Katharevousa
See also: katharévousa
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Greek καθαρεύουσα (katharévousa), feminine of καθαρεύων (katharévon), present participle of Ancient Greek καθαρεύω (kathareúō, “to be clean, pure”).
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌkaθəˈɹɛvuːsə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌkɑθəˈɹɛvusɑ/, /ˌkɑθəˈɹɛvəsɑ/
- Hyphenation: Ka‧tha‧re‧vou‧sa
Proper noun edit
Katharevousa
- A learned, archaising form of Modern Greek, based on Classical Greek and used for formal and official purposes; it was legally displaced as the official language of Greece in 1976 by Demotic Greek.
- Coordinate terms: Classical Greek, Demotic Greek, Ancient Greek, Koine, purist Greek
- 1994, Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Minerva, published 1995, page 87:
- ‘You read the poetry of Cavafy, I have taught you to speak Katharevousa and Italian.’
- 2019, Roderick Beaton, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, Penguin, published 2020, page 345:
- A year later, after much deliberation and public discussion, an act of parliament established that demotic Greek was to replace the hybrid katharevousa as the official language of education – and therefore, in practice, in most walks of life (exceptions are the Church and law).
Synonyms edit
Hypernyms edit
Translations edit
purist variant of Modern Greek
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