Ancient Macedonian language

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The Ancient Macedonian language (provisional ISO-DIS 639-3.5 XMK) was a Greek dialect and was tongue of the Ancient Macedonians. It was spoken especially in the inland regions of Macedon, away from the coast, during the 1st millennium BC, surviving into the early centuries of the Common Era.

Our knowledge of the language is very limited because there are no surviving Macedonian texts, though a body of authentic Macedonian words has been assembled from ancient sources, mainly from coin inscriptions, and from the 5th century Greek lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria, amounting to about 700 words and proper names. Most of these are confidently identifiable as Greek, but some of them are not easily reconciled with standard Greek phonology.

Properties

Only little about the language can be said from the few words that survive. A notable sound-law is that PIE voiced aspirates appear as voiced stops, written β, γ, δ, in contrast to all known Greek dialects, which have unvoiced them, φ, χ, θ.

Macedonian danos (δανος) ("death", from PIE *dhenh₂ "to leave"), compared to Greek thanos (θανος).
Macedonian abroutes (αβρουτες) as opposed to Greek ophroues (οφρουες) for eyebrows
Macedonian Berenike (Βερενικη) vs. Greek *Pherenike (Φερενικη) "bearing victory"
adraia "bright weather", Attic αἰθρία, from PIE *aidh-
baskioi "fasces", PIE *bhasko
According to Hdt. 7.73 (ca. 440 BC), the Macedonians claimed that the Phruges were called Briges before they migrated from Thrace to Anatolia (around 1200 BC).

The same treatment is known from other Paleo Balkan languages, e.g. Phrygian bekos "bread", Illyrian bagaron "warm", but Attic phōgō "roast", all from PIE *bheh₃g.

If gotan "pig" is related to *gwou "cattle", this would indicate that the labiovelars were either intact, or merged with the velars, unlike the Greek treatment (Attic bous). Compare in this context Doric (Spartan) glep- for common Greek blep- (v. Blumenthal 1930:21).

kanadoi "jaws" PIE *genu and kombous "molars" PIE *gombh suggest that voiced stops were devoiced, at least word-initially.

Sample glossary

Template:Polytonic ábagna 'roses' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic; perhaps Doric Template:Polytonic abós 'young, luxuriant' + Template:Polytonic hagnós 'pure, chaste, unsullied')
Template:Polytonic abarý 'oregano' (Hes. Template:Polytonic oríganon, perhaps Attic prefix Template:Polytonic a 'not' + Template:Polytonic barý 'heavy')
Template:Polytonic or Template:Polytonic abroûtes or abroûwes 'eyebrows' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic ophrûs acc. pl., Template:Polytonic ophrúes nom., PIE *bhru-)
Template:Polytonic ágēma, 'vanguard, guards' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic ágēma, PIE *ag-)
Template:Polytonic agkalís 'weight, burden, load' or 'sickle' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic ákhthos or Template:Polytonic drépanon, LSJ Attic Template:Polytonic agkalís 'bundle', or in pl. Template:Polytonic agkálai 'arms' (body parts), Template:Polytonic ágkalos 'armful, bundle', Template:Polytonic agkálē 'the bent arm' or 'anything closely enfolding', as the arms of the sea, PIE *ank 'to bend')
Template:Polytonic adē 'clear sky' or 'the upper air' (Hes. Template:Polytonic ouranós 'sky', LSJ and Pokorny Attic Template:Polytonic aithēr 'ether, the upper, purer air', hence 'clear sky, heaven')
Template:Polytonic ádis 'hearth' (Hes. Template:Polytonic eskhára, LSJ Attic Template:Polytonic aîthos 'fire, burning heat')
Template:Polytonic ádraia 'fine weather, open sky' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic aithría, PIE *aidh-)
Template:Polytonic akrounoí 'boundary stones' nom. pl. (Hes. Template:Polytonic hóroi, LSJ Attic Template:Polytonic ákros 'at the end or extremity', from Template:Polytonic akē 'point, edge', PIE *ak 'summit, point' or 'sharp')
Template:Polytonic alíē 'manure'
Template:Polytonic áliza (also alixa) 'alder' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic leúkē 'poplar', perhaps Pokorny Attic Template:Polytonic elátē 'fir, spruce', PIE *ol-, *el-)
Template:Polytonic amalē 'gentle' fem. (LSJ Template:Polytonic, Attic Template:Polytonic, Template:Polytonic hamalē, hapalē)
Template:Polytonic áxos 'timber' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic húlē)
Template:Polytonic aortes, 'swordsman' (Hes. ξιφιστής; Homer ἄορ, sword; Attic Template:Polytonic, swordstrap; Modern Greek αορτήρ, riflestrap; hence Aorta)
Template:Polytonic árgella 'bathing hut' (LSJ Greek of Magna Graecia and Pokorny Cimmerian Template:Polytonic árgilla 'subterranean dwelling', Old Indian argala-ḥ, argalā 'latch, bolt', PIE *areg-, hence Romanian argea (pl. argele), 'wooden construction', Albanian ragal 'cabin')
Template:Polytonic argiópous 'eagle' (LSJ Attic Template:Polytonic argípous 'swift- or white-footed', PIE *hrg'i-pods < PIE *arg + PIE *ped)
Template:Polytonic arkón 'leisure, idleness' (LSJ Attic Template:Polytonic argós 'lazy, idle' nom. sing., Template:Polytonic acc.)
Template:Polytonic áspilos 'torrent' (Hes. Template:Polytonic kheímarrhos, Attic Template:Polytonic áspilos 'without stain, spotless, pure')
Template:Polytonic báskioi 'fasces' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic desmoì phrūgánōn, Pokorny Macedonian Template:Polytonic baskeutaí, Attic Template:Polytonic phaskídes, perhaps Attic Template:Polytonic pháskōlos 'leather sack', PIE *bhasko-)
Template:Polytonic gotán 'pig' acc. sing. (PIE *gwou- 'cattle', Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic hûn 'swine')
Template:Polytonic grábion 'torch' (PIE *grabh-, 'hornbeam', Umbrian Grabovius an oak-god, etymologically linked by LSJ and Pokorny to Attic Template:Polytonic kráb(b)atos 'couch, bed', Latin grabātus - which LSJ derives from Macedonian - hence modern Greek κρεβάτι kreváti 'bed')
Template:Polytonic danós 'death', Template:Polytonic danōn 'murderer' (Hes. Attic thánatos Template:Polytonic 'death', from root Template:Polytonic than-)
Template:Polytonic dárullos 'oak' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic drûs, PIE *doru-)
Template:Polytonic etaîroi 'comrades' nom. pl. (Attic Template:Polytonic hetaîroi, PIE *swe-t-aro < suffixed form of *swe)
Template:Polytonic ílax 'the holm-oak, evergreen or scarlet oak' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic prînos, Latin ilex)
Template:Polytonic kalarrhugaí 'ditches, trenches' (Hes. Template:Polytonic - attributed to Amerias) -LSJ: Ambraciot word, acc. to Sch.Gen.Iliad 21.259 (in form kalarua).
Template:Polytonic kánadoi 'jaws' nom. pl. (Attic Template:Polytonic gnáthoi, PIE *genu, 'jaw')
Template:Polytonic kárabos 'gate, door' (Hes. Attic karabos 'meat roasted over coals'; Attic karabos 'stag-beetle'; 'crayfish'; 'light ship'; hence Modern Greek karavi)
karabos 'the worms in dry wood' (Attic karabos, 'stag-beetle, horned beetle; crayfish')
karabos 'a sea creature' (Attic karabos, 'a crayfish, a prickly crustacean; stag-beetle')
Template:Polytonic kíerroi 'pale ones (?)' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic ōkhroi, PIE *k̂ik̂er- 'pea')
Template:Polytonic klinótrokhon, according to Theophrastus a sort of maple of Stageira, Pokorny Attic Template:Polytonic gleînon), LSJ: γλῖνος or γλεῖνος, Cretan maple, Acer creticum, Thphr.HP3.3.1, 3.11.2.
Template:Polytonic kómbous 'molars' acc. pl. (Attic Template:Polytonic gomphíous, dim. of Template:Polytonic gómphos 'a large, wedge-shaped bolt or nail; any bond or fastening', PIE *gombh-)
Template:Polytonic lakedáma 'salt water with garlic', Hes.; according to v. Blumenthal (1930), -ama corresponds to Attic Template:Polytonic halmurós 'salty'; laked- is cognate to English leek, possibly related is Template:Polytonic Laked-aímōn, the name of the Spartans.
Template:Polytonic leíbēthron 'stream' (Hes. Attic Template:Polytonic rheîthron, also Template:Polytonic libádion, 'a small stream', dim. of Template:Polytonic libás; PIE *lei, 'to flow'); note typical Greek productive suffix -θρον (-thron)
Template:Polytonic Púdna, a toponym (Pokorny Attic Template:Polytonic puthmēn 'bottom, sole, base of a vessel'; PIE *bhudhnā; Greek πύνδαξ, pyndax, 'bottom of vessel')
Template:Polytonic sárissa (also Template:Polytonic sarisa), a long pike used by the Macedonian phalanx (Theophrastus, Polybius; etymology unknown - v. Blumenthal (1930) reconstructs *skwrvi-entia- to a root for 'cut', but this is speculative; perhaps Attic Template:Polytonic saírō 'to show the teeth, grin like a dog', esp. in scorn or malice, also 'to sweep clean or away')

References

H. Ahrens De Graecae linguae dialectis, Goettingen, 1843.
Albrecht von Blumenthal, Hesychstudien, Stuttgart, 1930.
Edmonds, J.M. The Fragments of Attic Comedy, "Strattis, Passage 28". Leiden: Brill, 1957.
Fasmer, M. The Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language. Moscow, 1986.
S. Hornblower, A. Spawforth (Editors), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, revised 3rd ed., New York/London, Oxford University Press, 2003.
O. Hoffmann Die Makedonen. Ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum, Goettingen 1906
Brian Joseph (1999), Ancient Greek in: J. Garry, C. Rubino, A. Faber, R. French (editors), Facts About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages: Past and Present, New York/Dublin, H. W. Wilson Press, 2001
Katcic, Ancient Languages of the Balkans, The Hague, Mouton (1976).
J. P. Mallory, D. Q. Adams (edd.) Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, 1997.
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, t. XC, 1995, p. 231-239.
Neroznak, V. Paleo-Balkan languages, Moscow, 1978.
Pokorny, Julius, Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, 1959.

External links

Graeco-Macedonian group (Ohio State University)
Linguist List Hellenic tree
- Linguist List ancient languages
Greek Language (Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 edition)

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