Pamphylian Greek


Pamphylian was a little-attested dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Pamphylia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor. Its origins and relation to other Greek dialects are uncertain, though a number of scholars have proposed isoglosses with Arcadocypriot. It is the sole classical era dialect which did not use articles, suggesting that it split off from other dialects early. Some of its distinctive characteristics reflect potential language contact with Anatolian languages spoken nearby. It has been found that the Pamphylian dialect was likely unintelligible for speakers of other Greek dialects such as Attic or Koiné.

Text corpus

Pamphylian is known from about 300 inscriptions, most of them from the Pamphylian city of Aspendos. Nearly all of them are short and funeral and consist of names only. Pamphylian graffiti giving single names have also been found abroad, in Egypt and Delos. The longest inscription is a 36 line decree from Aspendos, first analyzed in detail in 1880 by William M. Ramsay. Inscriptions are dated from the fifth century BCE to the Roman period, most of them being from the second century BCE.
Coins issued by Pamphylian cities also bear the script. Some 30 Pamphylian single words are known from glosses given by Hesychius, Eustathius, and the Etymologicum Magnum.

Pronunciation and writing

Pamphylia had a variant local alphabet, which was probably borrowed from other Greek alphabets. According to Selvi & Santamaria the Pamphylian alphabet stems from the 'dark blue' alphabets of North Eastern Peloponnese. The alphabet was used until the end of the 1st cent. BCE.
SignΑΒΔΕϜΗΘΙΙΙΚΛΜΟΠΡΣΤΥΦ+Ω
Attic approximationΑΒΓΔΕ, ΗΖ῾ ΘΙΙΚΛΜΝΞΟ, ΩΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΩͶͲ
Transliterationαβγδε, ε̄ϝζh θιιικλμνξο, ōπρστυφχωиͳ
IPA soundabgde, ɛ:vsd?h
tʰi, ji:ʲklmnkso, ɔ:prstypʰkʰɔ:wss?

The Pamphylian alphabet made use both of the original Pamphylian digamma and a standard digamma. It has been surmised that the original sound in some environments was represented by Ͷ; where the sound had changed to labiodental in the Pamphylian dialect, it was represented by Ϝ. Sometimes Ͷ also stood in the place of beta. It was found by Selvi & Santamaria that the Pamphylian alphabet originated from a process of selection, adaptation, and refunctionalization of a Northeast Peloponnesian model. This region, closely linked to Pamphylia by mythological and historical ties, used dark blue alphabets from Corinth to Argos, influenced by other Peloponnesian centers like Sparta. The use of <Ͷ> declined in the 4th century but persisted until the end of the Hellenistic period for sociocultural reasons. The Northeast Peloponnesian corpus doctrinae, encompassing the alphabets of the region, already had features of the Pamphylian alphabet. <Ϝ> represented the posterior approximant, and <Ͷ> was linked to the letter for /b/ in Corinth, possibly also representing /w/. When this system reached Anatolia, it became the Pamphylian alphabet through interaction with Anatolian alphabets and the phonetic changes in the Pamphylian dialect. This resulted in the variable use of <Ͷ>, <Ϝ>, and during both Classical and Hellenistic periods, leading to their overlapping phonetic values.
There is also a psi-like sampi, used probably to represent the sounds,, or.
A conspicuous element in Pamphylian texts are double iotas, where the first iota denotes an /i/-sound and the second a glide /j/.
The Η sign usually represents a /h/-sound ; only rarely, in a few late inscriptions, it is apparently used to represent the classical Greek eta vowel.
Eustathius, quoting Heraclides, says that the Pamphylians "liked the /b/-sound so much that they often put b's in"; for example, instead of aëlios, they said babelios. And the Etymologicum Magnum says that they tended to swallow /s/-sounds and pronounce them as a 'hairy' sound, i.e., a rough breathing: instead of mousika they said mōˁika.
An inscription from Perge dated to around 400 BC reads: ͶανάFile:Greek Sampi Pamphylian.svg.
In eastern Pamphylia, the Pamphylian cities Side and Lyrbe-Seleukia used another language and script, called Sidetic.

Relation with the Anatolian languages

Pamphylic Greek appears to have been heavily influenced by nearby Anatolian languages such as Lycian, Pisidian, and Sidetic, in both phonology and syntax. In morphology and lexicon, Anatolian influence apparently was much more limited.
The phonological influence of Anatolian on Pamphylic has been characterized as "massive structural interference", affecting both the consonant and vowel repertoire. Aspirates gave way to fricatives, as did stop consonants.
In syntax three specific peculiarities stand out: absence of the article "the", use of the dative with pre- and postpositions where other Greeks would use a genitive, and the use of a special expression και νι + imperative.
All of these features can be explained as an adaption of the Greek language by imperfect second-language speakers: if a small group of colonizing Greek immigrants remained a minority in an area inhabited by Anatolian speaking people, the heavily accented Greek spoken as a second language by the local population, coloured by their native Anatolian language, would become the norm in the area. Because Pamphylia was an isolated region, there were few external stimuli to later change this situation.

Glossary

The following lexicon was extracted from the work A Greek–English Lexicon:
  • ἀβελιακόν/abeliakon – 'solar'
  • Ἀβώβας/Abôbas – Adonis
  • ἄγεθλα/agethla – 'sacrificial victims'
  • ἀγός/agos – 'priest'
  • ἀδρί/adri
  • Ἀηδών/Aêdôn or Ἀβηδών/'Abêdôn – 'Athena'
  • αἰβετός/aibetos – 'eagle'
  • ἀμείνασις/ameinasis – 'mentha'
  • Ἀπέλο̄ν/Apelon
  • ἄρκυμα/arkuma – 'locust'
  • ἀτρώποισι/atrôpoisi or ἀτρο̄́ποισι dative, plural
  • βαβέλιος/babelios – 'sun'
  • βόϝα/bova – 'oxen, cattle'?
  • βο̄λε̄μενυς/bolemenus – 'willing'
  • βουρικυπάρισσος/bourikuparissos – 'vineyard'
  • Εστϝεδιιυς/Estvediius – 'Aspendios' or 'Aspendian'
  • ϝέτιια/vetiia – 'years'
  • ϝίλσις/vilsis – 'distress'.
  • ἰκτίς/iktis – 'weasel, skunk, cat or member of Felidae'
  • ἴοδυ/iodu – imp. 'they should go'
  • κασσύας/kassuas – 'thunnus'
  • κατεϝέρξοδυ/kateverxodu
  • κόρκορας/korkoras – 'bird or rooster'
  • κόρταφος/kortaphos – 'temple (anatomy)'
  • λάφνη/laphnê – 'Daphne'
  • λάψα/lapsa – 'turnip'
  • νι/ni – 'in' or 'one'
  • ὀρούβω/oroubô – 'rush forward'
  • πέδε/pede – 'five'
  • περτέδο̄κε/pertedoke – 'he gave'
  • πηρία/pêria – 'field or farm'
  • σαράπιοι/sarapioi – 'small fish, picarel, or maenidae'
  • σισίλαρος/sisilaros – 'partridge'
  • σκυδρὺ/skudru
  • τριμίσκον/trimiskon – 'clothing'
  • ὕλογος/hulogos – 'army'
  • Ͷανάͳα Πρειία/Wanassa Preiia – 'lady-goddess'
  • ͷοῖκυ/woiku – 'house'
  • ͷρυμάλια/wrumalia
  • φάβος/phabos – 'light'
  • φεννίον/phennion
  • φίκατι'/phikati – 'twenty'.

Onomasticon

The following onomastic lexicon was based on Claude Brixhe's Dialecte grec de Pamphylie:
  • Ἀθιμῖϝυς Athimivus and Ἀθιμεϝς
  • Ἀπελάͷρυͷις Apelawruwis
  • Ἀρτιμίνα Artimina Ἀρτιμίδωρυς Artimidôrus
  • Ἁφαστυς Aphastus
  • Ἀφορδίσιιυς Aphordisiius
  • Βαλυς Balus
  • Βοβᾶς Bobas, Βοβᾶτυς
  • Γουκαλις Goukalis
  • Δέξιϝυς Dexivus
  • Διβῶτυς Dibôtus
  • Διϝίδωρυς Dividôrus Διϝ- also in Cypriot names
  • Διϝονούσιυς Divonousius
  • Ἑλλόθεμις Ellothemis
  • Εστλεγιιυς Estlegiius
  • Εχϝαλια Echvalia
  • Ζοϝαμυς Zovamus
  • Ζώϝειτους Zôveitous
  • Ϝανάξαδρυς Vanaxadrus – wanax + anêr
  • Ϝαρνόπα Varnopa Ϝάρνιτους Warnitous
  • Ϝεχιδάμυς Vechidamus
  • Ϝέχιτους Vechitous
  • Ϝουκω Voukô
  • Θανάδωρυς Thanadorus
  • Κέδαιϝις Kedaivis
  • Κεσκεὺς Keskeus Κεσκῖϝους Keskiwous
  • Κοπερίνα Koperina
  • Κορϝαλίνα Korvalina – 'little girl'
  • Κόρραγυς Korragus Ἀσπέδιιυς Aspediius 'Aspendian'
  • Κουρασιὼ Kourasiô
  • Κυδρομολις Kudromolis
  • Λαυδίκα Laudika
  • Μιαλίνα Mialina or Meialina
  • Μουριξους Mourixous
  • Μουρμακω Mourmakô
  • Νεϝοχάρις Nevocharis
  • Ὀρυμνιϝυς Orumnivus
  • Πεδδᾶτος Peddatos
  • Πελλαυρύις Pellauruis
  • Περίϝεργυς Perivergus
  • Ποναμελδῶς Ponameldôs
  • Πορσόπα Porsopa
  • Πρεῖϝυς Preivus
  • Σϝαρδιας Svardias and Ισϝαρδιας
  • Ͷαναξίωνυς Wanaxiônus
  • Φορδισία Phordisia
  • Χορείνα Choreina