Cretan Greek (Cretan dialect, Greek: Κρητική διάλεκτος or Kritika Κρητικά) is a dialect of the Greek language, spoken by more than half a million people in Crete and several thousands in the diaspora. This article is an overview of the history of Greek. ... Greek (, IPA — Hellenic) has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language within the Indo-European family. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... The Proto-Greek language is the common ancestor of the Greek dialects, including the Mycenean language, the classical Greek dialects Attic-Ionic, Aeolic, Doric and North-Western Greek, and ultimately the Koine and Modern Greek. ... Mycenaean is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland and on Crete in the 16th to 11th centuries BC, before the Dorian invasion. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Aeolic Greek is a linguistic term used to describe a set of rather archaic Greek sub-dialects, spoken mainly in Boeotia (a region in Central Greece), in Lesbos (an island close to Asia Minor) and in other Greek colonies. ... Arcadocypriot was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia and Cyprus between ca. ... Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek language that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Pamphylian is a little-attested dialect of Ancient Greek which was spoken in Pamphylia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor. ... Homeric Greek is the form of Ancient Greek that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. ... Koine redirects here. ... Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the third period in the history of the Greek language. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Cappadocian (SIL: CPG; ISO 639-2: ine), also known as Cappadocian Greek or Asia Minor Greek is a Greek-Turkish mixed language, formerly spoken in Cappadocia (Central Turkey). ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a Modern Greek dialect which is spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region in southern Italy and Sicily, and it is otherwise known as the Grecanic language. ... Katharevousa (Greek Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: ) is a form of the Greek language, created during the early 19th century by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). ... Pontic Greek is a Greek language which was originally spoken on the shores of the Black Sea (Pontus). Pontics linguistic lineage stems from Attic Greek, and contains influences from Byzantine Greek, Turkish influence and some Persian and Caucasian borrowings. ... Tsakonian (also Tsakonic) (Standard Greek Τσακωνική Διάλεκτος — Tsakonic language — is a dialect of, or language closely related to, Standard Modern Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. ... Yevanic, otherwise known as Yevanika, Romaniote and Judeo-Greek, was the language of the Romaniotes, the group of Greek Jews whose existence in Greece is documented since the 4th century BCE. Its linguistic lineage stems from Attic Greek and the Hellenistic Koine (Κοινή Ελ&#955... Crete (Greek: Κρήτη Kríti; Turkish: Girit) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. ... Look up Diaspora in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Geographic distribution

The Cretan dialect is spoken by the majority of the Cretan Greeks in the island of Crete, as well as by several thousands of Cretans who have settled in major Greek cities, notably in Athens. In the major centers of the Greek diaspora the dialect is continued to be used by the Cretans, mainly in the United States, Australia and Germany. In addition, a number of Cretan Muslims are reported to use the dialect in everyday speech. In Turkey, in the areas Cretan Turks settled after the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations in 1923, the dialect is still in use by older people. An interesting case is the coastal Syrian town of Al Hamidiyah and the neighbouring territories of Lebanon, where the dialect of the Cretan settlers of 1897 is preserved by their descendants. Greek Diaspora is the term that refers to the Greek communities that have formed outside the traditional homelands of the Greek people. ... Cretan Muslims (Greek: Τουρκοκρητικοί Turkokritiki) were a religious group of Crete that came about as a consequence of the Ottoman rule on the island between 1645-1908 (see below for clarifications on the dates), principally through conversions of local Cretan Greeks to Islam. ... The freighter Giresun which carried thousands of exchanged Turkish Cretans from the ports of Crete to Turkey in the summer of 1923. ... Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations This was a document signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, January 30, 1923, between the governments and Greece and Turkey. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Usage and settings

The Cretan dialect is rarely used in written speech. However, Cretan Greeks usually communicate with each other in this dialect. It also important to note that Cretan Greek is not much different from the other Greek dialects or Standard Greek, something that has as a result is mutual intillegibility. There are many organisations of Cretans aiming to preserve their culture, including thei dialect; To this day the dialect does not seem to be in danger of extinction. Some academians state that the Cretan dialect had the potential to become the basis of Modern Standard Greek, having in mind its flourishing history and achievements. According to them, this process was interrupted violently in 1669, when the Ottomans conquered the island. Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ...

History

The Cretan dialect, as well as all modern Greek dialects (with the exception of Tsakonian and, to some extend, Griko), evolved from Koine. Its structure and vocabulary has preserved archaic features, due to the distance of Crete from the main Greek centers. Infuences by other languages can also be found. The conquest of Crete by the Arabs in 824 left mainly toponyms. The Venetian influence, however, was proven to be the strongest, since the island remained under Venetian control for nearly 5 centuries. To this day, many toponyms, names and words stem from the Italian language of early modern times, which came to reenforce the Latin infuence from antiquity and the early Byzantine Empire. Following the Ottoman conquest of 1669, Turkish words entered the vocabulary of Cretans as well. It must be noted though, that borrowings and elements of other languages are mainly concentrated in the Cretan vocabulary, whereas the grammar and syntax of Cretan Greek was, in general, not affected. With the beginning of the 20th century and the evolution of technology and tourism, English, French and German terms are widely used. Tsakonian (also Tsakonic) (Standard Greek Τσακωνική Διάλεκτος — Tsakonic language — is a dialect of, or language closely related to, Standard Modern Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. ... Location map of the Griko-speaking areas in Salento and Calabria Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a language combining ancient Greek, Byzantine Greek and Italian elements. ... Koine redirects here. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... In geography and cartography, a toponym is a place name, a geographical name, a proper name of locality, region, or some other part of Earths surface or its natural or artificial feature. ... Venetian could mean of Venice of the venetia territory of the Republic of Venice of the venet nation the Venetian language The Venetian, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada A venetian blind - a horizontally slatted window blind. ... Italian ( , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 70 million people, primarily in Italy. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Antiquity means different things: Generally it means ancient history, and may be used of any period before the Middle Ages. ... What Up. ... Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem At the height of its power (1683) Capital Söğüt (1299-), Bursa (1326-), Edirne (1365-), Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI Grand Viziers  - 1320... // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ... Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Literature

According to some philologists, the first works of Modern Greek were written in the Cretan dialect during the 16th century (others consider the beginning of modern Greek literature as early as the 10th century, with the first work being the epic poem of Digenis Acritas). Erotokritos is undoubtedly the masterpiece of the Cretan literature, and perhaps the supreme achievement of modern Greek literature. It is a verse romance written around 1600 by Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553-1613). In over 10,000 lines of rhyming fifteen-syllable couplets, the poet relates the trials and tribulations suffered by two young lovers, Erotokritos and Aretousa, daughter of Heracles, King of Athens. It was a tale that enjoyed enormous popularity among its Greek readership and succeeded in making itself something of a folk hero, whose pedigree was as brother to Digenis Acritas and Alexander the Great. The poets of the period of Cretan literature (15th-17th centuries) used the spoken Cretan dialect, freed of the medieval vernacular. The tendency to purge the language of foreign elements was above all represented by Chortatsis, Kornaros and the anonymous poets of Voskopoula and The Sacrifice of Abraham, whose works highlight the expressive power of the dialect. As dictated by the pseudo-Aristotelian theory of decorum, the heroes of the works use a vocabulary analogous to their social and educational background. It was thanks to this convention that the Cretan comedies were written in a language that was an amalgam of Italicisms, Latinisms and the local dialect, thereby approximating to the actual language of the middle class of the Cretan towns. The time span separating Antonios Achelis, author of the Siege of Malta (1570), and Chortatsis and Kornaros is too short to allow for the formation, from scratch, of the Cretan dialect we see in the texts of the latter two. The only explanation, therefore, is that the poets at the end of the sixteenth century were consciously employing a particular linguistic preference – they were aiming at a pure style of language for their literature and, via that language, a separate identity for the Greek literary production of their homeland. At the moment this page contains a list of links. ... In mathematics, see epic morphism. ... Digenis Acritas (Greek: Διγενής Ακρίτας) is the most famous epic poem that emerged out of the 12th century Byzantine Empire, following the Acritic songs tradition. ... Erotokritos (Greek Ερωτόκριτος) is a romantic epic composed by Vitsentzos Kornaros in early 17th century Crete. ... Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553-1617) was a 16th century Cretan poet who wrote the lengthy poem Erotokritos, dealing with themes such as love, honour, friendship and courage. ... // Events June 26 - Christs Hospital in London gets a Royal Charter July 6 - Edward VI of England dies July 10 - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England - for the next nine days July 18 - Lord Mayor of London proclaims Queen Mary as the rightful Queen - Lady Jane Grey... Events January - Galileo observes Neptune, but mistakes it for a star and so is not credited with its discovery. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: ,[1] Megas Alexandros; July 356 BC–June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336–323 BC), was one of, if not the most successful military commanders in history. ... The Island of Malta The Siege of Malta was a significant military event during World War II that occurred between 1940 and 1942 on the island of Malta. ...

The flourishing Cretan school was all but terminated by the Turkish capture of the island in the 17th century. The ballads of the klephts, however, survive from the 18th century; these are the songs of the Greek mountain fighters who carried on guerrilla warfare against the Turks. Klephts (Greek κλέφτης, pl. ...

Nikos Kazantzakis, though he mainly wrote in standard Greek, uses in his works many Cretan elements. Not only many characters in his novels are Cretans, but also they appear to speak in the Cretan dialect, giving to his work an alledged revival of the written literature in of this dialect. He is paradoxically the best-known Greek novelist outside Greece: paradoxically, because he himself rated his poetry and dramas far above his novels, to which he devoted himself seriously only during the last decade of his life. Paradoxically, too, because Kazantzakis has tended to be regarded more highly in international circles than at home. His wanderings temporarily halted by the occupation of Greece during the Second World War, Kazantzakis in the winter of 1941-2, at the age of fifty-eight, began work on the novel that would mark his second début in Greek literature. This was Zorba the Greek. Zorba was the first of seven novels (if we count the autobiographical Report to Greco, on which he was still working at the time of his death) that Kazantzakis wrote in his final years, and on which his international reputation now principally rests. Nikos Kazantzakis (Νίκος Καζαντζάκης in Greek) (February 18, 1883, Heraklion, Crete, Greece - October 26, 1957, Freiburg, Germany), author of poems, novels, essays, plays, and travel books, was arguably the most important and most translated Greek writer and philosopher of the 20th century. ... Zorba the Greek is a 1964 movie by Michael Cacoyannis, originally titled Alexis Zorbas, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. ...

See also

• Crete
• Modern Greek literature
• History of Crete
• Greek dialects