bnevin@CCH.BBN.COM (Bruce Nevin) (11/17/86)
Ellenika kurta is indeed a transliteration of the modern Greek expression for `italic Greek'. The adjective is more properly transliterated kyrta, with an accent on the final syllable. It is native stock, not a loan word from Italian--some wag could write a bit of doggerel indeed, were that the coda to this tale!. It means `curved, bent'; the verb of which it is a participle is kyrto `I bend, turn, curve' (omega with circumflex--MGk uses first person singular as citation form, the infinitive inflection having been replaced in function by a subjunctive construction). More formally, the Greek phrase for `italics' is `kyrta stoiXeia' ([kirta' stichi'a], ch as in Bach) where stoiXeia by itself means `first principles, elements', but in proper context, as stoiXeia tou alphaBetou [stichi'on tu alfavi'tu], means `letters, type'. Similarly, given the context, `Ellinika kyrta' (or, less literately, `kurta') means `italic Greek [letters or type]'. The elided noun stoiXeia is understood because it agrees with the neuter plural inflection of the two adjectives, and because context requires it. I suspect this is as much as anyone wants to know about how to ask for italics in Greek. Now, as for `pass the salt, please' . . . Bruce