Definition

Noun: 1. A common or shared language: A language or dialect that develops as a common means of communication between speakers of different native languages, often for trade or administration. 2. A specific historical dialect: (Often capitalized: Koine) The particular form of the Greek language that became the common dialect of the Hellenistic world, the eastern Mediterranean, and later the Roman Empire, based chiefly on Attic Greek.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (General sense):
  • English has become the modern koine for international business and science.
  • In the bustling port, a pidgin koine evolved so sailors and merchants could trade.
• Noun (Specific historical sense):
  • The New Testament of the Bible was originally written in Koine Greek.
  • Koine flourished as the lingua franca across Alexander the Great's vast empire.

Advanced Usage

• Linguistic Concept: In linguistics, "koine" (often not capitalized) refers to the process of dialect leveling and the resulting stable, common language variety that emerges from the mixing of regional dialects.
  • The study focused on the formation of a regional koine from several closely related vernaculars.

Variants and Related Words

• Koine Greek (n): The specific historical dialect; the common Greek of the post-classical period.
• Koinéization (n): The linguistic process by which a koine develops from the mixing and leveling of dialects.

Synonyms

• Lingua franca: A language systematically used to make communication possible between groups not sharing a native language.
• Common language: A shared medium of communication.
• Vernacular (in specific contexts): The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region, which can become a koine.

Related Idioms or Phrases

• The Koine: This phrase, often capitalized, specifically and unambiguously refers to the historical Greek dialect.
  • Many important early Christian texts were composed in the Koine.

Noun

1. a common language used by speakers of different languages
   • Koine is a dialect of ancient Greek that was the lingua franca of the empire of Alexander the Great and was widely spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean area in Roman times
2. a Greek dialect that flourished under the Roman Empire