English
Proper noun
Ancient Greek
- Any of the various forms of the Greek language of classical antiquity, particularly the classical Attic dialect used in Athenian literature.
Usage notes
- The period is roughly understood as spanning from the end of Mycenaean Greek during the 12th-century bc to the advent of Byzantine Greek following the fall of Rome in the 5th century ad. However, the term often excludes archaic forms (such as Homeric Greek) and late forms of the popular language (the "Koine", "Hellenistic", or "Biblical" Greek commonly spoken from the Hellenistic period onward and whose late forms are often indistinguishable from Byzantine Greek). Further, Ancient Greek continued to be used as a literary language throughout the Byzantine period and (to a lesser extent) into the present day.
- The term is also sometimes—as in ISO 639—used more generally for any premodern form of Greek, with a common cutoff date of 1453 (the Fall of Constantinople).
Synonyms
Meronyms
Translations
the Greek language of classical antiquity
- Arabic: اللُّغَة الْيُونَانِيَّة الْقَدِيمَة f (al-luḡa l-yūnāniyya l-qadīma), الإِغْرِيقِيَّة (ar) f (al-ʔiḡrīqiyya), اللُّغَة الإِغْرِيقِيَّة f (al-luḡa l-ʔiḡrīqiyya)
- Armenian: հին հունարեն (hy) (hin hunaren)
- Belarusian: старажытнагрэ́цкая мо́ва f (staražytnahréckaja móva), старажытнагрэ́чаская мо́ва f (staražytnahréčaskaja móva)
- Bengali: কদীম ইউনানী ভাষা (kodim iunani bhaśa)
- Breton: henc'hresianeg (br) m
- Bulgarian: старогръ́цки m (starogrǎ́cki)
- Catalan: grec antic (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 古希臘語 / 古希腊语 (zh) (gǔ Xīlàyǔ), 古代希臘語 / 古代希腊语 (gǔdài Xīlàyǔ)
- Corsican: grecu anticu (co) m
- Czech: starořečtina (cs) f
- Danish: oldgræsk (da) c
- Dutch: Oudgrieks (nl) n
- Esperanto: (used attributively) malnovgreka, antikva greka lingvo, malnovgreka lingvo
- Faroese: forngrikskt n
- Finnish: muinaiskreikka (fi)
- French: grec ancien (fr) m, grec antique m (rare)
- Galician: grego antigo (gl) m
- Georgian: ძველი ბერძნული ენა (ʒveli berʒnuli ena), ძველბერძნული ენა (ʒvelberʒnuli ena), ძველი ბერძნული (ʒveli berʒnuli), ძველბერძნული (ʒvelberʒnuli)
- German: Altgriechisch (de) n
- Greek: αρχαία ελληνικά (el) n pl (archaía elliniká)
- Ancient Greek: Ἑλληνική (Hellēnikḗ)
- Hindi: पूर्व-यूनानी (pūrv-yūnānī)
- Hungarian: ógörög (hu)
- Icelandic: forngríska (is) f
- Interlingua: lingua grec ancian, greco ancian
- Irish: Sean-Ghréigis f
- Italian: greco antico (it) m
- Japanese: 古代ギリシャ語 (こだいギリシャご, kodai Girisha-go)
- Korean: 고대 그리스어 (ko) (godae geuriseueo), 희랍어 (ko) (huirabeo)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: yewnaniya kevn (ku) f
- Latin: graece antique
- Latvian: sengrieķu valoda f
- Lithuanian: senovės graikų kalba (lt) f
- Macedonian: старогр́чки m (starogŕčki)
- Marathi: प्राचीन ग्रीक f (prācīn grīk)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: gammelgresk (no) m
- Occitan: grèc antic m, grèc ancian m
- Polish: starożytna greka f
- Portuguese: grego antigo (pt) m
- Romanian: greaca antică f (definite form), greaca veche f (definite form)
- Russian: древнегре́ческий язы́к m (drevnegréčeskij jazýk), древнегре́ческий (ru) m (drevnegréčeskij)
- Scots: Auncient Greek
- Scottish Gaelic: Seann Ghreugais f
- Serbo-Croatian: старогрчки, starogrčki (sh)
- Slovak: starogréčtina (sk) f
- Spanish: griego antiguo (es) m
- Swedish: klassisk grekiska (sv) c, gammalgrekiska c, antik grekiska c
- Turkish: Antik Yunanca, Eski Yunanca (tr), Grekçe (tr)
- Ukrainian: давньогре́цька мо́ва f (davnʹohrécʹka móva)
- Vietnamese: tiếng Hy Lạp cổ đại
- Welsh: Hen Roeg (cy) f
- West Frisian: Aldgryksk n, Ald-Gryksk n
- Yakut: былыргы гириэк тыла (bılırgı giriek tıla)
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See also
- Wiktionary’s coverage of Ancient Greek terms
- Appendix:Ancient Greek Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Ancient Greek
Noun
Ancient Greek (plural Ancient Greeks)
- Alternative letter-case form of ancient Greek (“a native or inhabitant of Ancient Greece”).
Usage notes
- Usually, ancient is not capitalized in this sense.
Synonyms
Adjective
Ancient Greek (not comparable)
- Alternative letter-case form of ancient Greek (“of or relating to Ancient Greece”).
References
Further reading