The misplaced language hidden inside Ancient Greek

Ἦσαν οἱ Πελασγοὶ βάρβαρον γλῶσσαν ἱέντες.
Êsan hoi Pelasgoì bárbaron glôssan híentes.
‘The Pelasgians spoke a language which was not Greek.’

~ Herodotus (Histories 1.57)

There are about 1,000 phrases in Ancient Greek that may’t be traced again to any Indo-European language or every other recognized language within the area. These lexical enigmas even embody some phrases and names you may consider as quintessentially Greek:

• λαβύρινθος (labýrinthos) ‘labyrinth’
• ἐλαία (elaía) ‘olive (tree)’
• Ἀχιλλεύς (Akhilleús) ‘Achilles’
• Ὀδυσσεύς (Odysseús) ‘Odysseus’
• Κόρινθος (Kórinthos) ‘Corinth’
• Ἀθῆναι (Athênai) ‘Athens’ / Ἀθήνη (Athḗnē) ‘Athena’ (goddess of knowledge)
• Ἄρης (Árēs) ‘Ares’ (god of conflict)

Despite centuries of effort, linguists haven’t been in a position to hint these phrases again to Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the mother or father language from which all the opposite Indo-European (IE) languages descend. Nor have they recognized phrases in neighboring languages that Greek might need borrowed them from.

Where, then, do these phrases come from? In this difficulty of the Linguistic Discovery e-newsletter, we’ll dig via layers of linguistic historical past to disclose the thriller language that influenced Ancient Greek.

Paleo-European / Old European Languages

All languages comprise a fossil file of their historical past.

While Indo-European languages have been round for a very long time, and Greek has likewise been spoken in Greece for a number of millennia, Indo-European languages haven’t at all times blanketed nearly all of Europe like they do right this moment. At one level the Indo-Europeans had been pastoralist newcomers to a wierd land, one which had been occupied by Neolithic farming societies for millennia.

The peoples who preceded the Indo-Europeans—referred to as Early European Farmers—spoke any variety of Paleo-European (a.okay.a. Old European) languages. Very few of those left any written proof (simply Aquitanian, Etruscan, Iberian, and a handful of others), and just one survives right this moment (Basque). Even so, these Old European languages left an indelible mark on the Indo-European languages that succeeded them.

Imagine you’re a band of early Hellenic (Greek) audio system whose ancestors had migrated over generations from the Pontic–Caspian Steppe into the japanese Mediterranean. Along the best way, these ancestors encountered all types of novel meals, crops, animals, and terrain—issues like olives, hyacinth, figs, and cypresses. Even the ocean was unfamiliar at one level, migrating as your ancestors did from a landlocked steppe. What do you name all this stuff?

One possibility is to recruit current vocabulary for brand new functions. For instance, when the Greeks first described hippopotamuses within the mid-Fifth century BCE, they cleverly referred to as them ‘river horses’ (ἵππος ὁ ποτάμιος [híppos ho potámios] ‘the horse of the river’ [lit. ‘the riverine horse’]; Herodotus, Histories 2.71, c. 440s BCE). This later gave rise to the compound ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos) ‘hippopotamus’ (Dioscorides, De materia medica 2.25, c. 50–70 CE). The Greeks even utilized this technique to the ocean! One of the phrases the Ancient Greeks used for ‘sea’ was πόντος (póntos), which comes from PIE *póntoh₁s ‘path; highway’. Every different department of Indo-European saved the unique ‘path/method’ which means (e.g. Latin pōns ~ pontis ‘bridge’, from which English will get pontiff and hold forth), however Greek prolonged it to imply ‘sea’, apparently within the sense of ‘the water-way; the sea-crossing’. Another Ancient Greek phrase used poetically to consult with the ‘sea’ was ἅλς (háls), whose main which means was truly ‘salt’. The sea, then, was ‘the salt’.

This technique of coining new phrases for novel experiences was, nonetheless, the minority one. Why invent new phrases for issues the native Paleo-Europeans already had names for? Why not merely undertake the native title? That’s precisely what Indo-Europeans did as they settled throughout the continent, casually borrowing tons of of phrases for crops, animals, kinds of terrain, locations, and different pure phenomena. Thus it’s no shock that the main Greek phrase for ‘sea’ is definitely θάλασσα (thálassa → English thalassocracy ‘rule of the ocean’, used for maritime empires), which, in contrast to póntos and háls, has no agency Indo-European etymology. Linguists have lengthy tried to attach this phrase to Indo-European, however no proposal has received extensive acceptance. This is strictly what we’d anticipate: as a result of the Proto-Indo-European language arose within the landlocked steppes, it had no want for—and has no securely reconstructable phrase for—‘sea’. (Linguists have, nonetheless, reconstructed phrases for snow, chilly, wolves, bears, and honey—all in step with the temperate, continental inside.) Its daughter branches solely acquired sea vocabulary later. As they reached the coasts, every language innovated or borrowed its personal phrase for ‘sea’: English sea, Latin mare, Greek thálassa, and so on.

The similar course of occurred for all the opposite gadgets I discussed earlier:

• olive: ἐλαία (elaía) ‘olive (tree)’: A really early borrowing which existed in Proto-Hellenic as *elaíwā and Mycenaean Greek (in Linear B) as 𐀁𐀨𐀷 (e‑ra‑wa), however has no clear Indo-European etymology. This similar Pre-Greek phrase was additionally the supply of the Etruscan phrase *𐌄𐌋𐌄𐌉𐌅𐌀 (*eleiva) ‘olive’, the place it was borrowed by the Romans as olīva (the supply of the English phrases olive and oil).
• hyacinth: ὑάκινθος (hyákinthos) ‘hyacinth’: Again, no clear Indo-European etymology exists. English borrowed the phrase hyacinth from Greek. Hyacinthus was in all probability a Pre-Greek god who was outdated by Apollo, and was portrayed as his lover in Greek mythology.
• fig: Greek borrowed a number of phrases for ‘fig’, together with ἐρῑνεός (erīneós) ‘wild fig-tree’, ὄλυνθος (ólynthos) ‘wild fig’, and σῦκον (sŷkon) ‘fig’. These too haven’t any Indo-European precedent.
• cypress: Appears in Mycenaean Greek (in Linear B) as 𐀒𐀠𐀫 (ku‑pa‑ro) and Ancient Greek as κυπάρισσος (kypárissos). Lacks an Indo-European etymology. English borrowed the phrase cypress from Greek.

Because the Proto-Indo-Europeans lived exterior the native vary of those crops, their language lacked phrases for them. They solely borrowed the phrases upon arriving within the japanese Mediterranean. Speakers coin or borrow new phrases as they want them, and migration occasions usually set off such a necessity, leaving a hint of that migration within the language’s lexicon (and grammar, however that’s a degree for one more article). In this fashion, all languages comprise a fossil file of their historical past. They are a catalog of what the inhabitants lacked after they arrived in an space or got here into contact with new peoples. In this text, we’ll use that linguistic fossil file to find what the language that existed within the Aegean previous to the Greeks—which we’ll name Pre-Greek—was like.

Substrates, Superstrates, & Adstrates

Migration is only one piece of the puzzle, nonetheless. When one language disappears and leaves solely traces of existence in different languages within the area, that is sometimes the results of social stratification: yet another socially dominant neighborhood (militarily, economically, technologically, politically, and so on.) imposes its language on one other much less dominant one. Linguists consult with this example as linguistic stratification: the socially dominant language is named the superstrate language, whereas the much less dominant selection is named the substrate language. This metaphor likens languages and inhabitants actions to geological strata, the place every new inhabitants to enter an space provides one other layer to the linguistic historical past of the area.

In the course of linguistic stratification, each languages naturally affect each other, however the substrate language is commonly misplaced totally, leaving solely traces inside the superstrate language. So when we have now oblique proof of a traditionally unknown language that influenced a traditionally recognized language—like the best way the Pre-Greeks influenced Ancient Greek—we’re often taking a look at a case of linguistic stratification. Indeed, the early Greeks, and particularly the Mycenaeans (c. 1750–1050 BCE), are related to main advances in know-how (together with writing), financial system, and social group within the Aegean. Another instance of linguistic strata may be seen within the diversification of Latin into its descendant Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and several other dozen others). While the dominance of Roman tradition steadily erased most of the native languages of Europe and the Mediterranean, every of these native languages nonetheless influenced the Latin spoken of their respective areas. Over time, these varied flavors of Latin turned distinct languages.

One different sort of linguistic “stratum” (which breaks the geological layering metaphor considerably) is an adstrate language—a language which influences a neighboring inhabitants. Like substrates, this usually occurs in instances of social stratification, the place the adstrate neighborhood is taken into account socially superior or dominant to the encompassing communities (however it could possibly additionally happen as a consequence of easy geographic proximity). Due to the cultural dominance of the Roman Empire all through Europe and the Mediterranean, for example, Latin functioned as an adstrate language for most of the languages that sat throughout the līmes (the Roman frontier). Even although the Germanic-speaking territories east of the Rhine and north of the Danube by no means fell below Roman administration, centuries of commerce, army contact, and cultural status nonetheless left a layer of adstrate borrowings in Proto-Germanic:

In this text, we’ll be looking for each a substrate and an adstrate that influenced Ancient Greek.

How to determine borrowed phrases

Any given piece of linguistic proof can look fairly flimsy by itself; it is just within the context of broader patterns that such proof turns into convincing.

At this level you may fairly be asking, “How can we know that some substrate language influenced Ancient Greek? How can we know that the thriller phrases had been borrowed? Can’t they simply be random exceptions?” This actual downside has vexed historic linguists engaged on the Pre-Greek downside for over a century. Nonetheless, we not solely have good causes for considering a phrase may be borrowed, however we will even be extremely sure when a phrase can’t come from Indo-European. Sometimes, the reply is apparent as a result of there’s the same phrase with a transparent etymology sitting proper in a close-by language. The Ancient Greek phrase ἔβενος (ébenos) ‘ebony’, for instance, has no Indo-European etymology, however simply throughout the Mediterranean Sea was the Egyptian phrase 𓍁 𓈖 𓏭 𓆱 hb‑n‑j‑WOOD (hebni) ‘ebony’, and we all know that the Ancient Greeks traded extensively with the Egyptians. But the proof for a loanword is commonly extra refined. Below are a number of the various kinds of proof (or non-evidence) linguists use to find out which phrases are borrowed (in Ancient Greek particularly). As a enjoyable bonus, on the finish of this text I’ve additionally offered an enormous listing of phrases in English which might be thought to finally derive from a Pre-Greek language.

Words which lack an Indo-European etymology

The subject of linguistics continues to refine Indo-European etymologies, both by way of newly-discovered tablets and inscriptions, or improved availability of current information within the type of etymological dictionaries and online databases, permitting them to deliver extra (and extra correct) information to bear on Indo-European historical past. Despite these advances, the thriller phrases of Ancient Greek have resolutely resisted etymologization. If the variety of potential non–Indo-European thriller phrases had been steadily reducing with every new discovery or advance, the shortage of an Indo-European etymology won’t imply something. It’d be affordable, in that case, to view them as a brief downside that we’d anticipate to unravel ultimately. But there isn’t any indication that future discoveries will ever uncover Indo-European origins for these phrases. If a phrase existed in Proto-Indo-European, we must always anticipate finding cognates of it in a number of of its youngster languages, and that’s simply not the case for these phrases.

Some different phrases with out a agency Indo-European etymology embody:

• θησαυρός (thēsaurós) ‘treasury, treasure’ → English: thesaurus
• ἴδη (ídē) ‘wooden, wooded hill’ → place title: Mount Ida
• βασιλεύς (basileús) ‘king’ → English basilica, basil (as a result of it was related to royalty)

The final instance is particularly convincing as a result of Indo-European already has a phrase for ‘king; ruler’ (PIE *h₃rḗǵs → Latin rēx ‘king’), and basileús doesn’t resemble it. It is thus seemingly that Greek borrowed basileús as a time period for the native rulers after they arrived within the Aegean.

Also convincing are phrases which floor in Latin or different, non–Indo-European languages when the phrases in these languages additionally lack etymologies. For instance, Greek οἶνος (oînos) ‘wine’ has confamiliars¹ in:

• Latin: vinum
• Hittite: winija‑
• Armenian: gini
• Ethiopian (Ge’ez): wain
• Hebrew: jajin

None of those phrases may be reconstructed again to a phrase of their protolanguages (Proto-Indo-European or Proto-Semitic), so the affordable conclusion is that the unique phrase for ‘wine’ should have come from some Paleo-European substrate language. The phrase then unfold across the Mediterranean as a part of the diffusion of wine tradition below the affect of the Phoenicians (from c. 1000 BCE) and subsequently the Greeks (from c. 600 BCE).

Here are the phrases that seem to have been borrowed from a Pre–Indo-European language into each Greek and different languages across the Mediterranean:

Words that are phonologically not possible for Indo-European

Sometimes there isn’t any Proto-Indo-European phrase—reconstructed or imagined—that would presumably produce a phrase in Ancient Greek if it adopted the conventional sound modifications that occurred in the course of the evolution from PIE to Greek. For instance, the /dn/ in the beginning of δνόφος (dnóphos) ‘darkness’ can’t be defined by any Indo-European sound legislation. Ancient Greek additionally had the suspiciously related phrase κνέφας (knéphas), which additionally means ‘darkness’ (and ‘twilight; nightfall’) and which additionally begins with an not possible sound sequence for inherited Indo-European phrases in Greek, /kn/. Add to this the phrases ζόφος (zóphos) and ψέφας (pséphas) which additionally imply ‘darkness’ and lack clear Indo-European origins, and it’s apparent that we’re taking a look at a set of associated phrases that should have all come from a Pre-Greek phrase which means ‘darkness’, and that phrase should have began with a sound or sequence of sounds that was troublesome for the early Greeks to pronounce: dnóphos ~ knéphas ~ zóphos ~ pséphas. In reality, many of the Ancient Greek phrases that begin with ⟨ψ⟩ /ps/ (a sound sequence that was not possible in Proto-Indo-European) are thriller phrases with out Indo-European etymologies. Linguists have proposed all types of connections for every of those phrases, in order that there are as many hypothesized etymologies for them as there are researchers. This lack of consensus is itself suggestive that the phrases are in all probability Pre-Greek, however the primary level right here is that these phrases don’t match the sound patterns of Indo-European.

Another indication {that a} phrase is Pre-Greek is the sound β /b/, which was uncommon or presumably absent in Proto-Indo-European, however widespread in Pre-Greek loanwords:

• ἄβλαροι (áblaroi) ‘wooden’
• ἀβύρβηλος (abýrbēlos) ‘a lot; burdensome; massive; heavy’
• ἀρβύλη (arbýlē) ‘a sort of robust shoe or half-boot’
• ἀτάρβακτος (atárbaktos) ‘unafraid’
• βάρβιλος (bárbilos) ‘seedling peach tree’
• θόρυβος (thórybos) ‘noise; uproar, clamor (esp. of a crowd); tumult, confusion’
• κίβαλος (kíbalos) ‘messenger, courier’

There are additionally many phrases which appear like they may derive from Indo-European, however don’t obey the anticipated sound patterns. For instance, Ancient Greek had two related phrases τάφος (táphos) ‘funeral; grave’ (→ English epitaph, cenotaph, taphonomy) and τύμβος (týmbos) ‘grave; tombstone’ (→ English tomb, by way of Latin). The first of those comes from PIE *dʰm̥bʰos ‘tomb’ and follows all the conventional sound modifications you’d anticipate from PIE to Ancient Greek. But týmbos is a dupe: it seems associated, nevertheless it doesn’t comply with the anticipated sound modifications. So both the similarity between the 2 phrases is solely coincidental, wherein case týmbos was in all probability borrowed from a Pre-Greek, non–Indo-European language, or týmbos does in truth derive from PIE, however via some unknown, intermediate Indo-European language, which Greek then borrowed it from.

Here is a listing of Greek phrases with believable Indo-European roots and potential cognates in Greek or different languages, however that don’t obey the anticipated sound modifications for Ancient Greek:

Words with a number of phonetic variation

When phrases are borrowed from one language into one other, they usually initially arrive with a slew of various pronunciations. Sometimes it is because the donor language has sounds that the recipient language doesn’t, so audio system of the receiving language need to approximate them as finest they will. This was seemingly the case with the ‘darkness’ phrases we noticed above: variation like dnóphos ~ knéphas ~ zóphos ~ pséphas means that there was an preliminary consonant or consonant cluster in that phrase which the Greeks had problem announcing.

Often, nonetheless, variation in borrowed phrases happens just because audio system of the recipient language are unfamiliar with the phrase. The Powhatan phrase makasin, for instance, incorporates solely sounds acquainted to English audio system, however when English colonists borrowed the phrase, the vary of spellings included maccaseene, makissin, mogason, moccasin, and mogozeen. It took a century or so for the spelling and pronunciation to standardize. Random variations in spelling and pronunciation like this are sometimes a transparent indicator of borrowed phrases.

The phrase “random” is vital there. We additionally see variation in spelling each time languages bear broader sound modifications, however this variation is common and predictable, not random. For instance, Proto-Greek had a set of palatal sounds */ty, tʰy, ky, kʰy/ which all turned *t͡s or presumably *t͡ʃ. In the Attic, Boeotian, and Euboean dialects of Greek, that *t͡s / *t͡ʃ sound turned /tt/, however within the Ionic, Doric, and different dialects of Greek it turned /ss/. At the beginnings of phrases, it turned /t/ ~ /s/. This sound change yielded pairs like the next:²

The variation in these phrases is not proof that they had been borrowed, as a result of that is common, patterned dialectal variation. Notice that our Pre-Greek phrase thálassa / thálatta ‘sea’ is on this listing too. This is a borrowing, nevertheless it’s not the /ss/ ~ /tt/ alternation that tells us that. Evidence of its loanword standing comes from elsewhere. But its participation within the /ss/ ~ /tt/ alternation does inform us that it was borrowed very early within the historical past of Greek, earlier than this sound change happened (the interval of Proto-Greek, c. 2200–1700 BCE). It additionally tells us that it contained one of many palatal sounds that later turned /ss/ ~ /tt/.

That’s all to say: mere variation just isn’t ample proof of borrowing. The variation should not be attributable to common sound modifications within the language; it have to be largely random as an alternative. In reality, a part of the proof that thálassa ‘sea’ is borrowed is that it additionally exhibits random variation along with the common dialectal variation. It seems as soon as in Hesychius’ glosses as δαλάγχαν (dalánkhan), exhibiting /d/ as an alternative of /tʰ/ for the primary consonant, and with a consonant cluster /nkʰ/ as an alternative of /ss/ ~ /tt/. But keep in mind that the /ss/ ~ /tt/ sounds initially derived from some sort of palatal consonant. This strongly means that what Hesychius wrote as ⟨γχ⟩ /nkʰ/ was an try to symbolize a palatal /ky/. (Hesychius was compiling the glossaries of earlier writers.)

Here are another Ancient Greek phrases that we all know are borrowings partially due to their variant pronunciations:

• Ὀδυσσεύς (Odysseús) / Ὀλυσσεύς (Olysseús) ‘Odysseus / Ulysses’
  • The model with /l/ is the one which reached Latin (Ulixes), and for this reason the epic hero is named Ulysses within the Roman custom and Odysseus within the Greek custom.
• λαβύρινθος (labýrinthos) / Mycenaean 𐀅𐁆𐀪𐀵𐀍 da‑pu₂‑ri‑to‑jo (daphurinthoio) ‘labyrinth’
  • This phrase has the identical /l/ ~ /d/ alternation as Ulysses ~ Odysseus, in addition to a /b/ ~ /pʰ/ alternation.
• σῦκον (sŷkon) / Boeotian τῦκον (tŷkon) ‘fig’
  • Exhibits an /s/ ~ /t/ alternation. Latin and Old Armenian might have additionally borrowed this phrase from the Pre-Greek substrate as fīcus ‘fig tree’ (→ English ficus) and թուզ (tʻuz) ‘fig’, respectively.
• ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos) / ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos) ‘asparagus’
  • Latin received the /p/ variant and gave it to English.

In different instances we see variation within the presence of an preliminary /w/ sound, which is particularly neat as a result of Greek initially had a /w/ sound however then misplaced it! In Mycenaean Greek (c. 1400–1200 BCE), the /w/ was nonetheless current, as proven in phrases like 𐀷𐀙𐀏 (wa‑na‑ka) ‘king; lord’. Many dialects (Aeolic, Doric [including Cretan], Elean, Boeotian, and so on.) retained that /w/ and wrote it with the letter digamma ⟨ϝ⟩ as ϝάναξ (wánax) nicely into the Classical interval (Fifth–4th C BCE). But the Attic and Ionic dialects misplaced /w/ earlier than the emergence of alphabetic writing (eighth C BCE), so that they wrote the phrase as ᾰ̓́νᾰξ (ánax). But though Homer by no means writes a digamma, the meter of his poems usually behaves as if the /w/ had been nonetheless there, as a result of they had been initially composed when it was!

In any case, discover how the /w/ was merely deleted from wánax to yield ánax. But for a lot of Pre-Greek loanwords, we see makes an attempt to render a /w/ sound even within the dialects that misplaced it! The metropolis of Axos on Crete, for instance, is written as ϝαξός (Waxós) within the Cretan dialect however Ὀαξός (Oaxós) exterior Crete. If this phrase had already existed in Greek, the /w/ would have merely disappeared within the non‑/w/ dialects, prefer it did for ánax. Instead, these dialects tried to write down the /w/ sound they heard after they adopted the title of the place from the Pre‑Greeks. Since the /w/ sound and ⟨ϝ⟩ letter had been already misplaced to them by that time, they approximated it with ⟨Ὀ⟩ /o/ as an alternative. This exhibits that the Greeks adopted the Pre-Greek place title after /w/ had disappeared in most dialects.

We see the identical try to symbolize /w/ in variations of the phrase for ‘hyacinth’:

• customary literary kind: ὑάκινθος (hyákinthos)
• Cretan: ϝάκινθος (wákinthos)
• Cretan variant: βάκινθος (bákinthos)

Here, the /w/ surfaces as ὑα‑ /hya/, ϝα‑ /wa/, and βα‑ /ba/.

In sum, random variation is commonly a key piece of proof {that a} phrase is borrowed.

Words in sure semantic classes

As talked about above, sure classes of phrases are more likely to be borrowed by a folks migrating into an space, particularly phrases for crops, animals, terrain, and a few easy instruments. Thus, if a phrase has no robust etymology and it refers to both a pure phenomenon or native materials tradition or social practices, it’s an excellent candidate for a loanword. In Beekes 2010 etymological dictionary of Greek, he lists 1,106 phrases as coming from Pre-Greek. Of these, the biggest classes of phrases are for wildlife. (Beekes doesn’t embody most place names within the dictionary.) The desk beneath exhibits the overall class counts. You can see that, aside from human physiology, these are precisely the kinds of phrases we’d anticipate to be borrowed from Pre-Greek.

• Flora: 178
• Fauna: 180
• Landscape & Natural Phenomena: 37
• Minerals: 27
• Agriculture: 38
• Human Physiology: 81
• Attire & Jewelry: 21
• Equipment & Utensils: 154
• Construction: 34
• Culture: 51
  • Musical Instruments / Arts: 18
  • Religious Festivals / Feasting: 8
  • Divine/Numinous Beings, Priests, & Temples: 12
  • Theonyms / Mythical Characters: 26

What I discover particularly attention-grabbing is that the Greeks adopted nearly their total pantheon from Pre-Greek civilization! Except for Zeus, Eos, Pan, Hades, and maybe Poseidon, all of the names of Greek gods can’t be reconstructed to Proto-Indo-European, and are seemingly loanwords from Pre-Greek substrate language (Verhasselt 2009: 211).

Pairs of phrases that imply the identical factor

When a language has quite a few pairs of phrases that each consult with roughly the identical idea, that is usually an indication of intensive borrowing. This is particularly true when these phrases are concentrated in a single or a couple of semantic fields. For instance, English famously has pairs of phrases for animals and the meals that come from these animals, the place the title of the animal derives from English however the title of the meals derives from French:

Originally, each the English and French phrases referred to the animal—boef was merely the Norman French phrase for ‘cow’; porc was the phrase for ‘pig’, and so forth. But because of the social stratification between French audio system and English audio system after the Norman Conquest, the French phrases ultimately got here to consult with the meals moderately than the animal.

In instances of inhabitants migration or invasion, such because the arrival of the early Greeks within the Aegean or the Norman invasion of England, the result’s usually that phrases from every language are related to completely different social contexts or registers, reflecting the uneven combination of the 2 cultures. This signifies that two or extra phrases for a similar idea can exist side-by-side in a language, every being utilized in completely different contexts. (Notice that that is additionally a case of linguistic stratification, the place French was the superstrate and English was the substrate.)

Ancient Greek exhibited this sample with phrases referring to weaving. Alongside Indo-European phrases for weaving and textiles are a set of alternate phrases for a similar issues, which lack any clear Indo-European etymology. Pairs of phrases like those within the desk beneath are a robust indication of substrate borrowing.

Converging Evidence

Obviously, none of those strategies of figuring out borrowed phrases is hermetic. Any given phrase may be a random exception whose clarification is misplaced to historical past. And no single characteristic listed above is diagnostic by itself. Instead, we decide borrowings via the confluence of proof, and the best way sure phrases sample collectively in teams. We search for phrases that take part in recurrent or systematic patterns.

Consider the next Ancient Greek phrases:

• ἄσβολος (ásbolos) ‘soot’
• σποδός (spodós) ‘ashes; ember’
• ψόλος (psólos) ‘soot; smoke’

All these phrases lack clear etymologies, and present the identical /d/ ~ /l/ variation we noticed earlier. The preliminary /a/ of ásbolos can’t be defined by regular sound modifications, and the consonant cluster /sb/ is anomalous for Proto-Indo-European. psólos reverses the order of the consonants to /ps/, which aligns it with the numerous different Pre-Greek loanwords that begin with an preliminary /ps/. (Remember from earlier that the majority Greek phrases starting with /ps/ have turned out to be loanwords.) Add to this the truth that PIE has a phrase for ‘ash’, *h₂eh₁s‑, which seems nothing like several of those types, and is the supply of the Greek reflex ἄζω (ázō) ‘to dry up; to parch’. This is thus one other case of duplicate phrases for a similar factor—one borrowed, one native. Taken collectively, the proof exhibits that these three phrases are undoubtedly completely different variants of some non-Greek borrowing.

Or think about the phrases ἄνθραξ (ánthrax) and κάνδαρος (kándaros, attested in Hesychius’ glosses), which each imply ‘charcoal’. While there’s a potential however shaky PIE etymology for kándaros (*(s)kand‑ ‘to shine; to glow’), there aren’t any good ones for ánthrax. There can be no recognized course of by which an preliminary /okay/ will get added to or deleted from a phrase within the journey from PIE to Ancient Greek, and no clarification for the variation between /tʰ/ and /d/. In reality, each the variable preliminary /okay/ and the ‑ak suffix in ánthrax (pronounced /án.tʰraks/) are options discovered in lots of Pre-Greek loanwords. Given this converging proof, the almost definitely clarification for these phrases is that they each come from a single Pre-Greek phrase.

To sum up, linguists even have a stunning variety of instruments at our disposal for resolving simply which phrases in a language are borrowed.

Where was the Pre-Greek language spoken?

We can do even higher than merely figuring out particular phrases that had been in all probability borrowed: in some instances we will present that the phrases should have come from the similar, particular substrate language (or closely-related languages). We can listing particular options the language might need had, and even roughly the place it was spoken, although we have now little or no direct written proof of it.

The most definitive piece of proof that we’re taking a look at borrowings from a particular substrate language is once we see similar-looking items of phrases throughout most of the borrowings. This might symbolize a prefix, suffix, or total phrase within the substrate language that received borrowed wholesale together with the remainder of the phrase/phrase. For instance, place names in England are rife with fossilized affixes that had been initially phrases in substrate or adstrate languages:

• Brittonic penn ‘head, hill, headland’ → English Pen‑
  • Penrith
  • Penzance
  • Pendle Hill
  • Penge (London)
• Latin castra ‘camp’ → English ‑chester / ‑cester / ‑caster
  • Chester
  • Manchester
  • Winchester
  • Leicester
  • Worcester
  • Gloucester
  • Lancaster
• Old Norse bý ‘farmstead’ → English ‑by
  • Derby
  • Rugby
  • Whitby
  • Grimsby
  • Selby

Each of those suffixes acts as a file of a selected stratum in English’s historical past: the pre–Anglo-Saxon Celtic layer, the Roman occupation layer, and the Old Norse (Viking) layer. Toponyms (place names) are an particularly wealthy supply of details about extinct substrate languages as a result of migrating populations are likely to undertake current place names, particularly for names of settlements. (At least half of U.S. states have names derived from an indigenous language, for instance.) Toponyms are typically comparatively steady over time, not less than in comparison with different phrases within the lexicon.

Places like Corinth, Knossos, Athens, and Lemnos had already been settled for 1000’s of years when the primary Greeks arrived within the Aegean. So it shouldn’t be a shock that each one 4 of these names are indisputably Pre-Greek borrowings, and that they every comprise suffixes that recur again and again in placenames throughout the Aegean! The most well-known of those is the ‑νθ (‑nth) suffix, which seems in, inter alia:

• Ἐρύμανθος (Erýmanthos): Erymanthos, a mountain vary within the Peloponnese peninsula
• Ὑάκινθος (Hyákinthos): Hyakinthos/Hyacinth, a mountain in Attica
• Κήρινθος (Kḗrinthos): Kerinthos, an historic city in Euboea
• Κόρινθος (Kórinthos): Corinth, a metropolis on the isthmus becoming a member of the Peloponnese peninsula to mainland Greece
• Ὄλυνθος (Ólynthos): Olynthus, an historic metropolis in present-day Chalcidice
• Τίρυνς, Τίρυνθος (Tíryns, Tírynthos): Tiryns, an historic Mycenaean metropolis within the Peloponnese peninsula

Also broadly attested are the ‑σσ (‑ss) suffix in Knossos, the ‑ν (‑n) suffix in Athens, and the ‑μν (‑mn) suffix in Lemnos. Below is a sampling of place names that these suffixes seem in.

• ‑σσ (‑ss)
  • Ἁλικαρνασσός (Halikarnassós): Halicarnassus, an historic metropolis on the coast of Anatolia (fashionable Turkey)
  • Κνωσσός (Knōssós): Knossos, a Minoan palace on the island of Crete
  • Λάρισσα (Lárissa): Larissa, a metropolis in Thessaly
  • Παρνασσός (Parnassós): Parnassus, a mountain in central Greece and residential to Delphi
• ‑ν (‑n)
  • Ἀθῆναι (Athênai): Athens, capital metropolis of Greece
  • Λέρνη (Lérnē): Lerna, a area of springs and a former lake in classical Greece, south of Argos
  • Μυκῆναι (Mykênai): Mycenae, an historic Mycenaean metropolis within the Peloponnese peninsula
  • Μύκονος (Mýkonos): Mykonos, an island within the southern Aegean Sea
• ‑μν (‑mn)
  • Λάρυμνα (Lárymna): Larymna, a port city in Phthiotis
  • Λῆμνος (Lêmnos): Lemnos, an island within the northern Aegean Sea
  • Λεπέτυμνος (Lepétymnos): Lepetymnos, a mountain on the island of Lesbos
  • Μήθυμνα (Mḗthymna): Methymna, a city on the island of Lesbos
  • Ῥίθυμνα (Rhíthymna): Rethymno, a metropolis on the island of Crete

(The motive these suffixes are in the midst of these phrases is as a result of Greek audio system added the conventional Greek case suffixes on the top after they borrowed them.)

Because these are toponyms tied to particular locations, we will even map the area the place this Pre-Greek substrate was initially spoken! Below is a map of Pre-Greek toponyms exhibiting the approximate space the place the Pre-Greek substrate was spoken.

You can view the whole dataset of Pre-Greek toponyms, together with much less sure ones and ones that had been excluded from this map, here.

How to determine a Pre-Greek suffix

The intellectually cautious amongst you at the moment are in all probability rightly asking, “How can we know these are suffixes and never simply widespread sounds in these phrases?” The strongest piece of proof for these suffixes is that in some instances, variations of the phrase may be discovered each with and with out the suffix. The single finest instance of this sort of alternation is the toponym Κήρινθος (Kḗrinthos). When used as a traditional phrase moderately than a spot title, kḗrinthos meant ‘bee bread (perga)’, whereas κηρός (kērós), with out the ‑nth suffix, meant ‘beeswax’. Kerinthos, then, was very seemingly named such as a result of it was recognized for its beekeeping! We may be much more sure that this phrase for ‘beeswax’ was borrowed from another language as a result of it’s confamiliar with related phrases across the Mediterranean:

• Latin: cēra ‘wax; beeswax’
• Albanian: qiri ‘candle’
• Lithuanian / Latvian: korỹs / kāre ‘honeycomb’

Other Pre-Greek phrases that seem with and with out their suffixes embody:

• ∅ ~ ‑nth
  • Ἀμαρυσία (Amarysía), one of many names for Artemis
  • Ἀμάρυνθος (Amárynthos), a township on Euboea, and one other title for Artemis
• ∅ ~ ‑mn ~ ‑n
  • Δίκτη (Díktē)
  • δίκταμνον (díktamnon) ‘dittany (of Crete)’
  • Δίκτυννα (Díktynna) ‘Cretan goddess’
• ∅ ~ ‑ss ~ ‑n (and a potential ‑l suffix)
  • Μυκάλη (Mykálē)
  • Μυκαλησσός (Mykalēssós)
  • Μυκῆναι (Mykênai)
• ∅ ~ ‑m (one other Pre-Greek suffix)
  • πύργος (pýrgos) ‘tower’
  • Πέργαμον (Pérgamon)
  • πέργαμος (pérgamos) ‘citadel’ (esp. of Troy)
• ‑nth ~ ‑ng (one other Pre-Greek suffix)
  • μήρινθος (mḗrinthos) ‘thread’
  • σμῆριγξ (smêrinx) ‘hair’
• ‑nth ~ ‑ng
  • ἕλμινθος (hélminthos)
  • ἔλμιγγος (élmingos) ‘worm’
• ∅ ~ ‑nth
  • ὄροβος (órobos) ‘bitter vetch’ (an historic grain legume)
  • ἐρέβινθος (erébinthos) ‘chickpea’

This final one is an particularly vital piece of proof as a result of the phrase for ‘chickpea’ (or very related kinds of legumes) was additionally borrowed into different languages of Europe, generally with, generally with out the ‑nth suffix:

• Latin: ervum ‘bitter vetch’ (with out ‑nth)
• Proto-Germanic: *arwīt‑ ‘pea’ (with ‑nth, as ‑t)
• Armenian: aṙowoyt ‘alfalfa’ (with ‑nth, as ‑t)

In normal, each time a spot title has a non-toponymic which means along with its toponymic which means, and the etymology of that phrase is unknown, the phrase is undoubtedly Pre-Greek in origin. This is particularly true if it additionally seems to comprise one of many recognized Pre-Greek suffixes. Here are a couple of final examples like this:

A corroborating piece of proof for these suffixes is the straightforward undeniable fact that they happen not simply in toponyms, however in most of the thriller phrases for crops, animals, meals, and so on.—the identical semantic classes of phrases which might be almost definitely to be borrowed:

Finally, toponyms ending in ‑nth and ‑mn present a particular root sample, with a robust desire for open syllables (ones not ending in a consonant) and an nearly complete absence of consonant clusters in the midst of the phrase that begin with a cease consonant. This is extraordinarily uncommon for Proto-Indo-European. As a rule, PIE roots had a CVC construction (C = consonant, V = vowel) and lots of consonant clusters—the expanded root template is (s)(C)CVC(C), yielding quite a few consonant clusters. So the truth that phrases which present these Pre-Greek suffixes are additionally phonologically uncommon for PIE is one other piece of proof that these phrases in all probability got here from a non–Indo-European language.

Congratulations, now you understand how to determine a Pre-Greek suffix! So now everytime you see an ‑nth in a Greek loanword in English like hyacinth, you’ll naturally assume to your self, “Oh neat! That phrase is from a Pre-Greek substrate language!” (Right?)

What was the Pre-Greek language like?

In addition to the Pre-Greek suffixes, there are some patterns that recur in potential loanwords with too nice a frequency to be mere coincidence, and recommend that the Pre-Greek language might have had some prefixes as nicely: ἀ‑ (a‑), κ(α)‑ (okay[a]‑), and σ‑ (s‑). The predominant proof for these prefixes is that there are written information of those phrases showing each with and with out the preliminary sounds:

ἀ‑ (a‑)

There are round 65 phrases that present proof of an a‑ prefix, a lot of which fall within the attribute semantic domains of crops and crops (19 phrases), animals (10), in addition to landscapes, meals, and the human physique (smaller numbers). Interestingly, the a‑ prefix is not discovered on cultural phrases like jewellery, armor, social hierarchy, professions, devices, and phrases referring to the humanities, and so on.

• γηθυλλίς (gēthyllís) ‘chives’ ~ ἀγασυλλίς (agasyllís) ‘plant that produces ammoniacum (gum resin)’
• γέλγις (gélgis) ~ ἄγλις (áglis) ‘garlic’
• κάστον (káston) ~ ἄκαστος (ákastos) ‘maple’
• κίρρις (kírris) ~ ἀκιρίς (akirís) ‘lamp’
• κόρνοψ (kórnops) ~ ἀκορνοί (akornoí) ‘a sort of locust’
• χραμαδοῖλαι (khramadoîlai) ‘tortoise’ ~ ἀχραδαμύλα (akhradamýla) ‘snail’
• νηρίτης (nērī́tēs) ~ ἀναρίτης (anarítēs) ‘sea snail’
• ῥωδιώς (rhōdiṓs) ~ ἀρωδιός (arōdiós) ‘heron’
• (σ)καλαβώτης ([s]kalabṓtēs) ~ ἀσκάλαβος (askálabos) ‘noticed lizard; gecko’
• στάχυς (stákhys) ~ ἄσταχυς (ástakhys) ‘ear of corn’
• στεροπή (steropḗ) ~ ἀστραπή (astrapḗ) ‘lightning’
• κύνωψ (kýnōps) ~ ἀχύνωψ (akhýnōps) ‘ribwort’

κ(α)‑ (okay[a]‑)

The okay(a)‑ prefix, like a‑, solely seems on phrases for crops, animals, and easy applied sciences. There are 13 clear instances, together with:

• ἴχλα (íkhla) ~ κίχλη (kíkhlē) ‘thrush’
• ἄρυα (árya) ‘walnuts’ ~ κάρυον (káryon) ‘nut’
• ὄγχνη (ónkhnē) ~ κόγχναι (kónkhnai) ‘pear’
• σκάνδιξ (skándīx) ‘chervil’ ~ κασκάνδιξ (kaskándix) ‘onion’
• ἀπήνη (apḗnē) ~ πήνα (pḗnā) ~ καπάνα (kapā́na) ‘wagon’
  • Note the potential a‑prefix right here.
• ἄχλαξ (ákhlax) ‘small stones’ ~ χάλαζα (khálaza) ‘hail’ ~ κάχληξ (kákhlēx) ‘small stones’
• ἀλινδέομαι (alindéomai) ~ καλινδέομαι (kalindéomai) ‘to roll about, wallow’

σ‑ (s‑)

Again, nearly all of phrases with s‑ are phrases for crops, animals, and physique components. Sometimes the s‑ happens with a further a‑ as nicely, suggestive of the presence of the a‑ prefix.

with out a‑

• γέλενος (gélenos) ‘asphodelus, narcissus’ ~ σχέλινος (skhélinos) ‘wild cypress’
• κιδάφη (kidáphē) ~ σκιδάφη (skidáphē) ‘fox’
• κίκερος (kíkeros) ~ σκίγκος (skínkos) ‘a kind of lizard present in Asia Minor that’s used as drugs’
• κορδύ̄λη (kordȳ́lē) ~ σκορδύ̄λη (skordȳ́lē) ‘tumor; swelling’
• βάταλος (bátalos) ‘a lewd man’ ~ σπάταλος (spátalos) ‘wanton; lascivious’
• πέλεθος (pélethos) ~ σπέλεθος (spélethos) ‘dung’
• φαττάγης (phattágēs) ~ σπατάγγης (spatángēs) ‘scaly ant-eater’
• θριγκός (thrinkós) ‘topmost course of stones in a wall, cornice, frieze’ ~ στριγχός (strinkhós) ‘little wall; crown of a constructing’
• τοπεῖον (topeîon) ‘rope, wire’ ~ στυππεῖον (styppeîon) ‘the coarse fiber of flax or hemp’
• μήρινθος (mḗrinthos) ~ σμήρινθος (smḗrinthos) ‘wire, thread’
• μύραινα (mȳ́raina) ~ σμύραινα (smȳ́raina) ‘moray eel’
• μῖλαξ (mîlax) ~ σμῖλαξ (smîlax) ‘taxus’
• φάγνος (phágnos) ~ σφάγνος (sphágnos) ‘salvia’
• τρύχνον (trýkhnon) ~ στρύχνον (strýkhnon) ‘nightshade’

with a‑

• φάρυγξ (phárynx) ‘throat, gorge, larynx, windpipe’ ~ σφάραγος (spháragos) ‘throat, gullet’ ~ ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos) ‘gully, chasm, deep trench, abyss’
• κάλαφος (kálaphos) ~ ἀσκάλαφος (askálaphos) ‘an unknown chook, maybe an owl’
• καλαβώτης (kalabṓtēs) ~ σκαλαβώτης (skalabṓtēs) ~ ἀσκάλαβος (askálabos) ‘lizard, gecko’
• κάμων (kámōn) ~ σκαμ(μ)ωνία (skam(m)ōnía) ~ ἀσκαμωνία (askamōnía) ‘scammony’

Was Pre-Greek one language or a number of?

Throughout this text, I’ve largely talked about “the” Pre-Greek language. Indeed, the suffixes within the final two sections give us robust motive to consider that Ancient Greek borrowed the phrases containing these suffixes from a single Pre-Greek language or group of closely-related languages. Throughout the historical past of contemporary linguistics, there have been multitudinous names and theories as to the id of this thriller substrate, together with:

• Pelasgian, an undocumented Indo-European language
• Parnassian, a language within the Anatolian department of Indo-European, associated to Luwian
• Aegean / Mediterranean, a non–Indo-European language which prolonged over a big a part of the Mediterranean
• the Kartvelian Theory, that Pre-Greek was associated to Kartvelian languages (e.g. Georgian)
• Pre-Greek, a non–Indo-European language spoken primarily within the area of Greece, following toponymic proof

Even although every of those theories has been largely discredited besides the final, every has superior our information of Pre-Greek in numerous methods. For instance, researchers on this subject agree that the Pre-Greek substrate prolonged not less than partially into Anatolia (Asia Minor), as you’ll be able to see from the map of place names above. It was analysis into the now-abandoned Parnassian concept that introduced this to gentle. But there merely isn’t sufficient proof to assist the concept that the Pre-Greek substrate is linked to Anatolian languages.

Even the Pre-Greek concept has been battered by fierce criticism, as a result of its predominant proponent, Robert S.P. Beekes, considers almost each potential loanword to be Pre-Greek as a matter of precept:

“I believe that it’s methodologically extra sound to start out from the idea that non-Greek phrases are Pre-Greek. Only when there may be motive to take action ought to we assume that they’ve a special origin.” (Beekes 2014: 45)

The linguistic actuality, nonetheless, is far much less tidy. Like all over the place else previous to the rise of urbanization and city-states, the Aegean comprised a wealthy tapestry of tiny native languages, spoken by at most 1000’s of audio system. The Ancient Greeks themselves talked about various peoples within the area, a few of whom had been stated to talk ‘a language which was not Greek’ (Herodotus’ description of the Pelasgian language, which launched a thousand linguistic theories concerning the Pre-Greeks):

• Aonians
• Cauconians
• Dryopes
• Hyantes
• Lelegians
• Pelasgians
• Temmikes

We even have written proof (albeit usually exiguous) of many different languages within the area:

• Carian (IE, Anatolian department)
• Eteocretan (in all probability non-IE, presumably associated to Minoan)
• Eteocypriot (in all probability non-IE)
• Illyrian (IE)
• Lemnian (non-IE, presumably Tyrsenian)
• Macedonian (to not be confused with the fashionable Slavic language; this one was Greek or carefully associated to Greek)
• Minoan (undeciphered and unclassified however in all probability non-IE)
• Paeonian (IE)
• Thracian (IE)

So it’s unsurprising that many students have attacked Beekes’ assumption of a unified Pre-Greek language, and likewise challenged his evaluation of dozens and dozens of phrases. Nonetheless, that also leaves tons of of phrases which do very seemingly belong to a single language, which—for lack of a time period that hasn’t already been discredited—Beekes calls “Pre-Greek”.³

But what about the remainder of the thriller phrases? Why not assume they arrive from Pre-Greek as nicely, even when they don’t have the signature Pre-Greek affixes? Once once more, the meanings of the phrases are an vital clue: nearly all of the phrases which exhibit particular Pre-Greek options (the ‑nth suffix, the s‑ prefix, and so on.) are phrases for pure phenomena like crops and animals. The ones with out these particular options are largely cultural phrases referring to issues like jewellery, clothes, social hierarchy, the humanities, buildings and buildings, and so on. (There are two notable exceptions—λαβύρινθος (labýrinthos) ‘labyrinth’ and ἀσάμινθος (asáminthos) ‘bathtub’—which we’ll come again to in a minute.) Moreover, solely the phrases for pure phenomena seem in languages elsewhere in Europe; the cultural phrases are restricted to the Aegean. Here are a couple of potential pan-European connections to Pre-Greek phrases:

• radish (a‑ prefix)
  • Ancient Greek: ῥάφανος (rháphanos)
  • Latin: rāpum
  • Old High Germanic: ruoba
  • Welsh: erfin ‘turnip’ ← Proto-Celtic *arb‑īn-
  • Old Church Slavonic: rěpa ‘turnip’ ← Proto-Balto-Slavic *rāpā́ˀ
• heron (a‑ prefix)
  • Ancient Greek: ἐρῳδιός (erōidiós) ~ ἀρωδιός (arōdiós) ~ ῥωδιώς (rhōdiṓs)
  • Latin: ardea
  • Serbo-Croatian: róda ‘stork’
• bull (s‑ prefix)
  • Ancient Greek: ταῦρος (taûros)
  • Latin: taurus
  • Proto-Germanic: *þeura‑ ~ *steura‑
• small stones (okay‑ prefix)
  • Ancient Greek: ἄχλαξ (ákhlax) ‘small stones’ ~ κάχληξ (kákhlēx) ‘small stones’ ~ χάλαζα (khálaza) ‘hail’
  • Proto-Germanic: *hagla‑ ‘hail’
• chickpea (‑nth suffix)
  • Ancient Greek: ὄροβος (órobos) ~ ἐρέβινθος (erébinthos)
  • Proto-Germanic: *arwīt ‘pea’
  • Old Georgian: ერევინდი (erevindi) ~ ერბინდი (erbindi)
  • Latin: ervum ‘bitter vetch’ ← Proto-Italic *erw‑
  • Armenian: առաւոյտ (aṙowoyt) ‘alfalfa’ ← *HrVbʰoud‑

So what explains this distribution of pure phenomena versus cultural ideas? Simply put, we’re in all probability taking a look at two (or extra) substrate languages which each contributed vocabulary to Ancient Greek. One had the ‑nth suffix and a‑, okay‑, and s‑ prefixes, and offered phrases for flora, fauna, and terrain. The different (or others) offered cultural phrases resembling jewellery, titles, clothes, devices, and so on. The motive that the phrases for pure phenomena are shared exterior the Aegean might be as a consequence of the truth that, previous to the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, the Old Europeans had been a surprisingly homogeneous inhabitants of farmers (Skoglund et al. 2012; Skourtanioti et al. 2023). While genetics ≠ languages, this nonetheless means that most of the languages of Old Europe had been seemingly associated. So it’s totally potential that Germanic and Italic and Celtic and different Indo-European audio system independently borrowed phrases for issues like ‘chickpea’ and ‘radish’ from Old European languages, and these phrases simply occurred to be cognate with the phrases in Pre-Greek. Alternatively, we will say that these phrases had been widespread loanwords (‘wanderwords’) throughout Old Europe.

As for the cultural vocabulary, whereas these phrases might in concept come from anyplace close by, there may be one tradition which was recognized to have an outsized affect on the Mycenaean Greeks: the Minoans on the island of Crete. Minoan tradition was extraordinary for its time, with monumental structure, sprawling palace complexes, and luxurious arts and crafts. The Minoans are sometimes thought to be the primary civilization (within the technical sense) in Europe, and their affect unfold far throughout the japanese Mediterranean. Archaeologists consult with the best way that Minoan tradition radiated outward from Crete because the Versailles Effect, by analogy with the best way the French court docket below Louis XIV influenced all of Europe. Minoan was, in different phrases, an adstrate moderately than a substrate, spreading its lexicon to the neighboring languages.

The Minoans additionally developed their very own writing system referred to as Cretan hieroglyphs, which was not derived from the Egyptian or Mesopotamian techniques (Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform, and later the Phoenician alphabet). Cretan hieroglyphs later developed into (or maybe alongside) the still-undeciphered Linear A script, which was a mixture syllabary and logographic script. The Mycenaean Greeks then adopted a model of Linear A to write down Greek. This script is named Linear B, and was deciphered by English architect and self-taught linguist Michael Ventris in 1952. Because 70% of the indicators of Linear B are straight inherited from Linear A, we all know the sounds of many phrases in Linear A, however we nonetheless don’t know what most of these Minoan phrases imply.

The intractable nature of Linear A method, sadly, that we will’t be completely sure that any Pre-Greek phrases had been borrowed from Minoan, as a result of we don’t know what the Linear A phrases meant. There are nonetheless some robust candidates for borrowings from Minoan:

• In Linear A, there’s a logogram 𐛢, which is without doubt one of the minority of indicators we occur to know the which means of—‘wool’. We know this as a result of in Linear B the identical signal means ‘wool’. In Linear A, the signal seems in bookkeeping contexts subsequent to numerals, and sometimes close to the ideogram for sheep ⟨𐘏⟩ (additionally the signal for /qi/)—precisely what you’d anticipate for an indication which means ‘wool’. But extra importantly, when you look carefully, you’ll be able to see that the logogram is definitely a composite of two syllabic indicators—𐙁 (ma) and 𐘘 (ru or lu)—indicating that the phrase for ‘wool’ was maru or malu. It not-so-coincidentally occurs that the Greek phrase for ‘wool’ was μαλλός (mallós)—a phrase with no Indo-European etymology. Thus mallós is sort of undoubtedly a borrowing from Minoan.
• Labyrinths are strongly related to Minoan tradition, having been in-built Greek mythology for King Minos of Crete to carry the Minotaur. The phrase λαβύρινθος (labýrinthos) ‘labyrinth’, it once more not-so-coincidentally occurs, is a type of uncommon cultural phrases with a Pre-Greek ‑nth suffix. It even seems in Linear B (not Linear A) as 𐀅𐁆𐀪𐀵𐀍 (da‑pu₂‑ri‑to‑jo) ‘of the labyrinth’, which means that the phrase was borrowed very early into Mycenaean Greek. Minoan tradition would have exerted its affect on the Pre-Greeks simply because it did the later Mycenaean Greeks. So in all chance, the Pre-Greeks borrowed the phrase for ‘labyrinth’ and tacked their ‑nth suffix on the top of it, then later gave the phrase to the Greeks.
• The Minoans additionally boasted the oldest recognized private bathtubs within the historic global community, a know-how which then unfold elsewhere within the Aegean. The Greek phrase for ‘bathtub’, ἀσάμινθος (asáminthos), exhibits the basic ‑nth suffix even in early Mycenaean—𐀀𐀭𐀖𐀵 (a‑sa‑mi‑to)—which means that this phrase too was seemingly borrowed by the Pre-Greeks from the Minoans, and in flip borrowed by the Greeks.
• There are additionally a number of toponyms which seem in Linear A, Linear B, and Classical Greek, which means that the names of those locations had been borrowed from the Minoans. Predictably, these toponyms are all on the island of Crete.

We can say with some confidence, then, that the thriller loanwords of Ancient Greek come from not less than two languages: the Paleo-European inhabitants of the Greek mainland, and the assorted different cultures within the surrounding area, most particularly the extravagant Minoan palatial tradition of Crete.

Where do writing systems come from?

Writing was invented three different times in world history—in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica. But not all writing systems derive from those three original scripts. How can this be?

Languages are a fossil file of the historical past of their audio system. Hidden beneath the floor of each language are layers upon layers of historical past—a mirrored image of millennia of migrations, commerce, and confrontation. Historical linguistics permits us to get better a few of that historical past, offered we all know the place and methods to search for it. We will in all probability by no means absolutely get better the language of the Pre-Greeks, nevertheless it has left an indelible mark on the languages of the Mediterranean and even English. Every time you utter phrases like labyrinth, mint, narcissism, and guitar, you stick with it the tradition of these Paleo-Europeans who inhabited the Aegean previous to the arrival of the primary Indo-Europeans over 4,000 years in the past.

📚 Further Reading

English phrases from Pre-Greek

This is a non-exhaustive listing of phrases which might be typically regarded as loanwords from a Pre-Greek substrate language into Ancient Greek, and which later discovered their method into English. I’ve achieved my finest to symbolize the consensus view and keep away from together with doubtful instances, however there’s definitely room to disagree with my particular person selections. This article is, in spite of everything, a high-level abstract of an enormous subject of analysis with a number of inside debate.

📑 Bibliography

The query of the character of Pre-Greek and the standing of loanwords into Ancient Greek are a number of the most well-researched and debated areas in Indo-European linguistics. Below are only a few of the more moderen sources that present respectable high-level overviews of the subject.

• Beekes, Robert S.P. 2014. Pre-Greek: Phonology, morphology, lexicon (Brill Introductions to Indo-European Languages 2). Brill.
• Duhoux, Y. 2007. Pre-Greek languages: Indirect proof. In A.-F. Christidis (ed.), A historical past of historic Greek: From the beginnings to late antiquity, pp. 223–228. Cambridge University Press.
• Meester, Lotte. 2024. Substrate stratification: An argument towards the unity of Pre-Greek. In Guus Kroonen (ed.), Sub-Indo-European Europe: Problems, strategies, outcomes, pp. 283–300. De Gruyter.
• Verhasselt, Gertjan. 2009. The Pre-Greek linguistic substratum: An overview of present analysis. Les Études Classiques 77: 211–239.

Notes

¹ I exploit the time period confamiliar to consult with phrases which might be associated via borrowing moderately than direct inheritance. Two phrases which might be associated to one another as a result of they each derive from the identical phrase in a mother or father language are referred to as cognates. The time period confamiliar is supposed to be the equal of cognate for borrowed phrases. The two phrases properly parallel the excellence in Latin between cognātus ‘associated by start’ vs. familiāris ‘member of a family (not essentially associated by blood)’. The time period confamiliar can be used within the life sciences to consult with taxonomic members of the identical household; so right here I’m merely extending the metaphor to consult with members of the identical household of phrases. This is my very own distinctive coinage, although. As far as I do know, no different linguists use this time period on this method (but 🤞🏼).

² */tw/ generally underwent this sound change too, which is the supply of of the /ss/ ~ /tt/ alternation in τέσσαρες (téssares) ‘4’. This phrase comes from PIE *kʷetwóres moderately than a palatalized sound.

³ I don’t truly love the time period “Pre-Greek” as a result of in historic linguistics the prefix Pre‑ is usually reserved for an earlier stage of a single language, often one reconstructed from language-internal proof alone. This contrasts with the final widespread ancestor of a gaggle of associated languages, which is reconstructed by evaluating these languages, wherein case we use the prefix Proto‑. According to this conference, Pre-Greek or Pre-Proto-Greek ought to actually consult with a hypothetical dialect of Indo-European from which Proto-Greek later emerged. Regardless, Pre‑ continues to be generally used for substrates as nicely, resembling Pre-Greek or Pre-Indo-European (i.e. the languages that existed in Eurasia previous to the arrival of the Indo-Europeans—to not be confused with Paleo-European / Old European languages, which refers extra particularly to the Neolithic languages of Europe). (Another motive I dislike the time period “Pre-Greek” is as a result of this text would have sounded a lot cooler titled “Pelasgian: The thriller language hidden in Ancient Greek”, or “Parnassian” or the like.)