I need help learning Koine Greek

Is vocalizing the Greek words and sentences important? If so, how should Greek be pronounced (what arguments can be made for one pronunciation over another or others?) How can I write Greek characters clearly and legibly?
Mitja Mörec
Posts: 7
Joined: July 22nd, 2012, 8:55 am

I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by Mitja Mörec »

Hello im new on this forum, my goal is to learn Koine Greek so that i can grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So i would like to ask you for some pointers to right direction on where to start. So far i have only learned to write the alphabet, so far i have found that there are three major pronunciation systems like Historical, Erasmian and Modern and i would like to learn the Historic pronunciation. I have found some material on http://www.ibiblio.org.

Can anyone please suggest me some more sites especially oriented toward Historic Koine Greek pronunciation that are free and some other helpful starting points in general, thanks.
GlennDean
Posts: 77
Joined: March 3rd, 2012, 11:06 pm

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by GlennDean »

Hi Mitja,

You might want to take a look at

http://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com

Glenn
Mitja Mörec
Posts: 7
Joined: July 22nd, 2012, 8:55 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by Mitja Mörec »

Thanks for reply Glenn, i have already been on that site and its awesome but i cant join any courses or workshops since i dont live in USA and at this moment i cant afford to buy books or textbooks thats why i was asking for sites that are free.
David Lim
Posts: 901
Joined: June 6th, 2011, 6:55 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by David Lim »

Mitja Mörec wrote:I have found some material on http://www.ibiblio.org.
I hope you found http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/project/funk-grammar! ;) Personally, it answered a lot of the questions I had at the start. Perhaps we should put up a sticky thread, with just one long list compiled by the moderators from suggestions in the thread? Maybe one thread specific to learning Greek, and another for books and references? Just my suggestion. :)
δαυιδ λιμ
Mitja Mörec
Posts: 7
Joined: July 22nd, 2012, 8:55 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by Mitja Mörec »

Wow, thanks David thats great link. I have only one question about Hellenism, i have seen some charts that goes something like this, Hellenic-Greek-Ionic-Attic-Standard modern Greek, so my question is where does Koine Biblical Greek fits in ? Im little confused.
Shirley Rollinson
Posts: 415
Joined: June 4th, 2011, 6:19 pm
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

I have an Online Greek Textbook - and it's free.
It starts at
http://www.drshirley.org/greek/textbook/index.html

Also, in a few weeks, I'll be teaching an online "Beginning Greek" course at ENMU.
The webpages are up on the web, starting at
http://www.drshirley.org/gr201/index.html
If you want to audit it, you're very welcome.

All best wishes with your Greek studies - Keep on doing a bit each day, and you'll be surprised how much you learn in a year :-)
Shirley Rollinson
David Lim
Posts: 901
Joined: June 6th, 2011, 6:55 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by David Lim »

Mitja Mörec wrote:Wow, thanks David thats great link. I have only one question about Hellenism, i have seen some charts that goes something like this, Hellenic-Greek-Ionic-Attic-Standard modern Greek, so my question is where does Koine Biblical Greek fits in ? Im little confused.
"Hellenic" comes from the Greek word "ελληνικος" which is an adjective meaning "Greek". I don't know much about the history of the Greek language so I have to refer you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language. It seems that "Hellenic" is used to describe the whole family of Greek languages. Koine Greek (meaning "Common Greek") appears to be mostly Attic Greek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koine_Greek).
δαυιδ λιμ
Mitja Mörec
Posts: 7
Joined: July 22nd, 2012, 8:55 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by Mitja Mörec »

Thank you Shirley and thanks David.
klriley
Posts: 22
Joined: May 31st, 2011, 1:20 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by klriley »

Mitja Mörec wrote:Wow, thanks David thats great link. I have only one question about Hellenism, i have seen some charts that goes something like this, Hellenic-Greek-Ionic-Attic-Standard modern Greek, so my question is where does Koine Biblical Greek fits in ? Im little confused.
Historically, we start with Proto-Indo-European, then move to Proto-Greek (with a debated number of steps between). There are no records of this stage. The earliest recorded Greek is Mycenaean Greek from about C15-C12 BCE. The 'literature' of this age is mostly lists and inventories. There is then the 'Dark Ages' where nothing seems to have survived, but we can confidently assume that the Greek language existed in various dialects. Then comes Archaic Greek from about C9/8-C6 BCE, the most famous example of which is Homer's poems - although they survive in a form influenced by Classical Greek. Classical Greek begins about C6 BCE, and this lasts until Hellenistic/Koiné Greek of the C3 BCE. Classical Greek remained as a written language long after it ceased to be spoken, and there were various periods where Greek writers attempted to go back, to varying degrees, to the Classical form. The last such attempt (Katharevousa) ended in the 1970s. The main dialects of the Classical period were 1) Ionic, with a variant in Athens called Attic (the whole dialect is often called Attic-Ionic, and this is what most people mean when they say 'Classical Greek); 2) Doric (eg, Spartan) which is closely related to 3) North-West Greek; and 4) Arcado-Cyprian, which seems to be descended from Mycenaean Greek. Most Greek cities had a dialect differing somewhat from its neighbours, but they are the main groups. After Alexander the Great united the Greek world and its neighbours, a common (koiné) Greek developed which lasted until around 600 AD when it becomes known as Byzantine Greek. That becomes Modern Greek around 1500, although the change actually happened gradually from about 1100-1800. Since 1976, Standard Modern Greek ("Κοινή Νεοελληνική"), derived from the dialects of the Peloponnese area, has been the official language of Greece and Cyprus.
Mitja Mörec
Posts: 7
Joined: July 22nd, 2012, 8:55 am

Re: I need help learning Koine Greek

Post by Mitja Mörec »

klriley wrote:
Mitja Mörec wrote:Wow, thanks David thats great link. I have only one question about Hellenism, i have seen some charts that goes something like this, Hellenic-Greek-Ionic-Attic-Standard modern Greek, so my question is where does Koine Biblical Greek fits in ? Im little confused.
Historically, we start with Proto-Indo-European, then move to Proto-Greek (with a debated number of steps between). There are no records of this stage. The earliest recorded Greek is Mycenaean Greek from about C15-C12 BCE. The 'literature' of this age is mostly lists and inventories. There is then the 'Dark Ages' where nothing seems to have survived, but we can confidently assume that the Greek language existed in various dialects. Then comes Archaic Greek from about C9/8-C6 BCE, the most famous example of which is Homer's poems - although they survive in a form influenced by Classical Greek. Classical Greek begins about C6 BCE, and this lasts until Hellenistic/Koiné Greek of the C3 BCE. Classical Greek remained as a written language long after it ceased to be spoken, and there were various periods where Greek writers attempted to go back, to varying degrees, to the Classical form. The last such attempt (Katharevousa) ended in the 1970s. The main dialects of the Classical period were 1) Ionic, with a variant in Athens called Attic (the whole dialect is often called Attic-Ionic, and this is what most people mean when they say 'Classical Greek); 2) Doric (eg, Spartan) which is closely related to 3) North-West Greek; and 4) Arcado-Cyprian, which seems to be descended from Mycenaean Greek. Most Greek cities had a dialect differing somewhat from its neighbours, but they are the main groups. After Alexander the Great united the Greek world and its neighbours, a common (koiné) Greek developed which lasted until around 600 AD when it becomes known as Byzantine Greek. That becomes Modern Greek around 1500, although the change actually happened gradually from about 1100-1800. Since 1976, Standard Modern Greek ("Κοινή Νεοελληνική"), derived from the dialects of the Peloponnese area, has been the official language of Greece and Cyprus.
Thank you.
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