An Attempt To Date
Greek
G.D.O'Bradovich III
October 19, 2014
Part the First
Courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red.
a. A native of Greece; a member of the Greek race.
c893 tr. Orosius Hist. v. xii. §4
Þa foran hi on Crecas.
c900 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (1890) iv. xxxii. [xxxi.] 378
Mid þa aðle geslægene..þe Grecas nemnað paralysis.
?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 17560
Forr werelld iss nemmnedd cossmos. Swa summ þe grickess kiþenn.
c1275 Laȝamon Brut 801
Leteþ þe Greckes [earlier text þa Grickisca] glide to grunde.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) xix. cxxviii. 935
All rounde thynges ben callyd Mala amonge the Grekys.
c1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. (1898) 66
Þe bigynynge of Philosophye hadden Indes, Grecys, Percys and Latyns.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) John xii. 20
There were certayne Grekes (among them that were come vp to Ierusalem to worshipe at the feast).
c1540 (▸?a1400) Destr. Troy 40
Homer..Þat with the Grekys was gret.
1605 S. Daniel Ulisses & Siren 1
Come worthy Greeke, Ulisses, come.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. ii. §2
Those who were renowned among the Greeks for wisdome and learning.
b. Proverb. when Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war: the now usual perversion of Nathaniel Lee's line (see quot. 1677).
1677 N. Lee Rival Queens iv. 48
When Greeks joyn'd Greeks, then was the tug of War.
2. A member or adherent of the Greek Church.
c1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 332
Þe þridde maner & leste yuel, þat men seyn þat greks han, is þat þe prest preyeþ þat god assoyle hym.
c1547 S. Gardiner Let. 21 May in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) 734/1
There is nothing more commended vnto vs christen men in both the churches of the grekes & lattens then lent is.
1696 tr. J. Dumont New Voy. Levant 190
Both the Greeks and Romanists were extremely griev'd for the Loss of their Saint.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
Of the Seven Latin Sacraments..the Greeks only admit five.
In 1728, England was under the belief that the Greek church has only five sacraments.
†3. A Hellenized Jew; = Grecian n. 1b. Obs.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Acts vi. 1
In tho dayes..grucchinge of Greekis is maad aȝens Ebrews.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. N.T., Acts vi. 1
Those Jews that understood the Greek Tongue, and used the Greek Translation of the Scripture, were called Greeks.
Although now obsolete, in 1685 a Greek was a Hellenized Jew.
4. A cunning or wily person; a cheat, sharper, esp. one who cheats at cards. (Cf. Frenchgrec.)
1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. i iiij,
In carde playinge he is a goode greke.
1568 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. ix. 217
A cowle, a cowle for such a Greek Were fitter for to wear.
1664 Floddan Field vii. 69
Giles Musgrave was a Guileful Greek.
1794 Sporting Mag. 3 227
The waiter pillages the greek, The greek the spendthrift fleeces.
5. Qualified by merry, mad, gay: A merry fellow; a roysterer; a boon companion; a person of loose habits.See grig n.1 5; the relation between the two words is uncertain.
1536 R. Morison Remedy for Sedition sig. 7v,
Whom can they refuse, when smythes, coblers, tylers, carters, and such other gay grekes, seme worthy to be theyr gouernours?
a1556 N. Udall Ralph Roister Doister (?1566) i. i. sig. A.ijv (stage direct.) ,
Mathewe Merygreeke. He entreth singing.
1583 G. Babington Very Fruitfull Expos. Commaundem. viii. 396
O hee is a merie greeke, a pleasaunt companion, and in faith a good fellowe.
c1600 Return: 1st Pt. i. i, in Three Parnassus Plays (1949) 148
Thou seems a mad greeke, & I haue loude such ladds of metall as thou seems to be from mine infancie.
[1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. iv. 55
A wofull Cressid 'mongst the merry Greekes.]
1611 H. Holland in T. Coryate Crudities sig. d8v,
Vlysses was a merry Greeke they say, So Tom is, and the Greeker of the tway.
1635 T. Heywood Philocothonista 44
To title a drunkard by, wee..strive to character him in a more mincing and modest phrase; as thus:—Hee is a good fellow, or A boone Companion, A mad Greeke, A true Trojan.
1650 J. Howell Cotgrave's French-Eng. Dict. (rev. ed.) Ep. Ded. sig. a3v,
They tearm in French, a boon companion or merry greek, Roger bon temps.
1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) v. 216
Merry-Greeks with crimson Snouts.
7. The language of a native of Greece or one of Greek race; the Greek language. Also, a particular form or period of the language, as late Greek, Ionic Greek, modern Greek.
[c975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 46
Hælend miclæ stefnæ cwæþende in grec [MS. gc] god min god min for-whon forletes þu mec.]
a1400–50 Alexander 5009
Sothly..þe son-tree..Entris in with yndoyes & endis in greke.
c1400 (▸1391) Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) Prol. 2
Suffise to the thise trewe conclusiouns in englissh, as wel as suffisith to thise noble clerkes grekes thise same conclusiouns in grek.
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) ii. 10
The Table aboven his Heved..on the whiche the Title was writen, in Ebreu, Grece and Latyn.
1534 T. Starkey Let. in Eng. in Reign Henry VIII (1878) i. p. x,
The knolege of both tongys bothe latyn & greke.
?1573 L. Lloyd Pilgrimage of Princes f. 71v,
Cato being aged, in his last yeres went to schoole to Enneus, to learne the Greeke.
1623 B. Jonson in Shakespeare Comedies, Hist. & Trag. sig. A4,
And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. i. §3. 3
The Greek was anciently of very great extent, not onely in Europe, but in Asia too, and Afric.
1700 Maidwell in C. R. L. Fletcher Collectanea (1885) I. 310
Masters for Græc and Latin.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 16 Mar. (1965) I. 390
In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew [etc.].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
Modern or Vulgar Greek, is the Language now spoke in Greece.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
'Tis not easy to assign the precise Difference between the vulgar, and the antient Greek.
The paucity of the English knowledge of the Greek language needs no comment.
8. Unintelligible speech or language, gibberish.
Also heathen Greek (rarely Hebrew-Greek) . (Cf. Hebrew n. 2b.) St. Giles's Greek: slang.
1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. C,
Far... Asking for some greeke Poet, to him he falles..but Ile be sworne he knowes not so much as one Character of the tongue. Ric. Why then its greeke to him.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist ii. v. sig. F, Svb.
Is Ars sacra..A Heathen language? Ana. Heathen Greeke, I take it. Svb. How? Heathen Greeke? Ana. All's Heathen, but the Hebrew.
a1616 Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 279–84
He spoke greeke..those that vnderstood him, smil'd at one another, and shooke their heads: but..it was Greeke to me.
1647 A. Cowley Discretion in Mistress ii,
Joynture, Portion, Gold, Estate..Are Greek no Lovers understand.
1769 J. Wesley Jrnl. 1 July (1827) III. 360,
I knew this was heathen Greek to them.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue,
Greek. St. Giles's Greek, the slang lingo, cant, or gibberish.
a. Of or pertaining to Greece or its people; Hellenic.
c1400 (▸1391) Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) Prol. 2
Thise noble clerkes grekes.
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour l. 1993 in Wks. (1931) I,
The auld Greik Historitiane Diodorus.
1674 H. Prideaux Lett. (1875) 23,
I will determin all cronologicall controversys which have been ever moved in the Greeke history.
All the above citations are secondary sources.
2a. As the designation of a language (see Greek n. 7).
Hence, of words, idioms, grammar, etc.: Belonging to or characteristic of the Greek language. Of literary compositions: Written in the Greek language.
Greek fathers n. those early Christian fathers (see fathern. 3b) who wrote in Greek. (In uses like Greek professor, Greek scholar, the word is perh. in most cases to be regarded as the n. used attrib.)
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. i. Pref. sig. 14v,
The Greke diuines.
?1573 L. Lloyd Pilgrimage of Princes f. 71v,
Terentius Varro was almost furtie yere olde, before he tooke a Greeke booke in hande, and yet prooued excellent in the Greeke tongue.
a1616 Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 100
This small packet of Greeke and Latine bookes.
1644 Milton Of Educ. 2
The ill habit..of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom, with their untutor'd Anglicisms.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 162
Stout Defenders of the Faith..that..are ready to make their own Testament, if they see a Greek one.
1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. Misc. v. i. 241
A foreign Protestant Divine, and most learn'd Defender of Religion, making the best Excuse he can for the Greek-Fathers.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
In the living Tongues, are still preserved a vast Number of Greek Terms of Arts.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Accent, Wetstein, Greek Professor at Basil.
3. The distinctive epithet of that section of the Christian Church (commonly known also as the Eastern Church (Eastern Church n.) or (Holy) Orthodox Church, and now representing the major Christian denominations of Greece, Russia, and other Eastern European countries), which acknowledge the primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople and which finally formally renounced communion with the Roman see in the 11th cent.a.d. Also applied to its clergy, rites, buildings, etc.
1564 T. Becon New Catech. in Wks. 433,
I passe ouer the other auncient fathers and doctours bothe of the Greke and Latin churches.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie (1648) vi. 38
The Greek Church first, and in processe of time the Latin altred this order [of public penitence].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
The Romanists call the Greek Church, the Greek Schism.
The three citations of the Greek Church before the year 1800 need no comment.
4. In specific names of plants and animals, as Greek tortoise, Greek valerian: see the ns.; also Greek nettle. Greek partridge n. of Southern Europe (the original Greek-Latinπέρδιξ, perdix), Alectoris graeca. Greek rose n. [translation of Latin rosa graeca] a book-name for the Campion.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball 129
The first kind is now called..in English Greek or Romayne Nettel.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 83
The Rose Campion, which our men call the Greeke Rose, and the Greekes name Lychnis.
Courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red.
a. A native of Greece; a member of the Greek race.
c893 tr. Orosius Hist. v. xii. §4
Þa foran hi on Crecas.
c900 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (1890) iv. xxxii. [xxxi.] 378
Mid þa aðle geslægene..þe Grecas nemnað paralysis.
?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 17560
Forr werelld iss nemmnedd cossmos. Swa summ þe grickess kiþenn.
c1275 Laȝamon Brut 801
Leteþ þe Greckes [earlier text þa Grickisca] glide to grunde.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) xix. cxxviii. 935
All rounde thynges ben callyd Mala amonge the Grekys.
c1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. (1898) 66
Þe bigynynge of Philosophye hadden Indes, Grecys, Percys and Latyns.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) John xii. 20
There were certayne Grekes (among them that were come vp to Ierusalem to worshipe at the feast).
c1540 (▸?a1400) Destr. Troy 40
Homer..Þat with the Grekys was gret.
1605 S. Daniel Ulisses & Siren 1
Come worthy Greeke, Ulisses, come.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. ii. §2
Those who were renowned among the Greeks for wisdome and learning.
b. Proverb. when Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war: the now usual perversion of Nathaniel Lee's line (see quot. 1677).
1677 N. Lee Rival Queens iv. 48
When Greeks joyn'd Greeks, then was the tug of War.
2. A member or adherent of the Greek Church.
c1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 332
Þe þridde maner & leste yuel, þat men seyn þat greks han, is þat þe prest preyeþ þat god assoyle hym.
c1547 S. Gardiner Let. 21 May in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) 734/1
There is nothing more commended vnto vs christen men in both the churches of the grekes & lattens then lent is.
1696 tr. J. Dumont New Voy. Levant 190
Both the Greeks and Romanists were extremely griev'd for the Loss of their Saint.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
Of the Seven Latin Sacraments..the Greeks only admit five.
In 1728, England was under the belief that the Greek church has only five sacraments.
†3. A Hellenized Jew; = Grecian n. 1b. Obs.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Acts vi. 1
In tho dayes..grucchinge of Greekis is maad aȝens Ebrews.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. N.T., Acts vi. 1
Those Jews that understood the Greek Tongue, and used the Greek Translation of the Scripture, were called Greeks.
Although now obsolete, in 1685 a Greek was a Hellenized Jew.
4. A cunning or wily person; a cheat, sharper, esp. one who cheats at cards. (Cf. Frenchgrec.)
1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. i iiij,
In carde playinge he is a goode greke.
1568 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. ix. 217
A cowle, a cowle for such a Greek Were fitter for to wear.
1664 Floddan Field vii. 69
Giles Musgrave was a Guileful Greek.
1794 Sporting Mag. 3 227
The waiter pillages the greek, The greek the spendthrift fleeces.
5. Qualified by merry, mad, gay: A merry fellow; a roysterer; a boon companion; a person of loose habits.See grig n.1 5; the relation between the two words is uncertain.
1536 R. Morison Remedy for Sedition sig. 7v,
Whom can they refuse, when smythes, coblers, tylers, carters, and such other gay grekes, seme worthy to be theyr gouernours?
a1556 N. Udall Ralph Roister Doister (?1566) i. i. sig. A.ijv (stage direct.) ,
Mathewe Merygreeke. He entreth singing.
1583 G. Babington Very Fruitfull Expos. Commaundem. viii. 396
O hee is a merie greeke, a pleasaunt companion, and in faith a good fellowe.
c1600 Return: 1st Pt. i. i, in Three Parnassus Plays (1949) 148
Thou seems a mad greeke, & I haue loude such ladds of metall as thou seems to be from mine infancie.
[1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. iv. 55
A wofull Cressid 'mongst the merry Greekes.]
1611 H. Holland in T. Coryate Crudities sig. d8v,
Vlysses was a merry Greeke they say, So Tom is, and the Greeker of the tway.
1635 T. Heywood Philocothonista 44
To title a drunkard by, wee..strive to character him in a more mincing and modest phrase; as thus:—Hee is a good fellow, or A boone Companion, A mad Greeke, A true Trojan.
1650 J. Howell Cotgrave's French-Eng. Dict. (rev. ed.) Ep. Ded. sig. a3v,
They tearm in French, a boon companion or merry greek, Roger bon temps.
1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) v. 216
Merry-Greeks with crimson Snouts.
7. The language of a native of Greece or one of Greek race; the Greek language. Also, a particular form or period of the language, as late Greek, Ionic Greek, modern Greek.
[c975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 46
Hælend miclæ stefnæ cwæþende in grec [MS. gc] god min god min for-whon forletes þu mec.]
a1400–50 Alexander 5009
Sothly..þe son-tree..Entris in with yndoyes & endis in greke.
c1400 (▸1391) Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) Prol. 2
Suffise to the thise trewe conclusiouns in englissh, as wel as suffisith to thise noble clerkes grekes thise same conclusiouns in grek.
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) ii. 10
The Table aboven his Heved..on the whiche the Title was writen, in Ebreu, Grece and Latyn.
1534 T. Starkey Let. in Eng. in Reign Henry VIII (1878) i. p. x,
The knolege of both tongys bothe latyn & greke.
?1573 L. Lloyd Pilgrimage of Princes f. 71v,
Cato being aged, in his last yeres went to schoole to Enneus, to learne the Greeke.
1623 B. Jonson in Shakespeare Comedies, Hist. & Trag. sig. A4,
And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. i. §3. 3
The Greek was anciently of very great extent, not onely in Europe, but in Asia too, and Afric.
1700 Maidwell in C. R. L. Fletcher Collectanea (1885) I. 310
Masters for Græc and Latin.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 16 Mar. (1965) I. 390
In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew [etc.].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
Modern or Vulgar Greek, is the Language now spoke in Greece.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
'Tis not easy to assign the precise Difference between the vulgar, and the antient Greek.
The paucity of the English knowledge of the Greek language needs no comment.
8. Unintelligible speech or language, gibberish.
Also heathen Greek (rarely Hebrew-Greek) . (Cf. Hebrew n. 2b.) St. Giles's Greek: slang.
1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. C,
Far... Asking for some greeke Poet, to him he falles..but Ile be sworne he knowes not so much as one Character of the tongue. Ric. Why then its greeke to him.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist ii. v. sig. F, Svb.
Is Ars sacra..A Heathen language? Ana. Heathen Greeke, I take it. Svb. How? Heathen Greeke? Ana. All's Heathen, but the Hebrew.
a1616 Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 279–84
He spoke greeke..those that vnderstood him, smil'd at one another, and shooke their heads: but..it was Greeke to me.
1647 A. Cowley Discretion in Mistress ii,
Joynture, Portion, Gold, Estate..Are Greek no Lovers understand.
1769 J. Wesley Jrnl. 1 July (1827) III. 360,
I knew this was heathen Greek to them.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue,
Greek. St. Giles's Greek, the slang lingo, cant, or gibberish.
a. Of or pertaining to Greece or its people; Hellenic.
c1400 (▸1391) Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) Prol. 2
Thise noble clerkes grekes.
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour l. 1993 in Wks. (1931) I,
The auld Greik Historitiane Diodorus.
1674 H. Prideaux Lett. (1875) 23,
I will determin all cronologicall controversys which have been ever moved in the Greeke history.
All the above citations are secondary sources.
2a. As the designation of a language (see Greek n. 7).
Hence, of words, idioms, grammar, etc.: Belonging to or characteristic of the Greek language. Of literary compositions: Written in the Greek language.
Greek fathers n. those early Christian fathers (see fathern. 3b) who wrote in Greek. (In uses like Greek professor, Greek scholar, the word is perh. in most cases to be regarded as the n. used attrib.)
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. i. Pref. sig. 14v,
The Greke diuines.
?1573 L. Lloyd Pilgrimage of Princes f. 71v,
Terentius Varro was almost furtie yere olde, before he tooke a Greeke booke in hande, and yet prooued excellent in the Greeke tongue.
a1616 Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 100
This small packet of Greeke and Latine bookes.
1644 Milton Of Educ. 2
The ill habit..of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom, with their untutor'd Anglicisms.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 162
Stout Defenders of the Faith..that..are ready to make their own Testament, if they see a Greek one.
1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. Misc. v. i. 241
A foreign Protestant Divine, and most learn'd Defender of Religion, making the best Excuse he can for the Greek-Fathers.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
In the living Tongues, are still preserved a vast Number of Greek Terms of Arts.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Accent, Wetstein, Greek Professor at Basil.
3. The distinctive epithet of that section of the Christian Church (commonly known also as the Eastern Church (Eastern Church n.) or (Holy) Orthodox Church, and now representing the major Christian denominations of Greece, Russia, and other Eastern European countries), which acknowledge the primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople and which finally formally renounced communion with the Roman see in the 11th cent.a.d. Also applied to its clergy, rites, buildings, etc.
1564 T. Becon New Catech. in Wks. 433,
I passe ouer the other auncient fathers and doctours bothe of the Greke and Latin churches.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie (1648) vi. 38
The Greek Church first, and in processe of time the Latin altred this order [of public penitence].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
The Romanists call the Greek Church, the Greek Schism.
The three citations of the Greek Church before the year 1800 need no comment.
4. In specific names of plants and animals, as Greek tortoise, Greek valerian: see the ns.; also Greek nettle. Greek partridge n. of Southern Europe (the original Greek-Latinπέρδιξ, perdix), Alectoris graeca. Greek rose n. [translation of Latin rosa graeca] a book-name for the Campion.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball 129
The first kind is now called..in English Greek or Romayne Nettel.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 83
The Rose Campion, which our men call the Greeke Rose, and the Greekes name Lychnis.
Part the Second
The above citations in chronological order.
893c Þa foran hi on Crecas.
900c (1890) Mid þa aðle geslægene..þe Grecas nemnað paralysis.
975c Hælend miclæ stefnæ cwæþende in grec [MS. gc] god min ...
1200?c\ .... Swa summ þe grickess kiþenn.
1275c Leteþ þe Greckes [earlier text þa Grickisca] glide to grunde.
1380c . (1880) Þe þridde maner & leste yuel, þat men seyn þat greks han, is ...
1382 (Wycliffite, E.V.) In tho dayes..grucchinge of Greekis is maad aȝens Ebrews.
1398 (1495) ... amonge the Grekys.
1400–50a Sothly..þe son-tree..Entris in with yndoyes & endis in greke.
1400c (1839) ... the Title was writen, in Ebreu, Grece and Latyn.
1400c (1898) ...Philosophye hadden Indes, Grecys, Percys and Latyns.
1400c (▸1391) (1872) ... grekes thise same conclusiouns in grek.
1400c (▸1391) (1872) Thise noble clerkes grekes.
We note the 120 year gap with no citations. Before the year 1400 there are four primary citations.
1528 In carde playinge he is a goode greke.
1534 (1878) , .. tongys bothe latyn & greke.
1535 (Coverdale) There were certayne Grekes ...
1536 ... , carters, and such other gay grekes, seme worthy ...
1540c (▸?a1400) Homer..Þat with the Grekys was gret.
1547c (1563) ... churches of the grekes & lattens then lent is.
1548 The Greke diuines.
1554 (1931) The auld Greik Historitiane ...
1556a (?1566) ) , Mathewe Merygreeke. ...
1564 ... doctours bothe of the Greke and Latin churches.
1568 (1891) ... a cowle for such a Greek Were fitter ...
1573? ...went to schoole to Enneus, to learne the Greeke.
1573? ... he tooke a Greeke booke ...in the Greeke tongue.
1578 ... called..in English Greek or Romayne Nettel.
1583 O hee is a merie greeke, ...
1600a (1648) The Greek Church first, and in processe of time ...
1600c (1949) Thou seems a mad greeke,...
Between 1501 and 1600, there are eight primary citations.
1601 ...call the Greeke Rose, and the Greekes name Lychnis.
1603 Far... some greeke Poet,...Why then its greeke to him.
1605 Come worthy Greeke, Ulisses, come.
1609 A wofull Cressid 'mongst the merry Greekes.]
1611 Vlysses was a merry Greeke they ... and the Greeker ...
1612 Svb. ...Heathen Greeke, I take it. Svb. How? Heathen Greeke? ...
1616a (1623)He spoke greeke....it was Greeke to me.
1616a (1623) This small packet of Greeke and Latine bookes.
1623 ... hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke.
1635 ... A mad Greeke, A true Trojan.
1644 The ill habit..of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom...
1647 Joynture, Portion, Gold, Estate..Are Greek no Lovers understand.
1650 ...merry greek, Roger bon temps.
1654 Stout Defenders of the Faith... if they see a Greek one.
1662 ...renowned among the Greeks for wisdome and learning.
1664 Giles Musgrave was a Guileful Greek.
1668 The Greek was anciently of very great extent, ...
1674 (1875) I will determin all cronologicall controversys ...Greeke history.
1677 When Greeks joyn'd Greeks, then was the tug of War.
1685 ... the Greek Tongue,... the Greek Translation ... called Greeks.
1694 (1737) Merry-Greeks with crimson Snouts.
1696 Both the Greeks and Romanists were extremely ...
1700 (1885) Masters for Græc and Latin.
Between 1601 and 1700, there are 18 primary citations.
1711 ...the best Excuse he can for the Greek-Fathers.
1718 (1965) In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew [etc.].
1728 ... Difference between the vulgar, and the antient Greek.
1728 ... still preserved a vast Number of Greek Terms of Arts.
1728 Modern or Vulgar Greek, is the Language now spoke in Greece.
1728 Of the Seven Latin Sacraments..the Greeks only admit five.
1728 The Romanists call the Greek Church, the Greek Schism.
1728 Wetstein, Greek Professor at Basil.
1769 (1827) I knew this was heathen Greek to them.
1785 Vulgar Tongue, Greek. St. Giles's Greek, the slang lingo, cant, or gibberish.
1794 The waiter pillages the greek, The greek the spendthrift fleeces.
Between 1701 and 1800 there are nine primary citations with six references from one work.
Part the Third
The following table represents the various definitions of Greek with the years of the first two primary citation.
The above citations in chronological order.
893c Þa foran hi on Crecas.
900c (1890) Mid þa aðle geslægene..þe Grecas nemnað paralysis.
975c Hælend miclæ stefnæ cwæþende in grec [MS. gc] god min ...
1200?c\ .... Swa summ þe grickess kiþenn.
1275c Leteþ þe Greckes [earlier text þa Grickisca] glide to grunde.
1380c . (1880) Þe þridde maner & leste yuel, þat men seyn þat greks han, is ...
1382 (Wycliffite, E.V.) In tho dayes..grucchinge of Greekis is maad aȝens Ebrews.
1398 (1495) ... amonge the Grekys.
1400–50a Sothly..þe son-tree..Entris in with yndoyes & endis in greke.
1400c (1839) ... the Title was writen, in Ebreu, Grece and Latyn.
1400c (1898) ...Philosophye hadden Indes, Grecys, Percys and Latyns.
1400c (▸1391) (1872) ... grekes thise same conclusiouns in grek.
1400c (▸1391) (1872) Thise noble clerkes grekes.
We note the 120 year gap with no citations. Before the year 1400 there are four primary citations.
1528 In carde playinge he is a goode greke.
1534 (1878) , .. tongys bothe latyn & greke.
1535 (Coverdale) There were certayne Grekes ...
1536 ... , carters, and such other gay grekes, seme worthy ...
1540c (▸?a1400) Homer..Þat with the Grekys was gret.
1547c (1563) ... churches of the grekes & lattens then lent is.
1548 The Greke diuines.
1554 (1931) The auld Greik Historitiane ...
1556a (?1566) ) , Mathewe Merygreeke. ...
1564 ... doctours bothe of the Greke and Latin churches.
1568 (1891) ... a cowle for such a Greek Were fitter ...
1573? ...went to schoole to Enneus, to learne the Greeke.
1573? ... he tooke a Greeke booke ...in the Greeke tongue.
1578 ... called..in English Greek or Romayne Nettel.
1583 O hee is a merie greeke, ...
1600a (1648) The Greek Church first, and in processe of time ...
1600c (1949) Thou seems a mad greeke,...
Between 1501 and 1600, there are eight primary citations.
1601 ...call the Greeke Rose, and the Greekes name Lychnis.
1603 Far... some greeke Poet,...Why then its greeke to him.
1605 Come worthy Greeke, Ulisses, come.
1609 A wofull Cressid 'mongst the merry Greekes.]
1611 Vlysses was a merry Greeke they ... and the Greeker ...
1612 Svb. ...Heathen Greeke, I take it. Svb. How? Heathen Greeke? ...
1616a (1623)He spoke greeke....it was Greeke to me.
1616a (1623) This small packet of Greeke and Latine bookes.
1623 ... hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke.
1635 ... A mad Greeke, A true Trojan.
1644 The ill habit..of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom...
1647 Joynture, Portion, Gold, Estate..Are Greek no Lovers understand.
1650 ...merry greek, Roger bon temps.
1654 Stout Defenders of the Faith... if they see a Greek one.
1662 ...renowned among the Greeks for wisdome and learning.
1664 Giles Musgrave was a Guileful Greek.
1668 The Greek was anciently of very great extent, ...
1674 (1875) I will determin all cronologicall controversys ...Greeke history.
1677 When Greeks joyn'd Greeks, then was the tug of War.
1685 ... the Greek Tongue,... the Greek Translation ... called Greeks.
1694 (1737) Merry-Greeks with crimson Snouts.
1696 Both the Greeks and Romanists were extremely ...
1700 (1885) Masters for Græc and Latin.
Between 1601 and 1700, there are 18 primary citations.
1711 ...the best Excuse he can for the Greek-Fathers.
1718 (1965) In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew [etc.].
1728 ... Difference between the vulgar, and the antient Greek.
1728 ... still preserved a vast Number of Greek Terms of Arts.
1728 Modern or Vulgar Greek, is the Language now spoke in Greece.
1728 Of the Seven Latin Sacraments..the Greeks only admit five.
1728 The Romanists call the Greek Church, the Greek Schism.
1728 Wetstein, Greek Professor at Basil.
1769 (1827) I knew this was heathen Greek to them.
1785 Vulgar Tongue, Greek. St. Giles's Greek, the slang lingo, cant, or gibberish.
1794 The waiter pillages the greek, The greek the spendthrift fleeces.
Between 1701 and 1800 there are nine primary citations with six references from one work.
Part the Third
The following table represents the various definitions of Greek with the years of the first two primary citation.
1a. A native of Greece
7. Language 4. A cunning person 5. Merry or mad 2a. Designation of a language 3. Section of the Christian church 4. Specific plants or animals 8. Unintelligible speech 1b. Proverb 2. Member of the Greek church 3. Hellenized Jew Hellenic |
893c
975c 1528 1536 1548 1564 1578 1603 1677 1696 1685 - |
1200c
1400-50 1664 1583 1573 1728 1601 1612 - 1728 - No citations before the year 1800. |