Mysian language

Mysian
Region Mysia
Ethnicity Mysians
Extinct 1st century BC
unclassified, possibly Anatolian
  • Mysian
Language codes
ISO 639-3 yms
Linguist list
 yms
Glottolog mysi1239[1]

The Mysian language was spoken by Mysians inhabiting Mysia in north-west Anatolia.

Little is known about the Mysian language. Strabo noted that their language was, in a way, a mixture of the Lydian and Phrygian languages. As such, the Mysian language could be a language of the Anatolian group. However, a passage in Athenaeus suggests that the Mysian language was akin to the barely attested Paeonian language of Paeonia, north of Macedon.

A short inscription that could be in Mysian and which dates from between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC was found in Üyücek village in the Tavşanlı district of Kütahya province, and seems to include Indo-European words.[2][3] However, it is uncertain whether the inscription renders a text in the Mysian language or if it is simply a Phrygian dialect from the region of Mysia.

Friedrich's reading:

ΛΙΚΕC : ΒΡΑΤΕΡΑΙC : ΠΑΤΡΙΖΙ : ΙCΚ

Latin transliteration:

likes : braterais patrizi isk

The words "braterais patrizi isk" have been proposed to mean something like "for brothers and fathers", while Likes is most probably a personal name.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mysian". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. ↑ Epigraphical database: "Native 'Mysian' inscription" Check |url= value (help). Packard Humanities Institute.
  3. ↑ The Journal of Indo-European Studies Vol 21, p. 21: "30% of the total number of words can easily be linked up with better known Greek equivalents and thus receive meaningful interpretation."
  4. ↑ See J. Friedrich, Kleinasiatische Sprachdenkmäler, 140–141.
Titus texts:"Mysian" inscriptions
Palaeolexicon entry for the word ΠΑΤΡΙΖΙ
Palaeolexicon entry for the word ΒΡΑΤΕΡΑΙΣ
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