 | Ancient Macedonian language: Encyclopedia II - Ancient Macedonian language - Properties
Ancient Macedonian language - Properties
Only little about the language can be said from the few words that survive. A notable sound-law is that PIE voiced aspirates appear as voiced stops, written β, γ, δ, in contrast to all known Greek dialects, which have unvoiced them, φ, χ, θ.
- Macedonian danos (δάνος) ("death", from PIE *dhenh2- "to leave"), compared to Greek thanatos (θάνατος).
- Macedonian abroutes (ἀβροῦτες) as opposed to Greek ophrus (ὀφρῦς) for eyebrows
- Macedonian Berenikē (Βερενίκη) vs. Greek Pherenikē (Φερενίκη) "bearing victory"
- adraia ἀδραία "bright weather", Attic αἰθρία, from PIE *aidh-
- baskioi (βάσκιοι) "fasces", PIE *bhasko
- According to Hdt. 7.73 (ca. 440 BC), the Macedonians claimed that the Phryges were called Brygoi before they migrated from Thrace to Anatolia (around 1200 BC).
- mageiros μάγειρος "butcher" was a loan from Doric into Attic. Vittore Pisani has suggested an ultimately Macedonian origin for the word, which could then be cognate to makhaira μάχαιρα "knife" (PIE *magh-, 'to fight').
The same treatment is known from other Paleo Balkan languages, e.g. Phrygian bekos "bread", Illyrian bagaron "warm", but Attic phōgō (φώγω) "roast", all from PIE *bheh3g-. Since these languages are all known via the Greek alphabet, which has no signs for voiced aspirates, it is unclear whether de-aspiration had really taken place, or whether β, γ, δ were just picked as the closest matches to express voiced aspirates.
If gotan "pig" is related to *gwou "cattle", this would indicate that the labiovelars were either intact, or merged with the velars, unlike the usual Greek treatment (Attic bous). Compare in this context Doric (Spartan) glep- for common Greek blep-, as well as Doric glachon and Ionic glechon for common Greek blechon (Albrecht von Blumenthal 1930:21).
A number of examples suggest that voiced velar stops were devoiced, especially word-initially: kanadoi, "jaws" (<PIE *genu-); kombous, "molars" (< PIE *gombh-); within words: arkon (Attic argos); the Macedonian toponym Akesamenai, from the Pierian name Akesamenos (if Akesa- is cognate to Greek agassomai, agamai, "to astonish"; cf. the Thracian name Agassamenos).
In Aristophanes' The Birds, the form keblēpyris ("red-cap bird") is found, which shows a Macedonian-style voiced stop in place of a standard Greek unvoiced aspirate: keb(a)lē v. kephalē ("head").
Other related archives1200 BC, 1843, 1906, 1986, 1996, 1997, 1st millennium BC, 3rd, 440 BC, 4th, 5th century, 5th century BC, The Birds, A. Meillet, Aeolic dialect, Ambraciot, Anatolia, Ancient Greece, Antoine Meillet, Aristophanes, Attic, Attic dialect, Balkans, Berenikē, Cimmerian, Common Era, Doric, Doric Greek, Ephorus, Franz Heinrich Ludolf Ahrens, Gaulish language, Greek, Greek languages, Hdt., Hes., Hesychius of Alexandria, Homer, Illyrian, Illyrian languages, Indo-European language, Ionic, LSJ, Latin, Macedon, Macedonians, North-Western Greek, Oxford Classical Dictionary, PIE, Paleo Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan languages, Pella, Pella katadesmos, Phryges, Phrygian, Phrygian language, Phrygian languages, Pierian, Pokorny, Polybius, Proto-Greek language, Spartans, Stageira, Strattis, Strb., Theophrastus, Thrace, Thracian language, Umbrian, acc., alder, aorta, arms, blechon, citation needed, death, dialect, digamma (ϝ), dim., eagle, fasces, fem., hornbeam, ilex, koine, labiovelars, language, leek, makhaira, maple, modern, nom., pig, pl., poplar, pre-Indo-European, roses, sickle, sing., sárissa, thanatos, toponym, velar, von Blumenthal
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