Greek to me

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That's Greek to me or It's (all) Greek to me is an idiom/dead metaphor in English, claiming that an expression is incomprehensible, either due to complexity or imprecision. The expression may be used with respect to verbal expressions with excessive jargon of dialect, mathematics, or science. The metaphor makes reference to the Greek language and the Greek alphabet (either ancient or modern).

The usage of the metaphor in English language traces back to early modern times:

but those that understood him smiled at one another and

shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me

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

This line works literally too, since speaker Casca has just returned from a celebration at which he says that Cicero spoke in Greek, and "it was Greek to me."

The expression is almost exclusively used with reference to the speaker (generally "Greek to me"; rarely or never "Greek to him").

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 Greek was dwindling among those who were copying manuscripts in monastic libraries. 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"[3].

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).

Contents 1 In other languages 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] In other languages

Language	Phrase	Pronunciation	"target" language
English	It's Double Dutch.	/ɪts ˈdʌbəl ˈdʌtʃ/	Dutch
English	That's Greek to me.	ðæts ˈɡriːk tʊ ˈmiː	Greek
Afrikaans	Dis Grieks vir my.		Greek
Arabic	.يتحدث باللغة الصينية	Yataḥaddaṯ bil-luġah al-Ṣīnīyah [jataˈħadːaθ bilˈluɣa(t) asˤːiːˈniːja]	Chinese
Arabic	.يحكي كرشوني	Yaḥkī Karšūnī [jaħkiː karʃuːniː]	Garshuni
Bulgarian	Все едно ми говориш на китайски.	Vse edno mi govoriš na kitajski. fse edˈnɔ mi ɡɔˈvɔriʃ na kiˈtajski	Chinese
Catalan	Això està en xinès.	əˈɕɔ əsˈta ən ɕiˈnɛs]	Chinese
Chavacano	Aleman ese comigo.		German
Mandarin	看起來像天書。/看起来像天书	Kàn qílái xiàng tiānshū	"Book from the Heaven" (Referring to an unknown writing system, or God's language)
Mandarin	聽起來像鳥語。/ 听起来像鸟语	Tīng qílái xiàng niǎoyǔ	"Sounds/tongue of the Birds" (Unknown phonology system.)
Mandarin	聽起來像火星話。/听起来像火星话	Tīng qílái xiàng huǒ xīng huà	Sound like Mars language.
Cantonese	呢啲喺雞腸呀。	ne1 di1 hai2 gai1 cheung4 a1	"Chicken Intestines", referring to English
Croatian	To su za mene španska sela.	[ˈtô su za ˈměne ˈʂpǎːnska ˈsêla]	Spanish
Czech	To je pro mě španělská vesnice.	[ˈto jɛ ˈpro mɲɛ ˈʃpaɲɛlskaː ˈvɛsɲɪtsɛ]	Spanish
Danish	Det rene volapyk.	[də ʁenə volapʏk]	Volapük
Dutch	Dat is Chinees voor mij.	[dat ɪs ʃineːs vɔr mɛi]	Chinese
Esperanto	Tio estas Volapukaĵo.	[ˈtio ˈestas ˌvolapuˈkaʒo]	Volapük
Finnish	Täyttä hepreaa.	[tæytːæ hepreɑː]	Hebrew
French	C'est du chinois.	[sɛ dy ʃinwa]	Chinese
German	Das kommt mir spanisch vor.	[das ˈkɔmt ˈmiːɐ ˈʃpaːnɪʃ ˈfoːɐ]	Spanish
Greek	Αὐτὰ μοῦ φαίνονται κινέζικα.	[afˈta mu ˈfenonde kiˈnezika]	Chinese
Greek	Αὐτὰ μοῦ φαίνονται ἀλαμπουρνέζικα.	[afˈta mu ˈfenonde alamburˈnezika]	Arabic, from the sound of "al arabiyah"
Hebrew	זה סינית בשבילי	Zeh Sinit bishvili. [ze sinit biʃvili]	Chinese
Hungarian	Ez nekem kínai.	[ɛz ˈnɛkɛm ˈkiːnɒɪ]	Chinese
Icelandic	Mér kemur þetta spánskt fyrir sjónir.	mjɛr ˈkɛmʏr 'θɛtːa spaunsk 'fɪrɪr 'sjonɪr	Spanish
Indonesian	Jangan pake bahasa Urdu dong.		Urdu
Italian	Questo per me è arabo/aramaico/ostrogoto[1]	[perˈme ˈkkwesto ɛ ˈarabo/araˈmaiko/ostroˈɡɔto]	Arabic, Aramaic, Ostrogoth
Japanese	ちんぷんかんぷん	chin pun kan pun	Gibberish (Chinese-sounding)
Latin	Graecum est; non legitur	[ˈɡraikum est non ˈleɡitur]	Greek
Latvian	Tā man ir ķīniešu ābece	[taː man ir kiːnieʃu aːbetse]	Chinese
Lithuanian	Tai man kaip kinų kalba.	[taɪ mɐn kaɪp kinuˑ kɐlba]	Chinese
Low Saxon	Dat kümmt mi spaansch vör.	[dat kymt miː spoːnʃ føɐ]	Spanish
Persian[citation needed]	انگار ژاپنی حرف می زنه		Japanese
Polish	To dla mnie chińszczyzna.	[tɔ dla mɲe xʲiɳʂtʂɪzna]	Chinese
Portuguese	Isto é chinês/grego para mim.	[istu ɛ ʃines pɐrɐ mĩ]	Chinese/Greek
Romanian	Eşti turc?	[eʃtʲ turk]	Turkish
Russian	Это для меня китайская грамота.	Eto dlya menya kitaiskaya gramota. [ˈɛtə dlʲa mʲɪˈnʲa kʲɪˈtajskəjə ˈɡramətə]	Chinese
Serbian	То су за мене шпанска села. To su za mene španska sela.	[to su za mɛnɛ ʃpaŋska sɛla]	Spanish
Serbian	К'о да кинески причаш. K'o da kineski pričaš.		Chinese
Sinhalese	Melo Huththak Therennae.
Slovak	To je pre mňa španielska dedina.	[to je pre mnʲa ʃpanʲielska dʲedʲina]	Spanish
Slovene	To mi je španska vas	[to mi je ʃpanska vas]	Spanish
Spanish	Eso está en chino.	[ˈeso esˈta en ˈtʃino]	Chinese
Swedish	Det är rena grekiskan.	[de æ reːnɑ ɡreːkɪskɑn]	Greek
Turkish	Konuya Fransız kaldım.[2]	[konuja fɾansɯz kaldɯm]	French
Ukrainian	Це для мене китайська грамота.	Tse dlya mene kitas'ka gramota. [tsɛ dlʲɑ ˈmɛne kɪˈtɑjsʲkɑ ˈɦrɑmo̞tɑ]	Chinese
Yiddish	ס'איז תּרגום־לשון צו מיר	S'iz Targum-loshn tsu mir. [sɪz tarɡumloʃn tsu miɐ]	Aramaic

[edit] See also

• Greeking
• Writing system

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Translations of "it's all Greek to me" on Omniglot.com
• Translations of "it's all Greek to me" on Wordreference.com