The language of every people is one of the elements of its identity. The language, except as an element of identity, It is also a tool for communication between people. Language helps inν creation of culture, the so-called spiritual, as opposed to the material (sculpture, painting, etc.). In order for people to be able to communicate, language must be precise, describe the message briefly and precisely, the signifier and the signified must be identical. It must be easy so that it becomes the property of the people, so that everyone can learn it.
In China, for example, which uses ideograms to represent words and concepts, the symbols are so numerous that even the country's academics (those considered the most educated) do not know them all. In other words, its intellectual elite cannot read all the texts written in their country's language. "Our" Konstantinos Tsatsos, academic, philosopher, former Minister, former President of the Republic and author, notes the value of language: “The more advanced the culture of a nation, the richer in prehistory, and consequently in essence, are the words of the language… With language we transmit logical associations and arouse emotions… Every people has the language it deserves. In language, as in its songs, its culture is stored… it is the most irrefutable witness to its historical consciousness and its historical continuity.”
Of course, we Greeks do not run such a risk, similar to the Chinese. The risk for our language is different. Greek uses only 24 letters and the various combinations of these letters create the words-concepts. In ancient times, there were also 3 other letters which disappeared in the course of history. The structure of the ancient Greek language (the mother of today's) was a mathematical structure. Each letter represented a number and a musical tone. so letter = number = tone (musical), which shows that in our language behind the letters-words there are numbers (lexarithms) and musical sounds (tonarithms). The famous Greek and internationally renowned musician Ianis Xenakis had often emphasized that the musicality of Greek is equal to the universal.
As the Roman Horace writes, “The Greek race was born favored with a sonorous language, full of musicality.” The continuity of our language has been recorded: Odysseus Elytis himself said, “I know of no other language than Greek.” single Greek language. For the Greek poet to say, even today, the sky, the sea, the sun, the moon, the wind, as Sappho and Archilochus said, is no small thing. It is very important. We communicate every moment by speaking with the roots that are there. In the Ancient...” The well-known Adamantios Korais had said “Whoever without the knowledge of the Ancient attempts to study and interpret the New, is either deceived or deceives.” While George Seferis writes “From the time when Homer spoke until today, we speak, breathe and sing the same language.” Even though thousands of years have passed.
Some, completely wrongly, claim that the Greeks borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians. According to studies by Tziropoulou and others, in 2300 BC and not in 800 BC, Homer already had 6.500.000 primary words (first person present & singular) at his disposal, which if we multiply by X72, which are the calls, we will get a huge number that is not the final one, because let's not forget that language gives birth to us. If we consider that the English language has 80.000 words and has been evolving for 100 years, we are led to the conclusion that Homer received a language that has a very long history. One of the nails in the coffin of this theory is the ceramic fragment found on the islet of "Gioura" in the Northern Sporades by Archaeologist A. Samson. It was dated to 5.500-6.000 BC and clearly bears on it engraved the letters A, D and Y. Let us note here that the Phoenicians first appeared in history in 1.300 BC. And this finding is not "only" his. The letters M, N, K, X, X, P, O, and E can be seen on early Cycladic vases of Milos which are from the 3rd BC millennium. In addition, there is the stone seal of Giannitsa discovered by the archaeologist P. Chrysostomou which dates back to the 5th BC millennium.
Furthermore, the inscription of Dispilio, which was excavated by Professor G. Hourmouziadis, was characterized as the first writing in the world, since it was dated by "Democritus" based on the "carbon 14" method with absolute precision to 5.250 BC. Finally, let us mention the Phaistos disk which is dated (according to the most conservative views) to 1.700 BC and bears symbols which are, however, printed with movable elements (seals), and for this reason this find constitutes the oldest example of typography in the world. In 1989, in issue number 16 of the archaeological journal "NESTOR", published by the University of Indiana, Professor Paul Fore announced that in Ithaca in 2.700 BC they spoke and wrote Greek. With the help of an engraved image of a ship on the shell and in comparison with the already deciphered Linear B script, Professor Fore managed to read "Nymph saved me". He also read, recognizing numbers and syllables "Behold, I, Areadis, give to the living Goddess Rhea 100 goats, 10 sheep...". It should be noted that even today, the view taught in Greek schools is that in the years of Homer there was no writing and therefore the two epics (Iliad and Odyssey) were transmitted from generation to generation orally (something which is impossible based on common sense alone anyway).
The generative power of the Greek language lies in its ability to be shaped not only by prefixes or suffixes, but by differentiating in some cases even the root of the word (e.g. "τρεχο" and "τροχος" despite being from the same family, differ slightly in the root). The Greek language is specialized in creating compound words with incredible potential uses, multiplying the vocabulary.
The French writer Jacques Lacarrier, amazed by the greatness of Greek, had stated in this regard, "The Greek language has the characteristic of being wonderfully suited to the expression of all hierarchies with a simple alternation of the first compound. One only needs to put a pan- first- archi- super- or any other preposition in front of a subject. And if one combines these prefixes with each other, one obtains an endless variety of gradations. The prefixes are enclosed one within the other like a semantic scale, which rises towards the sky of words." In the Greek language, there are essentially no synonyms, as all words have subtle conceptual differences between them. For example, we have the words "kerannimi", "mignimi" and "fyro" which all have the meaning of "mix". When we mix two solids or two liquids together but without involving a new compound (e.g. oil with water), then we use the word "mix" while when we mix a liquid with a solid we say "fyro". Hence the word "hemofyrtos" that we all know but do not realize what it means.
Learning Ancient Greek, in addition to being a means of preserving linguistic tradition, is a weapon against dyslexia and other learning difficulties, phenomena that have been making a strong appearance in recent years, according to the conclusions of a three-year study by the Open Psychotherapeutic Center and the Institute of Diagnostic Psychology.
What great personalities have said about the Greek Language
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The famous Frenchman Voltaire had said, "May the Greek language become common to all peoples."
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Marianna McDonald, professor at the University of California and head of TLG, stated, “Knowledge of Greek is an essential foundation of high cultural cultivation.”
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Johannes Goethe (Germany's greatest poet, 1749-1832) "I heard in Saint Peter's of Rome the Gospel in all languages. Greek echoed like a shining star in the night."
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Marcus Tillius Cicero (The most prominent man of ancient Rome, 106-43 BC) “If the gods speak, then they certainly use the language of the Greeks.”
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Frederico Sancredo (Basque professor of linguistics – President of the Hellenic Academy of Vasconia) “The Greek language is the best heritage that man has at his disposal for the development of his brain. Compared to Greek, all, and I insist all languages are inadequate.” “The ancient Greek language must become the second language of all Europeans, especially of cultured individuals.” “The Greek language is essentially divine.”
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Heinrich Schliemann (Famous amateur archaeologist, 1822-1890) “I have always passionately desired to learn Greek. I had not done so because I was afraid that the profound charm of this wonderful language would absorb me so much that it would distract me from my other activities.”
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Ibn Khaldun (The greatest Arab historian) "Where is the literature of the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians? All humanity has inherited the literature of the Greeks alone."
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Francesco Ligora (Contemporary Italian University Professor and President of the International Academy for the Diffusion of Culture) "Greeks, be proud that you speak the living Greek language and the mother of all other languages. Do not neglect it, since it is one of the few goods we have left and at the same time your passport to world civilization."
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Michael Ventris (The man who deciphered Linear B) "The ancient Greek language was and is superior to all older and newer languages."
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Jacques Lange (French Minister of Education) "I would like to see Ancient Greek taught, with the same zeal that we demonstrate, in Greek schools."
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According to Bill Gates, "Greek, with its mathematical structure, is the language of information technology and the new generation of advanced computers, because only in it there are no limits."
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There is a well-known expression that Anglo-Americans use when trying to find the right word for a certain concept: "The Greeks will have a word for that."
This article is a small contribution to the most perfect language in the world. I have done it an injustice and I reserve it for the future…
Photo Blssed.graphic, Image license by freepik.com
