On the occasion of the International Greek Language Day, we would like to extend our warmest wishes to honour the Greek language on its special day.
A perplexing language, so rich, to eloquent, that withstood time, the Greek language has been known for more than 3,500 years. It is beyond doubt one of the oldest living languages, it served as the basis for many languages and contributed to the terminology of various fields such as medicine, philosophy, literature, astronomy, and science.
There are so many words you didn’t know were actually Greek!
“Γαλαξία” (galaxy), “Ευρεκα”, “Αλφάβητο” (alphabet), “Μουσική” (music), “Χάος” (chaos), “Πλανήτης” (planet), “Κοσμοπολήτες” (cosmopolitan) and so on.
“Eunoia”, “Storgί”, “Xarmolipis”, “Mángkas”, “Kaimós” and a bunch of other words have actually no matching accurate translation. You get to learn your “alpha” and your “omega” and you’ll be fine!
In the end ….It’s all Greek to me! Or as the saying goes “The Greeks have a word for it”.
In that spirit, the Greek Community of Beirut, in coordination with the Greek Embassy, produced a short feature highlighting the joint efforts of the Greek Diaspora in Lebanon to promote the culture and knowledge of the Greek language, and because carrying on traditions is equally fundamental.
A tradition that officially kicked off with a proposal in 2014 by the Greek and Italian communities. It took a plenary session of the Greek Parliament in 2016 to adopt this proposal, officially establishing February 9 as the International Greek Language Day.
Χρόνια Πολλά!
