Katharevousa
See also: katharévousa
English
Alternative forms
- katharevousa
Etymology
From Greek καθαρεύουσα (katharévousa), feminine of καθαρεύων (katharévon), present participle of Ancient Greek καθαρεύω (kathareúō, “to be clean, pure”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌkaθəˈɹɛvuːsə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌkɑθəˈɹɛvusɑ/, /ˌkɑθəˈɹɛvəsɑ/
- Hyphenation: Ka‧tha‧re‧vou‧sa
Proper noun
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.
- 1994, Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Minerva 1995, p. 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 2020, p. 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).
- 1994, Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Minerva 1995, p. 87:
Synonyms
- Katharevousa Greek, katharevousa Greek
Hypernyms
- Modern Greek
Coordinate terms
Coordinate terms
- Ancient Greek
- Classical Greek
- Demotic Greek
- Koine
Translations
purist variant of Modern Greek
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See also
- Category of Katharevousa words