Course Guidebook

Greek 101

Learning an Ancient Language

Literature & Language

Topic

Language Learning

Subtopic

Professor Hans-Friedrich MuellerUnion College (Schenectady, New York)

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Hans-FriedricH MueLLer, PH.d. i

Hans-FriedricH MueLLer, PH.d.

tHoMas B. LaMont ProFessor oF ancient and Modern Literature

union coLLeGe (scHenectady, new york)

D r. Hans-Friedrich Mueller, also known as (Ioannes Freiderikos Mylonikos), serves as the Thomas B. Lamont Professor of Ancient and Modern

Literature in the Department of Classics at Union College in Schenectady, New York. He received his B.A. in Latin from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee in 1985 and, for the next six years, taught Latin, German, and Greek at Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida. Dr. Mueller earned his M.A. from the University of Florida in 1989 and returned to graduate school in 1991, receiving his Ph.D. in Classical Philology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994. He subsequently spent a year in Munich, Germany, at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, where he worked as a lexicographer.

During the 11 years of Dr. Muellers chairmanship, Union Colleges program in classics was noted especially for its interdisciplinary curriculum and high enrollment in ancient Greek. He received the American Philological Associations Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics at the College Level in 2000, as well as two awards for excellence in teaching at Florida State University. At the University of Florida, Dr. Mueller developed a graduate-level distance-learning program in classics for high school teachers.

In addition to numerous articles, including Ephialtes Accusator: A Case Study in Anecdotal History and Ideology, Dr. Mueller is the author of Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus and Caesar: Selections from His Commentarii De Bello Gallico. He is also the editor of an abridged edition of Edward Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the translator of Andreas Mehls Roman Historiography: An Introduction to Its Basic Aspects and Development.

taBLe oF contents

Table of ConTenTsii

IntroductIon

ProFessor BioGraPHy ................................................ isources and acknowLedGMents/PersonaL tHanks ............. 1

Lesson GuIdes

Lesson 1tHe Greek aLPHaBet & Pronunciation ........................... 2

Lesson 2First-decLension nouns............................................ 7

Lesson 3Basic ruLes oF Greek accentuation ............................ 11

Lesson 4additionaL Patterns oF tHe First decLension .................. 12

Lesson 5VerBs in tHe Present tense ....................................... 16

Lesson 6adjectiVe ForMs & second-decLension nouns ................. 20

Lesson 7BuiLdinG Basic transLation skiLLs .............................. 25

Lesson 8First- & second-decLension Pronouns .......................... 28

iiiTable of ConTenTs

Lesson 9VerBs in tHe iMPerFect tense .................................... 34

Lesson 10VerBs in tHe Future & aorist tenses ........................... 38

Lesson 11First-decLension MascuLine nouns ............................. 43

Lesson 12tHe root aorist ................................................... 48

Lesson 13tHird-decLension nouns .......................................... 50

Lesson 14understandinG dactyLic HexaMeter ............................ 55

Lesson 15PracticinG dactyLic HexaMeter ................................. 57

Lesson 16tHe MiddLe/PassiVe Voice: Present & Future ................. 62

Lesson 17aorist & iMPerFect MiddLe/PassiVe ............................. 67

Lesson 18PerFect & PLuPerFect actiVe .................................... 72

Lesson 19ForMinG and usinG inFinitiVes ................................... 76

Lesson 20actiVe ParticiPLes ................................................. 83

Lesson 21MiddLe/PassiVe ParticiPLes ....................................... 91

iv Table of ConTenTs

Lesson 22tHe PerFect systeM in tHe MiddLe/PassiVe ..................... 98

Lesson 23tHe suBjunctiVe Mood ...........................................105

Lesson 24tHe iMPeratiVe Mood, actiVe ................................... 115

Lesson 25tHe iMPeratiVe Mood, MiddLe/PassiVe .........................121

Lesson 26tHe oPtatiVe Mood ...............................................126

Lesson 27tHe aorist PassiVe ................................................134

Lesson 28tHird-decLension adjectiVes ................................... 141

Lesson 29deMonstratiVe adjectiVes & Pronouns ........................148

Lesson 30PersonaL & PossessiVe Pronouns ...............................154

Lesson 31reLatiVe, interroGatiVe & indeFinite Pronouns ............. 161

Lesson 32reGuLar - VerBs in tHe actiVe ...............................167

Lesson 33reGuLar - VerBs in tHe MiddLe/PassiVe .....................178

Lesson 34reView oF reGuLar - VerBs ...................................189

vTable of ConTenTs

Lesson 35tHe VerB ......................................................195

Lesson 36irreGuLar VerBs & tiPs For FurtHer study ...................201

suppLementaL materIaL

Lesson Keys ........................................................... 211tIps for further study and next steps .......................... 313GrammatIcaL appendIx .............................................. 317GreeK-enGLIsh VocabuLary .........................................383enGLIsh-GreeK VocabuLary ........................................ 413

vi

1

sources and acknowLedGMents

Clyde Pharr (18831972) is renowned among classicists for his innovative textbooks for the study of both Greek and Latin, and his work made this course possible. The Homeric core of Greek 101: Learning an Ancient Language is based on, and makes extensive use of, chapters 136 of his Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners (D. C. Heath and Company, 1920). For the vocabulary of the New Testament, I have made use of George Ricker Berrys A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament: Supplemented by a Chapter Elucidating the Synonyms of the New Testament with a Complete Index to the Synonyms (New York: Hinds, Noble & Eldridge, 1897). I have also frequently consulted such standard reference works as A Greek English Lexicon by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott (9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940) and Greek Grammar by Herbert Weir Smyth, revised by Gordon M. Messing (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956).

PersonaL tHanks

I also offer many and sincere thanks to Peter Cooper, Eric Galler, Derek Knight, Andrew Volpe, Courtney Westphal, Blakely Swain, and Kathryn Dagley of The Great Courses. They brought enthusiasm to the production, clarity to complex material, caught many errors, and provided invaluable assistance. Responsibility for errors that remain, however, belongs solely to me, Hans-Friedrich Mueller, a.k.a. .

2

Lesson 1

tHe Greek aLPHaBet & Pronunciation

I n this lesson, we learn how to identify and pronounce the letters of the Greek alphabet. We also distinguish smooth and rough breathing marks and learn the sounds of Greek diphthongs. Finally, we practice reading a few Greek words, such as , , and .

The classical Greek alphabet has 24 letters (plus two archaic letters that help explain older forms of Greek).

Greek Letter

Latin Equivalents Sound

Greek Name

Latin Transcription

, A, a a as in father (when short, as in aha) alpha

, B, b b as in bite beta

, G, g always g as in get (never soft, as in gym) gamma

, D, d d as in deal delta

, E, e e as in red epsilon

, Z, z

zd as in Mazda (many also pronounce this dz or simply z, because these are simpler to pronounce for native English speakers)

zeta

, E, e long a as in gate or as in (French) fte eta

, th th as in thick theta

, I, i long e as in feet and police or short i as in hit iota

3Gr eek 101: Learni nG an ancient LanGuaGe

, K, k or C, c k as in kill kappa

, L, l l as in language lambda

, M, m m as in man mu

, N, n n as in never nu

, X, x x as in box xi

, O, o

o as in ought, but shorter (that is, a closed o), or as in the British pronunciation of pot

omicron

, P, p p as in pie pi

, R, r a trilled r (as in continental European languages) rho

, , S, s s as in sing sigma

, T, t t as in tip tau

, U, u or Y, y

u as in (French) tu or (German) Mller, but the u in English prune may serve as a close approximation

upsilon

, ph f as in face or ph as in philosophy phi

, kh or ch

ch as in (German) doch or (Scottish) Loch Ness; a simple k sound is also acceptable

chi