From: "mike vanier" <mike.vanier@canrem.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek
Subject: macedonian is not gre
Date: 21 Jul 92 07:37:38 EST
Reply-To: "mike vanier" <mike.vanier@canrem.com>
Distribution: soc
Organization: Canada Remote Systems

 continued from message # 8663
.
SECONDLY; The Greeks also use this term to refer to the ancient
Macedonians who are generally believed to have spoken one of the many
Indo-European dialects of the Ancient "Greek" world.  There was no Greek
language proper, but rather different tongues  loosely
referred to as Ancient Greek.  These tongues spoken varied from region
to region.  We know that Demosthenes had difficulty communicating with
the Macedonians as late as the fourth century B.C..  Apparently they
neither looked nor spoke like Hellenes.  We also know that Alexander the
Great always spoke to his Macedonian troops in Macedonian.  The entire
area that was part of the Ancient Greek world used a similar alphabet
which was based on the Phoenecian.  It is wrong to refer to the Ancient
Macedonians as Greek Macedonians since no such identity existed.  The
Hellenes and Macedonians were quite distinct.  Ancient Macedonians is a
far more accurate term.   Even though there is evidence indicating that
the Macedonian king Alexander I was "permitted" to compete in the
Olympic games, this is to my knowledge the only Macedonian to have ever
done so and does not constitute a proof for the "Greekness" of the
Macedonians.  The spreading of the Hellenic culture by Alexander the
Great earned him the epithet, 'Hellenophile'.  But the question arises
if he was a Hellene then why was he called a Hellenophile?   It seems
that if he was a Hellenic king, he would be a Hellenophile by default
and a term like this would be used to describe a non-Hellene
who had an affinity for the Hellenic culture.  A note on Olympus.
I have been told by some historians that the mountain of Olympus is
referred to as, Olymp and Olympia.  Furthermore, in some of the older
inscriptions there was a mark preceding the first character signifying
the sound h or gh.   This would result in 'h'Olymp and 'g',Olymp
and 'h'Olympia and 'g'Olympia.   Olympus refers to the largest mountain
in Hellas.  They tell me that comparison with Modern Macedonian is very
interesting.  You see, the Macedonian word for big mountain
is 'GOLYM PLANINA', with golym referring to big.  Then there is the
KOINE language.  There are those who consider this to be the Ancient
Macedonian language, having its root in the term "ZAKON", which means
 'the law' in Modern Macedonian.  The original bible was written in this
language. The KOINE language is claimed by some to be one of the more
unusual dialects of the Ancient Greek tongues.  Nevertheless, the Modern
Macedonian language has over one thousand words that come directly from
the KOINE.  Terms such as 'DAIRON', which means dowry and in Macedonian
is 'DAROI'.  The KOINE 'GNESDE' is the same as the Macedonian 'GNESDE'
which means nest.  I'm sure there are many who are familiar with the
term GLAGOLITSA or GLAGOL.  Some argue that this was a precurser to the
Kyrilic alphabet while others claim it was a language that preceded
Kyrilic by centuries.  In Macedonian GLAS means VOICE.
Bear with me while I approach my point.  When I explain to my mother
such mysterious things as the functioning of the VCR or Stereo
she sometimes turns to me and says, " NE TOKU GLAGOLI", which means
stop speaking in glagol, that is , in a language I don't understand.
It's fascinating how this has been incorporated into the Macedonian
language.  I am curious as to wether this is also true of the
Bulgarian.  I have also stated before that the Macedonian term for
"come here", is " ELLA TUKA".   Now these things are not a
"proof", of the connection or continuity of the Modern Macedonian with
the Ancient but I am told that there is a list of over one thousand
(and growing), terms of this kind.  The Modern Macedonian language has
never properly been studied.
.
to be continued
.
   Lubi  Uzunov
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