How did Latin words enter Byzantine Greek?
During the period of the Byzantine Empire, Latin words entered the Greek language primarily through the importation of vocabulary into the spoken vernacular.1
While the formal written language of the empire remained firmly rooted in the archaizing Atticist tradition, the spoken language continued to evolve, and chroniclers such as John Malalas (6th century) recorded numerous Latin borrowings that reflected the daily life and administration of the time. These loanwords covered a variety of practical spheres, including:1
- Domestic life: spíti (house), derived from the Latin hospitium.1
- Architecture and infrastructure: paláti (palace) and pórta (door).1
- Military and geography: saíta (arrow) and kámbos (plain).1
Although hundreds of such borrowings were imported, not all survived in the language. These Latin elements were distinct from the later, more limited administrative or commercial borrowings found in other languages, as they became integrated into the developing spoken Greek of the Byzantine era.12