
IdiomThe Absurd
English
it's all Greek to me
Meaning: Incomprehensible or unintelligible.
Example: “I looked at the tax form, but it's all Greek to me.”
Equivalents in other languages
German: Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof Literally: I only understand train station
French: C'est de l'hébreu Literally: It's Hebrew
Origin: From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (1599), where Casca, reporting a speech Cicero made in Greek, says "it was Greek to me." Medieval scribes had a similar Latin note, Graecum est; non legitur (it is Greek; it cannot be read), for Greek passages they could not copy.
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