Beginning Greek - weeks 1-3

Michael Calhoun
May 31
3 min read

συμμαθηταί (Fellow disciples) - This is not so bad...memorizing and pronouncing the alphabet isn't that bad. Only 24 letters, most at least a little familiar - if the pronunciation a little different than the Anglo (it's ee-oh-tah, not Iota and p-s-ee, not psi).

Ummmm, what paradigms? I have to memorize these? Still, not that bad - especially if I remember the articles match the nouns (mostly)...

Oh, and only 26 vocabulary words...

ἇγιοι (Holy ones) - Okay, now I kinda see the challenges. Nouns have lots of rules, I haven't parsed since I was a freshman in HIGH SCHOOL, and that was ENGLISH!

Parse: λόγοις

Dative, Plural, Masculine, λόγος, "to words".

Parse: ἀγάπῃ

Dative, Singular, Feminine, ἀγάπη, "to a love".

Parse: πονηρά

Nominative or Accusative, Plural, Neuter, OR Nominative, Singular, Feminine πονηρός, “the evil [things]” OR "the evil [woman]".

Still: as long as I have my charts and notes, I think I can do this. It's tough, but it is kind of fun - in a headache inducing way.

μαθηταί τῆς ἑλληνής γλώσσης (Students of the Greek language) - WHAT HAVE I DONE? The fog has set in and it is not lifting and I haven't even hit verbs yet. More rules and paradigms for prepositions and adjectives. I have learned ONE verb and it has SIX forms! I have spent my entire Saturday, from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm (with a half-hour break every few hours) on ONE workbook assignment and review. I don't know if I can do this closed book.

I am, however pretty proud of these translations. I had to use my lexicon and change a few words to make it make sense in English (where allowed by Greek grammar rules). From 1 John 4:1-6 (the vocabulary we haven't had yet is parenthetical as an aid).

1 Ὶωάννου 4:1 ̓Αγαπητοί, μὴ παντί πνεύματι πιστεύετε ἀλλὰ δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα εἰ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν, ὅτι πολλοὶ ψευδοπροφῆται ἐξεληλύθασιν εἰς τὸν κόσμον. 4:2 ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκετε τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ· πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ ὁμολογεῖ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν, 4:3 καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to discern if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 4:2 In this you know the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 4:3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, about whom you have heard that he is coming, and he is now already in the world.

4:4 Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστε, τεκνία, καὶ νενικήκατε αὐτούς, ὅτι μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. 4:5 αὐτοὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου εἰσίν, διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου λαλοῦσιν καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτῶν ἀκούει. 4:6 ἡμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐσμεν, ὁ γινώσκων τὸν θεὸν ἀκούει ἡμῶν, ὃς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀκούει ἡμῶν. ἐκ τούτου γινώσκομεν τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης.

4:4 You are from God, little children, and you have overcome them, because greater is the one who is in you than the one in the world. 4:5 These are from the world. For this reason, from the world they speak and the world hears them. 4:6 We are from God. The one who knows God hears us. Whoever is not from God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of the truth and the spirit of deception.

I don't think I'll take another ancient language course. Is this valuable? Yes, but I'm not sure that with the availability of modern digital and paper information at my fingertips I need it as an elective.