Greek

Greek is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. In antiquity there were a number of dialects of the Greek language. Because of the political and cultural importance of Athens in the classical period of Greek history, the Athenian dialect, Attic, became dominant. Modern Greek stems directly from Attic and dates from the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

Greek is spoken today by about 12 million people, chiefly in Greece and the Greek islands, Turkey, Cyprus, and the United States. It has been estimated that 12% of the English vocabulary is of Greek origin. In fact 60% of the medical terms in Dorland's Medical Encyclopaedia have Greek roots, 30% from combined Greek and Latin roots. Greek words in English are found across many disciplines, among them politics, sciences, history, economics, grammar, and religion.