Discussion in 'Ελληνικά (Greek)' started by adber010, Jan 13, 2013.

  1. adber010 Senior Member


    I found this sentence as an example to the term πιώμα on Slang.gr

    Ρε το πιώμα, ρε πού πας να περπατήσεις μες τη μέση της εθνικής ρε μαλάκα, σύνελθε κι έλα μαζί μου, ρε!

    And I wonder a bit about the εθνική in this context and what it is referring to.

  2. Tassos

    Tassos Senior Member

    It's the familiar tendency we have in Greek (that has been discussed in other threads) to omit the noun that an adjective defines and literally "give the meaning of the noun" to this adjective. This happens when the particular noun-adjective pairing describes something standard, something fixed, with an "official name" of which both the adjective and the noun are an integral part.

    Here the initial term was εθνική οδός (national level highway/motorway or what Americans call interstate). But because it's a fixed name that always appears like that, the second term was omitted from the spoken or colloquial language (it is "implied") and replaced by εθνική only. Now in Greece we don't have many national highways. If we assume that the phrase originated from the Athens area, the speaker is probably referring to Εθνική Οδός Αθηνών-Λαμίας (a part of this) or to Εθνική Οδός Αθηνών Πατρών (look here).

    Note that the term εθνικη is also used in the standard term Πρώτη/Δεύτερη/Τρίτη Εθνική Κατηγορία (First/Second/Third Division of a team sport, mainly football). There the noun is again omitted and the term is replaced by both its defining adjectives. So if you hear e.g. πρώτη εθνική it's about sports while εθνική alone its about a highway.
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2013
  3. apmoy70

    apmoy70 Senior Member

    Also if I may add, the national team(s) in various sports and disciplines (i.e. εθνική ποδοσφαίρου --> national football team, εθνική μπάσκετ --> national baketball team, εθνική στίβου --> national track & field team, εθνική ανσάμπλ --> national gymnastics ensemble team) is/are simply referred to as εθνική.
    The term is stranded adjective, an adjective that has been separated from the noun it modifies, and it alone is used instead of the whole phrase, while the noun is omitted: Εθνική --> Εθνική ομάδα, οδός, Τράπεζα etc
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2013
  4. adber010 Senior Member

    Thanks very much!

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