Pontic Greek
| Pontic Greek | |
|---|---|
| Pontic | |
| ποντιακά | |
| Region | originally the Pontus on the Black Sea coast; Greek Macedonia |
|
Native speakers
|
1.2 million (2009) |
| Greek; Latin; Cyrillic | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | pont1253 |
| Linguasphere | 56-AAA-aj |
Pontic Greek (ποντιακά) is a Greek language originally spoken in the Pontus area on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, the Eastern Turkish/Caucasus province of Kars, southern Georgia and today mainly in northern Greece. The linguistic lineage of Pontic Greek stems from Ionic Greek via Koine and Byzantine Greek and contains influences from Georgian, Russian, Turkish and to a lesser extent, Persian (via Ottoman Turkish) and various Caucasian languages. Its Ophitic variant has been identified as the living language that is closest to Ancient Greek. Its speakers are referred to as Pontic Greeks or Pontian Greeks.
Closely related Greek dialects are spoken in Mariupolis (and formerly in Crimea), Ukraine (see Greeks in Ukraine and Mariupolitan Greek), in Georgia and in the former Russian Caucasus province of Kars Oblast: linguistic practice varies on whether they should be classified as "Pontic". The speakers of these dialects, depending on where they live, are referred to either as eastern Pontic Greeks or as Caucasus Greeks.
Pontic is also closely related to Cappadocian Greek.
Historically the speakers of Pontic Greek called it Romeyka (Romeika, Greek: Ρωμαίικα), which, in a more general sense, is also a historical and colloquial term for Modern Greek as a whole. The term "Pontic" originated in scholarly usage, but it has been adopted as a mark of identity by Pontic Greeks living in Greece.
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