Neither is modern Greek, the second is using the english alphabet for some reason, perhaps so english speakers can understand it phonetically.
The first uses Greek characters and is not modern Greek the second uses Latin characters and obviously is not modern Greek either.
It is ancient greek so if you want to write it in modern greek you have to translate it first.
Neither are modern Greek
We still use the Greek alphabet
None of them is in modern Greek, the first is in Ancient Greek and the second is written phonetically using the Latin alphabet.
This poem is actually the only full song that we have from Ancient Greece. It was found in a column above a tomb. It also has some ancient music annotation above it that has also been translated and you can actually sing it.
I can translate it to English and modern Greek if you want.
While you live, be happy –
Don’t be upset for anything –
For living does not last much –
Time demands the end.
Όσο ζεις να χαίρεσαι –
Καθόλου να μην λυπάσαι –
Γιατί η ζωή είναι λίγη –
Ο χρόνος απαιτεί το τέλος
Όσο ζεις, λάμπε
μην έχεις λύπη.
Μικρή η ζωή
και ο χρόνος τελειώνει.
((While you live shine
do not have any sadness
Life is short
and time is running out))
This would be understood by modern greeks that haven’t studied ancient greek. I took some liberties but tried to keep the idea the same, while keeping it short and with a sort of rhythm (3 first lines having the same number of syllables).
If you tattoo’ed the original text, greeks would understand that it’s ancient greek, but very few would know what it means. Also I think it’s way too long-winded for a tattoo.
It basically says yolo in Ancinet Greek .
The first one is in ancient Greek, hellenistic writing.
This writing was invented during hellenistic times (during Alexander the Great and his heirs rule), when Greeks had conquered many lands and it was invented to help non-Greeks learn and use the Greek language.
The accents show how to pronounce the words and this writing makes easier to understand the etymology of the complex words.
In the original writing, all letters are capitals and there are no accents. Sometimes, all words are stuck one to another like one big word.
It seems like our ancestors wanted their language for themselves only.
The second one is the pronunciation of the first one in latin letters, to help western people pronounce the saying.
Here we say ironically “greeklish” when someone writes Greek using these letters, so I guess this could be “ancient greeklish”.
8 comments
Neither is modern Greek, the second is using the english alphabet for some reason, perhaps so english speakers can understand it phonetically.
The first uses Greek characters and is not modern Greek the second uses Latin characters and obviously is not modern Greek either.
It is ancient greek so if you want to write it in modern greek you have to translate it first.
Neither are modern Greek
We still use the Greek alphabet
None of them is in modern Greek, the first is in Ancient Greek and the second is written phonetically using the Latin alphabet.
This poem is actually the only full song that we have from Ancient Greece. It was found in a column above a tomb. It also has some ancient music annotation above it that has also been translated and you can actually sing it.
I can translate it to English and modern Greek if you want.
While you live, be happy –
Don’t be upset for anything –
For living does not last much –
Time demands the end.
Όσο ζεις να χαίρεσαι –
Καθόλου να μην λυπάσαι –
Γιατί η ζωή είναι λίγη –
Ο χρόνος απαιτεί το τέλος
Edit: [here is someone singing it.](https://youtu.be/76hf5zOA1DM)
Όσο ζεις, λάμπε
μην έχεις λύπη.
Μικρή η ζωή
και ο χρόνος τελειώνει.
((While you live shine
do not have any sadness
Life is short
and time is running out))
This would be understood by modern greeks that haven’t studied ancient greek. I took some liberties but tried to keep the idea the same, while keeping it short and with a sort of rhythm (3 first lines having the same number of syllables).
If you tattoo’ed the original text, greeks would understand that it’s ancient greek, but very few would know what it means. Also I think it’s way too long-winded for a tattoo.
It basically says yolo in Ancinet Greek .
The first one is in ancient Greek, hellenistic writing.
This writing was invented during hellenistic times (during Alexander the Great and his heirs rule), when Greeks had conquered many lands and it was invented to help non-Greeks learn and use the Greek language.
The accents show how to pronounce the words and this writing makes easier to understand the etymology of the complex words.
In the original writing, all letters are capitals and there are no accents. Sometimes, all words are stuck one to another like one big word.
It seems like our ancestors wanted their language for themselves only.
The second one is the pronunciation of the first one in latin letters, to help western people pronounce the saying.
Here we say ironically “greeklish” when someone writes Greek using these letters, so I guess this could be “ancient greeklish”.