Words & WritingGreek → English
Koine
/ˈkɔɪneɪ/noun
The common Greek of the Hellenistic and Roman world, and by extension any dialect that becomes a shared standard.
The Greek roots
κοινή
koinḗ
common, shared
Literally: “the common tongue”
Follow a root:κοινή1 word
The story of the word
Alexander's armies spread a flattened, Attic-based Greek from Egypt to the Indus, and it became the working language of trade and administration for centuries. The New Testament and the Septuagint are both written in it, which is why Koine is the first Greek most theology students learn. Linguists now use koineisation for any such levelling, including what happened to English in colonial cities.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
cenobiteepicenecoenobium
In a sentence
Mark's Greek is plainer Koine than Luke's.
The port developed a koine out of three neighbouring dialects.