By Eugenia Manolidou
On the occasion of World Greek Language Day, let us make use of this unique language
which, for centuries, instead of followinh developments, has actively contributed to shaping
them.
World Greek Language Day is celebrated every year on 9 February, a date that coincides
with the anniversary of the death of Dionysios Solomos. The choice of this day is symbolic,
as it links language with creativity, thought and historical continuity, from poetry to
collective memory. The establishment of this day began approximately ten years ago
through the initiative of Professor Yannis Korinthios. Emerging outside an institutional
framework, it arose from the need to highlight and honour the Greek language as a
cultural and intellectual asset with global resonance. Gradually, through the collaboration
of organisations of the Greek diaspora, Greek diplomacy, and the academic community –
and with the decisive contribution of Giorgos Koumoutsakos and Giorgos Babiniotis, as
well as the support of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis – this initiative acquired official
status and institutional recognition with the approval of UNESCO.
From the time of Homer, the Greek language has been formed as a living system of
thought, capable of praising courage and heroic achievement, while also expressing
human vulnerability, anxiety, inner conflict and desire. In philosophy, science, intellectual
life and the arts, it functioned as an instrument of analysis, distinction and
conceptualisation of the world, offering terms and structures that enabled thought to be
articulated with unprecedented clarity and precision. With its transition into the Roman and
subsequently the Byzantine era, the Greek language – thanks to its flexible and adaptive
nature – was transformed, taught, commented upon and continued to function as a vehicle
of knowledge, scientific tradition and theological reflection. Even after the Fall of
Constantinople and the period of subjugation, it survived and was cultivated in the
workshops of the Humanists, in Western universities and in the texts and editions that laid
the foundations of modern European thought. This long trajectory attests to the vitality and
freshness of a language marked by exceptional internal coherence, flexibility and creative
power – qualities that enable it today to enter once more an era of profound technological
transformation.
In the nineteenth century, a period of major technological upheaval, the Greek language
returned dynamically to the forefront as a functional system for naming new knowledge.
When Alexander Graham Bell perfected the telephone, the invention was not described
simply as a “voice from afar,” but was named telephone, drawing on the ancient Greek
words tēle and phōnē, thus confirming that Greek morphology already offered the precise
structural tools needed to express an entirely new technological phenomenon. The same
occurred with terms such as telegraph, telescope, microscope, photography, phonograph,
and cinema – all formed entirely from Greek morphemes and established internationally as
primary scientific terms. This is no coincidence. For European scholars and scientists of
previous centuries, “Greek” meant above all Ancient Greek: the language they studied
systematically in schools and universities, through which they had direct access to
philosophical, historical and scientific texts in the original. Thanks to this linguistic
education, the Philhellenes of the nineteenth century read Greek literature in its original
form, developed a deep intellectual bond with Greek culture and actively supported the
Greek War of Independence. We owe the language that much.
The same language, as a bearer of memory and meaning, continues today to shape the
relationship of millions of people not only with monuments and museums, but also with
technology. In the modern technological era, scientists once again turned to the same
linguistic reservoir: micro, nano, mega, giga, tera for precise quantitative scales, as well as
android, anthropoid, anthropomorphic, meta to describe complex concepts linking
technology with the human being. The Greek language was once again activated as a tool
of precision and conceptual clarity.
The enduring power of the Greek language, however, is not limited to its morphological
flexibility. It is expressed primarily in its capacity to articulate abstract concepts with
accuracy – concepts such as logos, meaning, truth, judgement, ethos, method – terms that
do not describe reality, but mainly interpret it. For this reason, they were transferred
almost unchanged into most European languages, forming the conceptual foundation of
philosophy, science and education. In this context, the return to Socratic thought
represents a necessary reconnection with a method that places questioning at the centre
of knowledge. Socrates was the first to introduce the maieutic method, a dialogical mode
of thinking which, through successive questions, leads the individual to self-examination
and conscious judgement. In the contemporary era, this same principle re-emerges in
dialogical educational tools of artificial intelligence, such as so-called Socratic tutors, as
well as in large language models developed by organisations such as OpenAI, Google
DeepMind and Anthropic. In these environments, users are guided through questions to
develop judgement, reflection and the capacity for synthesis.
It is no coincidence that in recent years there has been what has been described
internationally as a “return” of the humanities – or, in the apt phrase of Steven Johnson, the
Revenge of the Humanities. As artificial intelligence increasingly automates technical and
repetitive processes, skills such as critical thinking, ethical judgement, precision of
language, cultural understanding, and interpretation of meaning become central demands.
As noted in the Future of Jobs Report 2025 of the World Economic Forum, the skills that
will shape the future of education and the labour market relate primarily to analysis,
creativity, adaptability and complex problem-solving. In this environment, children who
know Ancient Greek, as well as those who pursue classical or broader humanities studies,
possess a clear advantage: they have already been trained in linguistic precision,
structured thinking, the management of abstract concepts and the ability to distinguish
what is essential from what is superficial – skills that prove decisive in the new era of
artificial intelligence.
Those of us who speak Greek as our mother tongue enjoy a rare privilege: with relatively
little effort, we can approach a vast body of knowledge, concepts, and structures of
thought that others must acquire through lengthy and systematic education. Familiarity
with Ancient Greek constitutes a conscious investment in the future, as it cultivates
precision of expression, structured thinking, and the capacity to discern and interpret
meaning. In an age where information is instantly accessible but judgement is increasingly
scarce, these skills become crucial. From this perspective, the Greek language may be
seen as an “intangible Parthenon”: an edifice of intellectual precision, measure, and
harmony, which may not dominate a physical landscape, but endures across time in the
thought and speech of those who use it.
Source: Education Leaders, Sunday edition of To Vima, February 8th 2026.