The 9th of February was declared by the Hellenic Parliament, in 2017, World Greek Language Day. The date was combined with that of death (February 9, 1857) of our national poet Dionysiou Solomou. This Day was dedicated to the poet, who dedicated his life to freedom and language.
The language problem
In the language problem that concerned her Greek intellectual life having taken on the character of an intense controversy, Solomon agreed with the position of those who supported the spoken language, the language of the people, and this position he defended both with his work, written in the vernacular/vernacular, and with the prose "Dialogue" on the language , which he wrote in 1824. At the beginning of it the Poet says to his Friend: "I understand you want to talk about language; but I have something else in mind, give me freedom and language?". Language and freedom were always linked concepts for Solomon.
"The common Greek language that we Greeks everywhere speak and write today is the unbroken, centuries-long continuity that as a "mental line" connects us directly and inextricably to the greatest moments of Greek thought and language and to the greatest leaps of human thought in the world » points out our world-renowned linguist, emeritus professor of Linguistics of the Greek National Academy of Sciences, Georgios Babiniotis.
The day dedicated to the Greek language
The initiative to establish a day dedicated to the Greek language began in 2014 with the inspiration of Professor Yiannis Korinthiou. The Greek professor has been teaching Modern Greek at the University of Oriental Studies in Naples and at the University of Calabria since 1979. A leader of the diaspora, a founding member of the Naples Community, G. Korinthios, as president of the Federation of Greek Communities and Fraternities of Italy, became the pioneer of the establishment of the World Day for the Greek Language. Classical high schools and the Greek Community of Naples and Campania mobilized and took the lead in this effort.
I met G. Korinthios in Italy, when I was there for studies, and I really admired his passion for teaching and spreading the Greek language abroad. And it is the oestrus that led him to a vision, because the establishment of the World Day of the Greek Language and Greek Culture remained a vision for a long time. He fought hard for it, and I don't forget his struggles. He finally achieved something that seemed impossible.
The vision became a reality and honors him, because he offered, as a Greek living abroad, to his homeland an international recognition for our language. Professor G. Korinthios was recently honored, for the first time in Greece, by the Parnassos Philological Association as its honorary member. This oldest association in Greece dedicated this year a special event to the anniversary of the World Day for the Greek Language.
Greek Geomythology
Emeritus Professor of Geology at the University of Athens, Ilias Mariolakos, has dedicated many years to research and has already published three volumes of Greek Geomythology, with the fourth under publication. From his long-term research it emerges that in Greek mythology there is a unique coincidence between the physical-geological evolution of a region and that of human society, as it happens between the physical-geological evolution of the Aegean and the wider Peri-Aegean area and the evolution in the genealogical tree of the Gods and Goddesses, as Hesiod describes them in his Theogony.
It is worth noting here that the second volume of Geomythology is revelatory, not to mention subversive, as Professor Mariolakos' research on ancient authors, specifically Diodorus Sikeliotis (flood of Samothrace) leads him to the assessment that there is no break in continuity of the Greek language for at least 12.500 years. I stop at the point in the book, where the author-researcher wonders:
"When the prehistoric inhabitants of the wider Aegean area have spread over this area and culturally influenced all these peoples, is it possible that they have not also influenced their language? And when the limits where the Indo-European language extends coincide exactly with those of the spread of the prehistoric Greeks, why do the Indo-Europeanists exclude the case that the Greeks have also influenced the language of the Celts and the Gauls for example, but they must definitely be of unknown origin. Indo-Europeans have influenced Greek?". A reasonable question, which requires an answer from the experts.
It is extremely unfortunate that we, as Greeks, have not realized the value of our language, disregarding its quality both in the written and spoken word, ready to replace it, whenever necessary, but also without it being necessary, with the English as an international language. Let us respect our linguistic treasure, and let us finally feel proud, like our national poet for the Greek Language, by honoring its International Day every year.
Mrs. Stella Priovolou is an emeritus professor, president of the Body of Emeritus Professors of EKPA, dean of the Municipal People's University of Agia Paraskevi.
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