What have the Greeks done for us? (They left us their language, among other things.)

Most of the words we Romance language speakers use come from Latin , which at the same time abundantly nourished the Germanic and Slavic languages. Today, Europe is fed by Anglicisms; they overwhelm us. Some languages ​​embrace them like sponges, while others, like French, defend themselves like a cat on its back, but not always successfully. However, we ignore or know little about how Greek nourished Latin and the Neo-Latin languages, and also English , with borrowings in the most diverse fields of knowledge.

Nine centuries BC, Greek already existed. It used an intelligent script inspired by the Phoenician consonantal syllabary . A giant advance thanks to an insignificant gesture: the addition of vowels. The change was astonishing. Long years of learning were no longer necessary. Words were formed with a simple repertoire of spellings or letters so easy to memorize that anyone interested could learn to read and write in no time. It was the spark that lit the flame of Greek cultural development.

Since then until today the scheme has not ceased to be alive in alphabets inspired by Greek through Etruscan such as the Latin alphabet around the 6th century BC and the Cyrillic azbuka in the 4th century AD And the extraordinary thing is that its structure adapts to the majority of the world's languages ​​thanks to the expansion of Spanish, Portuguese, French and English that have brought Latin characters to 66 languages ​​as distant as Vietnamese and Guarani , but also to speakers of many others. Since then there has been no invention that surpasses Greek writing and its successors.

Greek culture had such a vast influence that it left a permanent mark on languages. We owe this to the fact that they took to the sea in search of more generous lands, and were interested in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey ), Magna Graecia (southern Italy), Sicily , the Mediterranean coast of Gaul , and also the Iberian Peninsula. Between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, they founded colonies wherever the other masters of the sea, who at that time were the Phoenicians, allowed them. These settlements were bartering enclaves or stopovers along routes, not colonial territories , as they had no expansionist concerns.

Greek culture had such a vast influence that it left a permanent mark on languages

The changing of the game took place around 330 BC when the military leader Alexander the Great assembled an army and launched a conquest and expansion campaign. Within a dozen years, he had defeated all the empires around him : Persia, Phoenicia, Egypt , and so on. He carried Greek in his soldiers' saddlebags and spread it throughout Asia and the Middle East, first through the mouths of the ruling class, then through the administration, and from there to the people. In his military campaign, the most admired in history, his 40,000 soldiers spread the Greek language throughout Anatolia, the Persian Empire, the Mediterranean, the Near East, Egypt, and Central Asia as far as the Indus and Oxus rivers (today's Amu Darya). He promoted the integration of subjugated peoples and encouraged intermarriage. He sowed a language conducive to thought and a rich lexicon, like a pantry that has given us as many words as we have ever needed.

In 146 BC, Greece was conquered by the Romans. This time, the language of the conquerors did not replace that of the vanquished. The victors, reverent of a gigantic code that offered more possibilities than their own language, made use of it and learned it with reverence for its cultural roots. No one thinks that languages ​​need a special push to stay above all else, but rather a naturalness that brings an individual closer to the best instrument for use. The Romans were imbued with Greek, admired it, used it to access Hellenic culture, and gladly, and without the slightest misgiving, added it to their cultural heritage. The life of the Greek language was prolonged, favored by the Romans. They enriched it with educated vocabulary and expanded it alongside Latin.

The Roman elite preferred the language of the learned. Cicero spoke Greek with the same poise that so many scholars today speak English. The great teachers of that period came from the Hellenistic dominion , and young men from wealthy families traveled to Greece to further their education with renowned philosophers.

The decline began when Byzantium fell to the Turks in 1453. But its presence didn't end there, because Greek is hidden, although not all users notice it, in the lexical wealth of European languages. One in four words in the common language of humanity has its roots in Greek. And we're talking about a Germanic language that doesn't come from Latin and that also had no direct contact with the Greeks.

It would be good to remember that English, and many other European languages, is loaded with Hellenisms, yet we hardly notice them. Taken from the Greek pantry , the words in bold below are words that Greek has borrowed into both Spanish and English , and have found their way into both lexical heritages.

The air we breathe, the atmosphere that surrounds us, the climate we endure, the energy we consume, the ecology that is so fashionable, and also the horizon, the ocean, and the echo are Greek words. We live in metropolises , and we enthusiastically respect democracy through ethical principles and dialogue. We organize time into chronologies or periods that we call cycles, decades, phases, hours, pauses, and episodes. We observe galaxies, stars, and planets in the cosmos through telescopes.

We call the sciences by Greek names: archaeology, astronautics, architecture, geology, geometry, technology, geography. In physics, atom and electron; in biology, bacteria and hormone; in mathematics, sphere, symmetry, graph, cube, diagram, disk, pole… In humanities, history, geography, philosophy, logic, ethics, psychology, grammar, syntax, and syllable… We learn them in school, through programs, strategies, theories, tactics, and systems. In economics, the euro.

We live in a metropolis, we enthusiastically respect democracy through ethical principles and dialogue. We organize time into chronologies.

In the field of medicine, we study anatomy and genetics, we heal in clinics where we undergo therapies and diets, and we name serious ancient diseases like cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, leprosy, and also modern ones like schizophrenia, among many others.

Western literature began in Greece, where inspiration or the muse was born , as well as lyric poetry, rhapsody, theater, comedy, tragedy, and drama, which were written using devices such as metaphor, irony, and sarcasm. And in the field of music, it has left behind, in English and Spanish, let us not forget, harmony, symphony, rhythm, tone, orchestra, guitar, anthem, and choir.

We have made great strides in technology, with machines and inventions that improve leisure activities, such as the telephone, cinema, television, photography, automobiles, helicopters, and airplanes.

Greek also uses a significant number of terms to describe sensations: sympathy, panic, jealousy, chaos, eroticism, aroma, and to describe personality: character, enthusiasm, melancholy, talent, or attitudes such as heroism, patriotism, cynicism, narcissism, fantasy … Myth and magic were invented in Greece, as well as the recurring word "idiot," which is so useful. We are impressed by mystery, we consider utopia unattainable , and we are surprised by the hypnotic.

Greek has lent its name to extinct animals like the dinosaur, and to zoo animals like the lion, the panther, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus. In the field of religion, it has given its name to the most famous book, the Bible , and to mysteries like angels, demons, paradise, and emotional states like ecstasy. A series of rulers from the same family is a dynasty, and the beginning of something is the genesis, and the end is the goal. We identify with symbols, we identify with idols, and we celebrate their triumphs.

And then there are a host of words that this brief article forbids reproducing, such as horoscope, Olympics, marathon, idea, nectar, and cemetery. It has even given its name to the most important continental toponym of our civilization, Europe. Few people today realize that the English word "fish" comes from the Latin root "piscis," like the Spanish word "pescos."

That ancient Greek has had such an impact on English is fascinating. And as it has spread throughout the world, classical Greek words have traveled with English. That's why today, thanks to English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, those words that originated in ancient Greece are on the lips of a good portion of humanity on all five continents. Let no one be alarmed by the words that English lends to our time.

Who would have told Alexander the Great that such a future awaited the language he and his army had spread?

** Rafael del Moral is a sociolinguist and expert in world languages ​​and the author of the 'Encyclopedia of Languages', 'A Brief History of Languages', 'History of Hispanic Languages' and 'The Battles of the ñ', as well as numerous articles in specialized journals.