Editing Griko language (section)

==Classification==
The most popular hypothesis on the origin of Griko is the one by [[Gerhard Rohlfs]]<ref>G. Rohlfs, Griechen und Romanen in Unteritalien, 1924.</ref> and [[Georgios Hatzidakis]], that Griko's roots go as far back in history as the time of the [[colonies in antiquity|ancient Greek colonies]] in [[Southern Italy]] and [[Sicily]] in the eighth century BC. The Southern Italian dialect is thus considered to be the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed [[Magna Graecia]].

There are, however, competing hypotheses according to which Griko may have preserved some [[Doric Greek|Doric]] elements, but its structure is otherwise mostly based on [[Koine Greek]], like almost all other Modern Greek dialects.<ref>G. Horrocks, ''Greek: A history of the language and its speakers'', London: Longman. 1997. Ch. 4.4.3 and 14.2.3.</ref> Thus, Griko should rather be described as a Doric-influenced descendant of [[Medieval Greek]] spoken by those who fled the [[Byzantine Empire]] to Italy to escape the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]]. The idea of Southern Italy's Greek dialects being historically derived from Medieval Greek was proposed for the first time in the 19th century by Giuseppe Morosi.<ref>G. Morosi, Studi sui dialetti greci della terra d'Otranto, [[Lecce]], 1870.</ref>