Mycenaean Greek

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Overview: Greek language
(see also: Greek alphabet )
Ancient Greek (approx. 2000 BC)
Mycenaean (approx. 1600–1100 BC)
Ancient Greek (approx. 800–300 BC)
Dialects:
Aeolian , Arcadian-Cypriot ,
Attic , Doric , Ionian
Koine (approx. 300 BC - 300 AD)
Late Antique Greek (approx. 300–600)
Middle Greek (approx. 600–1500)
Modern Greek (since around 1500)
Today's official language
Popular language: Dimotiki
Educational language: Katharevousa
Dialects:
Griko , Jevan , Cappadoc ,
Pontic , Tsakonian , Cypriot
Mycenaean clay tablet

Mycenaean Greek is the oldest documented form of the Greek language . It was made during the Mycenaean era, i.e. H. between the 16th and 11th centuries BC BC on the Greek mainland and - after its conquest in the 15th century BC - spoken in Crete . It is passed down through inscriptions in the linear B syllabary , mainly on clay tablets from the palace archives of Knossos , Pylos (see Palace of Nestor ) and other Mycenaean palace centers.

The linear font B

Mycenaean Greek has only been known since 1952. The Linear B tables were discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, but could not be read for a long time, and it was not known in which language the texts were written. In addition to numerous speculations, since most of the tablets were found in Crete, it was assumed that it was probably the pre-Indo-European language of the Minoans . It was only when Michael Ventris and John Chadwick deciphered the linear B script that it became apparent that it was an early form of Greek.

Knowledge of Mycenaean Greek is limited due to the nature of the traditional texts. The clay tablets are mainly inventory lists and other notes for economic and administrative purposes. Literary or other prose texts have not survived.

The corpus of text

The Mycenaean text corpus has been handed down mainly on clay tablets (including clay labels and lumps of clay) (approx. 5730); the other inscriptions are on clay vase shards (approx. 170), on ivory (1) and on pebbles (1). It has been found in sixteen different locations in Greece:

  1. on the island of Crete in Knossos, Mallia, Armeni , Chania and Mamelouko
  2. in the Peloponnese in Pylos, Mycenae , Tiryns , Midea , Agios Vasilios (south of Sparta ) and Olympia
  3. in central Greece in Eleusis , Thebes , Orchomenos , Gla , Kreusis, Medeon and Dimini

The most important sites are:

  1. Knossos KN, approx. 4360 tablets (myk. Ko-no-so ( ??? ) Knōsos)
  2. Pylos PY, 1087 plates (myk. Pu -ro ( ?? ) Pulos)
  3. Theben TH, 337 plates (myk. Te-qa ( ?? ) Thēgwai)
  4. Mycenae MY, 73 plates
  5. Agios Vasilios in Laconia, so far more than 40 tablets
  6. Tiryns TI, 27 plates
  7. Chania KH, 4 plates (myk. Ku-do-ni-ja ( ???? ) Kudōnia)

There are two types of clay tablets:

  1. Smaller tablets, which are called 'palm leaf tablets' because of their shape,
  2. Larger, rectangular tablets, which are called 'side panels' because of their shape.

The orthography and phonology

The linear font B is a syllabary with just over 90 syllable characters and approx. 150 logograms or pictograms (single characters with word meaning). The sound value is fixed for 73 syllable characters, for some others it is more or less generally accepted, for some, however, unknown. The linear script B is derived from the not yet deciphered linear script A , which was used for the unrelated Minoan language . The Greek phonetic level can only be reproduced imprecisely with this script, as the characters represent either mere vowels or syllables with the sound value consonant + vowel. Only in a few cases does the sound value consonant + consonant + vowel occur. Consonant clusters can therefore usually be reproduced poorly, consonants in the final syllable not at all: The word for "stall", * stathmos , was written ta-to-mo ( ??? ). In addition, no distinction is made between r and l, nor between voiced (e.g. b ), unvoiced (e.g. p ) and aspirated (e.g. ph ) plosives .

The inaccuracy of the script makes reading the Mycenaean texts difficult. For example, the word pa-te ( ?? ) can either stand for * pantes ("all") or * patēr ("father").

Mycenaean differs from the rest of the Greek dialects in phonological terms:

  1. Primal Greek. * ā has been preserved (myk. da-mo / dāmos / 'community': Greek δῆμος (dor. δᾶμος) 'people, community'; myk. a-ta-na / Atānā / 'Athene': Greek Ἀθήνη )
  2. Vowel contractions have not yet occurred (myk. Do-e-ro / do (h) elos / 'servant': gr. Δοῦλος )
  3. Primal Greek. * u̯ has been preserved (myk. wa-na-ka / wanaks / 'Herr (scher)': gr. ἄναξ ; myk. ko-wo / korwos / 'Jüngling': gr. att. κόρος , ion. κούρος )
  4. The primeval Labiovelars have usually been preserved (- qe / -ku̯e / 'and': gr. Τε ; myk. (Nom.pl.) a-pi-qo-ro / ampiku̯oloi / 'servant': gr. Ἀμφιπολος )

Mycenaean and Classical Greek in comparison

Mycenaean Greek is much more ancient than classical Greek and is closer to the Indo-European original language :

  • The labiovelars are still preserved and in the Linear B script with the sign of q reproduced
    • Example: Mycenaean qa-si-re-u ( ???? ), qo-u ( ?? ), qe ( ? ) versus ancient Greek βασιλεύς basileus ("king"), βοῦς bous ("ox"), τε te ("and")
  • The w-sound ( digamma ) is still preserved. In ancient Greek, it has disappeared in most dialects.
    • Example: Mycenaean we-ko ( ?? ), e-ra-wa ( ??? ) versus ancient Greek ἔργον ergon ("work"), ἐλαία elaia ("olive")

Homer's language is in some ways closer to Mycenaean Greek.

  • Form theory: The genitive of the o- declension ends in -o-jo or -οιο
  • Vocabulary: Mycenaean wa-na-ka ( ??? ), in Homer ἄναξ anax ("prince")

Since the Doric migration , the Doric dialect has been spoken in most of the earlier Mycenaean areas . Only in Arcadia and Cyprus did the Arcadian-Cypriot dialect, which is close to the Mycenaean Greek, persist.

literature

dictionary

Studies

  • Antonín Bartoněk : Manual of Mycenaean Greek . C. Winter, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8253-1435-9 , ( Indo-European Library Series 1).
  • Antonín Bartoněk: Research into the relationship between Mycenaean Greek and the Homeric language form . In: Joachim Latacz (Ed.): Two hundred years of Homer research. Review and outlook . Teubner, Stuttgart a. a. 1991, ISBN 3-519-07412-5 , ( Colloquium Rauricum , 2), (Lectures second Colloquium Rauricum, August 16-19, 1989 in Augst), text books.google.com .
  • Lydia Baumbach : The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary II . In: Glotta , 49, 1971, ISSN  0017-1298 , pp. 151-190.
  • John Chadwick, Lydia Baumbach: The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary . In: Glotta , 41, 1963, ISSN  0017-1298 , pp. 157-271.
  • Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy (Ed.): The new linear B-texts from Thebes. Your illuminating value for the Mycenaean language and culture. Files from the international research colloquium at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, December 5-6, 2002 . Verlag der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7001-3640-4 , ( Austrian Academy of Sciences, Memoranda , Philosophical-Historical Class 338, ISSN  0029-8824 ), ( Publications of the Mycenaean Commission 23), ( Mykenische Studien 19), content .
  • Stefan Hiller , Oswald Panagl : The early Greek texts from the Mycenaean period . 2nd revised edition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft , Darmstadt 1986, ISBN 3-534-06820-3 , ( income from research 49, ISSN  0174-0695 ).
  • James Thomas Hooker : Linear B. An Introduction . Reprinted. Bristol Classical Press et al. a., Bristol 2001, ISBN 0-906515-62-9 .
  • Leonard Robert Palmer : The Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek Texts. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1963 (Oxford University Press academic monograph reprints), ISBN 0198131445 . - Review of: John Chadwick, in: Gnomon 36, 1964, 321-327, ( online ).
  • Cornelis Jord Ruijgh : Études sur la grammaire et le vocabulaire du grec mycénien . Hakkert, Amsterdam 1967.

Text editions

  • Robert Browning (Ed.): The Linear B Texts from Knossos . Transliterated and edited. London 1955 (Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London, Supplementary Papers, No. 1).
  • Emmett Leslie Bennett : The Pylos Tablets. A Preliminary Transcription. Princeton UP, Princeton 1951.
    • Emmett Leslie Bennett: The Pylos Tablets. Texts of the inscriptions found 1939-1954. Princeton UP, Princeton 1956. - Review by: Leonard Robert Palmer , in: Gnomon 29, 1957, 113-117.
    • Emmett Leslie Bennett, Jean Pierre Olivier: The Pylos Tablets Transcribed. Vol. 1: Text and notes ; vol. 2: Hands, concordances, indices . Ed. dell'Ateneo, Roma vol. 1: 1973, vol. 2: 1976.
  • Emmett Leslie Bennett: The Mycenae Tablets. With an Introduction by Alan B. Wace . In: Proceedings of the American Philological Society 97.4, 1953, 422-470, ( online ).
    • Emmett Leslie Bennett: The Mycenae Tablets II. With an Introduction by Alan B. Wace and Elizabeth B. Wace . Translations and Commentary by John Chadwick. In: Transactions of the American Philological Society 48.1, 1958. - Review by: Leonard Robert Palmer, in: Gnomon 31, 1959, 429-433.
  • Emmett Leslie Bennett, John Chadwick, Michael Ventris: The Knossos Tablets. A revised transliteration of all the texts in Mycenaean Greek recoverable from Evans' excavations of 1900-1904 based on independent examination. London 1956 (Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Supplementary Papers, 2) - Review by: Leonard Robert Palmer. In: Gnomon 29, 1957, pp. 113-117.
    • Emmett Leslie Bennett, John Chadwick, Michael Ventris: The Knossos Tablets. A revised transliteration of all the texts in Mycenaean Greek recoverable from Evans' excavations of 1900-1904 based on independent examination. Second edition with corrections and additions by John Chadwick with the assistance of Fred W. Householder Jr. London 1959 (Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Supplement no. 7) - Review by: Joshua Whatmough. In: Classical Philology , 57, 1962, pp. 244-246.
  • Michael Ventris : Documents in Mycenaean Greek . Second edition by John Chadwick. Cambridge University Press, London 1973, ISBN 0-521-08558-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ V. Aravantinos , A. Vasilogamvrou: The first Linear B documents from Ayios Vasileios (Laconia) . In: P. Carlier et al .: Études Mycéniennes 2010 . Biblioteca di “Pasiphae” X, Pisa / Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-6227-473-9 ; Pp. 41-54.
  2. ^ Website on the site of the archaeological institute of the University of Groningen