View source for Philistine language

{{Short description|Ancient language spoken by the Philistines}}
{{expand Spanish|topic=|otherarticle=|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox language
|name        = Philistine Canaanite
|states      = [[Philistia]]
|ethnicity   = [[Philistines]]
|extinct     = c. 7th century BC
|familycolor = Afro-Asiatic
|fam1        = [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]]
|fam2        = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
|fam3        = [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]]
|fam4        = [[Central Semitic languages|Central Semitic]]
|fam5        = [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]]
|fam6        = [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]]
|fam7        = [[Canaanite languages#North Canaan|North]]<ref>Gitin, Dothan, and Naveh, 1997, p. 15, quote: "If so, one may ask why should a seventh century BCE inscription be written at Ekron in a language close to Phoenician and reminiscent of Old Byblian. Phoenician was the prestige language in the tenth and ninth century BCE. To find an inscription, however, in seventh century BCE Philistia, where a script from the Hebrew tradition was used, is something of an enigma."</ref><ref name=Ekronite>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061222225051/http://femto.tau.ac.il/~oyd11/tau/ekron.html Jaacob Callev, "The Canaanite Dialect of the Dedicatory Royal Inscription from Ekron"].</ref>
|iso3        = none
|glotto      = none
}}
{{Infobox language
|name        = Philistine Indo-European
|states      = [[Philistia]]
|ethnicity   = [[Philistines]]
|extinct     = c. 9th century BC
|familycolor = Indo-European
|fam1        = [[Unclassified language|unclassified]], probably [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]
|iso3        = none
|glotto      = none
|map         = Philistine_language.svg
|mapscale    = 1.15
}}
The '''Philistine language''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|ɪ|l|ə|s|t|iː|n|,_|ˈ|f|ɪ|l|ə|s|t|aɪ|n|,_|f|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|s|t|ə|n|,_|f|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|s|t|iː|n}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/philistines|title=Definition of Philistines &#124; Dictionary.com|website=www.dictionary.com}}</ref> is the [[extinct language]] of the [[Philistines]]. Very little is known about the language, of which a handful of words survived as [[Wanderwort|cultural loanwords]] in Biblical Hebrew, describing specifically Philistine institutions, like the ''seranim'', the "lords" of the Philistine five cities ("[[pentapolis]]"),<ref>The term is used as a military rank in contemporary Israel, equivalent to captain.</ref> or the ''{{'}}argáz'' receptacle, which occurs in 1 Samuel 6 and nowhere else,<ref>E. Sapir, "Hebrew 'argáz, a Philistine Word," ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' (1936:272–281), found it to signify the box of a cart "a presumably non-Semitic word" (p. 274).</ref> or the title ''padî''.<ref>Sapir 1936:279 note 23</ref>

==Classification==
To judge from inscriptions alone, it could appear that the Philistine language is simply part of the local [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite dialect]] [[Dialect continuum|continuum]] which includes [[Hebrew]], [[Edomite language|Edomite]], [[Moabite language|Moabite]], and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]].<ref name="Doak2019">{{cite book|last=Doak|first=Brian R.|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6CgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA227|date=26 August 2019|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-049934-1|pages=227|quote=A number of Phoenician inscriptions from the southern Levant have been published since the corpus of Bernard Delavault and André Lemaire (1979), as the recent summary of Paolo Xella (2017) demonstrates. Many such inscriptions are difficult to differentiate paleographically and linguistically from a putative "Philistian" language (Maier et al. 2016), from Hebrew, and even from Aramaic.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stefan-jakob-wimmer.de/PhPGIF.html|title="Philister-Projekt: ""The Cultural Dynamics of the Philistine Culture: A Case Study in the Transformation of an Immigrant Culture"}}</ref> For instance, the [[Ekron inscription]], identifying the archaeological site securely as the Biblical Ekron, is the first connected body of text to be identified as Philistine, on the basis of its location. However, it is written in a Canaanite dialect similar to Phoenician and Hebrew.<ref>Seymour Gitin, Trude Dothan and Joseph Naveh. "A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron." ''Israel Exploration Journal'' '''48''' (1997:1–18).</ref><ref name="Ekronite"/>

There is not enough information about the original language of the Philistines to relate it confidently to any other languages. Possible relations to [[Indo-European languages]], even [[Mycenaean language|Mycenaean]] Greek, support the theory that [[immigrant]] [[Philistines]] originated among "[[sea peoples]]". There are hints of non-Semitic vocabulary and [[onomastics]], but the inscriptions are enigmatic:<ref>I. Singer, "Egyptians, Canaanites and Philistines in the Period of the Emergence of Israel", in Finkelstein and Na'aman (eds.), ''From Nomadism to Monarchy'', 1994:282–338.</ref> a number of inscribed miniature "anchor seals" have been found at various Philistine sites.<ref>Simcha Shalom Brooks, ''Saul and the Monarchy: A New Look'' (Ashgate) 2005:29, noting O. Keel, "Studien zu den Stempelsiegeln aus Palestina/ Israel IV." ''Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis'' '''135''' (Freiburg: Universitätsverlag) 1994:21–34.</ref> On the other hand, evidence from the slender corpus of brief inscriptions from Iron Age IIA–IIB [[Tell es-Safi]] ([[Tell es-Safi inscription]])<ref>Maeir, A., Wimmer, S., Zukerman, A., and Demsky, A. 2008. "A Late Iron Age I/early Iron Age IIA Old Canaanite Inscription from Tell es-Sâfi/Gath, Israel: Palaeography, Dating, and Historical-Cultural Significance." ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'' 351: 39–71.</ref> demonstrates that at some stage during the local [[Iron Age]], the Philistines started using one of the dialects of the local Canaanite language and script,<ref>In the late 9th century BC in Tell es-Safi, the West Semitic alphabet script was in use.</ref> which in time masked and replaced the earlier, non-local linguistic traditions, which doubtless became reduced to a [[Substrata (linguistics)|linguistic substratum]], for it ceased to be recorded in inscriptions. Towards the end of the Philistine settlement in the area, in the 8th and the 7th centuries BC before their destruction by [[Assyria]], the primary written language in [[Philistia]] was a Canaanite dialect that was written in a version of the [[West Semitic alphabet]] so distinctive that [[Frank Moore Cross]] termed it the "Neo-Philistine script".<ref>Frank Moore Cross, "A Philistine Ostracon From Ashkelon", ''BAR'' '''22''' (January–February 1996:64–65).</ref> The Assyrian and Babylonian conquests destroyed the Philistine presence on the coast. When documentation resumes, under the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (Persian Empire), it is in the [[Aramaic language]], the [[lingua franca]] of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Achaemenid empires.

===Philistine as an Indo-European language===
[[File:Bichrome pottery.jpg|thumb|Philistine bichrome pottery]]

There is some evidence in favour of the suggestion<ref>First made by Arie Noordtzij, ''De Filistijnen'' (1905), noted by G. Bonfante, "Who Were the Philistines" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''50'''.2 (April–June 1946:251–262) p. 252 note 4. Bonfante argued for an [[Illyria]]n origin for the ''Palaistinoi'', in Palaeste, an Illyrian toponym in [[Epirus]], supplied with the Illyrian ''-ino'' suffix for [[ethnic group]]s; the suggested connection was introduced by [[:de:Hermann Jacobsohn]], in ''Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift'' '''34''' (1914:483).</ref> that the Philistines did originally speak some [[Indo-European language]], which would help explain the markedly [[Aegean Islands|Aegean]] [[Greece|Greek]] origin of Philistine pottery styles and decorative motifs, particularly [[Philistine Bichrome ware]], which differ markedly from the local Semitic artistic styles. A number of Philistine-related words found in the [[Hebrew Bible]] are not local [[Semitic languages|Semitic]], and can in some cases, with reservations, be traced back to [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] roots. R.D. Barnett<ref>Barnett, "The Sea Peoples" Sect. IV "The Philistines", ''New Cambridge Ancient History'' p. 17, critically remarked upon in Michael C. Astour's review article in ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', '''92'''.3 (July – September 1972:457f.</ref> related the Philistine word for captain, ''seren'',<ref>Only used in Hebrew in connection with Philistine princes; the Philistine etymology of ''seren, sranim'' was admitted by W.F. Albright in the ''New Cambridge Ancient History'', vol. I, part I, p. 25, note 3.</ref> to the Greek word ''tyrannos'' (which may be related to the [[Hittite language#Classification|Neo-Hittite]] ''sarawanas''/''tarawanas''<ref>Sandars, Nancy K., The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean, 1250–1150 BC, Thames and Hudson, 1978</ref>)<ref>"''Tyrannos'' is not a Greek word. It comes from one of the languages of Asia Minor and may have affinities with [[Lydian language|Lydian]] words and names," [[Robert Drews]] suggested, "The First Tyrants in Greece" ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', '''21'''2 (2nd Quarter 1972:129–144) p. 138. Greek tradition recorded [[Gyges of Lydia|Gyges]] as the first ruler to whom ''tyrannos'' was applied (''ibid.'').</ref><ref>Helck W., Ein sprachliches Indiz für die Herkunft der Philister, in: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 21, 1983, p. 31.</ref><ref>Meriggi, P. "Schizzo della delineazione nominale dell'eteo geroglifico (Continuazione e fine)", in: Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 38, 1953. pp. 36–57.</ref><ref>Chantraine, P. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Histoire des mots, vol. 4.1, 1968, p. 1146.</ref><ref>Gusmani 1969: R. Gusmani, Isoglossi lessicali Greco-Ittite, in: Studi linguistici in onore di Vittore Pisani, Brescia 1969, Vol. 1, p. 511–512.</ref><ref>Cornil, P. "Une étymologie étrusco-hittite", Atti del II Congresso Internazionale de Hittitologia, Pavía, 1995, p. 84–85.</ref><ref>[[Chaim Menachem Rabin|Rabin, C.]] "Hittite Words in Hebrew", Or NS 32, 1963, pp. 113–139.</ref> and [[Edward Sapir]]<ref>Sapir, "Hebrew 'helmet,' a loanword, and its bearing on Indo-European phonology" ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' '''57'''.1 (March 1937:73–77).</ref> made a case for relating ''kōbá`''/''qōbá`'' ("helmet", used of Goliath's copper helmet in {{bibleverse|1 Samuel|17:5}}) to Hittite ''kupahis''.<ref>Sapir, Edward. "Hebrew ‘Helmet," a Loanword, and Its Bearing on Indo-European Phonology." ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', vol. 57, no. 1, 1937, pp. 73–77. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/594782. Accessed 16 Aug. 2021.</ref> Both these words have been adopted into Hebrew. Sapir also described the Philistine title ''padî'' as "common [[Indo-European languages|IE]] property" to be compared with Greek πόσις, Lithuanian ''–pati-s'', ''–pats'', and Tocharian A ''pats''.<ref>Sapir (1936:279 note 23)</ref> Some Philistine names, such as [[Goliath]], [[Achish]],<ref>Achish has been connected to Greek (Ἀγχίσης) and [[Hurrian]].</ref> and [[Phicol]], appear to be non-Semitic in origin, and Indo-European [[etymologies]] have been suggested.<ref>"Little is known of Philistine personal names, but the little we know seems to confirm Jacobsohn's Illyrian hypothesis", observes G. Bonfante (1946:254), who adduces Jacobsohn 1914 and Greek usages of Ἀγχίσης, the Greek rendering of ''Goliath''.</ref> In 2005, an [[Tell es-Safi inscription|inscription]] dating to the 10th century BC with two names, very similar to one of the suggested etymologies of the popular Philistine name Goliath (compare [[Lydian language|Lydian]] ''Alyattes'',<ref>This connection was made by Georg Hüsing, according to Ferdinand Bork in ''AfO'' '''13''' (1939–1941:227), noted by G. A. Wainwright, "Some Early Philistine History" ''[[Vetus Testamentum]]'' '''9'''.1 (January 1959:73–84) p. 79 note 3.</ref> Greek ''Kalliades'', [[Carian language|Carian]] ''Wljat'') was found in the excavations at [[Tell es-Safi]]/[[Gath (city)|Gath]].

==Notes==
{{reflist|35em}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061222225051/http://femto.tau.ac.il/~oyd11/tau/ekron.html The Canaanite Dialect of the Dedicatory Royal Inscription from Ekron, 2004] – A summary of articles about the Ekron inscription.

{{Eurasian languages}}

[[Category:Philistines]]
[[Category:Philistine language]]