Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/30

 8 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. were the Attic writers; admixed were provin- cialisms. The sources for the study of this language, the xoivrj, are the writers of the Alexandrian period, above all the papyri and the numerous inscriptions which are found in all parts of Greece. This fine literary language, the y.oiv^, is yet the language of to-day; it is a finished language which has taken up to its completion words from the dialects, but which is indepen- dent of dialects. It is the centre around which the dialects are arranged. Through two thousand years the Greek lan- guage has proved to be of a most remarkable terseness compared with the Romanic and the German languages; it is surprising how little Greek has changed in words as well as in forms. Most grammatical forms of the pure Attic are in use this very day. The difference between the new and the old consists principally in the sim- plification of old grammar; the new elements, forms, and construction in the new Greek are only exceptionally formed. This simplification, consisting in the generalizing of some and drop- ping of other elements, did not take place re- cently, but during the time of the establishment of the xotvyj; it is therefore not a characteristic of