Koine Greek

Not to be confused with Koiné language.
"Koine" redirects here. For other uses, see Koine (disambiguation).
Koine Greek
ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος
Pronunciation[(h)e̝ kyˈne̝ diˈalektos]
RegionHellenistic Kingdoms and Roman Empire.
By the Early Middle Ages, used in the Southern Balkans, Aegean Islands and Ionian Islands, Asia Minor, parts of Southern Italy and Sicily, Byzantine Crimea, the Levant, Egypt and Nubia
EthnicityGreeks
Era300 BC – 600 AD (Byzantine official use until 1453); developed into Medieval Greek, survives as the liturgical language of the Greek Orthodox and the Greek Catholic churches[1]
Early forms
Greek alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2grc
ISO 639-3(a proposal to use ecg was rejected in 2023[2])
grc-koi
Glottologkoin1234

Koine Greek[a] (ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinḕ diálektos, lit. 'the common dialect'),[b] also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties.[6]

Koine Greek included styles ranging from conservative literary forms to the spoken vernaculars of the time.[7] As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek, which then turned into Modern Greek.[8]

Literary Koine was the medium of much post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch and Polybius.[6] Koine is also the language of the Septuagint (the 3rd century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the Christian New Testament, and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers. In this context, Koine Greek is also known as "Biblical", "New Testament", "ecclesiastical", or "patristic" Greek.[9] The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his private thoughts in Koine Greek in a work that is now known as Meditations.[10] Koine Greek continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church and in some Greek Catholic churches.[11]

  1. ^ Demetrios J. Constantelos, The Greek Orthodox Church: faith, history, and practice, Seabury Press, 1967
  2. ^ "Change Request Documentation: 2009-060". SIL International. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Koine". CollinsDictionary.com. HarperCollins. Retrieved 2014-09-24.
  4. ^ "Koine". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  5. ^ "Koine". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  6. ^ a b Bubenik, V. (2007). "The rise of Koiné". In A. F. Christidis (ed.). A history of Ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity. Cambridge: University Press. pp. 342–345.
  7. ^ Horrocks, Geoffrey (1997). "4–6". Greek: a history of the language and its speakers. London: Longman.
  8. ^ Horrocks, Geoffrey (2009). Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers. Wiley. p. xiii. ISBN 978-1-4443-1892-0.
  9. ^ Chritē, Maria; Arapopoulou, Maria (11 January 2007). A history of ancient Greek. Thessaloniki, Greece: Center for the Greek Language. p. 436. ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3.
  10. ^ "Maintenance". www.stoictherapy.com.
  11. ^ Makrides, Vasilios N; Roudometof, Victor (2013). Orthodox Christianity in 21st Century Greece: The Role of Religion in Culture, Ethnicity and Politics. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-4094-8075-4. "A proposal to introduce Modern Greek into the Divine Liturgy was rejected in 2002"


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