Koine Greek Totally Explained

Everything about Koine Greek totally explained

Koine Greek (Greek: Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική,, "common Greek", or ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος,, "the common dialect") is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity (c.300 BC – AD 300), and marks the third period in the history of the Greek language. Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek. Koine is important not only to the history of the Greeks for being their first common dialect and main ancestor of modern Greek, but also for its impact on Western culture as a lingua franca for the Mediterranean., e.g:

"Καλήμερον, ἦλθες; — Bono die, venisti?" (Good day, you came?).

"Ἐὰν θέλεις, ἐλθὲ μεθ' ἡμῶν. — Si vis, veni mecum." (If you want, come with us (The Latin actually says with me, not us) ).

"Ποῦ; — Ubi?" (Where?).

"Πρὸς φίλον ἡμέτερον Λεύκιον. — Ad amicum nostrum Lucium." (To our friend Lucius).

"Τί γὰρ ἔχει; — Quid enim habet?" (Indeed, what does he have?—What is it with him?).

"Ἀρρωστεῖ. — Aegrotat." (He's sick). Finally, a very important source of information on the ancient Koine is the modern Greek language with all its dialects and its own Koine form and idioms, which have preserved most of the ancient language's oral linguistic details which the written tradition has lost. For example the Pontic and Cappadocian dialects preserved the ancient pronunciation of η as ε (νύφε, συνέλικος, τίμεσον, πεγάδι etc), while the Tsakonic preserved the long α instead of η (ἁμέρα, ἀστραπά, λίμνα, χοά etc) and the other local characteristics of Laconic.

New Testament Greek

The Koine Greek in the table represents the New Testament Koine Greek, deriving to some degree from the dialect spoken in Judaea and Galilaea during the 1st century and similar to the dialect spoken in Alexandria, Egypt. Note, the realizations of certain phonemes differ from the more standard Attic dialect of Koine. Note the soft fricative "bh", the hard aspirated "th", the preservation of a distinction between the four front vowels "i", "ê", "e", and "y" (which is still rounded), and other features.

letter	Greek	English	IPA
Alpha	α	a	ɑ
Beta	β (-β-)	b (-bh-)	b (-β-)
Gamma	γ	gh	ɣ
Delta	δ	d	d
Epsilon	ε	e	ɛ
Zeta	ζ	zz	zː
Eta	η	ê	e
Theta	θ	th	tʰ
Iota	ι	i	i
Kappa	κ	k	k
Lambda	λ	l	l
Mu	μ	m	m
Nu	ν	n	n
Xi	ξ	ks	ks
Omicron	ο	o	o
Pi	π	p	p
Rho	ρ	r	ɾ
Sigma	σ (-σ-/-σσ-)	s (-s-/-ss-)	s (-z-/-sː-)
Tau	τ	t	t
Upsilon	υ	y	y
Phi	φ	ph	pʰ
Chi	χ	kh	kʰ
Psi	ψ	ps	ps
Omega	ω	ô	o
.	αι	ai	ɛ
.	ει	ei	i
.	οι	oi	y
.	αυ	au	ɑw
.	ευ	eu	ɛw
.	ηυ	êu	ew
.	ου	ou	u

Sample Koine Texts

The following excerpts illustrate the phonological development within the period of Koine. The phonetic transcriptions are tentative, and are intended to illustrate two different stages in the reconstructed development, an early conservative variety still relatively close to Classical Attic, and a somewhat later, more progressive variety approaching Modern Greek in some respects.

Sample 1

The following excerpt, from a decree of the Roman Senate to the town of Thisbae in Boeotia in 170 BC, is rendered in a reconstructed pronunciation representing a hypothetical conservative variety of mainland Greek Koiné in the early Hellenistic era. The transcription shows partial, but not yet completed raising of η and ει to /i/, retention of pitch accent, fricativization of γ to /j/ but no fricativisation of the other stops as yet, and retention of word-initial /h/.

περὶ ὧν Θισ[β]εῖς λόγους ποιήσαντο· περὶ τῶν καθ᾿αὑ[τ]οὺς πραγμάτων, οίτινες ἐν τῇ φιλίᾳ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ἐνέμειναν, ὅπως αὐτοῖς δοθῶσιν [ο]ἷς τὰ καθ᾿ αὑτοὺς πράγματα ἐξηγήσωνται, περὶ τούτου τοῦ πράγματος οὕτως ἔδοξεν· ὅπως Κόιντος Μαίνιος στρατηγὸς τῶν ἐκ τῆς συνκλήτου [π]έντε ἀποτάξῃ οἳ ἂν αὐτῷ ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων πρα[γμ]άτων καὶ τῆς ἰδίας πίστεων φαίνωνται.
�

� "Concerning those matters about which the citizens of Thisbae made representations. Concerning their own affairs: the following decision was taken concerning the proposal that those who remained true to our friendship should be given the facilities to conduct their own affairs; that our governor Quintus Maenius should delegate five members of the senate who seemed to him suitable in the light of their public actions and individual good faith."

Sample 2

The following excerpt, the beginning of the Gospel of St John, is rendered in a reconstructed pronunciation representing a progressive popular variety of Koiné in the early Christian era, with vowels approaching those of Modern Greek.

ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν. ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων̣· καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν. � [ˈenarˈkʰi in o ˈloɣos, ke o ˈloɣos im bros to(n) tʰeˈo(n), ke tʰeˈos in o ˈloɣos. ˈutos in en arˈkʰi pros to(n) tʰeˈo(n). ˈpanda di aɸˈtu eˈjeneto, ke kʰoˈris aɸˈtu eˈjeneto ude ˈen o ˈjeɣonen. en aɸˈto zoˈi in, ke i zoˈi in to pʰos ton anˈtʰropon; ke to pʰos en di skoˈtia ˈpʰeni, ke i skoˈti(a) a(ɸ)ˈto u kaˈtelaβen]

� "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him wasn't anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

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