The Greek language is one of the richest languages in the world, distinguished by an extensive vocabulary. In the past, the Guinness Book of Records ranked the Greek language as the richest in the world with 5 million words and 70 million word types! Thousands of these words have been widely borrowed into the English and other languages.
international greek language day
Overall, according to a research conducted by Mr. Aristidis Konstantinidis, the English language and international scientific terminology contain a more than 150,000 Greek words. In the Merriam Webster American dictionary alone, there are a total of 166,724 words, from which the share in pure Greek words is 42,914. That, that is 25.73% – one in four of the words are purely Greek. In medical terminology the ratio is even more impressive, where out of 43,716 words, 20,346 are Greek. That is almost 50% derive from the Greek language. Of course there is the mathematics and scientific terminology for which the major part is based on Greek, thanks to our brilliant ancestors.
A book by Annie Stefanides was published on April of 2010, which identifies over 6.000 Greek words that are used today in English. It is a comprehensive collection of Greek words, prefixes and suffixes in the English language. A good way to start looking and learning some Greek and where the words are coming from.
Just a sample, a few of the 6,000:
γεωγραφία (geographia) – geography
αρxιτέκτων (architekton) – architect
ακαδημία (akadimia) – academy
ατμόσφαιρα (atmosphera) – atmosphere
κόσμος (kosmos) – cosmos
τεχνολογία (technologia) – technology
πλανήτης (planetis) – planet
θεωρία (theoria) – theory
ιδεολογία (ideologia) – ideology
φιλοσοφία (philosophia) philosophy
sources https://www.tornosnews.gr/en/greek-news/38898-greek-language-day-on-february-9-the-mother-of-all-western-languages.html
https://www.iamgreece.org/
