Greek to me

That's Greek to me or It's (all) Greek to me is an idiom in English, expressing that something is not understandable.

The idiom is typically used with respect to the foreign nature, complexity or imprecision of verbal or written expression or diagram, often containing excessive use of jargon, dialect, mathematics, science, symbols, or diagrams. The metaphor makes reference to Greek (either ancient or modern), as an archetypal foreign form of communication both written and spoken. Technically, the phrase is classified as a dead metaphor, meaning that its components cannot be used separately, unlike for example the dormant metaphor "foot of the hill", which permits saying "that hill has a tree at its foot".

Origins

It may have been a direct translation of a similar phrase in Latin: "Graecum est; non legitur" ("it is Greek, [therefore] it cannot be read"). This phrase was increasingly used by monk scribes in the Middle Ages, as knowledge of the Greek alphabet and language was dwindling among those who were copying manuscripts in monastic libraries.

The usage of the metaphor in English traces back to early modern times, and it is used in 1599 in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, as spoken by Servilius Casca to Cassius after a festival in which Caesar was offered a crown:

CASSIUS: Did Cicero say any thing?
CASCA: Ay, he spoke Greek.
CASSIUS: To what effect?
CASCA: Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.

(William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (1599))

Here, Casca's literal ignorance of Greek is the source of the phrase, using its common meaning to play on the uncertainty among the conspirators about Cicero's attitude to Caesar's increasingly regal behaviour. Shakespeare was not the only author to use the expression.

It was also used in 1603 by Thomas Dekker in his play Patient Grissel:

FAR: Asking for a Greek poet, to him he fails. I’ll be sworn he knows not so much as one character of the tongue.
RIC: Why, then it’s Greek to him.

The expression is almost exclusively used with reference to the speaker (generally "Greek to me"); Dekker's "Greek to him" is rare.

Another meaning attributed to the phrase implies that "it's all Greek to me" could be seen as a wordplay for: "everything is Greek for me".

Variations

Different languages have similar formulations. Many have picked the point of reference to be a foreign language with another alphabet or writing system.

This is an example of the usage of demonyms in relation to the ability of a people to be understood, comparable to the development of the words barbarian (one who babbles), Nemecky (Slavic for "one who is not understood", indicating Germans).

In other languages

In an article published by Arnold L. Rosenberg in the language journal Lingvisticæ Investigationes, he claimed that there was a popular "consensus" that Chinese was the "hardest" language, since various non-English languages most frequently used the Chinese language in their equivalent expression to the English idiom "it's all Greek to me".^[1] Also, David Moser of the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies made the same claim as Arnold L. Rosenberg.^[2]

Use in Greek education

Two books have been published to help beginning students of ancient Greek bearing the titles "Greek to Me".
1. Greek to Me, J. Lyle Story & Cullen I.k. Story, Xulon Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-59160-222-4. A humorous look at using memnonics to learn Biblical Greek.
2. It's Still Greek to Me: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Intermediate Greek, David Alan Black, Baker Academic, 1998, ISBN 978-0-8010-2181-7. Makes learning Greek easier by keying in on differences between Greek and English Grammar.

See also

• Greeking
• Writing system
• Gringo, a word possibly derived from the notion of Greek being unintelligible

References

External links

Look up it's all Greek to me in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Omniglot: "Translations of It's all Greek/Chinese/Hebrew/Arabic to me in many languages".
• Translations of "it's all Greek to me" on Wordreference.com

William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Characters Julius Caesar Mark Antony Octavius Lepidus Flavius Marullus Cicero Calpurnia Portia Cinna Titinius Messala Young Cato Volumnius Conspirators Marcus Brutus Cassius Casca Decius Brutus Cinna Metellus Cimber Trebonius Caius Ligarius Sources Parallel Lives On screen 1950 1953 1970 1979 (TV) 1994 (TV) Adaptations La morte di Cesare (1788) Shakespeare Writing "Julius Caesar" (1907) Die Ermordung Cäsars (1959) Dead Caesar (2007) The Karaoke King (2007) Roman Tragedies (2007) Quotes "The dogs of war" "Et tu, Brute?" "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" "Greek to me" Related Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar Assassination of Julius Caesar Caesar's Comet Ides of March Battle of Philippi Me and Orson Welles (2008) Caesar Must Die (2012)