includesâ yâ between consonants, it is likely Greek. In the event that it includesâ rrh,â phth, orâ chth; or begins withâ hy-, ps-, pn-, orâ chr-; or the rarerâ pt-, ct-, chth-, rh-, x-, sth-, mn-, tm-, gn- orâ bd-, then it is Greek, with some exceptions: gnat, gnaw, gneiss.One special case isâ ptarmigan, which is from a Gaelic word, theâ phaving been included byâ false historical underpinnings. The wordâ trophy, however at last of Greek starting point, didn't have aâ ? in any case, aâ ? in its Greek structure, . â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€- [edit]Pronunciation In bunches such asâ ps-, pn- , orâ gn- which are not permitted by English phonotactics, the typical English elocution drops the principal consonant (e. g. brain research) toward the beginning of a word; comparegnosticâ [n? st? k] andâ agnosticâ [? gn? st? k]; there are a couple exceptions:â tmesisâ [tmi? s? s].Initial x- is pronouncedâ z. Châ is articulated likeâ kâ rather than as in â€Å"church†:â e. g. character, turmoil. Successive vowels are frequently articulated independently as opposed to shaping a solitary vowel sound or one of them getting quiet (e. g. â€Å"theatre†Ã¢ vs. â€Å"feat†). â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€- [edit]Inflectional endings and plurals Though numerous English words got from Greek through the artistic course drop the inflectional endings (tripod,â zoology,â pentagon) or utilize Latin endings (papyrus,â mausoleum), some protect the Greek endings:â tetrahedron,â schemaâ (cf. cheme),â topo s,â lexicon,â climax. On account of Greek endings, the plurals now and again follow the Greek rules:â phenomenon, phenomena;â tetrahedron, tetrahedra;â crisis, crises;â hypothesis, hypotheses;â stigma, stigmata;â topos, topoi;â cyclops, cyclopes; however regularly do not:â colon, colonsâ notâ *colaâ (except for theâ very uncommon specialized term of rhetoric);pentathlon, pentathlonsâ notâ *pentathla;â demon, demonsâ notâ *demones;â climaxes, not *climaces.Usage is blended in some cases:â schema, schemasâ orâ schemata;â lexicon, lexiconsâ orâ lexica;â helix, helixesâ orâ helices;â sphinx, sphingesâ orâ sphinxes;â clitoris, clitorisesâ orâ clitorides. What's more, there are deluding cases:â pentagonâ comes from Greekâ pentagonon, so its plural can't beâ *pentaga; it ispentagons (Greek /pentagona). (cf. Plurals from