‘Teli na cusi tin glossa grika?’ How a Greek language lives on in southern Italy Article posted in Ekathimerini https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1231599/teli-na-cusi-tin-glossa-grika/ Authored by Alex Sakalis on Feb. 14, 2024 With its sugarcube houses, labyrinthine streets and hyper-Baroque churches, Corigliano d’Otranto seems at first like any other village in Italy’s southern Salento region. But as you wander around and explore, an entirely different world begins to reveal itself.  “Teli na cusi tin glossa grika?” asks a sign on the main square. “Cai ‘na percorso amesa tus monumentu pleon orriu so chorio paleo pu Coriana?” If you’re an Italian speaker, you might be feeling a little lost. But if you’re a Greek speaker, then these words will evoke an odd sense of familiarity. That’s because this is Griko – a language closely related to Greek and spoken in a small microregion of Salento known as Grecia Salentina. My guide to this world-within-a-world is Dr Manuela Pellegr...

I found this helpful video on YouTube.  It demonstrates the different styles of writing letters in the Greek alphabet.   For those of us who are not fluent in Greek it can be very useful when trying to translate handwritten names in Greek records. A few examples:

HERE THERE BE WHISTLERS - On a small Greek island, practitioners of an ancient shistling language are holding onto their culture as it slowly dies out. Published online at www.theoutline.com - February 5, 2018 - authored by Sarah Souli Greeks are fabulous at cursing. The innovative insults roll off the tongue as they liken your grandmother’s private parts to a coin-slot receiver, curse the Antichrist, your house, or your bottom. Though usually hissed or shouted, whistled insults don’t disappoint, either. On a recent visit to Antia, a tiny village folded into the green mountains of Evia, Greece’s second largest island, we cajoled Mrs. Katerina, a local octogenarian, to whistle us a blaspheme. “Go to hell,” she whistled, the breathy syllables sounding remarkably bird-like. She leaned back in her chair and dissolved into peals of laughter. Antia is home to the last whistlers of Greece. Sfyria, as the whistling language is called in Greek — it comes from the Greek word sfyrizo, t...

Our friend, Gregory Kontos (gkfamilytrees.com), has published a booklet titled THE GENEALOGIST'S DICTIONARY, Basic vocabulary for reading old Greek documents .   I received a copy of it today and will be keeping this handy booklet close by as I try to decipher Greek documents. “One of the hardest aspects of Greek genealogy is reading and translating the old Greek records. Based on our team’s research experience, this dictionary was created to help English-speaking researchers translate and understand basic lines of an old Greek document. We managed to create a wide database of more than 400 words, which, expanding geographically and socially, wishes to cover the most crucial translational needs of a Hellenic genealogist”. You can buy it now on Lulu -   http://www.lulu.com/shop/gkfamilytrees/the-genealogists-dictionary/ebook/product-22958289.html

EVANGELINUS APOSTOLIDES SOPHOCLES: the Ascetic of Harvard College Published in The National Herald, January 10-16, 2015 ssue Authored by Steve Frangos ------------------------------ We are excited to announce that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ CHICAGO.  Evangelinus Apostolides Sophocles is without question the most mysterious of all the notable Greeks who sojourned to North America in the Nineteenth Century.  The second professor of Greek at Harvard College, this man's real name, his personal history and much else about him remains to this day virtually unknown.  While recognized by his contemporaries as "a scholar of extraordinary attainments," this "eccentric, cynical, soft-hearted, monk-like scholar" never graduated from any known institution and was only the recipient of honorary degrees. Nevert...

(L-R):  Theodoros Dukas, Efrosini Kritikos, Nikos Papageorgiou --- Efrosini Kritikos, Lambros Sakis HARVARD GRADUATE OF GREEK DESCENT ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES IN GREECE Published in The National Herald, December 5-11, 2015 Issue Authored by Theodore Kalmoukos ------------------------------ We are excited to announce that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ BOSTON, MA - Efrosini Kritikos, a first generation Greek-American and a graduate of Harvard University, where she studied linguistics.  For the last 20 years she has been living in Greece in the small town of Monemvasia in Southern Laconia with her husband and four chilodren, ages 5 to 12.  She has been researching languages spoken in Greece that are endangered.  Currently, she is particularly occupied with Arvantic and Tsakonian. Kritikos was ...

The following sample posted by Dartmouth College is very interesting.  It shows the same phrase written 13 different ways (as if by 13 different people).   Greek Today - Handwriting Samples   The same would apply in English.  We were all taught how to write the alphabet in grammar school, using a very structured formation of the letters.  If we sat down with 13 different people, 10 years later, what would their handwriting look like?  Here are a few more examples you might find helpful. Greek Handwriting - previously posted on HellenicGenealogyGeek.com in April 12, 2009 Greek Alphabet Handwritten  - YouTube video  Greek Handwriting - Handwritten Letters in Greece by Harry Foundalis

WHAT OPPORTUNITIES COULD THIS OPEN UP FOR HELLENIC GENEALOGY RESEARCH? I am publishing this link to a New York Times article, NOT TO ENCOURAGE POLITICAL COMMENTS, but rather to encourage discussion about the opportunities this change might bring about for Hellenic genealogy research.  I assume this could help with the number of people available to translate documents written in Ottoman Turkish prior to the Greek War of Independence.   ------------- OTTOMAN TURKISH REVIVAL? - TURKS FEUD OVER CHANGE IN EDUCATION By Ceylan Yeginsu - Dec 8, 2014 ISTANBUL -  President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan  of  Turkey  promised on Monday to introduce compulsory classes in Ottoman Turkish into the national school curriculum, regardless of public objections. Ottoman Turkish is an older form of the national language, written in a type of Arabic script, with many words and phrases borrowed from Arabic or Persian. Its official use was discontinued in 1928 by...

I recently read that Maria Kouneli would be talking at Yale College regarding:   "The Whistled Language of Antia: Strategies for Revitalization" This sounded very interesting, so I took some time to look into it further.  I have listed links to some interesting videos and articles about this.   It would be such a shame if this way of communicating is lost forever. ----- Regarding Maria Kouneli's talk at Yale: "The Whistled Language of Antia: Strategies for Revitalization" Whistled speech is a rare form of speech, in which phonetic cues from spoken language are emulated in whistled form so that dialogues can take place over long distances. The whistled language of the village Antia in Greece is one of the only two such languages in Europe and is, unfortunately, severely endangered. In this talk Maria Kouneli will discuss the details of what is meant by the term "whistled language", evaluate the endangerment situation in the case of Ant...

Very excited!  I am taking Gregory Kontos up on his offer to do translations.  I have about 10 letters that I've been holding on to - I am the family pack rat after all.  These letters are from the 1950s and 1960s, sent to my grandparents and mother from Greece.   I don't think I will get any big surprises, but you never know.  Mostly I am looking forward to some additional names and a feel for what was going on in their lives at the time. Can't wait - thanks Gregory.  I will be scanning copies this afternoon.

" Ancient Greek Dialect in Black Sea - Related to Days of Socrates and Plato " published in Hellas Frappe on Oct. 12, 2012. An isolated community near the Black Sea coast in a remote part of north-eastern Turkey has been found to speak a Greek dialect that is remarkably close to the extinct language of ancient Greece. As few as 5,000 people speak the dialect but linguists believe that it is the closest, living language to ancient Greek and could provide an unprecedented insight into the language of Socrates and Plato and how it evolved. The community lives in a cluster of villages near the Turkish city of Trabzon in what was once the ancient region of Pontus, a Greek colony that Jason and the Argonauts are supposed to have visited on their epic journey from Thessaly to recover the Golden Fleece from the land of Colchis (present-day Georgia). Pontus was also supposed to be the kingdom of the mythical Amazons, a fierce tribe of women who cut off their right breast...

This is a video produced by Cambridge University about an endangered Greek dialect spoken in north-eastern Turkey.  Dr. Ioanna Sitaridou states that there are only 5000 speakers left. Note:  This video was brought to my attention by Kosta Dalageorgas through the MGSA mail list.

My grandfather's sister embroidered this table runner in 1922.  My cousin had it framed and it is hanging in her dining room.  We know it's lovely, but none of us understand exactly what it says.  Can someone translate this for us? Thanks, Georgia

"Aapi Means Agapi", says Researchers Presenting Online Greek-Cypriot Dictionary "Greek Cypriot or Greek? Is Greek Cypriot a language that is the same or slightly different from Greek? A research team based in Cyprus has collected over 15,000 words from the modern Cypriot Greek dialect. They made a Greek-Cypriot Greek dictionary online, where users have the chance to search what Cypriot “aapi” means in Greek. (In case you are wondering, it means “agapi” (love in English).” Christodoulou Kiriaki, Armosti Spyros, Koutsoyannou Marianna and Charalambos Themistocleous have collaborated to create this unique platform, where users can search for a word, read its meaning in Cypriot Greek or Greek and listen to its pronunciation." READ MORE

Aeolis - Cultural Development Society of Lesvos Island   " AEOLIS-Cultural Development Society of Lesvos Island develops cultural activities and initiatives, mainly in the area of cultural tourism. Its aim is to sensitize and mobilize the citizens of Lesvos towards developing and promoting the Greek culture worldwide, as well as promoting the value of cooperation amongst persons and countries through the exchange of cultural elements, cultural production and the preservation of the natural environment of the island and the area of the Aegean Sea. Aeolis runs an international summer programme on   Greek Language and Culture   with people from all over the world. It is a partner institution in the EU project   “Sing, Smooth and Smile”   on therapeutic Impact of Traditional Music and the leading organization of the   Cultural Tourism Network   in Lesvos Island." The organization aims at: - Promoting Lesvos’s culture, indigenous artists, and ...

A few days ago I received a wonderful email from Debbie Petrides, a continuous contributor to HellenicGenealogyGeek.com She sent me a link to a Google online book: Ο ΕΝ ΓΑΛΑΤΑ, ΙΕΡΟΣ ΝΑΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΩΝ ΧΙΩΝ – τπο ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ Π. ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑΔΟΥ In Galata, Church of Saint John the Snow – by Georgiou P. Georgiadou Published in Konstantinople in 1898 This book covers the history of building, destruction and rebuilding of the church throughout the years, and of great interest to those doing Greek genealogy research, it INCLUDES HUNDREDS OF NAMES. I am posting this link here on the blog, but will work to transcribe the names in both Greek and English for future posting on the HellenicGenealogyGeek.com website. Good luck with your Greek genealogy research. Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos) http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com