From: dalmatia@eburg.com
Date: Tue Mar 24 1998 - 12:42:20 EST
> Randall M. Tidmore wrote:
> My question has to do with the difference in koine and classic
> Greek.
Hi Randall ~
25 years ago I studied 'Classic' Greek, or Attic Greek, as we called
it ~ and in our vanity we sniffed down long noses at that simplified
NT Koine stuff ~ Like it was beneath our dignity to lower ourselves to
even read it... Hah!! Funny how things come full circle... I know
better now...
There may well have been a Koine 'street' Greek that would parallel
the street English that is virtually unrecognizable in so many Latin
American countries. That Greek did not survive in writing, if it
existed at all.
I like to think of Koine Greek as a kind of 'Lingua Franca' of those
times, meaning a language of precision that enabled folks to talk to
each other when their native languages were different, a language of
'international' communication and discourse. Major thinkers could
communicate in it at any 'level' they might envision, as well as
people engaged in commerce, etc.
It's naturalness, clarity and precision kept it in usage long after
the conquering Greeks left. Perhaps it was the language of usage in
the educated peoples, as French was, say, in czarist Russia.
Given the variety of people He talked to, it is easy to imagine that
Christ spoke it, and that when we read, say, the famous EGO EIMIs, we
are hearing His actual words...
I hope this helps...
George Blaisdell
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:39:16 EDT