The Greek language

The Greek language (neugr. ελληνική γλώσσα ellinikí glóssa listen?/i, altgr. ἑλληνικὴ γλῶσσα hellēnikē gl õ ssa) is an indogermanische language which shows own branch of this family of languages. In the antiquity used and even today at the schools learnt Ancient Greek and the modern Greek spoken today in Greece are different linguistic steps of the Greek language.

In Greek a written tradition of 3400 years has. With the exception of the Chinese language no other living language for a such long time is delivered in writing. The western culture was decisively stamped by language and culture of antique Greece. Some of the most important literary works of the world history, how the homerischen epics and the writings of Platon and Aristotelis or the new testament, were written in Greek. A huge number of Ancient Greek words has found entrance into many modern languages as foreign words.
As a member of the indogermanischen family of languages the Greek is descended from the indogermanischen original language. One assumes from the fact that itself the original language split in the 3rd millennium B.C. in the Einzelsprachen. The Greek trunks probably penetrated in several waves about 2000 B.C. to Greece. There they hit on a culturally higher standing old population which one calls Pelasger. The language of the Pelasger is unknown, but it can be proved as a substrate in the Greek. Loan words like θάλασσα, thálassa ("sea") and νῆσος, nēsos ("island") as well as numerous local names like Κόρινθος (Korinth) and Παρνασσός belong to it (Wet from par). The pelasgische language (or languages) was not probably indogermanisch, on a connection with the minoischen language of Crete it is speculated. The Greek was also influenced by an unknown indogermanische language which was close, perhaps, to the extinct Illyrischen.