Phrygian language
The Phrygian language is one of the Indo-European languages . It was spoken by the Phrygians in ancient times . The distribution area was in the north west of Asia Minor in the historical region of Phrygia and perhaps in some adjacent areas.
The oldest known inscriptions were found in Gordion and date from the 8th century BC. The Phrygians used their own alphabet based on the Greek alphabet and added a few characters. This first phase of Phrygian literature, which is documented by around 250 inscriptions, ends in the 4th century BC. Further examples of the Phrygian script can be found on the Midas Monument in Midas City and on the cult facade Maltaş .
From the period mainly between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, around 120 other Phrygian inscriptions are known, but they are now written in the Greek alphabet . Phrygian is documented as a spoken language in the 5th century, and died out by the 7th century AD at the latest.
Classification within Indo-European
The fragmentary tradition of Phrygian has made it difficult to classify this language within the Indo-European language family. For this reason, too, the earlier assumption of a closer relationship to the Thracian language , which is also only fragmentarily handed down, has not yet been confirmed.
However, the Phrygian language is now combined with Greek and the late Armenian to form the group of Balkan Indo-European languages . The theory that Phrygian represents a completely independent branch of the Indo-European language family, on the other hand, is considered outdated.
There are many striking similarities between Phrygian and Greek, something that was already observed in ancient times.
But can be connected to the Phrygian word form addaketor "doing", or "does (for themselves)" two matches to the Italic notice: on the one hand by -k- extended version * dʰeh₁k- "make, produce" (which would otherwise only in the Italic languages and probably this associated Venetian is busy) the root * dʰeh₁- (see. PGmc. * dO "do do", ancient Greek. τίθημι "put, put" altphryg. e-da-it "has made “With augment e- ), on the other hand the medium ending * -tor (which is otherwise used in Italian, Celtic, Tocharian and Anatolian), cf. Latin afficitur “is provided, endowed; is tackled hard, weakened “from urital. * ad factor .
anecdote
Herodotus reports that Pharaoh Psammetich I wanted to find out the original language of man. On this occasion, he had a shepherd raise two children with whom no one was allowed to speak. After about two years the children put out their hands pleadingly and said "bekos". In the Phrygian language this was called “bread”. Thus it was assumed that Phrygian was the oldest language.
literature
- Otto Haas: The Phrygian language monuments. Sofia 1966.
- Claude Brixhe, Michel Lejeune : Corpus des inscriptions paleo-phrygiennes. Paris 1984. ISBN 2-86538-089-0 .
- Günter Neumann : Phrygian and Greek. (Meeting reports / Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class 499). Vienna 1988. ISBN 3-7001-1304-8 .
- Vladimir E. Orel: The Language of the Phrygians. Caravan, Delmar / NY 1997. ISBN 0-88206-089-9
- Wojciech Sowa: Studies on Phrygian. Cuvillier, Göttingen 2008. ISBN 978-3-86727-815-7