Koine Greek

Synopsis: Koine is the Greek word for "common." Koine Greek was the form of the Greek language used from around 300 BC to AD 300. The books of the New Testament were originally written in Koine Greek.

Related topics

• Dictionary
• Lessons
  • Alphabet
  • Pronuncitation
  • Punctuation
  • Nouns | Definite Article
  • Verbs
  • Adjectives

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Main article

Koine is the Greek word for "common." Koine Greek was the form of the Greek language used from around 300 BC to AD 300. The books of the New Testament were originally written in Koine Greek. Koine Greek was the lingua franca in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern for hundreds of years following the conquests of Alexander the Great.

For some time the Greek language of the New Testament confused many scholars. It was sufficiently different from Classical Greek that some hypothesized that it was a combination of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Others attempted to explain it as a "Holy Ghost language," assuming that perhaps God created a special language just for the Bible. But studies of Greek papyri found in Egypt over the past 120 years have shown that the Greek of the New Testament manuscripts was the "common" (koine) language of the everyday people - the same as that used in the writing of wills and private letters.

Alphabet

Letter name	Lower Case	Upper Case	Transliteration in WikiChristian	Pronunciation
alpha	α	Α	a	father
beta	β	Β	b	beta
gamma	γ	Γ	g	gamma
delta	δ	Δ	d	delta
epsilon	ε	Ε	e	epsilon
zêta	ζ	Ζ	dz	zêta
êta	η	Η	e	obey
thêta	θ	Θ	th	thêta
iota	ι	Ι	i
kappa	κ	Κ	k	kappa
lambda	λ	Λ	l	lambda
mu	μ	Μ	m	mu
nu	ν	Ν	n	nu
xi	ξ	Ξ	x	axiom
omicron	ο	Ο	o	omicron
pi	π	Π	p	pi
rho	ρ	Ρ	r	rho
sigma	σ / ς	Σ	s	sigma
tau	τ	Τ	t	tau
upsilon	υ	Υ	u	oops
phi	φ	Φ	ph	father
chi	χ	Χ	ch
psi	ψ	Ψ	ps
omega	ω	Ω	o	obey

Links

• Textkit - Learn Greek and Latin
• Theopedia - Greek
• Wikipedia - Koine Greek
• NT Gateway

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