Cyprus-Forum.com

[kurupetos]

It looks like the "Mycenaean" supporters have done a runner…

I will cook you with potatoes, chicken.

[kurupetos]

^^ Any Greek, from any part of the world, with a good knowledge of Ancient Greek, can understand almost perfectly all Greek dialects, including the Cypriot one.

I've used "Thoro" to see, a word of Ancient Greek origins and a mainlander didn't know it...but another Greek who studied Ancient Greek and taught it knew the word very well..and was amazed that a Cypriot would use it in everyday language...

[kurupetos]

Still cannot figure out the evidentiary value of that list of words.

Obviously our Hirokitian ancestors did not wear Pattalonia, the word came into use after the adoption of trousers in the 19th century as the main male garment, and in any case it was initially called Chattali.

Shipettos is also a uniquely Cypriot term, used only by us and no other Greek locality. Hardly a Cypriot word though, in Italian Schiopetto is a little explosion, and in the south of Italy, in their dialect, it is pronounnced Shopetto, from which we got Shipetto and in Spain it was corrupted to Escopeta and claimed as a "Basque" word by their equivalents of GR.

The use of an Italian word for shotgun in Cyprus is fascinating considering the Venetians left in 1571 and the word survived three hundred years of Ottoman presence. Fascinating also because in Greek they call it toufeki, or tsiftes (for double barreled shotguns), both Turkish words, and do not recognise the word shipettos. Strange also that we would retain a southern Italian word and not a northern, (Venetian or Genoan) one, there they call a shotgun doppietta.

The Mediterranean is probably not the best place to try to lay claim to racial or linguistic purity.

Only a delusional fool, like GR, would think that he has Shirokitian ancestors!

[Sotos]

Still cannot figure out the evidentiary value of that list of words.

Obviously our Hirokitian ancestors did not wear Pattalonia, the word came into use after the adoption of trousers in the 19th century as the main male garment, and in any case it was initially called Chattali.

Shipettos is also a uniquely Cypriot term, used only by us and no other Greek locality. Hardly a Cypriot word though, in Italian Schiopetto is a little explosion, and in the south of Italy, in their dialect, it is pronounnced Shopetto, from which we got Shipetto and in Spain it was corrupted to Escopeta and claimed as a "Basque" word by their equivalents of GR.

The use of an Italian word for shotgun in Cyprus is fascinating considering the Venetians left in 1571 and the word survived three hundred years of Ottoman presence. Fascinating also because in Greek they call it toufeki, or tsiftes (for double barreled shotguns), both Turkish words, and do not recognise the word shipettos. Strange also that we would retain a southern Italian word and not a northern, (Venetian or Genoan) one, there they call a shotgun doppietta.

The Mediterranean is probably not the best place to try to lay claim to racial or linguistic purity.

Only a delusional fool, like GR, would think that he has Shirokitian ancestors!

Chirokitians went extinct long time before the period that GR is talking about. Those people in 1500BC were different groups of people that came to Cyprus some 1000s of years after the Chirokitians. They are probably also our ancestors from a genetic point of view but NOT linguistically. Our language has nothing to do with theirs. Such people lived everywhere ... humans existed on earth for over 100.000 years. So nothing special about Cyprus in this regard. On mainland Greece and other Greek islands there have also been pre-Greek populations... most famous of which is the Minoan civilization of Crete... which was far more advanced than what we had in Cyprus at the time.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Most people manage a few dialects and use them interchangeably depending on the situation they find themselves in. The better the impression you want to make, the closer to the Standard form of the language you will speak. This is true for any language. It's why the BBC used to choose people that spoke the Queen's English because everyone (reasonably educated) could understand this dialect. But, the converse may not necessarily be true - Standard English speakers (London/Oxford dialect) might not be able to understand much of a Geordie (Newcastle) dialect - which is similar to the difficulties Athenians have with the Cretan or Cypriot dialects. But, Cypriots in turn can all understand Standard Greek and use it to make a favorable impression on a teacher or judge, etc.

We also speak a completely different dialect to babies ... kootchy koutchy coooo!

[miltiades]

Ekoualisen ena yomari xila tche epshiastiken i rashi tou.
The answer I was given in Theletra by my cousin when I enquired as to why her late husband was bent over !!!

I love both the Cypriot dialect and the Greek language, both superbly rich and expressive.

[Get Real!]

Only a delusional fool, like GR, would think that he has Shirokitian ancestors!

The Choirokitians are the ancients OF THIS ISLAND where I come from, so it makes PERFECT SENSE that a Cypriot would be related to them.

But here’s what is completely DAFT… the assumption that the ancient people of THIS country disappeared and were replaced by the ancient people of another country!

Now *THAT* idea is downright stupid and needs to be checked by a psychologist because no such thing EVER happened anywhere in the world.

Okey dokey Kurupet?

[Get Real!]

Fact is that the words you listed are linguistically cognate with other languages. Can you give us some examples of words, and their phonetics, from the pre Hellenic period of Cyprus?

Sorry mate but I don't believe in a "hellenic period" in Cyprus.

Here's what is FACT. All European languages originate from Phoenician, and Phoenicia INCLUDED Cyprus!

Do you see how it all comes back home to Cyprus?

[Get Real!]

Chirokitians went extinct long time before the period that GR is talking about. Those people in 1500BC were different groups of people that came to Cyprus some 1000s of years after the Chirokitians. They are probably also our ancestors from a genetic point of view but NOT linguistically. Our language has nothing to do with theirs. Such people lived everywhere ... humans existed on earth for over 100.000 years. So nothing special about Cyprus in this regard. On mainland Greece and other Greek islands there have also been pre-Greek populations... most famous of which is the Minoan civilization of Crete... which was far more advanced than what we had in Cyprus at the time.

You're getting your knickers in a twist... when it comes to Cyprus everything is extinct, expired, gone, replaced, dead, etc but when it comes to all things Greek they are fresh, ever lasting, here now and forever, and all sorts of one-sided Greece-serving baloney!

Grow up Sotos.

[Nikitas]

Not all things Greek are fresh etc. We are talking language here and the Greek Orthodox Church in its conservative fixation and insistence on keeping the original language of the gospel preserved the language, forced it really, on the population. No complex calculation there. Greeks, more than most nationalities, have a traceable language continuum spanning thousands of years.

Though this generation is doing its best to fuck it up, and it looks like it just might succeed, judging by the standard of Greek in the media and the Internet.