Thanasis Costakis ( el, Θανάσης Κωστάκης, 1907–2009) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

best known for his work on the now-moribund

Tsakonian language Tsakonian or Tsaconian (also Tzakonian or Tsakonic, Greek and Tsakonian: , ) is a highly divergent modern variety of Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. Tsakonian derives from Doric Greek, being its only extant va ...

spoken in the eastern

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

. Costakis was born in

Pera Melana Pera may refer to: Places * Pera (Beyoğlu), a district in Istanbul formerly called Pera, now called Beyoğlu ** Galata, a neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, often referred to as Pera in the past * Pêra (Caparica), a Portuguese locality in the district o ...

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, a Tsakonian-speaking village. Costakis taught at several gymnasia and lycea in Athens before affiliating with the

Academy of Athens (modern) The Academy of Athens ( el, Ακαδημία Αθηνών, ''Akadimía Athinón'') is Greece's national academy, and the highest research establishment in the country. It was established in 1926, with its founding principle traces back to the ...

, where he contributed to the composition of the Historical Lexicon of Modern Greek. In addition to his linguistic works, he also published a volume on the traditional architecture of

Tsakonia Tsakonia ( ell, Τσακωνιά) or the Tsakonian region () refers to the small area in the eastern Peloponnese where the Tsakonian language is spoken, in the area surrounding 13 towns, villages and hamlets located around Pera Melana in Arcadia. I ...

. Costakis also developed a writing system for the Tsakonian language, which included orthography using dots, ''

spiritus asper In the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, the rough breathing ( grc, δασὺ πνεῦμα, dasỳ pneûma or ''daseîa''; la, spīritus asper) character is a diacritical mark used to indicate the presence of an sound before a vowel, d ...

'', and

caron A caron (), háček or haček (, or ; plural ''háčeks'' or ''háčky'') also known as a hachek, wedge, check, kvačica, strešica, mäkčeň, varnelė, inverted circumflex, inverted hat, flying bird, inverted chevron, is a diacritic mark (� ...

for use in his works, which has been used in his grammar and local editions of dialectical texts.

Works

*''Historical Lexicon of Modern Greek'', The Academy of Athens, Athens: 1933-present (contributor) *''A Brief Grammar of the Tsakonian Dialect'', The French Institute of Athens, Athens: 1951. *''Tsakonian Popular Architecture'', The Academy of Athens, Athens: 1961. *''Le parler grec d'Anakou, Centre for Asia Minor Studies, Athens: 1964.'' *''The Tsakonian of Propontis'', The Academy of Athens, Athens: 1979. *''Lexicon of the Tsakonian Dialect'', The Academy of Athens: 1986.

References

External links

Biography at the University of Patras website (in Greek)
1907 births 2009 deaths Linguists from Greece Greek lexicographers Greek educators Tsakonia People from Arcadia, Peloponnese 20th-century linguists 20th-century lexicographers {{Greece-linguist-stub