![Mycenaean language](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi8xLzE3L0hvbWVyaWNfR3JlZWNlLWVuLnN2Zy8xNjAwcHgtSG9tZXJpY19HcmVlY2UtZW4uc3ZnLnBuZw==.png )
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Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the terminus ad quem for the introduction of the Greek language to Greece.[citation needed] The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first attested on Crete before the 14th century BC. Most inscriptions are on clay tablets found in Knossos, in central Crete, as well as in Pylos, in the southwest of the Peloponnese. Other tablets have been found at Mycenae itself, Tiryns and Thebes and at Chania, in Western Crete. The language is named after Mycenae, one of the major centres of Mycenaean Greece.
Mycenaean Greek | |
---|---|
Native to | Mycenean Greece |
Region | Southern Balkans/Crete |
Era | 16th–12th century BC |
Linear B | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | gmy |
Linguist List | gmy |
Glottolog | myce1242 |
![]() Map of Greece as described in Homer's Iliad. The geographical data is believed to refer primarily to Bronze Age Greece, when Mycenaean Greek would have been spoken, and so can be used as an estimator of the range. | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
The tablets long remained undeciphered, and many languages were suggested for them, until Michael Ventris, building on the extensive work of Alice Kober, deciphered the script in 1952.
The texts on the tablets are mostly lists and inventories. No prose narrative survives, much less myth or poetry. Still, much may be gleaned from these records about the people who produced them and about Mycenaean Greece, the period before the so-called Greek Dark Ages.
Phonology
![image](https://www.english.nina.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.jpg)
Type | Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | lab. | ||||||
Nasal | m | n | |||||
Stop | voiceless | p | t | ts* | k | kʷ | |
voiced | b | d | dz* | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | kʰʷ | |||
Fricative | s | h | |||||
Approximant | j | w | |||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Lateral | l |
Mycenaean preserves some archaic Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Greek features not present in later ancient Greek:
- labialized velar consonants [ɡʷ, kʷ, kʷʰ], written as ⟨q⟩ in transcriptions of the Mycenaean spelling system. In other ancient Greek varieties, labialized velars were replaced with labials /b, p, pʰ/, dentals /d, t, tʰ/, or velars /ɡ k kʰ/, depending on the context and the dialect. For example, Mycenaean 𐀦𐀄𐀒𐀫 (qo-u-ko-ro), pronounced gʷoukoloi, corresponds to classical Greek βουκόλοι boukóloi, "cowherds".
- The semivowels /j w/. Both were lost in standard Attic Greek, although /w/ was preserved in some Greek dialects and written as digamma ⟨ϝ⟩ or beta ⟨β⟩.
- The glottal fricative /h/ between vowels.
The voiceless and voiced affricates /ts/ and /dz/ (marked with asterisks in the table above), are hypothesized to have been used in the pronunciation of words written with ⟨z⟩ in transcriptions of the Mycenaean spelling system. Voiced /dz/ developed from Pre-Greek clusters of a voiced dental or velar stop + *y (*dy, *gy, *ɡʷy), or in certain instances from word-initial *y, and corresponds to ζ in the Greek alphabet. For example, the Mycenaean words 𐀕𐀿, 𐀵𐀟𐀼 (me-zo, to-pe-za), pronounced medzōs, torpedza, correspond to classical Greek μέζων, τράπεζα. Voiceless /ts/ developed from Pre-Greek clusters of a voiceless or voiceless aspirated velar stop + *y (*ky, *kʰy, *kʷy, kʷʰy) and corresponds to -ττ- or -σσ- in Greek varieties written in the Greek alphabet. The exact pronunciation of these consonants in Mycenaean is uncertain.
There were at least five vowels /a e i o u/, which could be both short and long.
As noted below, the syllabic Linear B script used to record Mycenaean is extremely defective and distinguishes only the semivowels ⟨j w⟩, the sonorants ⟨m n r⟩, the stops ⟨p t d k q⟩, the affricate ⟨z⟩, the sibilant fricative ⟨s⟩, and (marginally) the glottal fricative ⟨h⟩. Voiced, voiceless and aspirate occlusives are all written with the same symbols except that ⟨d⟩ stands for /d/ and ⟨t⟩ for both /t/ and /tʰ/). Both /r/ and /l/ are written ⟨r⟩; /h/ is unwritten unless followed by /a/.
The length of vowels and consonants is not notated. In most circumstances, the script is unable to notate a consonant not followed by a vowel. Either an extra vowel is inserted (often echoing the quality of the following vowel), or the consonant is omitted. (See above for more details.)
Thus, determining the actual pronunciation of written words is often difficult, and using a combination of the PIE etymology of a word, its form in later Greek and variations in spelling is necessary. Even so, for some words the pronunciation is not known exactly, especially when the meaning is unclear from context, or the word has no descendants in the later dialects.
Orthography
![image](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW5nbGlzaC5uaW5hLmF6L3dpa2lwZWRpYS9pbWFnZS9hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTFjR3h2WVdRdWQybHJhVzFsWkdsaExtOXlaeTkzYVd0cGNHVmthV0V2WTI5dGJXOXVjeTkwYUhWdFlpOWxMMlV5TDB4cGJtVmhjbDlDWDAxMWN5VkRNeVZCT1dWZllYSmphQ1ZETXlWQk9XOXNiMmRwY1hWbFgyUmxYMDE1WXlWRE15VkJPRzVsY3k1cWNHY3ZNakl3Y0hndFRHbHVaV0Z5WDBKZlRYVnpKVU16SlVFNVpWOWhjbU5vSlVNekpVRTViMnh2WjJseGRXVmZaR1ZmVFhsakpVTXpKVUU0Ym1WekxtcHdadz09LmpwZw==.jpg)
The Mycenaean language is preserved in Linear B writing, which consists of about 200 syllabic characters and ideograms. Since Linear B was derived from Linear A, the script of an undeciphered Minoan language, the sounds of Mycenaean are not fully represented. A limited number of syllabic characters must represent a much greater number of syllables used in spoken speech: in particular, the Linear B script only fully represents open syllables (those ending in vowel sounds), where Mycenaean Greek frequently used closed syllables (those ending in consonants).
Orthographic simplifications therefore had to be made:
- Contrasts of voice and aspiration were not marked for any consonants except the dentals d, t. For example, 𐀁𐀒, e-ko may be either egō ("I") or ekhō ("I have").
- r and l are not distinguished: 𐀣𐀯𐀩𐀄, qa-si-re-u is gʷasileus (classical βασιλεύς basileús "king").
- The rough breathing /h/ is generally not indicated: 𐀀𐀛𐀊, a-ni-ja is hāniai ("reins"). However, 𐁀, a2 is optionally used to indicate ha at word beginning.
- The consonants l, m, n, r, s are omitted at the end of a syllable or before another consonant (including word-initial s before a consonant): 𐀞𐀲, pa-ta is panta ("all"); 𐀏𐀒, ka-ko is khalkos ("copper"), 𐀲𐀵𐀗, ta-to-mo is σταθμός stathmós ("station, outpost").
- Double consonants are not represented: 𐀒𐀜𐀰, ko-no-so is Knōsos (classical Knossos).
- Other consonant clusters are dissolved orthographically, creating apparent vowels: 𐀡𐀵𐀪𐀚, po-to-ri-ne is ptolin (Ancient Greek: πόλιν pólin or πτόλιν ptólin, "city" accusative case).
- Length of vowels is not marked.
Certain characters can be used alternately: for example, 𐀀, a, can always be written wherever 𐁀, a2, can. However, these are not true homophones (characters with the same sound) because the correspondence does not necessarily work both ways: 𐁀, a2 cannot necessarily be used in place of 𐀀, a. For that reason, they are referred to as 'overlapping values': signs such as 𐁀, a2 are interpreted as special cases or 'restricted applications' of signs such as 𐀀, a, and their use as largely a matter of an individual scribe's preference.
Morphology
Nouns likely decline for 7 cases: nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, vocative, instrumental and locative; 3 genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and 3 numbers: singular, dual, plural. The last two cases had merged with other cases by Classical Greek. In Modern Greek, only nominative, accusative, genitive and vocative remain as separate cases with their own morphological markings.Adjectives agree with nouns in case, gender, and number.
Verbs probably conjugate for 3 tenses: past, present, future; 3 aspects: perfect, perfective, imperfective; 3 numbers: singular, dual, plural; 4 moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, optative; 3 voices: active, middle, passive; 3 persons: first, second, third; infinitives, and verbal adjectives.
The verbal augment is almost entirely absent from Mycenaean Greek with only one known exception, 𐀀𐀟𐀈𐀐, a-pe-do-ke (PY Fr 1184), but even that appears elsewhere without the augment, as 𐀀𐀢𐀈𐀐, a-pu-do-ke (KN Od 681). The augment is sometimes omitted in Homer.
Greek features
Mycenaean had already undergone the following sound changes particular to the Greek language and so is considered to be Greek:
Phonological changes
- Initial and intervocalic *s to /h/.
- Voiced aspirates devoiced.
- Syllabic liquids to /ar, al/ or /or, ol/; syllabic nasals to /a/ or /o/.
- *kj and *tj to /s/ before a vowel.
- Initial *j to /h/ or replaced by z (exact value unknown, possibly [dz]).
- *gj and *dj to /z/.
- *-ti to /-si/ (also found in Attic-Ionic, Arcadocypriot, and Lesbian, but not Doric, Boeotian, or Thessalian).
Morphological changes
- The use of -eus to produce agent nouns
- The third-person singular ending -ei
- The infinitive ending -ein, contracted from -e-en
Lexical items
- Uniquely Greek words:
- 𐀣𐀯𐀩𐀄, qa-si-re-u, *gʷasiléus (later Greek: βασιλεύς, basiléus, "king")
- 𐀏𐀒, ka-ko, *kʰalkós (later Greek: χαλκός, chalkos, "bronze")
- Greek forms of words known in other languages:
- 𐀷𐀙𐀏, wa-na-ka, *wánaks (later Greek: ἄναξ, ánax, "overlord, king, leader")
- 𐀷𐀙𐀭, wa-na-sa, *wánassa (later Greek: ἄνασσα, ánassa, "queen")
- 𐀁𐀨𐀺, e-ra-wo or 𐀁𐁉𐀺, e-rai-wo, *élaiwon (later Greek: ἔλαιον, élaion, "olive oil")
- 𐀳𐀃, te-o, *tʰehós (later Greek: θεός, theos, "god")
- 𐀴𐀪𐀡, ti-ri-po, *tripos (later Greek: τρίπους, tripous, "tripod")
Comparison with Ancient (Homeric) Greek
Line | Mycenaean Greek (Linear B script) | Transliteration of Mycenaean Greek | Homeric Greek (Greek alphabet: modern orthography) | Transliteration of Homeric Greek |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 𐀗𐀛𐄁𐀀𐀸𐀆𐄁𐀳𐀀𐄁𐀟𐀩𐀷𐀆𐀃𐀍𐄁𐀀𐀑𐀩𐀺𐄁 | Monin aweyde Tʰeha Pelewadeohyo Akʰilēwos | Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεᾱ̀ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος | Mênin áeide theā̀ Pēlēïádeō Akhilêos |
2 | 𐀃𐀫𐀕𐀙𐄁𐁀𐀘𐀹𐀊𐄁𐀀𐀏𐀺𐄁𐀀𐀑𐀊𐄁𐀁𐀳𐀐𐄁 | olomenān, hā=murwia Akʰaywoys algya etʰēke, | οὐλομένην, ἣ μῡρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε, | ouloménēn, hḕ mūrí' Akhaioîs álge' éthēke, |
3 | 𐀡𐀩𐀷𐀆𐄁𐀂𐀠𐀴𐀗𐄁𐀢𐀱𐀏𐄁𐀀𐀹𐀅𐄁𐀡𐀫𐀊𐀟𐀮𐄁 | polewas=de ipʰtʰimons psūkʰans Awidāy proyapse | πολλᾱ̀ς δ᾽ ἰφθῑ́μους ψῡχᾱ̀ς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν | pollā̀s d' iphthī́mous psūkhā̀s Áïdi proḯapsen |
4 | 𐀁𐀫𐀺𐄁𐁂𐀵𐀆𐄁𐀸𐀫𐀨𐄁𐀳𐀄𐀐𐄁𐀓𐀯𐄁 | hērōwōn, awtons=de welōra tewkʰe kunsi | ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν | hērṓōn, autoùs dè helṓria teûkhe kúnessin |
5 | 𐀃𐀺𐀜𐀂𐀤𐄁𐀞𐀯𐄁𐀇𐀺𐀆𐄁𐀁𐀤𐀩𐀁𐀵𐄁𐀦𐀨𐄁 | oywonoyhi=kʷe pansi, Diwos=de ekʷeleeto gʷōlā, | οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Διὸς δ᾽ ἐτελείετο βουλή, | oiōnoîsí te pâsi, Diòs d' eteleíeto boulḗ, |
Corpus
The corpus of Mycenaean-era Greek writing consists of some 6,000 tablets and potsherds in Linear B, from LMII to LHIIIB. No Linear B monuments or non-Linear B transliterations have yet been found.
The so-called Kafkania pebble has been claimed as the oldest known Mycenaean inscription, with a purported date to the 17th century BC. However, its authenticity is widely doubted, and most scholarly treatments of Linear B omit it from their corpora.
The earliest generally-accepted date for a Linear B tablet belongs to the tablets from the 'Room of the Chariot Tablets' at Knossos, which are believed to date to the LM II-LM IIIA period, between the last half of the 15th century BCE and the earliest years of the 14th.
Variations and possible dialects
While the Mycenaean dialect is relatively uniform at all the centres where it is found, there are also a few traces of dialectal variants:
- i for e in the dative of consonant stems
- a instead of o as the reflex of ṇ (e.g. pe-ma instead of pe-mo < *spermṇ)
- the e/i variation in e.g. te-mi-ti-ja/ti-mi-ti-ja
Based on such variations, Ernst Risch (1966) postulated the existence of some dialects within Linear B. The "Normal Mycenaean" would have been the standardized language of the tablets, and the "Special Mycenaean" represented some local vernacular dialect (or dialects) of the particular scribes producing the tablets.
Thus, "a particular scribe, distinguished by his handwriting, reverted to the dialect of his everyday speech" and used the variant forms, such as the examples above.
It follows that after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece, while the standardized Mycenaean language was no longer used, the particular local dialects reflecting local vernacular speech would have continued, eventually producing the various Greek dialects of the historic period.
Such theories are also connected with the idea that the Mycenaean language constituted a type of a special koine representing the official language of the palace records and the ruling aristocracy. When the 'Mycenaean linguistic koine' fell into disuse after the fall of the palaces because the script was no longer used, the underlying dialects would have continued to develop in their own ways. That view was formulated by Antonin Bartonek. Other linguists like Leonard Robert Palmer and also support this view of the 'Mycenaean linguistic koine'. (The term 'Mycenaean koine' is also used by archaeologists to refer to the material culture of the region.) However, since the Linear B script does not indicate several possible dialectical features, such as the presence or absence of word-initial aspiration and the length of vowels, it is unsafe to extrapolate that Linear B texts were read as consistently as they were written.
The evidence for "Special Mycenaean" as a distinct dialect has, however, been challenged. Thompson argues that Risch's evidence does not meet the diagnostic criteria to reconstruct two dialects within Mycenaean. In particular, more recent paleographical study, not available to Risch, shows that no individual scribe consistently writes "Special Mycenaean" forms. This inconsistency makes the variation between "Normal Mycenaean" and "Special Mycenaean" unlikely to represent dialectical or sociolectical differences, as these would be expected to concentrate in individual speakers, which is not observed in the Linear B corpus.[citation needed]
Survival
While the use of Mycenaean Greek may have ceased with the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, some traces of it are found in the later Greek dialects. In particular, Arcadocypriot Greek is believed to be rather close to Mycenaean Greek; it was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia (central Peloponnese) and in Cyprus.
Ancient Pamphylian also shows some similarity to Arcadocypriot and to Mycenaean Greek.
References
- *Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.
- "Cracking the code: the decipherment of Linear B 60 years on". University of Cambridge. 15 January 2023.
- Cartledge, Paul (27 October 2011). Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-19-960134-9.
- Ventris & Chadwick 1973, p. 45.
- Ventris & Chadwick 1973, pp. 44, 398–399, 476, 561.
- Ventris & Chadwick 1973, pp. 42–48.
- Ventris & Chadwick 1973, p. 47.
- Ventris & Chadwick 1973, p. 390.
- Andrew Garrett, "Convergence in the formation of Indo-European subgroups: Phylogeny and chronology", in Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages, ed. Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew (Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research), 2006, p. 140, citing Ivo Hajnal, Studien zum mykenischen Kasussystem. Berlin, 1995, with the proviso that "the Mycenaean case system is still controversial in part".
- Hooker 1980:62
- Ventris & Chadwick 1973, p. 68.
- "The Linear B word wa-na-ka". Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages.
- "The Linear B word wa-na-sa". Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages.
- Wiseman 2010, pp. 30–40.
- Thomas G. Palaima, "OL Zh 1: QVOVSQVE TANDEM?" Minos 37–38 (2002–2003), p. 373-85 full text
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- Bartoněk, Antonín, Greek dialectology after the decipherment of Linear B. Studia Mycenaea : proceedings of the Mycenaean symposium, Brno, 1966. Bartoněk, Antonín (editor). Vyd. 1. Brno: Universita J.E. Purkyně, 1968, pp. [37]-51
- BARTONEK, A. 1966 'Mycenaean Koine reconsidered', Cambridge Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies' (CCMS) ed. by L. R. Palmer and John Chadwick, C.U.P. pp.95–103
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- Stephen Colvin, 'The Greek koine and the logic of a standard language' Archived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, in M. Silk and A. Georgakopoulou (eds.) Standard Languages and Language Standards: Greek, Past and Present (Ashgate 2009), 33–45
- Thompson, R. (2006) 'Special vs. Normal Mycenaean Revisited.' Minos 37–38, 2002–2003 [2006], 337–369.
- Palaima, Thomas G. (1988). The scribes of Pylos. Edizioni dell'Ateneo.
- Wilson, Nigel (2013-10-31). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Routledge. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-1-136-78799-7.
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- Smodlaka Vitas, Sanja (7 January 2019). "Indoeuropsko naslijeđe u mikenskoj pomorskoj onomastici" [Indo-European Heritage in Mycenaean Maritime Onomastics]. Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea (in Croatian and English). 5: 9–30. doi:10.15291/misc.2744.
- Thompson, Rupert (2006). "Special vs. Normal Mycenaean Revisited". Minos. 37–38: 337–369.
- Thompson, Rupert (2024). "The Mycenaean Language". In Killen, John (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 232–254. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.009. ISBN 978-1-139-02904-9.
- Ventris, Michael; Chadwick, John (1953). "Evidence for Greek dialect in the Mycenaean archives". Journal of Hellenic Studies. 73: 84–103. doi:10.2307/628239. JSTOR 628239. S2CID 163873642.
- Ventris, Michael; Chadwick, John (1973) [1956]. Documents in Mycenaean Greek (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-08558-6.
- Wiseman, Rob (2010). A Mycenaean Iliad: A linguistic reconstruction of the opening one hundred lines of the Iliad in Normal Mycenaean. London, United Kingdom.
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External links
- Jeremy B. Rutter, "Bibliography: The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social, Political, and Economic Organization"
- The writing of the Mycenaeans (contains an image of the Kafkania pebble)
- Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP)
- Palaeolexicon, Word study tool of ancient languages
- Studies in Mycenaean Inscriptions and Dialect, glossaries of individual Mycenaean terms, tablet, and series citations
- glottothèque – Ancient Indo-European Grammar online, an online collection of video lectures on Ancient Indo-European languages, including some information about Mycenaean Greek
This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Mycenaean Greek news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece 16th to 12th centuries BC before the hypothesised Dorian invasion often cited as the terminus ad quem for the introduction of the Greek language to Greece citation needed The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B a script first attested on Crete before the 14th century BC Most inscriptions are on clay tablets found in Knossos in central Crete as well as in Pylos in the southwest of the Peloponnese Other tablets have been found at Mycenae itself Tiryns and Thebes and at Chania in Western Crete The language is named after Mycenae one of the major centres of Mycenaean Greece Mycenaean GreekNative toMycenean GreeceRegionSouthern Balkans CreteEra16th 12th century BCLanguage familyIndo European HellenicGreekMycenaean GreekWriting systemLinear BLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code gmy class extiw title iso639 3 gmy gmy a Linguist ListgmyGlottologmyce1242Map of Greece as described in Homer s Iliad The geographical data is believed to refer primarily to Bronze Age Greece when Mycenaean Greek would have been spoken and so can be used as an estimator of the range This article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA This article contains text in the Linear B syllabic script and characters used to write reconstructed Proto Indo European words Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols The tablets long remained undeciphered and many languages were suggested for them until Michael Ventris building on the extensive work of Alice Kober deciphered the script in 1952 The texts on the tablets are mostly lists and inventories No prose narrative survives much less myth or poetry Still much may be gleaned from these records about the people who produced them and about Mycenaean Greece the period before the so called Greek Dark Ages PhonologyWarrior wearing a boar s tusk helmet from a Mycenaean chamber tomb in the Acropolis of Athens 14th 13th century BC Type Bilabial Dental Palatal Velar Glottalcentral lab Nasal m nStop voiceless p t ts k kʷvoiced b d dz ɡ ɡʷaspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ kʰʷFricative s hApproximant j wTrill rLateral l Mycenaean preserves some archaic Proto Indo European and Proto Greek features not present in later ancient Greek labialized velar consonants ɡʷ kʷ kʷʰ written as q in transcriptions of the Mycenaean spelling system In other ancient Greek varieties labialized velars were replaced with labials b p pʰ dentals d t tʰ or velars ɡ k kʰ depending on the context and the dialect For example Mycenaean 𐀦𐀄𐀒𐀫 qo u ko ro pronounced gʷoukoloi corresponds to classical Greek boykoloi boukoloi cowherds The semivowels j w Both were lost in standard Attic Greek although w was preserved in some Greek dialects and written as digamma ϝ or beta b The glottal fricative h between vowels The voiceless and voiced affricates ts and dz marked with asterisks in the table above are hypothesized to have been used in the pronunciation of words written with z in transcriptions of the Mycenaean spelling system Voiced dz developed from Pre Greek clusters of a voiced dental or velar stop y dy gy ɡʷy or in certain instances from word initial y and corresponds to z in the Greek alphabet For example the Mycenaean words 𐀕𐀿 𐀵𐀟𐀼 me zo to pe za pronounced medzōs torpedza correspond to classical Greek mezwn trapeza Voiceless ts developed from Pre Greek clusters of a voiceless or voiceless aspirated velar stop y ky kʰy kʷy kʷʰy and corresponds to tt or ss in Greek varieties written in the Greek alphabet The exact pronunciation of these consonants in Mycenaean is uncertain There were at least five vowels a e i o u which could be both short and long As noted below the syllabic Linear B script used to record Mycenaean is extremely defective and distinguishes only the semivowels j w the sonorants m n r the stops p t d k q the affricate z the sibilant fricative s and marginally the glottal fricative h Voiced voiceless and aspirate occlusives are all written with the same symbols except that d stands for d and t for both t and tʰ Both r and l are written r h is unwritten unless followed by a The length of vowels and consonants is not notated In most circumstances the script is unable to notate a consonant not followed by a vowel Either an extra vowel is inserted often echoing the quality of the following vowel or the consonant is omitted See above for more details Thus determining the actual pronunciation of written words is often difficult and using a combination of the PIE etymology of a word its form in later Greek and variations in spelling is necessary Even so for some words the pronunciation is not known exactly especially when the meaning is unclear from context or the word has no descendants in the later dialects OrthographyInscription of Mycenaean Greek written in Linear B Archaeological Museum of Mycenae The Mycenaean language is preserved in Linear B writing which consists of about 200 syllabic characters and ideograms Since Linear B was derived from Linear A the script of an undeciphered Minoan language the sounds of Mycenaean are not fully represented A limited number of syllabic characters must represent a much greater number of syllables used in spoken speech in particular the Linear B script only fully represents open syllables those ending in vowel sounds where Mycenaean Greek frequently used closed syllables those ending in consonants Orthographic simplifications therefore had to be made Contrasts of voice and aspiration were not marked for any consonants except the dentals d t For example 𐀁𐀒 e ko may be either egō I or ekhō I have r and l are not distinguished 𐀣𐀯𐀩𐀄 qa si re u is gʷasileus classical basileys basileus king The rough breathing h is generally not indicated 𐀀𐀛𐀊 a ni ja is haniai reins However 𐁀 a2 is optionally used to indicate ha at word beginning The consonants l m n r s are omitted at the end of a syllable or before another consonant including word initial s before a consonant 𐀞𐀲 pa ta is panta all 𐀏𐀒 ka ko is khalkos copper 𐀲𐀵𐀗 ta to mo is sta8mos stathmos station outpost Double consonants are not represented 𐀒𐀜𐀰 ko no so is Knōsos classical Knossos Other consonant clusters are dissolved orthographically creating apparent vowels 𐀡𐀵𐀪𐀚 po to ri ne is ptolin Ancient Greek polin polin or ptolin ptolin city accusative case Length of vowels is not marked Certain characters can be used alternately for example 𐀀 a can always be written wherever 𐁀 a2 can However these are not true homophones characters with the same sound because the correspondence does not necessarily work both ways 𐁀 a2 cannot necessarily be used in place of 𐀀 a For that reason they are referred to as overlapping values signs such as 𐁀 a2 are interpreted as special cases or restricted applications of signs such as 𐀀 a and their use as largely a matter of an individual scribe s preference MorphologyNouns likely decline for 7 cases nominative genitive accusative dative vocative instrumental and locative 3 genders masculine feminine neuter and 3 numbers singular dual plural The last two cases had merged with other cases by Classical Greek In Modern Greek only nominative accusative genitive and vocative remain as separate cases with their own morphological markings Adjectives agree with nouns in case gender and number Verbs probably conjugate for 3 tenses past present future 3 aspects perfect perfective imperfective 3 numbers singular dual plural 4 moods indicative imperative subjunctive optative 3 voices active middle passive 3 persons first second third infinitives and verbal adjectives The verbal augment is almost entirely absent from Mycenaean Greek with only one known exception 𐀀𐀟𐀈𐀐 a pe do ke PY Fr 1184 but even that appears elsewhere without the augment as 𐀀𐀢𐀈𐀐 a pu do ke KN Od 681 The augment is sometimes omitted in Homer Greek featuresMycenaean had already undergone the following sound changes particular to the Greek language and so is considered to be Greek Phonological changes Initial and intervocalic s to h Voiced aspirates devoiced Syllabic liquids to ar al or or ol syllabic nasals to a or o kj and tj to s before a vowel Initial j to h or replaced by z exact value unknown possibly dz gj and dj to z ti to si also found in Attic Ionic Arcadocypriot and Lesbian but not Doric Boeotian or Thessalian Morphological changes The use of eus to produce agent nouns The third person singular ending ei The infinitive ending ein contracted from e enLexical items Uniquely Greek words 𐀣𐀯𐀩𐀄 qa si re u gʷasileus later Greek basileys basileus king 𐀏𐀒 ka ko kʰalkos later Greek xalkos chalkos bronze Greek forms of words known in other languages 𐀷𐀙𐀏 wa na ka wanaks later Greek ἄna3 anax overlord king leader 𐀷𐀙𐀭 wa na sa wanassa later Greek ἄnassa anassa queen 𐀁𐀨𐀺 e ra wo or 𐀁𐁉𐀺 e rai wo elaiwon later Greek ἔlaion elaion olive oil 𐀳𐀃 te o tʰehos later Greek 8eos theos god 𐀴𐀪𐀡 ti ri po tripos later Greek tripoys tripous tripod Comparison with Ancient Homeric Greek Modern translation by Wiseman 2010 of the first five lines of the Iliad into reconstructed Mycenaean Greek Line Mycenaean Greek Linear B script Transliteration of Mycenaean Greek Homeric Greek Greek alphabet modern orthography Transliteration of Homeric Greek1 𐀗𐀛 𐀀𐀸𐀆 𐀳𐀀 𐀟𐀩𐀷𐀆𐀃𐀍 𐀀𐀑𐀩𐀺 Monin aweyde Tʰeha Pelewadeohyo Akʰilewos Mῆnin ἄeide 8eᾱ Phlhiadew Ἀxilῆos Menin aeide thea Peleiadeō Akhileos2 𐀃𐀫𐀕𐀙 𐁀𐀘𐀹𐀊 𐀀𐀏𐀺 𐀀𐀑𐀊 𐀁𐀳𐀐 olomenan ha murwia Akʰaywoys algya etʰeke oὐlomenhn ἣ mῡri Ἀxaioῖs ἄlge ἔ8hke oulomenen hḕ muri Akhaiois alge etheke 3 𐀡𐀩𐀷𐀆 𐀂𐀠𐀴𐀗 𐀢𐀱𐀏 𐀀𐀹𐀅 𐀡𐀫𐀊𐀟𐀮 polewas de ipʰtʰimons psukʰans Awiday proyapse pollᾱ s d ἰf8ῑ moys psῡxᾱ s Ἄidi proiapsen polla s d iphthi mous psukha s Aidi proḯapsen4 𐀁𐀫𐀺 𐁂𐀵𐀆 𐀸𐀫𐀨 𐀳𐀄𐀐 𐀓𐀯 herōwōn awtons de welōra tewkʰe kunsi ἡrwwn aὐtoὺs dὲ ἑlwria teῦxe kynessin herṓōn autous de helṓria teukhe kunessin5 𐀃𐀺𐀜𐀂𐀤 𐀞𐀯 𐀇𐀺𐀆 𐀁𐀤𐀩𐀁𐀵 𐀦𐀨 oywonoyhi kʷe pansi Diwos de ekʷeleeto gʷōla oἰwnoῖsi te pᾶsi Diὸs d ἐteleieto boylh oiōnoisi te pasi Dios d eteleieto boulḗ CorpusThe corpus of Mycenaean era Greek writing consists of some 6 000 tablets and potsherds in Linear B from LMII to LHIIIB No Linear B monuments or non Linear B transliterations have yet been found The so called Kafkania pebble has been claimed as the oldest known Mycenaean inscription with a purported date to the 17th century BC However its authenticity is widely doubted and most scholarly treatments of Linear B omit it from their corpora The earliest generally accepted date for a Linear B tablet belongs to the tablets from the Room of the Chariot Tablets at Knossos which are believed to date to the LM II LM IIIA period between the last half of the 15th century BCE and the earliest years of the 14th Variations and possible dialectsWhile the Mycenaean dialect is relatively uniform at all the centres where it is found there are also a few traces of dialectal variants i for e in the dative of consonant stems a instead of o as the reflex of ṇ e g pe ma instead of pe mo lt spermṇ the e i variation in e g te mi ti ja ti mi ti ja Based on such variations Ernst Risch 1966 postulated the existence of some dialects within Linear B The Normal Mycenaean would have been the standardized language of the tablets and the Special Mycenaean represented some local vernacular dialect or dialects of the particular scribes producing the tablets Thus a particular scribe distinguished by his handwriting reverted to the dialect of his everyday speech and used the variant forms such as the examples above It follows that after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece while the standardized Mycenaean language was no longer used the particular local dialects reflecting local vernacular speech would have continued eventually producing the various Greek dialects of the historic period Such theories are also connected with the idea that the Mycenaean language constituted a type of a special koine representing the official language of the palace records and the ruling aristocracy When the Mycenaean linguistic koine fell into disuse after the fall of the palaces because the script was no longer used the underlying dialects would have continued to develop in their own ways That view was formulated by Antonin Bartonek Other linguists like Leonard Robert Palmer and de also support this view of the Mycenaean linguistic koine The term Mycenaean koine is also used by archaeologists to refer to the material culture of the region However since the Linear B script does not indicate several possible dialectical features such as the presence or absence of word initial aspiration and the length of vowels it is unsafe to extrapolate that Linear B texts were read as consistently as they were written The evidence for Special Mycenaean as a distinct dialect has however been challenged Thompson argues that Risch s evidence does not meet the diagnostic criteria to reconstruct two dialects within Mycenaean In particular more recent paleographical study not available to Risch shows that no individual scribe consistently writes Special Mycenaean forms This inconsistency makes the variation between Normal Mycenaean and Special Mycenaean unlikely to represent dialectical or sociolectical differences as these would be expected to concentrate in individual speakers which is not observed in the Linear B corpus citation needed Survival While the use of Mycenaean Greek may have ceased with the fall of the Mycenaean civilization some traces of it are found in the later Greek dialects In particular Arcadocypriot Greek is believed to be rather close to Mycenaean Greek it was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia central Peloponnese and in Cyprus Ancient Pamphylian also shows some similarity to Arcadocypriot and to Mycenaean Greek References Chadwick John 1976 The Mycenaean World Cambridge UP ISBN 0 521 29037 6 Cracking the code the decipherment of Linear B 60 years on University of Cambridge 15 January 2023 Cartledge Paul 27 October 2011 Ancient Greece A Very Short Introduction 1st ed Oxford University Press p 17 ISBN 978 0 19 960134 9 Ventris amp Chadwick 1973 p 45 Ventris amp Chadwick 1973 pp 44 398 399 476 561 Ventris amp Chadwick 1973 pp 42 48 Ventris amp Chadwick 1973 p 47 Ventris amp Chadwick 1973 p 390 Andrew Garrett Convergence in the formation of Indo European subgroups Phylogeny and chronology in Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages ed Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew Cambridge McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2006 p 140 citing Ivo Hajnal Studien zum mykenischen Kasussystem Berlin 1995 with the proviso that the Mycenaean case system is still controversial in part Hooker 1980 62 Ventris amp Chadwick 1973 p 68 The Linear B word wa na ka Palaeolexicon Word study tool of ancient languages The Linear B word wa na sa Palaeolexicon Word study tool of ancient languages Wiseman 2010 pp 30 40 Thomas G Palaima OL Zh 1 QVOVSQVE TANDEM Minos 37 38 2002 2003 p 373 85 full text Helena Tomas 2017 Linear B Script and Linear B Administrative System Different Patterns in Their Development in P Steele ed Understanding Relations Between Scripts The Aegean Writing Systems pp 57 68 n 2 Anna Judson 2020 The Undeciphered Signs of Linear B n 513 Driessen Jan 2000 The Scribes of the Room of the Chariot Tablets at Knossos Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of a Linear B Deposit Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca RISCH Ernst 1966 Les differences dialectales dans le mycenien CCMS pp 150 160 Lydia Baumbach 1980 A Doric Fifth Column Archived 2019 08 02 at the Wayback Machine PDF Bartonek Antonin Greek dialectology after the decipherment of Linear B Studia Mycenaea proceedings of the Mycenaean symposium Brno 1966 Bartonek Antonin editor Vyd 1 Brno Universita J E Purkyne 1968 pp 37 51 BARTONEK A 1966 Mycenaean Koine reconsidered Cambridge Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies CCMS ed by L R Palmer and John Chadwick C U P pp 95 103 Palmer L R 1980 The Greek Language London Duhoux Y 1985 Mycenien et ecriture grecque in A Morpurgo Davies and Y Duhoux eds Linear B A 1984 Survey Louvain La Neuve 7 74 Stephen Colvin The Greek koine and the logic of a standard language Archived 2016 03 10 at the Wayback Machine in M Silk and A Georgakopoulou eds Standard Languages and Language Standards Greek Past and Present Ashgate 2009 33 45 Thompson R 2006 Special vs Normal Mycenaean Revisited Minos 37 38 2002 2003 2006 337 369 Palaima Thomas G 1988 The scribes of Pylos Edizioni dell Ateneo Wilson Nigel 2013 10 31 Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece Routledge pp 220 221 ISBN 978 1 136 78799 7 SourcesAura Jorro Francisco 1985 1993 Diccinario micenico in Spanish Madrid Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas Instituto de Filologia 2 vols Aura Jorro Francisco 2017 Reflexiones sobre el lexico micenico In de la Villa Jesus Falque Rey Emma Gonzalez Castro Jose Francisco Munoz Jimenez Maria Jose eds Conuentus Classicorum temas y formas del Mundo Clasico Vol 1 Sociedad Espanola de Estudios Clasicos pp 289 320 ISBN 978 84 697 8214 9 Bakker Egbert J ed 2010 A companion to the Ancient Greek language Oxford Wiley Blackwell Bartonek Antonin 2003 Handbuch des mykenischen Griechisch Heidelberg Carl Winter ISBN 3 8253 1435 9 Chadwick John 1958 The decipherment of Linear B Cambridge Cambridge University Press Chadwick John 1990 1958 The Decipherment of Linear B 2nd ed Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 39830 4 Chadwick John 1976 The Mycenaean World Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 29037 6 Chadwick John Baumbach Lydia 1963 The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary Glotta 41 3 4 157 271 JSTOR 40265918 Christidis Anastasios Phoivos ed 2007 A History of Ancient Greek From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity Cambridge Cambridge University Press Colvin Stephen C 2007 A Historical Greek Reader Mycenaean to the Koine Oxford Oxford University Press Colvin Stephen 2006 Autosegmental Phonology and Word Internal h in Mycenaean Greek Glotta 82 36 54 JSTOR 40288084 Easterling P E Handley Carol 2001 Greek Scripts An Illustrated Introduction London Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Fox Margalit 2013 The Riddle of the Labyrinth The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code 1st ed New York Ecco Press Hooker J T 1980 Linear B An introduction Bristol Bristol Classical Press Horrocks Geoffrey 2010 Greek A history of the language and its speakers 2nd ed Oxford Wiley Blackwell Ittzes Mate December 2004 The Augment in Mycenaean Greek Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 44 2 4 143 150 doi 10 1556 aant 44 2004 2 4 1 Jimenez Delgado Jose Miguel January 2009 La situacion de h en griego micenico Kadmos 47 1 2 doi 10 1515 KADMOS 2008 008 S2CID 161823908 Morpurgo Davies Anna Duhoux Yves eds 1985 Linear B A 1984 survey Louvain Belgium Peeters Morpurgo Davies Anna Duhoux Yves eds 2008 A companion to Linear B Mycenaean Greek texts and their world Vol 1 Louvain Belgium Peeters Palaima Thomas G 1988 The development of the Mycenaean writing system In Olivier J P Palaima T G eds Texts tablets and scribes Suplementos a Minos Vol 10 Salamanca Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas pp 269 342 Palaima Tom 1988 The Scribes of Pylos Incunabula Graeca Vol 87 Rome Edizioni dell Ateneo Palmer Leonard R 1980 The Greek language London Faber amp Faber Risch Ernst Grammatik des mykenischen Griechisch Ed amp expanded by Ivo Hajnal 2006 online here and here Smodlaka Vitas Sanja 7 January 2019 Indoeuropsko naslijeđe u mikenskoj pomorskoj onomastici Indo European Heritage in Mycenaean Maritime Onomastics Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea in Croatian and English 5 9 30 doi 10 15291 misc 2744 Thompson Rupert 2006 Special vs Normal Mycenaean Revisited Minos 37 38 337 369 Thompson Rupert 2024 The Mycenaean Language In Killen John ed The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 232 254 doi 10 1017 9781139029049 009 ISBN 978 1 139 02904 9 Ventris Michael Chadwick John 1953 Evidence for Greek dialect in the Mycenaean archives Journal of Hellenic Studies 73 84 103 doi 10 2307 628239 JSTOR 628239 S2CID 163873642 Ventris Michael Chadwick John 1973 1956 Documents in Mycenaean Greek 2nd ed Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 08558 6 Wiseman Rob 2010 A Mycenaean Iliad A linguistic reconstruction of the opening one hundred lines of the Iliad in Normal Mycenaean London United Kingdom a href wiki Template Cite book title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link External linksLibrary resources about Mycenaean Greek Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries Jeremy B Rutter Bibliography The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social Political and Economic Organization The writing of the Mycenaeans contains an image of the Kafkania pebble Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory PASP Palaeolexicon Word study tool of ancient languages Studies in Mycenaean Inscriptions and Dialect glossaries of individual Mycenaean terms tablet and series citations glottotheque Ancient Indo European Grammar online an online collection of video lectures on Ancient Indo European languages including some information about Mycenaean Greek