Koine Greek grammar
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Koine Greek grammar is a subclass of Ancient Greek grammar peculiar to the
Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
dialect. It includes many forms of Hellenistic era Greek, and authors such as
Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
and
Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
, as well as many of the surviving inscriptions and
papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a d ...
. Koine texts from the background of Jewish culture and religion have distinct features not found in classically rooted writings. These texts include the
Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
(Greek
Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
with Deuterocanonical books),
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
,
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, Philo of Alexandria, the Greek Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, and early
Patristic Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...
writings.


Similarities to Attic grammar

The commonalities between Attic and Hellenistic era Greek grammar are far greater than the differences. Where divergences became too wide the focus was attracted of the "Atticism", language purists, who sought in their writing to leave the lingua franca of the marketplace for the classical style.


Differences from Attic grammar

James Morwood in ''Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek'' lists "some key features of New Testament grammar", many of which apply to all Koine texts: Friedrich Blass and Albert Debrunner's ''Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch'' is a grammar designed for those who know Classical Greek, and describes Koine Greek in terms of divergences from Classical. It has been revised in Germany by Friedrich Rehkopf, and translated into English and revised by Robert W. Funk.


Grammatical forms

Simplification of
accidence In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...
with difficulties and irregularities reduced: * fewer irregular comparatives * third declension adjectives become rarer * monosyllabic nouns with irregular declension become rarer * verbs in ''-μι'' are given the endings of verbs in ''-ω'' * 1st (weak)
aorist Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
endings often replace 2nd (strong) aorists


Syntax

The following changes occur in
syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
: * ''ἵνα'' ("that") is now used for "
ith the result The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...
that...", "
e said E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...
that", and command forms, offering an alternative for (but not quite replacing) the
accusative and infinitive In grammar, accusative and infinitive is the name for a syntactic construction of Latin language, Latin and Greek language, Greek, also found in various forms in other languages such as English language, English and Spanish language, Spanish. In thi ...
construction. * some
preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s are used more where case declension makes this strictly redundant in Attic * pronouns are supplied more where the sense is still clear without them *
diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...
s are used more often, but also do not always carry any diminutive meaning. This is particularly true in Jewish texts, e.g. " ittlewing of the temple" * conjunctions are used with differing frequencies from natural Greek. For example, the ratio of καί to δέ at the beginning of sentences is higher, influenced by Semitic languages. * τότε 'then' as a common narrative conjunction reflects Aramaic influence from the Second Temple period (5th century BCE to 1st century CE).


Verbs


Infinitive of purpose

The infinitive is now used for "
n order N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
to do", either as a plain infinitive or with the genitive of the definite article (''τοῦ'') before it (as a verbal noun).


Middle voice

In Hellenistic era Greek, middle voice is often replaced by active voice with reflexive pronouns. This means that the middle voice verbs that remain are less likely to be true
reflexive voice In grammar, a reflexive verb is, loosely, a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject; for example, "I wash myself". More generally, a reflexive verb has the same semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the s ...
than in Attic Greek, and the majority of New Testament middle voice verb usage comes into other categories. Among those other uses is the use of middle voice as an approximation to
causative In linguistics, a causative (abbreviated ) is a valency-increasing operationPayne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 173–186. that indicates that a subject either ...
.


Semitisms in "Jewish Greek"

The comments above that also apply to the New Testament are generally true for Koine texts with no "Jewish Greek" influence. The following comments, however, apply to texts influenced by a knowledge of either Jewish literature or Jewish oral traditions:


Semitic phraseology

Numerous semitisms in grammar and phraseology occur, e.g. impersonal ''egeneto'' (ἐγένετο) "it came to pass" introducing a finite verbal clause, representing the impersonal Hebrew ויהי structure.


Semitic word order?

The use of the inverted AB-BA structures found in Hebrew poetry, known as chiastic structure, is also often classed as a semitism, but is also found in Homer. Likewise the repetition of nouns with distributive force, e.g. ''sumposia sumposia'' ("by groups", Mark 6:39) could be Semitism, but it is also current in vulgar (common) Greek. Many aspects of New Testament word order, such as avoiding the "Atticist" affectation of placing the verb at the penult of the sentence, are simply natural 1st-century Greek style.


Semitic vocabulary

Although vocabulary does not truly count as grammar, other than in irregular declension and plurals, it is mentioned here for completeness. A small number of easily identifiable items of Semitic vocabulary are used as loanwords in the Greek of the Septuagint, New Testament and Patristic texts, such as ''satanas'' for Hebrew ''ha-
Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
''. Less evident Semitisms occur in vocabulary usage, and semantic content (range of meaning). Numerous words in the New Testament are used in ways that derive from the Septuagint rather than secular or pagan usage. In particular, there is religious vocabulary peculiar to Judaism and monotheism. For example, ''angelos'' more frequently means " angel" than "messenger", and ''diabolos'' means Job's " devil" more often than mere "slanderer".


Tense-aspect debate

A debate currently exists as to the meaning of the tense-forms found in Koine Greek. It is widely held that Koine Greek tense-forms are aspectual, but whether or not tense (semantic time reference) is included, as well as the number of aspects, is under discussion.
Stanley E. Porter Stanley E. Porter (born November 23, 1956) is a Canadian–American academic and New Testament scholar, specializing in the Koine Greek grammar and linguistics of the New Testament. Life and career Porter was born in Long Beach, California, on ...
argues that there are three aspects: perfective, imperfective and stative. On the other hand, Constantine R. Campbell finds only two aspects, and adds a category of "proximity" to further differentiate tense of and regards the perfect tense-form (regarded by Porter as aspectually stative) as imperfective in aspect and more intensely proximal than the present. Campbell's view of Koine Greek tense-forms can be summarised in this way:Constantine Campbell ''Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek'' 2008, Chapters 3–7


See also

* Koine Greek phonology


References


External links

A fre
Koine Greek Keyboard
is available on the Westar Institute/Polebridge Press website. {{language grammars Grammar Greek grammar