I wish you all a wonderful Christmas.
The folks over at Omniglot.com provided a recording of the phrase in the title of this post that was used here from 2010 to 2015. My link to that recording ceased to function this year, so I replaced it with a recording of my own. Click the triangle below if you want to learn to say “Merry Christmas” in Hellenistic Greek.
| New audio added November 25, 2016 |
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| m4a
AAC mp3 |
Thanks to Omniglot.com for providing the audio that was used in this post from 2010 to 2015!
| A note on pronunciation added in 2014: |
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| The pronunciation from Ominiglot.com was done using Modern Greek pronunciation. While there are several important differences between Modern Greek and the way the language was spoken in the Hellenistic Period (Koine), none of those differences impact the pronunciation of καλὰ Χριστούγεννα. Of course at the time of Jesus and Paul no one would have said καλὰ Χριστούγεννα since Christmas was not yet celebrated. When it did come to be celebrated, though, early Christians would have pronounced this phrase the same as it is pronounced today in Greece. |
| A note on spelling (Added 12/15/2015) | |
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| There is one small difference in spelling of the Christmas greeting between 300 CE and the present: the system of written accents has been simplified. Contrast the following spellings. Can you see the difference? | |
| Modern: | Καλά Χριστούγεννα |
| Hellenistic: | Καλὰ Χριστούγεννα |