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I was wondering if anyone on here knows how substantially different modern Greek is from ancient Greek (i.e. the Greek of Aristotle)?

Please email me privately if so.

Or New Testament Greek. The letters are different. Some meanings. For instance, the Classic word "to pursue" is translated as "percecute"in Koine Greek.

The words"to serve as a priest" and to "get drunk" are the same.

"Disciple" and "child" are the same

"To grant a divorce" and "to pray" are the same.

Makes for some interesting translations. :p

SR asks:

>>>I was wondering if anyone on here knows how substantially different modern Greek is from ancient Greek (i.e. the Greek of Aristotle)?<<<

I am told that there are some isolated pocket Greek communities who still speak at least a version of the Attic dialect [Plato and Aristotle], and that it is called, if I recall, Kathervouska Greek - That language was tonal, as the modern Greek is not, and the modern is not well comprehensive of the ancient at all. We had tow guys from Athens in my Greek 101 class, and they were stars for the first two weeks, as we struggled to just get the alphabet, but then, when vocabulary and sentence construction proceeded, they were just as much awash in study as were the rest of us mon Greeks.

Much the same is true for the Greek Bible, which is not at all well understood by modern Athenians who hear it read in services. The old women in the Churches practically have it memorized from their lifelong attendance at services in which it is read, and they pronounce according to modern Greek standards. In 2000 years, the language has evolved, but much less that English in, say, 500 years... And the language of Atistotle was the 'high' Greek of 500 years before Christ, when Greek was aflowering its radiance that the west did not receive until many centuries later with their 'discovery' of the Attic texts and culture in the middle ages, and the ensuing effort to accomodate them into their religion. [faith vs reason, and all that...] The East had dealt with those matters long before, and had done so in Greek, and had laid the philosophers pretty much to rest. The west took them and created the enlightenment and the industrial revolution... [Not to mention Protestantism...]

geo

Dear Sr,
As far as I am a licenciate in classical philology and i am writing my thesis in Greece in Byzantine literature I feell i must give you an answer. Excuse me for my poor English. Greek language is an 4000 years old language. Well a lot of things have changed from year 2000 BC!Modern Greek is subtantially different from Ancient Greek in the same way that the Greek of Aristotle is different from the Greek of Homer, because Ancient Greek is not the Greek of Aristotle but somethig quite more complicated (different writen or spoken dialects from very different areas and periods). Well, if you want to know the New Testament language is nearer to the spoken language than the Greek of Plato or Aristotle, because was writen by Galilean fishers or Jews fron the area of Syria (Paul, Luke) and not by Athens Acedemics and Philosophers. George, fortunately nobody speaks that horrible katharevousa from the times of the dictatory but Greek bishops (specially the Ecumenical Patriarch) try to use NT Greek in thier speeches.
Well the question is: Do Greek people understand what is said at the liturgy? Well most of them know the liturgy by heart, they probably will understand the Gospel more or less but they will have a lot of problems with the Apostle and the Hymnografy of the Morning Office and Vespers. Well, if you are Ukranian or Ruthenian you will understand me if I tell you that a Greek just understand from the liturgy what a slavic language speaking understnd in a liturgy in Church Slavonic. Some in the orthodox church want to translate the liturgy into modern Greek, but the opposition is quite strong. The Latin rite Catholic have translated the whole liturgy the result is just awful. God bless you.