alexander's language

[Karla]

Hello all!!I was just thinking about what language/languages Alexander spoke. I would presume of course that he spoke Macedonian, but I realized that the language spoken in Macedon today would be different from the one spoken during Alexander's time. I did some minor research and found that the modern Macedonian language of today developed from the language of Slavic peoples who lived in Macedonia after Alexander's reign, which means that a different Macedonian language was spoken during his reign. Also wondering what other languages he might have learned to speak, other than Greek or Macedonian.Many thanks in advance..Karla

[marcus]

Hi Karla,I'm not even going to go near the question of whether Ancient Macedonian was different from Greek - I will leave that to others to argue.With regard to whether Alexander learned any other languages, there's nothing in the sources to indicate that he did. Personally I would be surprised if he didn't pick up some bits and bobs of other languages, but it appears he certainly never became fluent in any other tongue.All the bestMarcus

[yiannis]

Good question! I suspect that he would have had some knowlwdge of Illyrian or even Thracian, but do we have any sources confirming that? (or even indicating it?)

[Link]

Maybe he also spoke some the languages of the lands he lived in, why not, he took on their customs and dress. Even today the languages of that area and Macedonian have numerous words in common. Cleopatra of Egypt spoke many other languages.5 entries found for macedonian.
Mac-+e-+do-+ni-+an ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ms-dn-n)
adj.
Of or relating to ancient or modern Macedonia or its peoples, languages, or cultures.
n.
A native or inhabitant of ancient or modern Macedonia.
The language of ancient Macedonia, of uncertain affiliation within Indo-European.
The Slavic language of modern Macedonia, closely related to Bulgarian.
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Source: The American Heritage-« Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright -¬ 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. macedonian
\Mac`e*do"ni*an\, a. [L. Macedonius, Gr. ?.] (Geog.) Belonging, or relating, to Macedonia. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Macedonia.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, -¬ 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. \Mac`e*do"ni*an\, n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a certain religious sect, followers of Macedonius, Bishop of Constantinople, in the fourth century, who held that the Holy Ghost was a creature, like the angels, and a servant of the Father and the Son.Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, -¬ 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. adj : of or relating to Macedonia or its inhabitants; "Macedonian hills" [syn: Macedonian] n 1: a native or inhabitant of Macedon [syn: Macedonian] 2: the Slavic language of modern Macedonia [syn: Macedonian]
Source: WordNet -« 1.6, -¬ 1997 Princeton University 7 entries found for greek.
Greek ( P ) Pronunciation Key (grk)
n. The Indo-European language of the Greeks.
Greek language and literature from the middle of the eighth century B.C. to the end of the third century A.D., especially the Attic Greek of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. A native or inhabitant of Greece.
A person of Greek ancestry.
Informal. A member of a fraternity or sorority that has its name composed of Greek letters.
Informal. Something that is unintelligible: Quantum mechanics is Greek to me. adj.
Of or relating to Greece or its people, language, or culture.[Middle English Grek, from Old English Grcas, the Greeks, from Latin Graecus, Greek, from Greek Graikos, tribal name.]
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Source: The American Heritage-« Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright

[Link]

7 entries found for greek.
Greek ( P ) Pronunciation Key (grk)
n. The Indo-European language of the Greeks.
Greek language and literature from the middle of the eighth century B.C. to the end of the third century A.D., especially the Attic Greek of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. A native or inhabitant of Greece.
A person of Greek ancestry.
Informal. A member of a fraternity or sorority that has its name composed of Greek letters.
Informal. Something that is unintelligible: Quantum mechanics is Greek to me. adj.
Of or relating to Greece or its people, language, or culture.[Middle English Grek, from Old English Grcas, the Greeks, from Latin Graecus, Greek, from Greek Graikos, tribal name.]
[Buy it]
Source: The American Heritage-« Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright -¬ 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. \Greek\, a. [AS. grec, L. Graecus, Gr. ?: cf. F. grec. Cf. Grecian.] Of or pertaining to Greece or the Greeks; Grecian.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, -¬ 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. \Greek\, n. 1. A native, or one of the people, of Greece; a Grecian; also, the language of Greece.2. A swindler; a knave; a cheat. [Slang]Without a confederate the . . . game of baccarat does not . . . offer many chances for the Greek. --Sat. Rev.3. Something unintelligible; as, it was all Greek to me. [Colloq.]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, -¬ 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. adj : of or relating to or characteristic of Greece or the Greeks; "Greek mythology"; "a grecian robe" [syn: Greek, Grecian, Hellenic] n 1: the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European family of languages [syn: Greek, Hellenic, Hellenic language] 2: a native or inhabitant of Greece [syn: Greek, Hellene]
: WordNet -« 1.6, -¬ 1997 Princeton University greek
Found only in the New Testament, where a distinction is observed between "Greek"
and "Grecian" (q.v.). The former is (1) a Greek by race (Acts 16:1-3; 18:17;
Rom. 1:14), or (2) a Gentile as opposed to a Jew (Rom. 2:9, 10). The latter,
meaning properly "one who speaks Greek," is a foreign Jew opposed to a home Jew
who dwelt in Palestine. The word "Grecians" in Acts 11:20 should be "Greeks,"
denoting the heathen Greeks of that city, as rendered in the Revised Version
according to the reading of the best manuscripts ("Hellenes").
Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

[matz]

His mother tongue was Macedonian, and he certainly spoke Greek. I couldn't imagine him speaking fluently other languages as it takes time to master another language, unless it's been learned in the childhood and with a tutor and/or "hanging out" with native speakers of that language. I can't see him not speaking at least a few words of number of other languages, though.The current wisdom is that the language spoken in Macedonia today had been "imported" during the migration of the so-caled Slavic population into the area during the VI century AD. Without going into any details, I'll only mention that this theory may not endure the test of time.An alternative view held by number of Venetologists and other scholars is that the language spoken by Alexander may have been of Venetic origin, which is considered a precursor of the so-called Slavic languages. I recommend the book "VENETI: FIRST BUILDERS OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY".PhD Charles Bryant-Abrahams on the mother tongue of Alexander the Great:http://www.prah.net/europaveneta/august ... htmRegards,
Matz

[marcus]

I do agree that he must have picked up *something* of other languages. I spent a month travelling in Turkey a few years ago and managed to pick up a surprising amount by the time I left - I still remember a bit of it even now.But I suppose another argument against his becoming fluent was the fact that he was always surrounded by the army, who were speaking Greek (or Macedonian), and there's no way he would ever have 'immersed' himself in another language with interpreters to hand, and 45,000 Greek speakers sitting outside his tent :-)All the bestMarcus

[yiannis]

Your so-called "Venetologists" are a bunch of politically motivated bufoons, some of which consider Alexander to be a "proto-Slav"(!) and that the Veneti were indigenus to Central Europe since 1200 bc. Mainly the Slovenes support this theory to prove that they have nothing to do with the Slavs of the Balkans (superiority syndrom). Keep in mind that there were no "Venetic" inscriptions found in the Balkans, but mainly in Padua/Italy. Btw, Venetic IS considered to be an Italic not a Slavic language!
http://www.ancientscripts.com/venetic.htmlAfter all: ""We are Slavs who came to this area in the sixth century A.D. we are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians." (President of FYROM Ciro Gligorov, from the Foreign Information Service Daily Report, Eastern Europe, February 26, 1992, p. 35.)
or
22 January 1999: FYROM'S Ambassador in Washington, Mrs. Ljubica Acevshka:
"We do not claim to be descendants of Alexander the Great." "Greece is FYROM'S second largest trading partner, and its number one investor. Instead of opting for war, we have chosen the mediation of the United Nations, with talks on the ambassadorial level under Mr. Vance and Mr. Nimitz."
In reply to another question about the ethnic origin of the people of Macedonia, Ambassador Achevska stated:
"we are Slavs and we speak a Slav language."PS.
I'll not go into the debate if Macedonian were a Greek dialect or not. You all know my views and the arguments for or against it. This matter is so heavily connected with politics, that it has become a matter of faith rather than archaeology/history.

[THE LIGHT 7000]

Yasu Yanaki,...Recently there was interesting very very serious
talk on David Letherman show re: Mr. George W. Bush plans to land on Sun..., just to enter the history... Personally I do think that he will achive that if he land on Sun, but I do not think that you will achive anything with citing some ex-political figures from post yugoslav era from Makedonia, and to be honest, as I can see things, these posts, about some provoked interviews, are very odd and out of time,and that is why those persons are zero in Makedonian politics. So, do not bother your self to impress some people, if you think that there is still somone who will bait & belive in such childish arguments. On the other hand,yes, the relation between Greece and Makedonia are good and are improving for mutual benefit, espetially after scraping embargo and black lists for Makedonians once expeled from Greece because of false short lasting politics. In this context, maybe some person like me, is more reponsible for good Makedono-Greek relations today and in the future, than those who are in your head non stop. So go back to your topic and help people to find the truth, otherwise do not waste time and energy my friend, what you are saying is expired, like can of beans, capish! Tell us somthing interesting, chalenging, wise, not story, and by the way i do not think that ancient and present, even future generations will be so interested for some genitives or ablatives, they are talking like the are talking, evrything else is "smart manipulative magic" from people, just to make complications, we need symplicity, truth, light...
The Light 7000

[yiannis]

Weeeeell, I just don't know Vasco. You see, I kind of like what I'm saying and I'm able to support it, so I think I'll stick to it. If you don't like it, then that's too bad!
And there's no need to say such things about the elected President of your country and its state officials. Oops I forgot, you don't live there, so you didn't even vote
(by the way, could these statements be the reason for his attempted assasination a few years ago? - he barelly survived)

[THE LIGHT 7000]

Yannaki, yasu file- geralea,...now you are real geralea, I think this means geroi/heroi in Makedonian, i.e. hero, so you are close to what you are saying about Helenic/Greek, to be some distant dialect of Macedonian language,and maybe you are right. Talking, beliveing,and admitting that most of this topics are full of politics, and that is pure truth, is making person, slowly, to start changing it's oppinion about you and maybe others, with spark of hope that things are moving towards better understunding between people from different background, and in this casse, with extremly opposite views, and that is very good and promissing, tracing path towards constractive well ballanced dialogue! Great! That is why I am saying one should be proud what he/she/is, and let others to say what they are, without mixing politics with reality my friend, so we could be real friends as an example to others all over the world. Time will came when all that "misunderstunding" will be only past, like yesterday, so we could met each other and talk with smile about these arguments! That is one of my dreams, for everyone on earth, to be proud citizen of this breautifull planet as equal among all, proud of his own cultural heritage and identity...It is time for LIGHT, time for
Universal Brotherhood of Man!...Nafigome palikari
The Light 7000

[Dimitririos Poliorketes]

Karla , In addressing some of your points.The native language of the Macedonian Ethos was a very primitive Greek dialect ( like old english is to modern english)akin to the DORIC dialect which was much cruder then the ATTIC Greek.Ex Phillip was pronounced as Villip.The Attic dialect of Greek was gradually adopted by the aristocracy or Hetitoroi .Over 150 words have been discovered in Ancient Macedonia virtually all of them are Greek except for a few Thracian and Illyrian loan words but southern Greek dialects had loan words as well from pre Hellenic non aryan populations.As to what language is today spoken in Macedonia ,the answer is the KOINE GREEK the standardized dialect of that was promoted by ATG.See the ancient Macedonian Capitals PELLA and AGAE(Vergina) are in Greece as is most of the original MACEDONIAN state FYROM (modern slavic macedonia) composes only about 15% of the ancient territory.

[DIMITRIOS POLIORKETES]

The vast majority of scholars affirm that MACEDONIAN was a strong dialect of DORIC GREEK not in any other language(with a few miniscules of loaner words Thracian and Illyrian).All the inscriptions from VERGINA and PELLA are GREEK.The Greek tribes originated in MACEDONIA THESSALLY and EPIRUS some began to move south and impose the GREEK language on pre aryan populations.The Macedonians were the ancestors of Greek spreaking people who remained in the north and retained earlier Greek Homeric institutions.
INSCRIPTIONS DO NOT LIEhttp://www.cc.ece.ntua.gr/~conster/PageData/li ... ptions.htm

[stavros]

please. this is a sickening thread.

[stavros]

hellofryromians have no link to ancient greeks? can we all get over this? please?stavros