Timeline for Did Euler know Ancient Greek?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 12, 2023 at 21:57 | history | edited | Michael E2 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Responded to comment |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 21:21 | comment | added | Sebastian Koppehel | Curiously, the quote in this answer breaks off in the middle of Euler's sentence, which continues: womit es aber nicht recht fort wollte, weil ich meine meiste Zeit auf die mathematische Studia wendete, und zu meinem Glück die Sonnabend Visiten bei dem Herrn Johanni Bernoulli noch immer fortdaureten = "which did, however, not proceed very well because I used most of my time for mathematical studies, and, luckily for me, the Saturday visits at Mr Johann Bernoulli's still continued." | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 21:20 | comment | added | Sebastian Koppehel | One can in fact not infer anything from this statement about whether Euler learnt Greek and Hebrew at school, as it only says he was supposed to pay special attention to these subjects at university (at the ripe old age of sixteen), after laying the foundations for the humaniores (presumably at least Latin) at the Gymnasium and in private lessons that he took. | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 20:02 | comment | added | Cosmas Zachos | Frivolous aside: might be amused by Newton's Trinity College Greek Notebooks. | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 19:56 | comment | added | Cosmas Zachos | At that time, modern Greek, Ρωμαίικα, was never written, nor taught in school, where Testament Greek (Koine) was the basis of standard education; this went on all the way to the end of the 19th century. But most Ancient Greek math was written in basic Koine. | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 17:55 | comment | added | Michael E2 | @MoisheKohan Either Ancient or Koine Greek, I suppose. New Testament being written in Koine, a theology program might teach that. Almost certainly not modern Greek, I agree. Someone with a knowledge of Greek languages and the history of education would know more than me. | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 16:57 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | From this, one can infer that Euler could read texts in classical Greek (even if he learnt the modern Greek, which is unlikely). | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 15:25 | history | edited | Michael E2 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | added 5 characters in body |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 15:25 | comment | added | Michael E2 | @TorstenSchoeneberg Thanks, my German is fairly bad. Never took a course and what I know is mainly from reading math papers and looking words up. Feel free to fix any other inaccuracies. (The "should" sounds a bit outdated or awkward in American English. I've heard upper-class characters in British TV shows use it this way.) | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 14:49 | comment | added | Torsten Schoeneberg | Translation issue: I think the "Gutbefinden meiner Familie" refers to that he should enrol in the Faculty of Theology. I understand the whole thing as "following the wish of my family, I had to enrol in the Theological Faculty, where I should apply myself ..." | |
| Sep 12, 2023 at 14:05 | history | answered | Michael E2 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |