9 Surprising Facts about the Greek Language

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1. The word “alphabet” refers to the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.

The first two letters in the Greek alphabet are alpha (α)and beta (β). Therefore, even though English uses Roman letters, the word “alphabet” actually refers to Greek characters!

2. Greek words have three genders.

Like German, the Greek language has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Therefore, the word “the” can take three forms: in masculine form, it is o; in feminine form, it is η; and in neuter form, it is το.

3. The longest word to appear in literature is Greek.

It’s said that the longest word ever to appear in literature is found in Assemblywoman, a play written in 391 BCE by Greek playwright Aristophanes. It has a whopping 171 letters, and refers to a fictional dish consisting of several different types of meat. If you’re feeling brave, try to pronounce it without making a mistake:

λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων

4. Around 12% of English words derive from Greek.

Greek hugely influenced English, and as such, many technical and scientific terms derive from Greek (especially prefixes). For example, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are of Greek origin. Additionally, almost every English word that starts with ph (e.g., philosophy, photograph, phobia, phenomenon) comes from Greek.

5. English has influenced Greek, too.

Though it hasn’t had quite the impact that Greek has had on English, the English language has significantly affected Greek. For example, the verb φρικάρω (pronounced “freak-are-oh”) comes from the English word “freak out”. And γκλαμουριά (pronounced “glamour-ee-ah”) derives from “glamour”.

6. Until 1976, there were two different official versions of Greek.

Before 1976, Greek had two variations. Demotic was used in most casual contexts, as well as in literature. Katharevousa, on the other hand, was used in academia, law, medicine, newspapers, and the armed forces. In 1976, however, the Greek government adopted Demotic as the sole official language.

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7. The Greek alphabet was the first to use vowels.

The Greek alphabet has a long history, and has been around since the 9th century BCE. It was the first alphabet to use vowels; before that, written language consisted only of consonants.

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8. The Greek question mark looks like a semicolon.

Greek uses a different alphabet from English, and even the punctuation is different! Indeed, the Greek question mark is a semicolon (;), and is used at the end of questions.

9. It was originally written from right to left.

Ancient Greek, like modern-day Hebrew and Arabic, was written from right to left. It then went through a period of boustrophedon, meaning that lines alternated between right-to-left and left-to-right script. Nowadays, it’s written only from left to right.

So even if you’ve read the Iliad and the Odyssey from front to back, now you also know which Greek play contains the longest word to ever appear in literature!

The word polyglot, which refers to somebody who speaks many languages, derives from Greek: poly means “many”, and glotta means “tongue”. If you’re interested in being a polyglot, or you simply want to learn Greek, think about taking personalized Greek classes from a qualified native speaker. Send us a quick enquiry to learn more about this language of antiquity that has influenced the world so profoundly.