Greek to me

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That's Greek to me or it's (all) Greek to me is an idiom in English referring to material that the speaker finds difficult or impossible to understand. It is commonly used in reference to a complex or imprecise verbal or written expression, that may use unfamiliar jargon, dialect, or symbols. The metaphor refers to the Greek language, which is unfamiliar to most English speakers, and additionally uses a largely dissimilar alphabet.

Contents

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"). [1] The phrase is widely believed to have its origins among medieval scribes. While most scribes were familiar with Latin, few people in medieval Western Europe, even among the intellectual classes, were schooled in Greek. When copying classic manuscripts they would frequently encounter passages and quotations in Greek which they would have no way of translating, and as such would note the phrase in the margins.[ citation needed ]

Recorded usage of the metaphor in English traces back to the early modern period. It appears 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 of this period 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.

—  Thomas Dekker, Patient Grissel (1603)

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

Variations

Other languages have similar formulations, some referring to Greek but many referring to foreign languages such as Chinese or Spanish. Many refer to a language with a different 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), Nemec (Slavic for "the mute one," indicating Germans).

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". [2] David Moser of the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies reached a similar conclusion. [3]

LanguagePhrase Pronunciation TranslationTarget language / meaning
English It's Double Dutch.[ citation needed ]
That's Greek to me. Greek
Chicken scratch.[ citation needed ]illegible writing
Albanian Mos fol kinezce.[ citation needed ]Do not speak Chinese. Chinese
Afrikaans Dis Grieks vir my.[ citation needed ]It's Greek to me.Greek
Ancient Greek Αὐτὸ ἐστὶ σηρικὸν περὶ ἐμοί.[ citation needed ][au̯ˌto esˌti sɛːriˌkon peˌri eˈmoi̯]It's Chinese to me.Chinese
Arabic يتحدث باللغة الصينية[ citation needed ]yataḥaddaṯ bil-luġah aṣ-Ṣīnīyah
[jataˈħadːaθbɪlˈluɣaasˤːiːˈniːja] 		He's speaking Chinese.Chinese
The verb in the example can be conjugated in other forms.
Arabic, Syrian Colloquial يحكي كرشوني[ citation needed ]yaḥki Karšūni
[ˈjaħkikarˈʃuːni] 		He's speaking Syriac. Syriac, using the Garshuni (Arabic) script as a reference to it.
The verb in the example can be conjugated in other forms.
Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial بيتكلم بالهندي[ citation needed ]byatkallam bel-hendi
[bjætˈkælːæmbelˈhendi] 		He's speaking Hindi. Hindi
The verb in the example can be conjugated in other forms.
Asturian Suename chinu
Ta'n chinu.[ citation needed ]		It sounds like Chinese to me.
It's in Chinese.		Chinese
Bulgarian Все едно ми говориш на патагонски.[ citation needed ]Vse edno mi govoriš na patagonski.
[fsɛɛdˈnɔmiɡɔˈvɔriʃnapataˈɡɔnskʲi] 		It's as if you're talking in Patagonian."Patagonian" (not a real language)
Cantonese 鬼畫符 / 鬼画符[ citation needed ]gwai2 waak6 fu4
[liː˥kɔ˧hɐi˨mɐi˨kwɐi˧˥waːk̚˨fuː˨˩aː˧] 		Ghost script?No specific set phrase, treated like any ordinary language, eg. "Is this ghost script?" "Is this written in Martian?"
火星話 / 火星话[ citation needed ]fo2 sing1 waa6
[fɔ˥sɪŋ˨waː˧] 		Martian
Catalan Com si diguessis Llúcia[ citation needed ] [komsidi'ɣes:is'ʎusiə] As if you say Lucy; not referring to a language
Cebuano Linatin[ citation needed ]Latin Latin, a language used in rituals by holy men such as Catholic priests, faith healers, and talisman owners.
Ininsik[ citation needed ]ChineseChinese
Chavacano Aleman ese comigo.[ citation needed ]It's German to me. German
Croatian To su za mene španska sela.[ citation needed ] [tôsuzaměneʃpǎːnskasêla] These are to me the Spanish countryside.Spanish
Czech To je pro mě španělská vesnice.[ citation needed ] [ˈtojɛˈpromɲɛˈʃpaɲɛlskaːˈvɛsɲɪtsɛ] This is a Spanish village to me.Spanish
Danish Det rene volapyk.[ citation needed ] [te̝ˈʁeˀnəvolɑˈpʰyk] This is pure Volapük Volapük, a 19th century constructed language
Det er en by i Rusland.[ citation needed ]This is a town in Russia. Russian
Kaudervælsk[ citation needed ] Romansh Romansh, a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in Switzerland
Dutch Dat is Chinees voor mij.[ citation needed ] [ˈdɑtɪsɕiˈneːsfoːrˈmɛi] [4] That is Chinese to me.Chinese
Ik snap er geen jota van.I don't understand one iota of it. Reference to Matthew 5:18. [5] Greek
Esperanto Tio estas volapukaĵo. [6] [ˈtioˈestasvolapuˈkaʒo]It's all Volapük. Volapük, a 19th century constructed language
Estonian See on mulle hiina keel.[ citation needed ]This is Chinese to me.Chinese
Filipino Parang Intsik[ citation needed ]It looks like Chinese.Chinese
Finnish Täyttä hepreaa.[ citation needed ] [ˈtæy̯tːæˈhepreɑː] It's all Hebrew. Hebrew
Kuulostaa siansaksalta [ citation needed ]Sounds like pig's Germangibberish
harakanvarpaita (refers to undecipherable writing)[ citation needed ]Magpie's toesunintelligible writing (gibberish)
French C'est du chinois.
C'est de l'hébreu
C'est du javanais.
C'est du russe.		[s‿ɛ dy ʃinwa]
[s‿ɛ də l‿ebʁø]
[s‿ɛ dy ʒavanɛ]
[s‿ɛ dy ʁys]		It's Chinese.
It's Hebrew.
It's Javanese.
It's Russian.		Chinese
Hebrew
Javanese
Russian
German Das kommt mir spanisch vor.[ citation needed ]That sounds like Spanish to me. (usually meant to indicate something is fishy)Spanish
Spreche ich Chinesisch?[ citation needed ]Am I speaking Chinese?Chinese
Fachchinesisch[ citation needed ]specialty Chinese (meaning technical jargon)Chinese
Kauderwelsch[ citation needed ]trade Romance Mediterranean Lingua Franca
Das sind böhmische Dörfer für mich [7] [ˌbøːmɪʃəˈdœʁfɐ] These are Bohemian villages to me Czech, Bohemia being a region of the neighbouring Czech Republic that is nearest to Germany.
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof [ citation needed ]All I understand is "train station."
Polnisch rückwärts[ citation needed ]Polish [spoken] in reversePolish
Greek, Standard Modern Αυτά μου φαίνονται κινέζικα.[ citation needed ] [afˈtamuˈfenɔːndeciˈnezika] This strikes me as ChineseChinese
Αυτά μου φαίνονται αλαμπουρνέζικα.[ citation needed ] [afˈtamuˈfeno(n)deala(m)burˈnezika] These seem to me gobbledygook."Alaburnese" (similar to gibberish)
Greek, Cypriot Εν τούρτζικα που μιλάς;[ citation needed ][e‿ˈⁿduɾ̥t͡ʃi̞kɐp̬umi↗ˈlɐs]Are you speaking Turkish?Turkish
Hebrew זה סינית בשבילי[ citation needed ] [zesinitbiʃvili] It's Chinese to me!Chinese
Hindi,

Urdu

क्या मैं फ़ारसी बोल रहा हूँ?[ citation needed ]

کیا میں فارسی بول رہا ہوں؟[ citation needed ]

Kyā maĩ fārsī bol rahā hū̃?Am I speaking Persian? Persian
Hungarian Ez nekem kínai.[ citation needed ] [ˈɛzˈnɛkɛmˈkiːnɒi] It's Chinese to me.Chinese
Icelandic Þetta kemur mér spánskt fyrir sjónir.[ citation needed ]This looks like Spanish to me.Spanish
Indonesian (Tulisan) Cakar ayam[ citation needed ]Chicken feetgibberish
Refers to unreadable writing.
Bahasa planet[ citation needed ](Other-)planet languagealien language
Italian Questo per me è arabo/aramaico/ostrogoto/turco/cinese[ citation needed ] [ˈkwestoperˈmeˈɛˈaːrabo] , [araˈmaiko] , [ostroˈɡɔːto] , [ˈturko] , [tʃiˈneːze] This is Arabic/Aramaic/Ostrogoth/Turkish/Chinese to me Arabic, Aramaic, Ostrogoth, Turkish, Chinese
Japanese 珍紛漢紛
ちんぷんかんぷん[ citation needed ]		Chinpun kanpun
[ˈtɕimpɯŋkamˌpɯɴ] 		"Ching chong"formal speech
Refers to the "Chinese" sound of incomprehensible Chinese loanwords.
Javanese ꦕꦺꦏꦺꦂꦥꦶꦛꦶꦏ꧀[ citation needed ] [t͡ʃɛkɛrpiʈɪˀ] Chicken scratchillegible handwriting
ꦧꦱꦮꦭꦺꦴꦟ꧀ꦝ[ citation needed ] [bʰɔsɔwalɔɳɖɔ] Dutch languageDutch
Korean 횡설수설하고 있다[ citation needed ]Hoengseolsuseolhago ittaThey are speaking horizontally and vertically.gibberish, especially for unrecognizable spoken language or incoherence.
괴발개발[ citation needed ]
(refers to unreadable writing)		GoebalgaebalCat's footprints and dog's footprintsgibberish
아무 말이나 한다[ citation needed ]Amu marina handaThey are speaking out random words.gibberish
외계어를 한다[ citation needed ]Oegyeeoreul handaThey are speaking in an alien language.alien language
개소리를 한다[ citation needed ]Gaesorireul handaThey are making a dog's sound.gibberish
Latin Graecum est; nōn legitur[ citation needed ] [ˈɡrae̯kumestnoːnˈleɡitur] [It] is Greek; [it is] not legible/[it is] illegibleGreek
Latvian Tā man ir ķīniešu ābece[ citation needed ] [taːmanirciːnieʃuaːbetse] This is Chinese alphabet book to meChinese
Lithuanian Tai man kaip kinų kalba.[ citation needed ] [taɪmɐnkaɪpkinuˑkɐlba] It's Chinese to meChinese
Lojban ti itku'ile ga'a mi [8] [9] It's Ithkuil to me Ithkuil
Macedonian За мене тоа е шпанско село.[ citation needed ]Za mene toa e špansko selo.
[zamɛnɛtɔaɛʃpaŋskɔsɛlɔ] 		It is for me a Spanish village.Spanish
Malay (Tulisan) Cakar ayam[ citation needed ]Chicken feetgibberish
Refers to unreadable writing.
Mandarin 天書/ 天书。[ citation needed ]Kànqǐlái xiàng tiān shū
[tʰjɛn˥ʂu˥] 		Looks like a book from Heaven"Heaven's language"
Refers to an unknown writing system, or incomprehensible content, cf. A Book from the Sky .
鬼畫符 / 鬼画符[ citation needed ]Zhè shì guǐhuàfú ma?
[kwei˨˩hwa˥˩fu˧˥] 		ghost-drawn marks"ghost language"
Refers to very poor, incomprehensible handwriting.
鳥語。/ 鸟语[ citation needed ]Niǎo Yǔ
[njɑʊ̯˧˥y˨˩] 		bird language.
"bird language" (bird song)
Refers to incomprehensible speech.
火星文[ citation needed ]Huǒxīng wén
[xwɔ˨˩ɕiŋ˥wən˧˥] 		Martian writing"Martian"
Usually refers to comically unconventional writing, but is also often used in the same context of unintelligible words or text.
Marathi मी हिब्रू बोलतो का?[ citation needed ]Mī hibrū bōlatō kāAm I speaking Hebrew? Hebrew
Low Saxon Dat kümmt mi spaansch vör.[ citation needed ][datkymtmiːspoːnʃføɐ]That seems like Spanish to me.Spanish
Norwegian Det er helt gresk for meg.[ citation needed ]It's complete Greek to meGreek
Persian مگه ترکی حرف میزنم؟[ citation needed ] [mægetorkiːhærfmiːzænæm] Am I speaking Turkish? Turkish
Polish To dla mnie chińszczyzna.[ citation needed ] [ˈtɔdlaˈmɲɛxʲij̃ˈʂtʂɨzna] To me it's ChineseChinese
Siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu[ citation needed ] [ˈɕɛdʑɛtɕˈjaknatuˈrɛtskʲimkaˈzaɲu] Sit as in a Turkish sermonTurkish
Czeski film[ citation needed ] [ˈtʂɛskʲiˈfilm] Czech movie (this one refers to an incomprehensible situation rather than words, coined after a wave of absurdist movies in Czech cinematography)Czech
Portuguese Isto para mim é chinês.[ citation needed ] [ˈiʃtupɐɾɐˈmĩɛʃiˈneʃ] This is Chinese to meChinese (Portugal)
Isto para mim é grego.[ citation needed ] [ˈiʃtupɐɾɐˈmĩɛˈɣɾeɣu] This is Greek to meGreek (Portugal)
Proto-Germanic *Þat isti Walhiskǭ/Winidiskǭ furi mek.[ citation needed ][θɑt ˈis.ti ˈwɑlxis.kɔ̃ː/ˈwiniðiskɔ̃ː ˈɸuri mek]It's Proto-Italic/Proto-Slavic for me.Proto-Italic, Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic *To estь Němьčьskъjь/Volšьskъjь děľa mę.[ citation needed ][tɔ ɛstɪ nɛːmɪt͡ʃɪskʊjɪ/ʋɔlʃɪskʊjɪ dɛːʎɑː mɛ̃ː]It's Proto-Germanic/Proto-Italic for me.Proto-Germanic, Proto-Italic
Romanian Parcă e chineză.[ citation needed ]
 [ˈparkəjekiˈnezə] It's like Chinese.Chinese
Ești turc?[ citation needed ] [jeʃtʲˈtuɾk] Are you Turkish? Turkish
Nu înțeleg o iotă.[ citation needed ][nu ɨnˈt͡se.leɡ o jo.tə]I don't understand one iota of it. Reference to Matthew 5:18.Greek
Russian Это для меня китайская грамота. [10] Eto dlja menjá kitájskaja grámota.
[ˈɛtəˈdʲlʲæmʲɪˈnʲækʲɪˈtajskəjəˈɡramətə] 		That's Chinese writing to me.Chinese, but emphasis is put on reading rather than speaking. The phrase is often applied when not understanding branches of knowledge like chemistry, maths or computing due to lack of familiarity.
Как курица лапой. [11] Like [scribbled by] chicken feet.gibberish
Refers to very poor, incomprehensible handwriting.
Serbian То су за мене шпанска села.
To su za mene španska sela.[ citation needed ]		 [tosuzameneʃpanskasela] These are to me a Spanish village.Spanish
К'о да кинески причаш.
K'o da kineski pričaš.[ citation needed ]		Like speaking in ChineseChinese
Slovak To je pre mňa španielska dedina.[ citation needed ] [tojepremɲaʃpaɲielskaɟeɟina] That is a Spanish village to me.Spanish
Slovene To mi je španska vas[ citation needed ] [ˈtóːmijɛˈʃpáːnskaˈʋáːs] That is a Spanish village to me. Spanish
Spanish Está en chino/arameo/ruso.
Me suena a chino/arameo/ruso.[ citation needed ]		 [esˈtaenˈtʃino] , [aɾaˈmeo]
[meˈswenaaˈtʃino] , [aɾaˈmeo] 		This is in Chinese/Aramaic/Russian.
It sounds like Chinese/Aramaic/Russian to me.		Chinese, Aramaic, Russian
No entiendo ni jota [noenˈtjendoniˈxota] I don't understand one iota of it.
Reference to Matthew 5:18. [12] 		Greek
Swedish Det är rena grekiskan
Det låter som/det är rena rama grekiskan.		-It is pure Greek
It sound like/it is pure Greek.		Greek
(Jag fattar) inte ett jota(I don't understand) one iota of it
Reference to Matthew 5:18. [13] 		Greek
Turkish Konuya Fransız kaldım. [14] [konujafɾansɯzkaɫˈdɯm] I am French to the topic. French, as from the viewpoint of a French person who doesn't understand any Turkish.
Anladıysam Arap olayım. [15] [anɫaˈdɯjsamaˈɾapoɫajɯm] let me blacken, get dark skin ("turn into Arab") if I understood it
(in Turkish "Arap olayım" is used in idioms in similar sense to "God strike me down if ...", to emphasize that something is not true) [16]
(informal, old-fashioned, offensive) [17] 		None (Arab doesn't refer to nationality or language, but skin color)
Ukrainian Це для мене китайська грамота.[ citation needed ]Tse dlja mene kitajs'ka gramota.
[ˈtsɛdʲlʲɐˈmɛnekɪˈtɑjsʲkɐˈɦrɑmotɐ] 		That's Chinese writing to me.Chinese
Venetian Par mi xe turco.[ citation needed ] [paɾˈmiˌzɛˈtuɾko] To me this is Turkish.Turkish
Vietnamese Nhìn/nghe như tiếng Miên.[ citation needed ](It) looks/sounds like Khmer Khmer
Yiddish תּרגום־לשון
טערקיש
אָץ־קוצץ־לשון
מלאָכים־לשון
חרטמים־לשון [ citation needed ]		targem-loshn
terkish
ots-koytsets-loshn
malokhim-loshn
khartumim-loshn		 targum language (i.e. that of Aramaic translations of the Bible)
Turkish
gibberish
the language of angels
the language of a pharaoh's magicians (i.e. hieroglyphics)		Aramaic / Turkish / gibberish / angelic language / Hieroglyphics

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Etymology of Gringo". 17 April 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2021. The same phrase ["It was Greek to me"] was also used (at about the same time) by another Elizabethan playwright, Thomas Dekker, but its origins are much older: it comes from the Medieval Latin proverb Graecum est; non potest legi (i.e., "It is Greek; it cannot be read").
  2. ↑ Rosenberg, Arnold L. (January 1979). "The Hardest Natural Languages" . Lingvisticæ Investigationes. 3 (2): 323–339. doi:10.1075/li.3.2.07ros. ISSN   0378-4169.
  3. ↑ Moser, D. Pīnyīn.Info. Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard. Retrieved Jun 4, 2011, http://www.pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html Archived 2011-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ In isolation, voor is pronounced [voːr] .
  5. ↑ "Ergens geen jota van snappen". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  6. ↑ "volapukaĵo -- Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto". vortaro.net (in Esperanto). Retrieved 2025-04-05.
  7. ↑ Katja Grundmann, "Böhmische Dörfer", GEO (GEOlino) .
  8. ↑ "itku'ile in English - Lojban-English Dictionary | Glosbe". glosbe.com. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  9. ↑ Note also a related occurrence: Rachel Gardener's “lo nabmi” (“The problem”) song at 00:27: “.i .ia nadme'a fa la .itku'ile .'enai” (“I think Ithkuil would be easier than this”).
  10. ↑ "Откуда произошло выражение «китайская грамота»". Мел (in Russian). 2024-07-24. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  11. ↑ "Как появилось выражение «писать как курица лапой» (ему уже больше 2000 лет)". Мел (in Russian). 2024-08-15. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  12. ↑ Morcillo, José Juan. "Biblismos". La Tribuna de Albacete.
  13. ↑ Morcillo, José Juan. "Biblismos". La Tribuna de Albacete.
  14. ↑ "Güncel Türkçe Sözlük'te Söz Arama" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
  15. ↑ "Hürriyet Arama". Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  16. ↑ "Güncel Türkçe Sözlük'te Söz Arama" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  17. ↑ ""Anladıysam Arap olayım" sözü rafa mı kalkıyor?" (in Turkish). 7 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
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