The Greek language is the oldest in Europe and, arguably, one of the richest. At the same time, it is considered a rather difficult language for a visitor to understand or even learn. Thus, one often hears the expression “it’s all Greek to me”, which was first used in the modern world by William Shakespeare at his famous play The Tragedy of Julius Ceasar.
However, after a closer look one realizes that the English-speaking world uses a large number of Greek words. There are more than 40.000 Greek words in use today in the English language and one of four words in English is Greek or Greek origin words. For instance, in scientific terminology 50 % of the words are of Greek origin and in the field of medicine more than 60% of the word elements are Greek!
Consider the following list: analysis, mystery, angel, atmosphere, history, bible, democrat, museum, echo, ethics, galaxy, melody, idiom, lyric, ethnic, orchestra, planet, monopoly, poem, phenomenon, panic, harmony, theatre, psychology, practical, magic, comedy, sympathy, cosmopolitan, ocean, dialogue, nostalgic.
If you are familiar with these words, then you already speak Greek!
Nowadays, in the modern Greek language we use many words of foreign origins, as a result of historical circumstances and also globalization. Thus, lots of Turkish, English, French, Italian and Spanish words are used along with the extensive greek vocabulary. However, modern Greek language still keeps the same alphabet, words, structure, grammar and spelling with the ancient Greek times. Thus, the relation of modern Greek to ancient Greek is same like the one of Italian to Latin, or modern English to Chasseurs’ English.
When traveling and exploring different parts of the world, part of fun is trying to read the street signs, understand the local language and learn at least a few words by the time the trip is over. Our printout sheets are designed to enhance your traveling experience.
