Good Greek grammar & dictionary

[Pacifica]

Hello colleagues,

I'd like to start learning Greek; I've already subscribed to a correspondence course as I had done for Latin, and I've received the first lesson some time ago but haven't started yet. I'd like to see if someone could recommend me a good grammar and a good dictionary that I could find online (on archive.org or such things).

 

[Aurifex]

These two are a very good place to start:
Goodwin
Middle Liddell
There is a little Liddell, a middle Liddell, and a big Liddell. The middle one is the best for most purposes.

 

[Godmy]

Congratulations! There was a thread where we discussed the Greek grammars (there is one on Perseus which is digitized... ).

Big Liddell-Scott is then either on Perseus or (which is better) via the program (=ergo an offline solution) that is called "The Diogenes Project" which contains in its basic form digitized L&S and Liddell & Scott.

I suppose you have already chosen some method/some learning curve? Or maybe you just plan to read the grammar book
(Edit: I see... the corespondence course - hmm, good luck I guess you are sure now that you can expect from that some results)

You would probably like Latin-Greek and Greek-Latin dictionaries? They are on my site along with the instructions how to type Greek there (via Latin). You can get them also from Quasus (his solution), but I have repaired since then many inaccuracies in the search that resulted in a wrong page coming... so the search should be quite 100% per my site.

On the same place there is also a Greek etymological dictionary (however published some time around 1850 when the IndoEuropean studies were just in their beginning... so you won't get there that kind of information you could with a potential modern etymological dictionary of Greek: like reconstructed Proto-IndoEuropean roots and so on).

You can also see that having searched one word in one dictionary, you can easily switch in the top corner to another dictionary to search the same word there.

There is also a thread in the Other-languages section that deals with an easy method of writing Greek without changing settings in your Windows and having to deal with a foreign and not very user-friendly keyboard layout.

(Other dictionaries/tools that aim to make it easier for one to get some fluent command of the written languages are being evolved )

Oh, btw we are talking the Attic Greek right? ) (that would be funny if the course came with the modern Greek - well you would be able like that to expect a very quick progress since it is a living language).

 

[Godmy]

(Also beware not to take accidentally the "koiné" Greek: there will be a lot of time for that (and with ease) once you are certain with the Attic one)

 

[Aurifex]

On the same place there is also a Greek etymological dictionary (however published some time around 1850 when the IndoEuropean studies were just in their beginning... so you won't get there that kind of information you could with a potential modern etymological dictionary of Greek: like reconstructed Proto-IndoEuropean roots and so on).

Well there's one I've had in printed form for around twenty years: Boisacq.

(Also beware not to take accidentally the "koiné" Greek: there will be a lot of time for that (and with ease) once you are certain with the Attic one)

Not forgetting Ionic, Aeolic, Homeric and Doric.

 

[Godmy]

Well there's one I've had in printed form for around twenty years: Boisacq.

Thank you for the links (this one and those before). I knew that some French etymological dictionaries of Greek are out there... but I guess I didn't pay much attention since it could pose for me right now a minor lingual barrier (but I guess, on the other hand, I don't any knowledge to read the PIE roots). I may try to utilize the dictionary later...

Not forgetting Ionic, Aeolic, Homeric and Doric.

Yes... but there are substantially less information to learn them (as it seems), so the risk to make a mistake when buying a textbook/ordering a course is not so big (maybe except the Homeric one - but in the case of Homeric Greek I think that not many people accidentally step into those waters as they do in the confusion of Attic/Modern/koine which all are abundant in respect to their resources)-

 

[Pacifica]

Thank you guys.

Godmy: it is a course of ancient, Attic Greek.

 

[Godmy]

Good!
('ancient' means also Koine, Doric, Aeolic, Homeric (as mentioned)... but the prestige dialect is the Attic Greek, but you seem to have chosen well )

 

[Aurifex]

Here's little Liddell.
In addition to Smyth, which is even more exhaustive than Goodwin's Grammar, there's Goodwin's Syntax, and Thompson's (of Attic).
Veitch has occasionally been useful to me too, though in your case you'll probably have digested all the accidence, including the irregular verbs, by the end of the first month.

 

[Deleted member 13757]

I don't understand why the Attic and not Koiné, isn't there more literature in Koiné?

 

[Pacifica]

Well, with "ancient" I was answering your first concern that it might be modern Greek. The with "Attic" I answered your second concern that it might be Koine etc.

 

[Aurifex]

I don't understand why the Attic and not Koiné, isn't there more literature in Koiné?

Probably, but no Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Demosthenes, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle et al.

 

[Pacifica]

I don't understand why the Attic and not Koiné, isn't there more literature in Koiné?

It's probably the same kind of discrimination as the one we see in favour of classical Latin against late Latin.

 

[Godmy]

I don't understand why the Attic and not Koiné, isn't there more literature in Koiné?

Also the tons of papyri found in the Egyptian desert from the Hellenic Egypt period are all in Koine... (personal correspondence... many of them hasn't been transcribed and read yet) - the real everyday use of the language on the paper!

One answer are the authors, the quality literature ... and so on, but Wikipedia will answer better than me (or Aurifex maybe)

Edit: Not all of them probably written in Koine, but most of them (afaik).

 

[Pacifica]

Wikipedia will answer better than me (or Aurifex maybe)

Lol, the comparison is too good. Aurifex = living encyclopedia.

 

[Deleted member 13757]

Good luck Pacis puella, If I were to choose Greek as my next language, which I don't yet because I really really need to work on my French which I have been totally neglecting , I would go for Koine, for I think I would be in a position to find more speakers. Which I would require if.

 

[Pacifica]

Thank you - and good luck with French then. It seems to me you've been reading some lately.

Edit: And thank you everyone for all the advice and the books!

 

[Godmy]

I would go for Koine, for I think I would be in a position to find more speakers. Which I would require if.

The only group so far I know that works lively everyday with any ancient Greek and uses it for the communication are Vivarium Novum people and it is the Attic Greek... (and with the dynamic accent, if somebody wondered )

 

[Pacifica]

in your case you'll probably have digested all the accidence, including the irregular verbs, by the end of the first month.

Does it resemble Latin that much?

By the end of the first month, I'd be surprised. I'll only receive two lessons every two weeks (so I don't think all that will be taught within the first four lessons), and I don't think I'm going to study relentlessly by myself from other sources in the meantime - because I think I won't be able to help continuing doing much Latin then.

Well, I'll see how it will turn out. The Greek course will probably be as basic as the Latin one was. So I'll probably do the same as for Latin: follow the three levels of that course, and then continue on my own.

 

[Deleted member 13757]

The only group so far I know that works lively everyday with any ancient Greek and uses it for the communication are Vivarium Novum people and it is the Attic Greek... (and with the dynamic accent, if somebody wondered )

Oh yeah... Forgot about that. Some of my friends are graduates of that school but we only speak latin lol (and I forgot what dialect they teach over there).
Btw, Pacis puella, I think There's a lingua greaca per se illustrata by Miraglia