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Set of Ancient Greek dialects From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (/iːˈɒlɪk/), also known as Aeolian (/iːˈoʊliən/), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anatolia and adjoining islands.
 | This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (May 2019) |
| Aeolic Greek | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aeolian dialect Lesbian dialect Lesbic dialect | ||||
| Αἰολικός | ||||
| Region | Aeolis, Boeotia, Lesbos, Thessaly | |||
| Era | c. 800–300 BC[citation needed] | |||
Indo-European
| ||||
Early form | ||||
| Dialects |
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| Greek alphabet (uncial and cursive forms) Eastern Archaic Greek alphabet (up to 4th century BC) | ||||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | – | |||
grc-aeo | ||||
| Glottolog | aeol1234 | |||
_en.svg) Distribution of Greek dialects in Greece in the classical period.[1]
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The Aeolic dialect shows many archaisms in comparison to the other Ancient Greek dialects (Arcadocypriot, Attic, Ionic, and Doric varieties), as well as many innovations.
Aeolic Greek is widely known as the language of Sappho and of Alcaeus of Mytilene. Aeolic poetry, which is exemplified in the works of Sappho, mostly uses four classical meters known as the Aeolics: Glyconic (the most basic form of Aeolic line), hendecasyllabic verse, Sapphic stanza, and Alcaic stanza (the latter two are respectively named for Sappho and Alcaeus).
In Plato's Protagoras, Prodicus labelled the Aeolic dialect of Pittacus of Mytilene as "barbarian",[2] because of its difference from the Attic literary style:[3] "He didn't know to distinguish the words correctly, being from Lesbos, and having been raised with a barbarian dialect".
Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Greek *kʷ changed to Aeolic p everywhere. By contrast, PIE *kʷ changed to Attic/Ionic, Arcadocypriot, and Doric t before e and i.
Similarly PIE/PGk *gʷ always became b and PIE *gʷʰ > PGk *kʰʷ always became ph (whereas in other dialects they became alternating b/d and ph/th before back/front vowels).
Labiovelars were treated the same way in the P-Celtic languages and the Sabellic languages.
A Proto-Greek consonant cluster with h (from Indo-European *s) and a sonorant (r, l, n, m, w, y) changed to a double sonorant (rr, ll, nn, mm, ww, yy) in Lesbian and Thessalian (sub-dialects of Aeolic) by assimilation. In Attic/Ionic, Doric, and Boeotian Aeolic, the h assimilated to the vowel before the consonant cluster, causing the vowel to lengthen by compensatory lengthening.
Lesbian Aeolic lost initial h- (psilosis "stripping") from Proto-Indo-European s- or y-. By contrast, Ionic sometimes retains it, and Attic always retains it.
In Thessalian and Boeotian (sub-dialects of Aeolic) and Doric, the Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Greek semi-vowel w (digamma) was retained at the beginning of a word.
In Aeolic and Doric, Proto-Greek long ā remains. By contrast, in Attic, long ā changes to long ē in most cases; in Ionic, it changes everywhere.[5]
Compensatory lengthening of a, e, o in Lesbian gives ai, ei, oi (in Attic, it would be ā, ei, ou) for example in the accusative plural of a and o stem nouns, or in many 3 Pl verb conjugations.
In Boeotian, the vowel-system was, in many cases, changed in a way reminiscent of the modern Greek pronunciation.
In Lesbian Aeolic, the accent of all words is recessive (barytonesis), as is typical only in the verbs of other dialects.[6]
Contracted or vowel-stem verbs that are thematic in Attic/Ionic are often athematic (-mi) in Aeolic.[7]
Aeolic athematic infinitive active ends in -men or (Lesbian) -menai. ~ Attic/Ionic has -enai.
In the Lesbian dialect this ending also extends to the thematic conjugation, where Attic/Ionic has -ein. All three of these Aeolic endings occur in Homer.
Proto-Greek -ans and -ons → -ais and -ois (first- and second declension accusative plural) ~ Attic/Ionic -ās and -ōs (-ους).[8][9]
Dative plural -aisi and -oisi ~ Attic/Ionic -ais and -ois.
The participle has -ois and -ais for Attic -ōs (-ους), -ās.[10]
| This glossary may be confusing or unclear to readers. (November 2019) |
Below is a list of several words in the Aeolian dialect, written in the Greek alphabet, along with a transcription in the Latin alphabet. Each word is followed by its meaning and compared to similar words in other ancient Greek dialects. The "notes" section provides additional information, and if applicable, an etymology is given.
| Aeolian lemma | Transcription | Meaning | Correspondence to other Greek dialects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀέλιος | āélios | 'sun' | * Doric āélios * Attic hēlios * Cretan abelios * Laconian bela * Pamphylian babelios | Derives from PIE *seh₂u-el- 'sun'.[11] |
| βᾶμα | bama | * Doric βᾶμα bama * Attic βῆμα bema 'walking, step' | Per Beekes, both forms derive from root βῆ-, itself from PIE *gʷeh₂-. Corresponds to Avestan gā-man- 'step, pace'.[12] | |
| βελφιν Βέλφοι | belphin Belphoi | dolphin Delphi | Attic delphis | Per Beekes, βέλφινες occurs in Lesbian, while Βελφοί is Aeolic.[13] |
| βραδινός | bradinos | 'slender, soft' | Attic rhadinos | Attested in Sapph. 90,104.[14] |
| βράκος | brakos | 'expensive garment' | * Homeric ῥάκος rhakos 'rag, shred, wrinkles, remnants' * ϝράκος wrakos | Attested in Sapph. 70. Per Beekes, of uncertain etymology.[15] |
| βρίζα | briza | 'root' | Attic rhiza | |
| βρόδον | brodon | 'rose' | Attic ῥόδον rhodon 'rose' | Possible Eastern borrowing (cf. Arm vard 'rose' < Old Iranian *u̯ṛda 'id').[16] Also means vagina metaphorically in Erotic Glossary |
| δνόφος | dnophos | 'darkness' | Also appears in Ionic; Attic ζόφος zophos | Per Beekes, the word "recalls" zóphos, knéphas and pséphas.[17] |
| Ἐννησιάδες | Ennesiades | Lesbian Nymphs | ||
| ἐπιάλτης ήπιάλης | epialtēs epialēs | 'nightmare' | Attic ephialtēs | Epialtēs attested in Alcaeus. Cf. Ephialtes, one of the Aloadae.[18] |
| ἴρον | iron | 'holy' | * Attic ἱερόν hierón * Doric hiarón * Ionic hirón | Derives from PIE *ish₁ro- 'holy'.[19] |
| κλᾷδες | klaides | * Doric klaides * Attic kleides 'bars, bolts, keys' | Derives from PIE *kleh₂u- 'lock', although Beekes suggests the original meaning must have been 'nail, pin, hook', as in, instruments to lock a door.[20] | |
| μέσσυϊ μέσσος | messui messos | * Attic ἐν μέσῳ 'in the middle' * Cret./Boet. μέττος | Identical to Sanskrit mádhya-, Latin medius, Gothic midjis, all from PIE *médʰ-io- 'in the middle'.[21] | |
| πέμπε | pempe | 'five' | * Attic πέντε pente * Pamphylian πέ(ν)δε pede | From PIE *pénkʷe 'five'.[22][23] |
| πέσδος | pésdos | 'pedestrian', 'infantry' (as a collective) | Attic πεζός pezós | Per Beekes, formally identical to Sanskrit pád-ya 'regarding the foot' < PIE *ped-i̯o-.[24] |
| πέσσον | pesson | 'plain' | * Attic πεδίον pedion 'surface, plain, field' * Cypriot πεδίjα 'plain'. | From PIE *ped- 'foot'.[25] |
| πέσσυρες | pessyres | 'four' | * Lesbian πίσυρες pisyres * Boeotian πέτταρες pettares * Attic τέσσαρες tessares * Doric tetores | Derives from PIE *kʷetuer- 'four'.[26][27] |
| ξέννος | xennos | 'foreigner, guest-friend, strange' | Attic xenos; Ionic xeinos | Beekes supposes it could be Pre-Greek.[28] |
| στρότος | strótos | 'army, troop' | Attic στρατός stratós | Per Beekes, exact correspondence to Sanskrit str̩ta- 'thrown down', Avestan stərəta- 'spread out'.[29] |
| ὔσδος | usdos | 'branch, twig, bough, offshoot' | Attic ozos 'twig, branch' | Derives from PIE *h₃esdo- > *Hosdo-.[30] |
| φηρία | phēria | 'wild animal' | Attic θηρία thēria 'beasts' | Derives from PIE *ǵʰueh₁r-.[31] |
| Ψάπφω | Psapphō | Attic Σαπφώ Sapphō | ||
| Boeotian lemma | Transcription | Meaning | Correspondence to other Greek dialects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἄας ἀεστητόν | aas aestēton | 'tomorrow' | Attic αὔριον aurion | cf. Attic ēōs 'dawn' |
| βανά βανῆκες | bana banēkes | 'woman' 'women' (pl.) | Attic gunē Attic gunaikes | Derived from PIE *gʷḗn-h₂.[32] |
| Δεύς | Deus | Zeus | Also attested in: * Laconian Δεύς Deús * Rhodian Δεύς Deús | Derived from PIE *Dyeus ('sky-god').[33] |
| γάδου ϝάδου | gadou wadou | 'sweet, pleasant' | * Attic ἡδύ hēdú 'sweet, tasteful, pleasant, pleasing' | Attested in Corinna.17. Derived from PIE *sueh₂d-ú- 'sweet'.[34] |
| κᾶρουξ | karoux[35] | * Attic κήρυξ kēryx 'herald, messenger' * Doric κᾶρυξ káryx | Per Beekes, probably Pre-Greek.[36] | |
| Thessalian lemma | Transcription | Meaning | Correspondence to other Greek dialects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ἄπλουν | Aploun | Apollo (Olympic deity; brother to Artemis) | * Attic Ἀπόλλων Apollōn * Doric/Pamphylian Ἀπέλο̄ν Apelon | [39] |
| δάμοσσος | dámossos | public | Attic dēmósios | See iddioûstikos below. |
| δέσποινα | despoina | 'woman' | Feminine form of despotes. In Attic gunē, in Doric guna mean 'woman'. See also Despoina. | |
| ἰδδιούστικος | iddioûstikos | privative | Attic idiōtikós[40][41] | |
| κίς | kis | 'who, anyone' | * Attic tis * Laconian tir * Arcadocypriot sis | Derived from PIE *kʷi- (interrogative/relative pronoun).[42] |
| κῦῤῥος | kyrrhos or kyrros | 'sir, master' | Attic kyrios | |
| Μακετοὺν | Maketoun[43] | 'Macedonian man' | Attic Μακεδών Makedōn 'id' | Thessalian suffix -ουν '-oun' parallels Attic suffix ων ōn in both nominative and genitive of participles, pronouns and nouns. |
| ματτύη | mattuē | a meat-dessert of Macedonian or Thessalian origin (in Athenaeus)[44] | Cf. Macedonian mattuēs 'a kind of bird'. | |
| Πέτθαλος Πεθθάλειος | Pétthalos | 'Thessalian man' | * Boeotian Φέτταλος Phéttalos * Attic Θετταλός Thettalós * Ionic/Koine Θεσσαλός Thessalós 'id' | [45] Per Beekes, a Pre-Greek word derived from *Kʷettʸal-.[46] |
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