The Linguist

@CIOL_Linguists AUGUST/SEPTEMBER The Linguist 25 REVIEWS cÄtvxá Nestled in the depths of the forest of the Tatoi Estate, at the foothills of Mount Parnitha on the north edge of Athens, lies the little known Greek royal cemetery of the palaia anaktora ('old palace'). Bought by the royal family at the end of the 19th century as a summer retreat, the grounds of this vast estate are now open to the public and continue to provide an escape from the heat of the city. This relatively modern burial ground is an oasis of calm – a stark contrast to the ancient sites that draw millions of visitors to Greece each year. Dating from 1880 to 2007, its 20 tombs are scattered around the Royal Chapel of the Resurrection – three within a mausoleum and the rest "under the sun of Greece" (as King George I of the Hellenes put it). As you walk among them, pages from the lives of the royal houses of Europe fall open at every twist and turn in the path. To read the inscriptions is to trace the criss- crossing currents of lineage and language through the 19th and 20th centuries. The sheer diversity of the languages and scripts is striking. A colourful linguistic tapestry of Greek, French, English, Russian, Danish and German is enriched by three varieties of Greek: Demotic (Modern Greek), Koine (New Testament Greek) and Katharevousa (an archaising form of Modern Greek). While the Greek language has a long and venerable history, the Greek monarchy is a comparatively recent phenomenon that sprung into being two years after the modern Greek state in 1830 and lasted until a referendum in 1973. Following the hasty departure of the first King Otto of Greece in 1862, a 17-year-old Danish Prince (Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Danmark). The preposition 'to' is only used here ('Princess to Denmark') for members of the Danish royal family in line of succession. Alexandra's eldest brother, Crown Prince Constantine, married Princess Sophia of Prussia, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Born in Potsdam, Prussia and raised a Protestant, she later converted to Greek Orthodoxy. The words on her gravestone are a mixture of Modern Greek and Koine as well as Katharevousa, German and Danish. The German title Prinzessin reflects her status at birth as daughter of a reigning monarch. The last words are in Koine: Σου ανεβησαν εις μνημοσυνον/ εμπροσθεν του θεου ('Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before god'). Despite her maternal English heritage, Queen Sophia's gravestone contains no English; the languages of her father and husband are what define her identity. English does, however, feature on the tombstone of her daughter, Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark. Named Aikaterini in Greek, she was known as Lady Katherine Brandram after her marriage to a British Royal Cemetery of Tatoi Varybombi, near Athens, Greece; athensattica.com/things-to-see/ sightseeing/tatoi; info@tatoi.org no less) was elected George I. It was this king who bought Tatoi in 1872. The Danish heritage of the cemetery's founder aside, the greatest source of historical and linguistic interest is the graves of the women – the daughters and brides of the House of Glücksburg. Having duly decided to learn Greek, King George I settled on the Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia as a consort. Alongside the Greek on her tombstone, these words in pre-Revolutionary Russian are testament to her origins: Россiйскаго императорскаго дома великая княжна ('Grand Duchess of the Russian Imperial House'). Their third child, Alexandra, was one of the first scions to be born in Greece. Her gravestone reads: Αλεξανδρα/ Βασιλοπαις της Ελλαδος/ Μεγαλη Δουκισσα της Ρωσσιας/ Prinsesse til Danmark/ γεν. 18 αυγουστου 1870/ Εν Κερκυρα/ απ. 12 σεπτεμβρ. 1891/ Εν Ιλισκοε (Μοσχα)/ Ο πιστευων εις εμε/ καν αποθανη ζησεται Alexandra/ Princess of Greece/ Grand Duchess of Russia/ Princess of Denmark/ b. 18 August 1870/ In Corfu/ d. 12 September 1891/ In Iliskoe [sic] (Moscow)/ He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live Alongside Modern Greek (Μεγάλη Δούκισσα της Ρωσίας), we find Katharevousa (βασιλόπαις της Ελλάδος), Koine (ό πιστευων εις εμε καν αποθανη ζησεται) and Danish (Prinsesse til A MULTILINGUAL FAMILY The grave of Lady Katherine Brandram (Aikaterini), great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, inscribed in Greek, Danish and English

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