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Featured Greek Grammar Glossary

Discussion in 'Bible Versions & Translations' started by John of Japan, Jun 17, 2021.

  1. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    Today I was working on a glossary of Greek Grammar Glossary (say that real fast 10 times :Biggrin). I think it will be helpful to hand out to my students at the beginning of the fall semester, so I thought I would share it, since there have been a couple of new members recently who are studying Greek on their own.

    The definitions in quotes are from the textbook I use, Learn to Read New Testament Greek (3rd ed.), by David Alan Black. Feel free to add your own definitions, or ones from this or other textbooks. I'll post two definitions at a time.
     
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  2. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    adjective—a word that describes a noun, such as “big,” “loud,” “fast,” and so forth.

    affix—added letters that “indicate the function of the word in the particular sentence where it occurs” (p. 11). Affixes include prefixes, infixes, and suffixes (endings).
     
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  3. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    article—a short word that shows the definiteness or indefiniteness of another word. English has a definite article (“the”) and an indefinite article (“an” or “a”). However, Greek only has a definite article, and it is sometimes used differently from the

    aspect—"the view of the action that the speaker chooses to present to the hearer” (p. 14). Think of aspect as the kind of action the verb presents. Aspect is more important in Greek than the time of the action.

    Apparently aspect is a tough thing to comprehend for Greek students. I require my students to memorize Black's definition, some never do get it down, even after two whole semesters. Is it a millennial/Gen. Z thing? I dunno. :Cautious
     
  4. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    Forgot this one:

    adverb--a word that modifies (adds information to) a verb, an adjective, or a different adverb. (Note the name "adverb," so it adds to a verb.)
     
  5. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    clause—"a group of words forming a sense unit and containing one finite verb” (p. 10).

    inflection—"refers to the changes words undergo in accordance with their grammatical function in a sentence” (p. 10). The inflection of a verb is a conjugation, and the inflection of a noun is a declension.
     
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  6. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    My pastor told me what really helped before he started his 4 years of Hebrew and greek was to really prime up again on English grammar!
     
  7. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    Maybe he could help you out with this:

    How To Use The Exclamation Point - Online Spellcheck Blog
     
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  8. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    Mounce has useful comments comparing English and Greek grammar in his textbook.
     
  9. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    I forgot to say that in cases where there is no page number listed, the definition is my own.
     
  10. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    mood—"refers to the manner in which the speaker relates the verbal idea to reality” (p. 12). So, the Greek moods are: indicative (affirmation), imperative (command), subjunctive (possibility), and infinitive (verbal nouns). There is also an optative mood (wishing), but it is rare in the NT, occurring only 67 times, though common in classical Greek (p. 189),

    morpheme—"the minimal units of speech that convey a specific meaning” (p. 4). So, here are some English morphemes: -ed, -ing, a-, etc. These have meaning, but they are not words.

    morphology—the study of the sounds of a language
     
    #10 John of Japan, Jun 18, 2021
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2021
  11. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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  12. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    This is out of alphabetical order, but I figured it is needed:

    Diphthong—two vowels pronounced together as one sound. In Greek the diphthongs are: αι (ai), ει (ei), οι (oi), υι (ui), αυ (au), ευ (ey), and ου (ou). I have fun teaching these. After writing them on the whiteboard I point to them in random order and have them holler out the pronunciation with an expressive voice, such as “ow,” “ooo!” "Oi!" (“Hey, you” in Japanese), etc.
     
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  13. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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  14. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    noun—a word for a person, place, thing, or idea, such as “foot,” “bomb,” “textbook,” “Greek,” etc.

    parse—to describe the part of speech and grammar of a word. Example: λόγος—noun: nominative singular masculine.
     
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  15. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    participle—a verbal adjective. It can be used like a noun in Greek when preceded by the article. English participles usually end with -ing or -ed.

    particle—a word that has grammatical function in a sentence, but usually has no meaning. (Some grammars define this more broadly to include short words with meaning.) One Greek particle is γε, which simply strengthens meaning, but can carry the meaning of “Indeed” if the translator chooses to actually translate it.
     
  16. Bassoonery

    Bassoonery Active Member

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    Just a niggle - has the definition for morphology been mixed up with phonology?

    Thanks a lot for these resources all the same!
     
  17. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    To be more specific, morphology is the study of the morphemes of a language--sounds which are not words, but have meaning nonetheless. The study of merely the sounds of a language is phonology, as Bassoonery kindly pointed out. :Coffee
     
  18. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    You are completely correct. Thank you.
     
  19. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    phoneme—"Phonemes are the smallest elements that contrast with each other in the phonological system of a language” (p. 3). A phoneme is a sound without meaning in a language. Greek phonemes (pronunciation) is generally close to English, except for ξ (Xi, pronounced like X in “wax”), and ψ (psi, pronounced “ps”).

    Phonology—“The study of the sound systems of individual languages and of the nature of such systems generally” (P. H. Matthews, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics , p. 300).
     
  20. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    pronoun—a word that takes the place of a noun, such as “he,” “she,” “him,” “her”
     
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