The aim of the present study is to examine the polytypia (morphological variation) and semantic differentiations of the verb in Vitsentzos Kornaros Erotokritos, to understand how these shape poetic style. The conclusion support the view that Kornaros is very attentive to the interplay of metre and style, employing different word forms, including both dialectal and non-dialectal verbs, partly for metrical and partly for euphonic reasons, while actively exploiting their polytypia to produce or rework formulatic expressions, in his striving to create a rich and varied language.
In this collective volume edited by Klaas Bentein, Mark Janse, and Jorie Soltic, some of the leading experts in the field explore variation and change in one of the core areas of Ancient Greek grammar: tense, aspect, and modality. The contributors investigate key aspects such as the existence of and competition between linguistic variants, the value of modern linguistic theory for the study of linguistic variation, and the interplay between various dimensions of variation. They focus on various stages of the Greek language (Archaic, Classical, Post-classical, and Byzantine), taking both qualitative and quantitative approaches. By doing so, they offer valuable insights in the multi-faced nature of the Greek verbal system, providing an incentive towards the further study of linguistic variation and change.
Despite the difficulties of reconstructing the grammar of a dead language, studying Ancient Greek offers new insights for linguistic theory. The morphological complexity of the Greek verb with its highly intricate inflectional system provide a valuable basis for an in-depth-analysis of the mechanisms which regulate the functioning of a language. Studies on the Ancient Greek verb have also contributed significantly to the reconstruction of the Indo-European language since the early history of Linguistics in the nineteenth century. The conservative features preserved in the oldest stages of Greek allow us to rely on a solid basis to which every linguist must refer in investigating a model of the Proto-Indo-European verb. The present volume contains the papers presented at the 8th International Meeting on Greek Linguistics (GL8) held in Agrigento in October 2009, hosted by the University of Palermo, Italy. The conference was part of a series of biennial international meetings on Ancient Greek Linguistics organized in Italy since 1993. It was entitled 'The Greek Verb: Morphology, Syntax, Semantics' and was aimed at discussing trending issues on the Ancient Greek verbal system from a perspective both synchronic and diachronic. The contributions of this book analyze phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic phenomena from various areas of grammar pertaining to the verb, using a large corpus which ranges mostly from Homeric to Classical Greek. There is diversity in the topics covered, but the approach which unifies the volume is that of challenging traditional divisions and rigid boundaries between different levels of analysis, focusing on fundamental issues in theoretically-based linguistics from a broad perspective: morphosyntactic and syntactic variation, phonological, morphological, semantic and pragmatic aspects of grammatical phenomena. The papers also adopt different theoretical frameworks, both synchronic and diachronic, and develop diverse approaches varying from the cognitive (prototype theory), and the formal (Distributed Morphology), to the pragmatic-functional, and the historical-comparative. This volume provides a current overview of some work on Ancient Greek Linguistics, setting forth interesting topics for further research and drawing more attention to the contribution which historical linguistics and the study of dead languages can give to the improvement and growth of linguistic theories, toward a deeper comprehension of the language system.
"The subject of this book is Herodes Atticus, the enormously rich Athenian of the second century AD, who became one of the politically important persons in his City and who was one of the leading intellectuals of his time in his capacity of sophist, orator, and teacher to students from all over the Roman Empire. Evidence of his munificence were scattered over Greece and Italy, in the shape of statues, buildings and shrines that he sponsored. They contributed to creating an image of a benevolent and generous benefactor." "This book focuses on one of the tools that he used for disseminating his image, namely poetry. The approach of this study is different from previous research in the sense that it is totally focused on verse inscriptions connected to Herodes Atticus and found in two different regions of the Roman Empire. Those inscriptions have been studied previously, but they have almost exclusively been used as sources for Herodes biography and treated as reflections of his person. In this study, the texts are also treated as illustrations of how occasional poetry functioned in the contemporary society and of how an individual like Herodes exploited the poetic medium in order to enhance his own person, his family and his endeavours." "By a careful study of the epigrams in question, the somewhat stereotype picture of Herodes becomes modified, and a complex figure appears. Without exaggeration, Herodes Atticus was one of the most interesting personalities in Athens of the Early Roman Empire."--BOOK JACKET.
A History of the Greek Language is a kaleidoscopic collection of ideas on the development of the Greek language through the centuries of its existence.
This book presents a critical edition of the Latin letters in ms. G3 (Uppsala University Library) from Johannes Annorelius to his brother. Johannes Annorelius left Sweden as a young student in the beginning of the 18th century and settled down in Flanders, where he converted to the Catholic faith and became a Capuchin friar. In the Capuchin friary Annorelius wrote several extensive letters in French and Latin to his brother Julius in Sweden. The letters state the reasons for his conversion and are intended to convince his Lutheran brother and the rest of their family to become Catholics as well. Hence, the letters become epistolary specimens of controversial theology with arguments mostly from the Bible and the Church Fathers in a style highly influenced by the controversialists of the Counter-reformation. The major part of the book (267 pp.) consists of the edition of the letters.
Peter Mackridge explores the ideological, social, and linguistic causes and effects of the Greek language question in its many and passionate manifestations over two turbulent centuries. He shows the crucial way in which Greek linguistic identities have interacted in the creation of the modern nation since the War of Independence in 1821.
Medieval literature is to a large degree shaped by orality, not only with regard to performance, but also to transmission and composition. Although problems of orality have been much discussed by medievalists, there is to date no comprehensive handbook on this topic. ‘Medieval Oral Literature’, a volume in the ‘De Gruyter Lexikon’ series, was written by an international team of twenty-five scholars and offers a thorough discussion of theoretical approaches as well as detailed presentations of individual traditions and genres. In addition to chapters on the oral-formulaic theory, on the interplay of orality and writing in the Early Middle Ages, on performance and performers, on oral poetics and on ritual aspects of orality, there are chapters on the Older Germanic, Romance, Middle High German, Middle English, Celtic, Greek-Byzantine, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Turkish traditions of oral literature. There is a special focus on epic and lyric, genres that are also discussed in separate chapters, with additional chapters on the ballad and on drama.
