Ancient Macedonian language

For the unrelated modern Slavic language, see Macedonian language.

Ancient Macedonian was the language of the ancient Macedonians. It was spoken in the kingdom of Macedon during the 1st millennium BC and it belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. It gradually fell out of use during the 4th century BC, marginalized by Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the Hellenistic period.[1]

Classification of the language is difficult, as it it is known from only a few fragmentary surviving attestations, mainly in glosses and proper names.[2]

A body of words has been assembled from ancient sources, mainly from inscriptions, and from the 5th century lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria, amounting to about 150 words and 200 proper names. The volume of the surviving public and private inscriptions indicate that there was no written language in ancient Macedonia but Greek.[3]

Contents

Classification

Macedonian is part of the Paleo-Balkans group within Indo-European. The phylogenetic relation of these languages in general is unclear, and the closeness of Macedonian to Greek in particular is subject to debate, a discussion closely related to the reconstruction of the Proto-Greek language. Due to the fragmentary attestation various interpretations are possible.[4] Suggested phylogenetic classifications of Macedonian include:[5]

Properties

From the few words that survive, only a little can be said about the language. A notable sound-law is that the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirates (/bʰ, dʰ, gʰ/) appear as voiced stops /b, d, g/, (written β, δ, γ), in contrast to all known Greek dialects, which have unvoiced them to /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/ (φ, θ, χ) with few exceptions.[11]

If γοτάν gotán ('pig') is related to *gwou ('cattle'), this would indicate that the labiovelars were either intact, or merged with the velars, unlike the usual Greek treatment (Attic βοῦς boûs). Such deviations, however, are not unknown in Greek dialects; compare Doric (Spartan) γλεπ- glep- for common Greek βλεπ- blep-, as well as Doric γλάχων gláchōn and Ionic γλήχων glēchōn for common Greek βλήχων blēchōn.[13]

A number of examples suggest that voiced velar stops were devoiced, especially word-initially: κάναδοι kánadoi, 'jaws' (<PIE *genu-); κόμβους kómbous, 'molars' (<PIE *gombh-); within words: ἀρκόν arkón (Attic ἀργός argós); the Macedonian toponym Akesamenai, from the Pierian name Akesamenos (if Akesa- is cognate to Greek agassomai, agamai, "to astonish"; cf. the Thracian name Agassamenos).

In Aristophanes' The Birds, the form κεβλήπυρις keblēpyris ('red-cap bird') is found, showing a Macedonian-style voiced stop in place of a standard Greek unvoiced aspirate: κεβ(α)λή keb(a)lē versus κεφαλή kephalē ('head').

A number of the Macedonian words, particularly in Hesychius' lexicon, are disputed (i.e., some do not consider them actual Macedonian words) and some may have been corrupted in the transmission. Thus abroutes, may be read as abrouwes (αβρουϝες), with tau (Τ) replacing a digamma.[14] If so, this word would perhaps be encompassable within a Greek dialect; however, others (e.g. A. Meillet) see the dental as authentic and think that this specific word would perhaps belong to an Indo-European language different from Greek.

A. Panayotou summarizes some generally identified, through ancient texts and epigraphy, features[15]:

Phonology

Morphology

Onomastics

Anthroponymy

M. Hatzopoulos summarizes the Macedonian anthroponymy (that is names borne by people from Macedonia before the expansion beyond the Axius or people undoubtedly hailing from this area after the expansion) as follows:[16]

Common in the creation of ethnics is the use of -έστης, -εστός especially when derived from sigmatic nouns (ὄρος > Ὀρέστης but also Δῖον > Διασταί).[15]

Toponymy

The toponyms of Macedonia proper are generally Greek, though some of them show a particular Macedonian phonology that might set them apart and a few others are non-Greek.

Calendar

The Macedonian names of about half or more of the months of the ancient Macedonian calendar have a clear and generally accepted Greek etymology (e.g. Dios, Apellaios, Artemisios, Loos, Daisios), though some of the remaining ones have sometimes been considered to be Greek but showing a particular Macedonian phonology (e.g. Audunaios has been connected to "Haides" *A-wid and Gorpiaios/Garpiaios to "karpos" fruit).

Epigraphy

Macedonian onomastics: the earliest epigraphical documents attesting substantial numbers of Macedonian proper names are the second Athenian alliance decree with Perdiccas II (~417-413 BC), the decree of Kalindoia,~335-300 BC) and seven curse tablets of the 4th c. BC bearing mostly names.[17][18]

The Pella curse tablet, a text written in a distinct Doric Greek dialect, found in 1986 and dated to between mid to early 4th century BC, has been forwarded as an argument that the ancient Macedonian language was a dialect of North-Western Greek, part of the Doric dialects.[19]

The Pella curse tablet (Greek katadesmos): from Prof. Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Bryn Mawr College.

Hesychius Glossary

The below words of unknown date, out of the single Hesychius manuscript, are marked as Macedonian.For the words of Macedonian Amerias, see Glossary of Amerias. Terms that occur in epigraphy are transferred above.

(κἄ, Crasis) kai and,together,simultaneously + anô up (anôchmon hortatory password)

Other Sources

Proposed

A number of Hesychius words are listed orphan; some of them have been proposed as Macedonian[41]

Macedonian in Classical sources

Among the references that have been discussed as possibly bearing some witness to the linguistic situation in Macedonia, there is a sentence from a fragmentary dialogue, apparently between an Athenian and a Macedonian, in an extant fragment of the 5th century BC comedy 'Macedonians' by the Athenian poet Strattis (fr. 28), where a stranger is portrayed as speaking in a rural Greek dialect. His language contains expressions such as ὕμμες ὡττικοί for ὑμείς αττικοί "you Athenians", ὕμμες being also attested in Homer, Sappho (Lesbian) and Theocritus (Doric), while ὡττικοί appears only in "funny country bumpkin" contexts of Attic comedy.[42]

Another text that has been quoted as evidence is a passage from Livy (lived 59 BC-14 AD) in his Ab urbe condita (31.29). Describing political negotiations between Macedonians and Aetolians in the late 3rd century BC, Livy has a Macedonian ambassador argue that Aetolians, Acarnanians and Macedonians were "men of the same language".[43] This has been interpreted as referring to a shared North-West Greek speech (as opposed to Attic Koiné).[44]

Quintus Curtius Rufus, Philotas's trial.[45]

Over time, "Macedonian" (μακεδονικός), when referring to language (and related expressions such as μακεδονίζειν; to speak in the Macedonian fashion) acquired the meaning of Koine Greek.[46]

Contributions to the Koine

Despite the Macedonians' important role in the formation of the Koine, Macedonian itself contributed few elements to the dialect, such as military terminology (διμοιριτης, ταξιαρχος, υπασπισται etc.) and, possibly, the suffix "-issa" which became productive in Medieval Greek.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary (1989), Macedonian, Simpson J. A. & Weiner E. S. C. (eds), Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. IX, ISBN 0-19-861186-2 (set) ISBN 0-19-861221-4 (vol. IX) p. 153
  2. ^ Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged (1976), Macedonian, USA:Merriam-Webster, G. & C. Merriam Co., vol. II (H - R) ISBN 0-87779-101-5

References

  1. ↑ Eugene N. Borza (1992) In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, p. 94 (citing Hammond); G. Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (1993), ch.4.1.
  2. ↑ Michael G. Clyne, Sandra Kipp (2006). Tiles in a multilingual mosaic: Macedonian, Filipino and Somali in Melbourne. Pacific Linguistics. p. 21. ISBN 9780858835696. http://books.google.com/books?id=oEdiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22ancient+macedonian+language%22&dq=%22ancient+macedonian+language%22&lr=. 
  3. ↑ Lewis, D. M.; Boardman, John (2000). The Cambridge ancient history, 3rd edition, Volume VI. Cambridge University Press. p. 730. ISBN 9780521233484. http://books.google.com/books?id=vx251bK988gC&pg=RA7-PA831&dq=ancient+cavalry+macedonian+cavalry&lr=&client=firefox-a#PRA6-PA750,M1. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 B. Joseph (2001): "Ancient Greek". In: J. Garry et al. (eds.) Facts about the world's major languages: an encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present. Online paper
  5. ↑ Mallory, J.P. (1997). Mallory, J.P. and Adams, D.Q. (eds.). ed. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Chicago-London: Fitzroy Dearborn. pp. 361. ISBN 1-884964-98-2. 
  6. ↑ A. Meillet [1913] 1965, Aperçu d'une histoire de la langue grecque, 7th ed., Paris, p. 61. I. Russu 1938, in Ephemeris Dacoromana 8, 105-232. Quoted after Brixhe/Panayotou 1994: 209.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Masson, Olivier (2003) [1996]. "[Ancient] Macedonian language". In Hornblower, S. and Spawforth A. (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (revised 3rd ed. ed.). USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 905–906. ISBN 0-19-860641-9. 
  8. ↑ Hammond, N.G.L (1993) [1989]. The Macedonian State. Origins, Institutions and History (reprint ed. ed.). USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814927-1. 
  9. ↑ Ahrens, F. H. L. (1843), De Graecae linguae dialectis, Göttingen, 1839-1843 ; Hoffmann, O. Die Makedonen. Ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum, Göttingen, 1906.
  10. ↑ The Linguist List is classifying ancient Macedonian with Greek (all known ancient and modern dialects) under a Hellenic supertree.
  11. ↑ Exceptions to the rule:
  12. ↑ Greek Questions 292e - Question 9 - Why do Delphians call one of their months Bysios [1].
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Albrecht von Blumenthal, Hesychstudien, Stuttgart, 1930, 21.
  14. ↑ Olivier Masson, "Sur la notation occasionnelle du digamma grec par d'autres consonnes et la glose macédonienne abroutes", Bulletin de la Société de linguistique de Paris, 90 (1995) 231-239. Also proposed by O. Hoffmann and J. Kalleris.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 A history of ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity, Maria Chritē, Maria Arapopoulou, Cambridge University Press (2007), p. 439-441
  16. ↑ Greek Personal Names: Their Value as Evidence, Elaine Matthews, Simon Hornblower, Peter Marshall Fraser, British Academy, Oxford University Press (2000), p. 103
  17. ↑ Athens, bottom-IG I³ 89 -- Kalindoia-Meletemata 11 K31 -- Pydna-SEG 52:617,I (6) till SEG 52:617,VI - Mygdonia-SEG 49:750
  18. ↑ Greek Personal Names: Their Value as Evidence [2] by Simon Hornblower, Elaine Matthews
  19. ↑ O. Masson (1996).
  20. ↑ Les anciens Macedoniens. Etude linguistique et historique by J. N. Kalleris
  21. ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary
  22. ↑ ARAE: Greek goddesses or spirits of curses; mythology: ARAI
  23. ↑ Pokorny
  24. ↑ Poetae scenici graeci, accedunt perditarum fabularum fragmenta
  25. ↑ Pokorny Query madh
  26. ↑ Pokorny's Dictionary
  27. ↑ (Izela) Die Makedonen, Ihre Sprache und Ihr Volkstum [3] by Otto Hoffmann
  28. ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary
  29. ↑ Deipnosophists 14.663-4 (pp. 1059-1062)
  30. ↑ Kalleris, p. 238-240
  31. ↑ Kalleris, p. 108
  32. ↑ Athenaeus Deipnosophists 3.114b.
  33. ↑ Deipnosophists 10.455e.
  34. ↑ Pokorny [4], Gerhard Köbler [5]
  35. ↑ Kalleris, p. 172-179, 242
  36. ↑ Pokorny,Pudna
  37. ↑ Zeitschrift der Deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft
  38. ↑ The Dorians in Archaeology by Theodore Cressy Skeat [6]
  39. ↑ Poetics (Aristotle)-XXI [7]
  40. ↑ Kalleris, p. 274
  41. ↑ Otto Hoffmann, p. 270 (bottom)
  42. ↑ Steven Colvin, Dialect in Aristophanes and the politics of language in Ancient Greek, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 279.
  43. ↑ Livy 31.29.15 (in Latin).
  44. ↑ A. Panayotou: The position of the Macedonian dialect. In: Maria Arapopoulou, Maria Chritē, Anastasios-Phoivos Christides (eds.), A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 433-458 (Google Books).
  45. ↑ E. Kapetanopoulos. "Alexander’s Patrius Sermo in the Philotas Affair", The Ancient World 30 (1999), pp. 117-128. (PDF or HTM)
  46. ↑ C. Brixhe, A. Panayotou, 1994, «Le Macédonien» in Langues indo-européennes, p. 208

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