Modern Greek - Definition and Overview

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

Modern Greek is the present vernacular language of Greece (also spoken in Cyprus), and is descended from Attic Greek.

Modern Greek (officially called "demotic") evolved directly from Hellenistic Koine, an ancient Greek dialect founded within the Greek Empire after the conquests of Alexander the Great. "Koine" had assimilated elements from many different Greek dialects but its nucleus had always been Attic (the dialect of Athens). Koine had been spoken spoken in the region of Greece during the entire Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, until the end of the middle ages when it gave birth to demotic (dhimotiki).

After Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire Modern Greek was divided into Dhimotiki ("demotic," "of the people", a term similar to "vernacular") and Katharevousa. Dhimotiki was the language of daily use, and the latter was an archaic form (closer to Attic), used for official documents, literature, newscasting and other formal purposes. In the late twentieth century, it has been totally obsoleted and replaced by Dhimotiki. During the Ottoman rule demotic had assimilated some foreign vocabulary which was gradually cleansed after its long-lasting co-existence with Katharevousa. In comparison to other European languages, Modern Greek has a negligible amount of foreign vocabulary.