Liliputin - 6059

The way of life of all this wild tribes around Greece, who don't speak Greek, is Greek to me ... "
Alexander Makedonski

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2025/03/08/5867

***
Der Begriff "Barbar" stammt aus dem antiken Griechenland und bezeichnete urspruenglich Menschen, die nicht Griechisch sprachen oder eine als "minderwertig" gebrandmarkte Kultur hatten.

***

Greek to me

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's Greek to me or it's (all) Greek to me is an idiom in English referring to material that the speaker finds difficult or impossible to understand. It is commonly used in reference to a complex or imprecise verbal or written expression, that may use unfamiliar jargon, dialect, or symbols. The metaphor refers to the Greek language, which is unfamiliar to most English speakers, and additionally uses a largely dissimilar alphabet.

Origins
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").[1] The phrase is widely believed to have its origins among medieval scribes. While most scribes were familiar with Latin, few people in medieval Western Europe, even among the intellectual classes, were schooled in Greek. When copying classic manuscripts they would frequently encounter passages and quotations in Greek which they would have no way of translating, and as such would note the phrase in the margins.[citation needed]

Recorded usage of the metaphor in English traces back to the early modern period. It appears in 1599 in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, as spoken by Servilius Casca to Cassius after a festival in which Caesar was offered a crown:

CASSIUS: Did Cicero say any thing?

CASCA: Ay, he spoke Greek.

CASSIUS: To what effect?

CASCA: Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.

—;William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (1599)
Here, Casca's literal ignorance of Greek is the source of the phrase, using its common meaning to play on the uncertainty among the conspirators about Cicero's attitude to Caesar's increasingly regal behaviour.

Shakespeare was not the only author of this period to use the expression. It was also used in 1603 by Thomas Dekker in his play Patient Grissel:

FAR: Asking for a Greek poet, to him he fails. I'll be sworn he knows not so much as one character of the tongue.
RIC: Why, then it's Greek to him.

—;Thomas Dekker, Patient Grissel (1603)
The expression is almost exclusively used with reference to the speaker (generally "Greek to me"); Dekker's "Greek to him" is rare.[citation needed]

Variations
Other languages have similar formulations, some referring to Greek but many referring to foreign languages such as Chinese or Spanish. Many refer to a language with a different 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), Nemec (Slavic for "the mute one," indicating Germans).

In an article published by Arnold L. Rosenberg in the language journal Lingvistic; Investigationes, he claimed that there was a popular "consensus" that Chinese was the "hardest" language, since various non-English languages most frequently used the Chinese language in their equivalent expression to the English idiom "it's all Greek to me".[2] David Moser of the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies reached a similar conclusion.[3]

Language Phrase Pronunciation Translation Target language / meaning
English It's Double Dutch.[citation needed]
That's Greek to me. Greek
Chicken scratch.[citation needed] illegible writing
Albanian Mos fol kinezce.[citation needed] Do not speak Chinese. Chinese
Afrikaans Dis Grieks vir my.[citation needed] It's Greek to me. Greek
Ancient Greek ;;;; ;;;; ;;;;;;; ;;;; ;;;;.[citation needed] [au;;to es;ti s;;ri;kon pe;ri e;moi;] It's Chinese to me. Chinese
Arabic ;;;;; ;;;;;; ;;;;;;;[citation needed] yata;adda; bil-lu;ah a;-;;n;yah
[jata;;ad;a; b;l;lu;a as;;i;;ni;ja] He's speaking Chinese. Chinese
The verb in the example can be conjugated in other forms.
Arabic, Syrian Colloquial ;;;; ;;;;;;[citation needed] ya;ki Kar;;ni
[;ja;ki kar;;u;ni] He's speaking Syriac. Syriac, using the Garshuni (Arabic) script as a reference to it.
The verb in the example can be conjugated in other forms.
Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial ;;;;;; ;;;;;;;[citation needed] byatkallam bel-hendi
[bj;t;k;l;;m bel;hendi] He's speaking Hindi. Hindi
The verb in the example can be conjugated in other forms.
Asturian Suename chinu
Ta'n chinu.[citation needed] It sounds like Chinese to me.
It's in Chinese. Chinese
Bulgarian Все едно ми говориш на патагонски.[citation needed] Vse edno mi govori; na patagonski.
[fs; ;d;n; mi ;;;v;ri; na pata;;;nsk;i] It's as if you're talking in Patagonian. "Patagonian" (not a real language)
Cantonese ;;; / ;;;[citation needed] gwai2 waak6 fu4
[li;; k;; h;i; m;i; kw;i;; wa;k;; fu;;; a;;] Ghost script? No specific set phrase, treated like any ordinary language, eg. "Is this ghost script?" "Is this written in Martian?"
;;; / ;;;[citation needed] fo2 sing1 waa6
[f;; s;;; wa;;] Martian
Catalan Com si diguessis Ll;cia[citation needed] [kom si di';es:is ';usi;] As if you say Lucy; not referring to a language
Cebuano Linatin[citation needed] Latin Latin, a language used in rituals by holy men such as Catholic priests, faith healers, and talisman owners.
Ininsik[citation needed] Chinese Chinese
Chavacano Aleman ese comigo.[citation needed] It's German to me. German
Croatian To su za mene ;panska sela.[citation needed] [t; su za m;ne ;p;;nska s;la] These are to me the Spanish countryside. Spanish
Czech To je pro m; ;pan;lsk; vesnice.[citation needed] [;to j; ;pro m;; ;;pa;;lska; ;v;s;;ts;] This is a Spanish village to me. Spanish
Danish Det rene volapyk.[citation needed] [te; ;;e;n; vol;;p;yk] This is pure Volap;k Volap;k, a 19th century constructed language
Det er en by i Rusland.[citation needed] This is a town in Russia. Russian
Kauderv;lsk[citation needed] Romansh Romansh, a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in Switzerland
Dutch Dat is Chinees voor mij.[citation needed] [;d;t ;s ;i;ne;s fo;r ;m;i][4] That is Chinese to me. Chinese
Ik snap er geen jota van. I don't understand one iota of it. Reference to Matthew 5:18.[5] Greek
Esperanto Tio estas volapuka;o.[6] [;tio ;estas volapu;ka;o] It's all Volap;k. Volap;k, a 19th century constructed language
Estonian See on mulle hiina keel.[citation needed] This is Chinese to me. Chinese
Filipino Parang Intsik[citation needed] It looks like Chinese. Chinese
Finnish T;ytt; hepreaa.[citation needed] [;t;y;t;; ;hepre;;] It's all Hebrew. Hebrew
Kuulostaa siansaksalta[citation needed] Sounds like pig's German gibberish
harakanvarpaita (refers to undecipherable writing)[citation needed] Magpie's toes unintelligible writing (gibberish)
French C'est du chinois.
C'est de l'h;breu
C'est du javanais.
C'est du russe. [s;; dy ;inwa]
[s;; d; l;eb;;]
[s;; dy ;avan;]
[s;; dy ;ys] It's Chinese.
It's Hebrew.
It's Javanese.
It's Russian. Chinese
Hebrew
Javanese
Russian
German Das kommt mir spanisch vor.[citation needed] That sounds like Spanish to me. (usually meant to indicate something is fishy) Spanish
Spreche ich Chinesisch?[citation needed] Am I speaking Chinese? Chinese
Fachchinesisch[citation needed] specialty Chinese (meaning technical jargon) Chinese
Kauderwelsch[citation needed] trade Romance Mediterranean Lingua Franca
Das sind b;hmische D;rfer f;r mich[7] [;b;;m;;; ;d;;f;] These are Bohemian villages to me Czech, Bohemia being a region of the neighbouring Czech Republic that is nearest to Germany.
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof[citation needed] All I understand is "train station."
Polnisch r;ckw;rts[citation needed] Polish [spoken] in reverse Polish
Greek, Standard Modern ;;;; ;;; ;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;.[citation needed] [af;ta mu ;fen;;nde ci;nezika] This strikes me as Chinese Chinese
;;;; ;;; ;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.[citation needed] [af;ta mu ;feno(n)de ala(m)bur;nezika] These seem to me gobbledygook. "Alaburnese" (similar to gibberish)
Greek, Cypriot ;; ;;;;;;;;; ;;; ;;;;;;[citation needed] [e;;;du;;t;;i;k; p;u mi;;l;s] Are you speaking Turkish? Turkish
Hebrew ;; ;;;;; ;;;;;;[citation needed] [ze sinit bi;vili] It's Chinese to me! Chinese
Hindi,
Urdu

;;;; ;;; ;;;;;; ;;; ;;; ;;;?[citation needed]
;;; ;;; ;;;;; ;;; ;;; ;;;;[citation needed]

Ky; ma; f;rs; bol rah; h;;? Am I speaking Persian? Persian
Hungarian Ez nekem k;nai.[citation needed] [;;z ;n;k;m ;ki;n;i] It's Chinese to me. Chinese
Icelandic ;etta kemur m;r sp;nskt fyrir sj;nir.[citation needed] This looks like Spanish to me. Spanish
Indonesian (Tulisan) Cakar ayam[citation needed] Chicken feet gibberish
Refers to unreadable writing.
Bahasa planet[citation needed] (Other-)planet language alien language
Italian Questo per me ; arabo/aramaico/ostrogoto/turco/cinese[citation needed] [;kwesto per ;me ;; ;a;rabo], [ara;maiko], [ostro;;;;to], [;turko], [t;i;ne;ze] This is Arabic/Aramaic/Ostrogoth/Turkish/Chinese to me Arabic, Aramaic, Ostrogoth, Turkish, Chinese
Japanese ;;;;
;;;;;;;;[citation needed] Chinpun kanpun
[;t;imp;;kam;p;;] "Ching chong" formal speech
Refers to the "Chinese" sound of incomprehensible Chinese loanwords.
Javanese ;;;;;;;;;;;[citation needed] [t;;;k;r pi;;;] Chicken scratch illegible handwriting
;;;;;;;;;[citation needed] [b;;s; wal;;;;] Dutch language Dutch
Korean ;;;;;; ;;[citation needed] Hoengseolsuseolhago itta They are speaking horizontally and vertically. gibberish, especially for unrecognizable spoken language or incoherence.
;;;;[citation needed]
(refers to unreadable writing) Goebalgaebal Cat's footprints and dog's footprints gibberish
;; ;;; ;;[citation needed] Amu marina handa They are speaking out random words. gibberish
;;;; ;;[citation needed] Oegyeeoreul handa They are speaking in an alien language. alien language
;;;; ;;[citation needed] Gaesorireul handa They are making a dog's sound. gibberish
Latin Graecum est; n;n legitur[citation needed] [;;rae;kum est no;n ;le;itur] [It] is Greek; [it is] not legible/[it is] illegible Greek
Latvian T; man ir ;;nie;u ;bece[citation needed] [ta; man ir ci;nie;u a;betse] This is Chinese alphabet book to me Chinese
Lithuanian Tai man kaip kin; kalba.[citation needed] [ta; m;n ka;p kinu; k;lba] It's Chinese to me Chinese
Lojban ti itku'ile ga'a mi[8][9] It's Ithkuil to me Ithkuil
Macedonian За мене тоа е шпанско село.[citation needed] Za mene toa e ;pansko selo.
[za m;n; t;a ; ;pa;sk; s;l;] It is for me a Spanish village. Spanish
Malay (Tulisan) Cakar ayam[citation needed] Chicken feet gibberish
Refers to unreadable writing.
Mandarin ;;/ ;;;[citation needed] K;nq;l;i xi;ng ti;n sh;
[t;j;n; ;u;] Looks like a book from Heaven "Heaven's language"
Refers to an unknown writing system, or incomprehensible content, cf. A Book from the Sky.
;;; / ;;;[citation needed] Zh; sh; gu;hu;f; ma?
[kwei;; hwa;; fu;;] ghost-drawn marks "ghost language"
Refers to very poor, incomprehensible handwriting.
;;;/ ;;[citation needed] Ni;o Y;
[nj;;;;; y;;] bird language.
"bird language" (bird song)
Refers to incomprehensible speech.
;;;[citation needed] Hu;x;ng w;n
[xw;;; ;i;; w;n;;] Martian writing "Martian"
Usually refers to comically unconventional writing, but is also often used in the same context of unintelligible words or text.
Marathi ;; ;;;;;; ;;;;; ;;?[citation needed] M; hibr; b;lat; k; Am I speaking Hebrew? Hebrew
Low Saxon Dat k;mmt mi spaansch v;r.[citation needed] [dat kymt mi; spo;n; f;;] That seems like Spanish to me. Spanish
Norwegian Det er helt gresk for meg.[citation needed] It's complete Greek to me Greek
Persian ;;; ;;;; ;;; ;;;;;;[citation needed] [m;ge torki; h;rf mi;z;n;m] Am I speaking Turkish? Turkish
Polish To dla mnie chi;szczyzna.[citation needed] [;t; dla ;m;; x;ij;;;t;;zna] To me it's Chinese Chinese
Siedzie; jak na tureckim kazaniu[citation needed] [;;;d;;t; ;jak na tu;r;tsk;im ka;za;u] Sit as in a Turkish sermon Turkish
Czeski film[citation needed] [;t;;sk;i ;film] Czech movie (this one refers to an incomprehensible situation rather than words, coined after a wave of absurdist movies in Czech cinematography) Czech
Portuguese Isto para mim ; chin;s.[citation needed] [;i;tu p;;; ;m; ; ;i;ne;] This is Chinese to me Chinese (Portugal)
Isto para mim ; grego.[citation needed] [;i;tu p;;; ;m; ; ;;;e;u] This is Greek to me Greek (Portugal)
Proto-Germanic *;at isti Walhisk;/Winidisk; furi mek.[citation needed] [;;t ;is.ti ;w;lxis.k;;;/;wini;isk;;; ;;uri mek] It's Proto-Italic/Proto-Slavic for me. Proto-Italic, Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic *To estь N;mь;ьskъjь/Vol;ьskъjь d;;a m;.[citation needed] [t; ;st; n;;m;t;;;sk;j;/;;l;;sk;j; d;;;;; m;;;] It's Proto-Germanic/Proto-Italic for me. Proto-Germanic, Proto-Italic
Romanian Parc; e chinez;.[citation needed]
[;park; je ki;nez;] It's like Chinese. Chinese
E;ti turc?[citation needed] [je;t; ;tu;k] Are you Turkish? Turkish
Nu ;n;eleg o iot;.[citation needed] [nu ;n;t;se.le; o jo.t;] I don't understand one iota of it. Reference to Matthew 5:18. Greek
Russian Это для меня китайская грамота.[10] Eto dlja menj; kit;jskaja gr;mota.
[;;t; ;d;l;; m;;;n;; k;;;tajsk;j; ;;ram;t;] That's Chinese writing to me. Chinese, but emphasis is put on reading rather than speaking. The phrase is often applied when not understanding branches of knowledge like chemistry, maths or computing due to lack of familiarity.
Как курица лапой.[11] Like [scribbled by] chicken feet. gibberish
Refers to very poor, incomprehensible handwriting.
Serbian То су за мене шпанска села.
To su za mene ;panska sela.[citation needed] [to su za mene ;panska sela] These are to me a Spanish village. Spanish
К'о да кинески причаш.
K'o da kineski pri;a;.[citation needed] Like speaking in Chinese Chinese
Slovak To je pre m;a ;panielska dedina.[citation needed] [to je pre m;a ;pa;ielska ;e;ina] That is a Spanish village to me. Spanish
Slovene To mi je ;panska vas[citation needed] [;t;; mi j; ;;p;;nska ;;;;s] That is a Spanish village to me. Spanish
Spanish Est; en chino/arameo/ruso.
Me suena a chino/arameo/ruso.[citation needed] [es;ta en ;t;ino], [a;a;meo]
[me ;swena a ;t;ino], [a;a;meo] This is in Chinese/Aramaic/Russian.
It sounds like Chinese/Aramaic/Russian to me. Chinese, Aramaic, Russian
No entiendo ni jota [no en;tjendo ni ;xota] I don't understand one iota of it.
Reference to Matthew 5:18.[12] Greek
Swedish Det ;r rena grekiskan
Det l;ter som/det ;r rena rama grekiskan. - It is pure Greek
It sound like/it is pure Greek. Greek
(Jag fattar) inte ett jota (I don't understand) one iota of it
Reference to Matthew 5:18.[13] Greek
Turkish Konuya Frans;z kald;m.[14] [konuja f;ans;z ka;;d;m] I am French to the topic. French, as from the viewpoint of a French person who doesn't understand any Turkish.
Anlad;ysam Arap olay;m.[15] [an;a;d;jsam a;;ap o;aj;m] let me blacken, get dark skin ("turn into Arab") if I understood it
(in Turkish "Arap olay;m" is used in idioms in similar sense to "God strike me down if ...", to emphasize that something is not true)[16]
(informal, old-fashioned, offensive)[17] None (Arab doesn't refer to nationality or language, but skin color)
Ukrainian Це для мене китайська грамота.[citation needed] Tse dlja mene kitajs'ka gramota.
[;ts; d;l;; ;m;ne k;;t;js;k; ;;r;mot;] That's Chinese writing to me. Chinese
Venetian Par mi xe turco.[citation needed] [pa; ;mi ;z; ;tu;ko] To me this is Turkish. Turkish
Vietnamese Nh;n/nghe nh; ti;ng Mi;n.[citation needed] (It) looks/sounds like Khmer Khmer
Yiddish ;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;; [citation needed] targem-loshn
terkish
ots-koytsets-loshn
malokhim-loshn
khartumim-loshn targum language (i.e. that of Aramaic translations of the Bible)
Turkish
gibberish
the language of angels
the language of a pharaoh's magicians (i.e. hieroglyphics) Aramaic / Turkish / gibberish / angelic language / Hieroglyphics
See also
Greeking
Gringo, originally meaning a foreign language as unintelligible as Greek
References
 "Etymology of Gringo". 17 April 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2021. The same phrase ["It was Greek to me"] was also used (at about the same time) by another Elizabethan playwright, Thomas Dekker, but its origins are much older: it comes from the Medieval Latin proverb Graecum est; non potest legi (i.e., "It is Greek; it cannot be read").
 Rosenberg, Arnold L. (January 1979). "The Hardest Natural Languages". Lingvistic; Investigationes. 3 (2): 323–339. doi:10.1075/li.3.2.07ros. ISSN 0378-4169.
 Moser, D. P;ny;n.Info. Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard. Retrieved Jun 4, 2011, http://www.pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html Archived 2011-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
 In isolation, voor is pronounced [vo;r].
 "Ergens geen jota van snappen". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
 "volapuka;o -- Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto". vortaro.net (in Esperanto). Retrieved 2025-04-05.
 Katja Grundmann, "B;hmische D;rfer", GEO (GEOlino).
 "itku'ile in English - Lojban-English Dictionary | Glosbe". glosbe.com. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
 Note also a related occurrence: Rachel Gardener's “lo nabmi” (“The problem”) song at 00:27: “.i .ia nadme'a fa la .itku'ile .'enai” (“I think Ithkuil would be easier than this”).
 "Откуда произошло выражение «китайская грамота»". Мел (in Russian). 2024-07-24. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
 "Как появилось выражение «писать как курица лапой» (ему уже больше 2000 лет)". Мел (in Russian). 2024-08-15. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
 Morcillo, Jos; Juan. "Biblismos". La Tribuna de Albacete.
 Morcillo, Jos; Juan. "Biblismos". La Tribuna de Albacete.
 "G;ncel T;rk;e S;zl;k'te S;z Arama" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
 "H;rriyet Arama". Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
 "G;ncel T;rk;e S;zl;k'te S;z Arama" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
 ""Anlad;ysam Arap olay;m" s;z; rafa m; kalk;yor?" (in Turkish). 7 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
External links

Look up it's all Greek to me in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Omniglot: "Translations of It's all Greek/Chinese/Hebrew/Arabic to me in many languages".
Translations of "it's all Greek to me" on Wordreference.com[permanent dead link]
Mark Liberman (January 15, 2009). "The directed graph of stereotypical incomprehensibility". Language Log.
vte
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Sources
Parallel Lives

Screen
adaptations
Julius Caesar (1914 film)Julius Caesar (1950 film)Julius Caesar (1953 film)The Spread of the Eagle (1963; TV)Julius Caesar (1970 film)BBC Television Shakespeare (TV)Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (TV)
Inspired work
La morte di Cesare (1788)The Assassination of Julius Caesar (Sullivan)Shakespeare Writing "Julius Caesar" (1907)Caesar (1937)Die Ermordung C;sars (1959)Dead Caesar (2007)Roman Tragedies (2007)Julius Caesar (overture, 1851)Zulfiqar (2016)
Quotes
"The dogs of war""Et tu, Brute?""Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears""Greek to me"
Related
Cultural depictions of Julius CaesarAssassination of Julius CaesarCaesar's CometIdes of MarchBattle of PhilippiMe and Orson Welles (2008)Caesar Must Die (2012)Et Tu (2023)
 Category
Categories: English phrasesGreek languageMetaphorsShakespearean phrases16th-century neologisms