Discover

The 'Phrygian language' was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, a people of the central Balkan Peninsula. A part of this population migrated in Asia Minor at the beginning of the Iron Age. In the Herodotus' History they are known to live together with the ancient Macedonian population.

Contents

Inscriptions

Sources

Classification

Grammar

Vocabulary

References

See also

External links

Inscriptions

Phrygian is attested by two corpora, one from around 800 BC and later (Paleo-Phrygian), and then after a period of several centuries from around the beginning of the Common Era (Neo-Phrygian). The Palaeo-Phrygian corpus is further divided (geographically) into inscriptions of 'Midas-city' (M, W), Gordion, Central (C), Bithynia (B), Pteria (P), Tyana (T), Daskyleion (Dask), Bayindir (Bay), and "various" (Dd, ''documents divers''). The 'Mysian' inscriptions seem to be in a separate dialect (in an alphabet with an additional letter, "Mysian s").

It survived at least into the sixth century AD.^[1]
We can reconstruct some words with the help of some inscriptions written with a script similar to the Greek.

Sources

Ancient historians and myths sometimes did associate Phrygian with Thracian and maybe even the Armenian, on grounds of classical sources. Herodotus recorded the Macedonian account that Phrygians emigrated into Asia Minor from Thrace (7.73). Later in the text (7.73), Herodotus states that the Armenians were colonists of the Phrygians, still considered the same in the time of Xerxes I. The earliest mention of Phrygian in Greek sources, in the ''Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite'', depicts it as different from Trojan: in the hymn, Aphrodite, disguising herself as a mortal to seduce the Trojan prince Anchises, tells him

Classification

The Phrygian language was most likely close to Thracian, Armenian and Greek. In most cases the Phrygian language used an alphabet originating with the Phoenicians. The available inscriptions in the Phrygian language have not yet been translated. Inscriptions which used a script close to the Greek, have been translated, and some of the Phrygian vocabulary identified. ^[2]

Grammar

Its structure, what can be recovered from it, was typically Indo-European, with nouns declined for case (at least four), gender (three) and number (singular and plural), while the verbs are conjugated for tense, voice, mood, person and number. No single word is attested in all its inflectional forms.
Many words in Phrygian are very similar to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). Phrygian seems to exhibit an augment, like Greek and Armenian, c.f. ''eberet'', probably corresponding to PIE ''
★ e-bher-e-t'' (Greek ''epheret'').

Vocabulary

A sizable body of Phrygian words are theoretically known; however, the meaning and etymologies and even correct forms of many Phrygian words (mostly extracted from inscriptions) are still being debated.
A famous Phrygian word is ''bekos'', meaning "bread". According to Herodotus (''Histories'' 2.9) Pharaoh Psammetichus I wanted to establish the original language. For this purpose, he ordered two children to be reared by a shepherd, forbidding him to let them hear a single word, and charging him to report the children's first utterance. After two years, the shepherd reported that on entering their chamber, the children came up to him, extending their hands, calling ''bekos''. Upon enquiry, the pharaoh discovered that this was the Phrygian word for "wheat bread", after which the Egyptians conceded that the Phrygian nation was older than theirs. The word ''bekos'' is also attested several times in Palaeo-Phrygian inscriptions on funerary stelae. Though several 19th-century amateurs suggested that it is cognate to English ''bake'', this etymology is untenable; its etymology is unknown.^[3]
''Bedu'' according to Clement of Alexandria's ''Stromata'', quoting one Neanthus of Cyzicus means "water" (PIE ''
★ wed''). The Macedonians are said to have worshiped a god called Bedu, which they interpreted as "air". The god appears also in Orphic ritual.
Other Phrygian words include:

★ 'anar', 'husband', from PIE ''
★ ner-'' 'man';
::cf. Gk: ''anēr (ανήρ)'' "man, husband", Alb: ''njeri'' "man, person", Kur: ''nēr (nêr)'' "male".

★ 'attagos', 'goat';
::cf. Arm: ''tik'' "leather skin", Ger: ''Ziege'' "she-goat", Alb: ''dhi'' "she-goat", Wakhi ''tiγ'' "goat call", Ishkashmi ''dec'' "goatskin bag".

★ 'Bagaios', "Zeus", from PIE
★ ''bhehagos'' "apportioner";
::cf. Avestan ''baga'' "good fortune, share", Skt ''bhága'' "the apportioner", Toch A ''pāk'' "share, part", Toch B ''pāke'' "share, part".

★ 'balaios', 'large, fast', from PIE ''
★ bel-'' 'strong';
::cognate to Gk: ''belteros (βέλτερος)'' "better", Rus: '' bol'shói '' "large, great", Welsh: ''balch'' "proud", Kur: ''balaz (belez)'' "fast"

★ 'belte', 'swamp', from PIE
★ ''b^hel-'', 'to gleam';
::cognate to Gk: ''baltos (βάλτος)'' "swamp", Alb: ''baltë'' (silt, mud),Bulg: ''blato'' (Old Bulg: ''balta'') "swamp", Lith: ''baltas'' "white", Rus: ''bledny'' and Bulg ''bleden'' "pale".

★ 'brater', 'brother', from PIE ''
★ b^hrater-'', 'brother';
::cognate to Gk: ''phrātēr (φρατήρ)'' "clansman, kin", Per: ''bratar'', 'brother',Rus and Bulg: ''brat'' "brother", Kur: ''bra/bradar (bbra/brader)'' "brother".

★ 'daket', 'does, causes', PIE ''
★ d^he-k-'', 'to set, put';
::cognate to Lat: ''facere'' "to do, make", Gk: ''tithenai (τιθέναι)'' "to put, place, set" Kur: ''dakat'' (dekat/dikit) "does, causes"

★ 'germe', 'warm', PIE ''
★ g^wher-'', 'warm';
::cognate to Gk: ''thermos'' (θερμός) "warm", Kur: ''germ'' "warm" , Per: ''garm'' "warm", Arm: ''ĵerm'' "warm", Alb: ''zjarm'' "warm".

★ 'kakon', 'harm, ill', PIE ''
★ kaka-'', 'harm';
::cf. Gk: ''kakós (κακός)'' "bad", Alb: ''keq'' "bad, evil", Lith: ''keñti'' "to be evil".

★ 'knoumane', 'grave', maybe from PIE ''
★ knu-'', 'to scratch';
::cognate to Gk: ''knaō (κνάω)'' "to scratch", Alb: ''krromë'' "scurf, scabies", OHG: ''hnuo'' "notch, groove", ''nuoen'' "to smooth out with a scraper", Lith: ''knisti'' "to dig".

★ 'manka', 'stela'.

★ 'mater', 'mother', from PIE ''
★ mater-'', 'mother';
::cf. Gk: ''meter (μήτηρ)'' "mother", Per: ''madar'' "mother", Alb: ''motër'' "sister" Kur: ''ma/mê'' "mother/female"

★ 'meka', 'great', from PIE ''
★ meg-'', 'great';
::Gk: ''megas'' "great"; Alb: ''madh'' "big", Kur: ''mezn (mezin)'' "great"

★ 'zamelon', 'slave', PIE ''
★ d^hg^hom-'', 'earth';
::Gk: ''chamelos (χαμηλός)'' "adj. on the ground, low", Srb/Cro: ''zèmlja'' and Bulg: ''zèmya''/''zèmlishte'' "earth/land", Lat: ''humilis'' "low".

References

1. Peter Charanis, "Ethnic Changes in the Byzantine Empire in the Seventh Century", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' '13':23 (1959) at JSTOR
2. Encyclopedia of the Orient - Phrygia
3. Benjamin W. Fortson, ''Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction'', Blackwell, 2004. ISBN 1405103167. p. 409

See also

★ Alphabets of Asia Minor

★ Greek language

★ Paleo Balkan languages

★ Ancient Macedonian language

★ Thracian language

★ Armenian language

★ Persian language

External links

★ Corpus of Phrygian inscriptions

★ Lubotsky's Phrygian Etymological Database (incomplete)

★ Phrygia and Phrygians