Interesting Greek Language Facts

If you�re thinking about learning Greek it�s always good to know a little about the
origins and history of the language you are learning. Here, Cactus Language offers
up our most interesting Greek language facts:
1. The Origins

Greek is a Hellenic language derived from Proto-Greek, the first form of Greek
spoken during the 3rd millennium BC. It later evolved into Ancient Greek, which was
spoken during the Antiquity. Modern Greek emerged after the fall of the Byzantine
Empire in 1453. Greek is the oldest recorded living language, with written records
spanning over 34 centuries.
2. The Speakers

There are around 13 million native Greek speakers, mainly in Greece and Cyprus, but
also in Italy, Albania, Turkey. The Greek diaspora, which can be found in Western
Europe, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and other
countries, is also using Greek on a daily basis.
3. The Loanwords

Greek has significantly influenced Western literature, languages, mathematics,

astronomy and philosophy. Many English words related to these fields are of Greek
origin. Along with Latin, Greek is still used for creating new words in English and
other languages.
4. The Longest Word

With 182 characters when transliterated into English,

Lopado�temacho�selacho�galeo�kranio�leipsano�drim�hypo�trimmato�silphio�parao�melit
o�katakechy�meno�kichl�epi�kossypho�phatto�perister�alektryon�opte�kephallio�kigklo
�peleio�lagoio�siraio�baphe�tragano�pterygon is the longest Ancient Greek word. It
is a fictional dish and was created by Aristophanes in his comedy Assemblywomen.
5. The Alphabet

The word �alphabet� is actually formed of �alpha� and �beta�, the two first letters
of the Greek qlphabet

You might have heard the saying �It�s all Greek to me�? To English speakers, the
Greek language looks and sounds exotic, yet somehow familiar. If you�ve ever wanted
to learn more about this language with ancient origins, you�re in luck. Here are
nine interesting facts about the Greek language.
between 12 & 13 Million People claim greek as their mother tongue

Compared the 365 million native English speakers, that may not seem like a lot.
However, it�s enough to land Greek in the top 100 most commonly-spoken languages on
the planet (number 75, in fact!).

Greek is the official language of�you guessed it�Greece. However, it also has
official status in Cyprus and parts of Albania. In parts of Italy, Armenia,
Romania, and Ukraine, it�s recognized and protected as a minority language.

Of course, it�s also one of the 24 official languages of the European Union.
the usa has the largest ethnically greek population outside of greece

There are between 1.3 million and 3 million �ethnically Greek� people living in
America today. Of that number, around 135,500 were born in Greece.

Greek is one of the top 15 non-English languages in the following states:

 Connecticut
Illinois
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York

greek is one of the oldest documented living languages in the indo-european

language family

There are written records in Greek that date back at least 3,400 years, or 34
centuries! The oldest record was found on a clay tablet dated between 1450 and 1350
BCE.
the latin, coptic and cyrillic alphabets (among others) are based on the greek
alphabet

The Greek alphabet has been in use since the 8th century BCE. The earliest example
of Greek letters that we�ve found so far are inscriptions on pottery and a golden
goblet known as the Cup of Nestor.
the greek alphabet was the first alphabet in history in which you could �buy a
vowel�

That�s because it was the first alphabet to have letters for vowel sounds instead
of just consonants. For example, the Phoenician alphabet, which the Greek alphabet
is based on, uses only consonants. Even today, scripts like Arabic and Hebrew omit
vowels entirely.
using the latin alphabet to write words in greek is called �greeklish�

Older computer and mobile operating systems often didn�t have an option for users
to write in the Greek alphabet, so �Greeklish� developed as a workaround.

There was even a book published in Greeklish � Exegesis, a book by Astro Teller,
was published in both traditional Greek and Greeklish.
30% of english words are of greek orgin

You probably know more Greek than you think. Here are just a few examples:

Democracy: from demos (d?�??, �people�) and kratos (???t??, �power�).

Marathon: from the Greek city of Marathon.
Butter: from bo�t?ron ( �??t????, butter).
Telephone: from telos and fon� (t??e and f??? �far� and �voice�).

it�s all greek to me

Have you ever wondered how that phrase gets translated into Greek? Here�s what
Greeks say when they can�t understand something:

�ne gia m�na kin�zika (???a? ??? �??a ???????a)�it�s Chinese to me.
�ne alabourn�zika (???a? ??a�p????????a)�it�s Arabic.

when english is translated into greek, the text usually expands by 5-10%

This can cause issues with layout and formatting, and it�s one more reason to use a
full-service language services provider like United Language Group. For more
information, take a look at the services we offer and the industries we serve, then
contact us to see how we can give your organization total language confidence.

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Greek is one of the oldest Indo European languages and forms an independent branch
of the Indo European language family

Like Latin, Greek has influenced other languages around the world, so learning
Greek might help you recognise and understand a number of words in other European
and non European languages

However, while the Greek language has contributed to the English vocabulary in the
past, with the introduction of new technologies and the globalisation of the media
industry, there has been an influx, in recent decades, of English or Hellenised
English words into the Greek vocabulary