Arcadocypriot Greek

Arcadocypriot, or southern Achaean, was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia, in the central Peloponnese, and in Cyprus. Its resemblance to Mycenaean Greek, as it is known from the Linear B corpus, indicates that they are closely related to it, and belong to the same dialect group, known as Achaean.

In Cyprus the dialect was written solely using the Cypriot syllabary. The most extensive surviving text of the dialect is the Idalion Tablet. A significant literary source on the vocabulary comes from the lexicon of 5th century AD grammarian Hesychius.

History

The prevailing dialect spoken in southern Greece (including Achaea, the Argolid, Laconia, Crete, and Rhodes) at the end of the Bronze Age, was Proto-Arcadocypriot. The Mycenaean and Arcadocypriot dialects belong to the same group, known as Achaean. Certain common innovations of Arcadian and Cypriot, as attested in the first millennium BC, indicate that they represent vernaculars that had slightly diverged from the Mycenaean administrative language, sometime before a migration to Cyprus, possibly during the 13th or 12th century BC. Pausanias reported:

Agapenor, the son of Ancaeus, the son of Lycurgus, who was king after Echemus, led the Arcadians to Troy. After the capture of Troy the storm that overtook the Greeks on their return home carried Agapenor and the Arcadian fleet to Cyprus, and so Agapenor became the founder of Paphos, and built the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos (Old Paphos).

The establishment happened before 1100 BC. With the arrival of Dorians in the Peloponnese, a part of the population moved to Cyprus, and the rest was limited to the Arcadian mountains.

According to John T. Hooker, the preferable explanation for the general historico-linguistic picture is that:

...Template:Nbspin the Bronze Age, at the time of the great Mycenaean expansion, a dialect of a high degree of uniformity was spoken both in Cyprus and in the Peloponnese but that at some subsequent epoch the speakers of West Greek intruded upon the Peloponnese and occupied the coastal states, but made no significant inroads into Arcadia.

Later developments

After the collapse of the Mycenaean world, communication ended, and Cypriot was differentiated from Arcadian. It was written until the 3rd century BC using the Cypriot syllabary.

Tsan was a letter in use only in Arcadia until around the 6th century BC. Arcadocypriot kept many characteristics of Mycenaean, early lost in Attic and Ionic, such as the sound (digamma).

Glossary

Arcadian

Arcadian word	English transliteration	Meaning	Other Greek dialects
	amphidekatê	21st of the month	(ampheikas)(dekatê tenth)
	anôda	up-side	Attic anôthe
	armôla or armômala	food seasoning	Attic artymata; artyo
	asistos	nearest	Attic anchistos
	darin or dareir	span of all fingers; see Ancient Greek units of measurement	Attic spithame, inch)
	Hecatombaios	epithet for Apollo in Athens and for Zeus in Gortys (Arcadia) and Gortyna, Crete
	Wistiau		Attic Hestiou, eponym genitive of Hestios; Cf.Hestia and gistia)
	woinos	wine	Cypriot, Cretan, Delphic, Magna Graecian; Attic oinos
	zellô	"throw, put, let, cast"	Attic ballô
	zerethron	pit	(Homeric, Attic berethron; (Koine barathron)
	thyrda	outside	Attic exô, thyra door; (Paphian thorande
	in	in, inside	Attic en; Cypriot id.
	kathidos	water-jug	Attic hydria; (Tarentine huetos)
	kas	and	Attic kai; Cypriotic id.
	kidaris	Arcadian dance (Athenaeus 14.631d.) and Demetra Kidaria in Arcadia.
	korwa	girl	Attic korê; Pamphylian name Korwalina
	Kortynioi	(Kortys or Gortys (Arcadia))
	kubêbê	boot, shoe	Attic hypodema
	Lênai	Bacchae (Lenaeus Dionysus, Lenaia festival
	môriai	horses, cattle
	ounê or ounei	come on! Go!	Attic deuro, drame
	pessetai	it is cooked, roasted	Attic optatai
	pos	towards, into	Attic pros; Cypriot id. ! poskatublapse (Attic proskatablapsei)
	sis	who, anyone	Attic tis; Laconian tir; Thessalian kis; Cypr. sis (si se)

Cypriot

• abathôn teacher (Attic didaskalos)
• abaristan () 'effeminate'
• abartai birds, volatile (Attic hai ptênai, ta ptêna )
• ablax 'brightly wonderful' (Attic lambrôs) (α + βλάξ (blax) "idiot", blapto "harm")
• abremês , 'unworthy of being seen, despicable'
• hagana and agana (Attic sagênê 'dragnet')
• (agan thes) (Attic siôpa, 'shut up' ( "too much" + "put" (tithemi imp.)
• ankura (Attic τριώβολον triôbolon, "three obols") (Attic ankura anchor)
• aglaon (Attic glaphyron, "smooth, sweet, simple, decorated" (Cretan also), (Attic: aglaos "bright")
• agor eagle (Attic aetos)
• anchoûros near the morning (from anchauros anchi + aurion tomorrow )
• adeios (Attic akathartos), "cleanless, impure" (cf. Attic: adeios, adeia = "fearless, safe", Byzantine and Modern: adeios, adeia = "empty")
• adryon (ploion dugout canoe) (α + δρῦς)
• athrizein (Attic rhigoun to shiver)
• aieis 'you listen' (Attic akoueis) (aïô only in poetic use)
• aipolos (Koine kapêlos wine-seller) (Attic aipolos 'goatherd') (Attic pôleô sell)
• akeuei (Attic terei he observes, maintains, keeps order)
• akmôn (Attic ἀλετρίβανος aletribanos plough or pestle) (Attic anvil, meteor) (Acmon mythology)
• akostê barley (Attic krithê ) Cypr. according to Hsch., but Thess. for grain of all kinds according to Sch.Il.6.506.)
• hals (Attic oinos wine) (Attic hals sea) ()
• alabê or alaba (Attic marile charcoal-ember)
• aleipterion (Attic grapheion writing utensil or place of writing and engraving) (Attic aleiphô smear, rub)
• aleuron grave (Attic taphos )(leuros smooth, level, even )(Attic wheat flour)
• aloua gardens (Attic kêpoi)
• halourga the red things of the sea Cypr. according to Hsch.
• anda she (Attic hautê)
• aoron lever μοχλός gateway door-keeper (Aeolic aoros unsleeped)
• aoumata chaffs, straws left-overs of barleys (Cf. loumata, lumata)
• apelyka (Attic aperrhoga I am broken, crashed)
• aplanê many, a lot (Attic ) (Laconian ameremera) (Attic aplaneis unmoving, non wandering esp. for stars)
• apoairei (Attic apokathairei he cleans, removes) ( lead off, set out to sea)
• apogeme imp. remove out, draw off liquor(Attic aphelke) (Attic gemô to be full of)
• apoloisthein to finish complete (Attic apotelein)( holos whole)
• apolugma denudation (Attic apogymnôsis)(cf. apolouma)
• aras epispeirai Cypriot cursing custom sowing barley with water
• arizos grave (Attic taphos) (α + rhiza root)
• armula shoes (Attic hypodemata)
• armôatos (Attic spasmos spasm)
• aroura 'heap of wheat with straws' (Homeric, Ionic aroura earth)
• arpix harpix or aprix acanthus "species of thorn", (Attic aprix fast, tight)
• augaros (Attic asôtos unsaved, wasteful, prodigal)
• auekizein (Attic sphakelizein produce gangrene)
• Achaiomanteis seers, priests in Cyprus (Hesychius)
• ballai (Attic bathmoi grades, steps, stages) (Aeolic arrows)
• blasta (Attic blastesis Vegetation)
• bomboia (Attic kolumbas elaia pickled olive, swimming in brine)(Attic kolumbaô dive, swim)
• borborizei it groans, pollutes
• boukanê anemone flower (bukanê trumpet)
• bounos (Attic stibas bed of straw, reeds, leaves) (Koine bounos hill, mountain)
• boôneta (Attic 'purchased things in the price of cows') (Cypriot unholy things)
• brenthix (Attic thridakine lettuce)
• brinka small (Attic mikron)
• brimazein orgasmize (Brimô mythology) (brimaomai freak, be enraged)
• brouka green locust (Ionic broukos)
• brouchetos frog (Attic bathrachos) (Hsch. brouchetos pit )
• byblioi gravekeepers
• ganos garden pl. ganea (Hebrew gan 'garden')
• gemois nu lit."you may be full, filled now" Hsch. take and sit
• genesis libation (Attic sponde)
• goanai (Attic klaiein to cry) (goaô moan)
• gra or grasthi "eat (imp)" (Attic phage) (Attic graô gnaw) (Sanskrit grasate eat) (PIE *gres- devour) (Salaminian kagra kata + graô Koine kataphagas gluttonous)
• damatrizein "collect the fuits of Demeter"
• dein 'turn' (Attic στρέφειν strephein (cf. Attic: deo tie)
• diptuon (Attic hemimedimnos, a dry measure) (Aeolic kammarpsis)
• diphtheraloiphos elementary teacher grammatodidaskalos ( aleiphô "smear" + diphthera "goatskin, writing-material, parchment"
• drosos achreios "needless, useless" (Attic drosos dew)
• dusea (the things around the wall)
• ear (Attic haima blood) (Attic Ear Spring (season))
• Encheios Ἀφροδίτη
• elapsa (Attic diephtheira I harmed)
• elphos butter (Attic boutyron)
• enauon put in, ignite
• epixa (Attic ornea birds)
• erountes (Attic legontes the saying) (Attic erountes the ones who will say)
• eroua walk and rest (cf. Homeric erôeô)
• estê (Attic stolê, equipment, garment) (cf. esthês clothing)
• zaei (Attic it moves and blows) (zaei binei, inire, coïre, of illicit intercourse)
• thates or thutes manual labourers (Attic thêtes) (see Timocracy)
• theiοn (Attic igdion mortar) (Aristophanes thyeia igdion mortar)
• thibôn (Koine thibis ark, basket) (Hebrew tēbhāh ark, from Egyptian tebt 'box')
• throdax (Attic thridax lettuce)
• thua flavourings
• higa shut up (Attic siôpa) (Cretan iga)
• himonia strap (Attic himas)
• hin dat. and acc. of the old pers. Pron. hi (q.v.). in, Arc., Cypr., and Cret. for en (q.v.)
• kalindina intestines (Attic entera) (PIE: ghel-ond-, ghol-n•d- stomach; bowels) (Homeric cholades) (Macedonian gola)
• kachila flowers (Attic anthê)
• (Attic anadendrades climbing vineyards) (Attic kena kenea vain
• kibisis bag (Attic pêra) (Aetolian kibba)
• killos morning cicada ( tettix proinos) (Hesychius killos donkey)
• Kinyradai priests of Aphrodite
• kiris or kirris (cypriotic epithet for Adonis) (Laconian kirris lychnos light, lamp)
• kittaris Cypriot Diadem. Kittaroi, the ones who wear it
• kichêtos the vessel or the substance where the censer(Attic libanôtos) is being dyed
• kunupisma drink from pomace (stemphyla), i.e. left-overs of pressed grapes.
• lênea or leina (Attic eria wools)
• mopsos 'stain on the clothes' (Attic kêlis ) (Mopsus mythology) (Mopsopia old name of Attica and Attic tales of Euphorion of Chalcis)
• mytha voice (Attic phonê mythos mytheomai speak narrate)
• mulasasthai cleanse with oil (Attic smêxasthai smêchô)
• olinoi sheaves of barley
• ortos (Attic bômos altar)
• ouarai we (Attic hemeis)
• ouaron olive oil (Attic elaion)
• ounon or ounos road (Attic odos) (Koine dromos)
• pesson (Attic mountain or village)
• pilnon (Attic phaion obscure brown, pelidnon livid (blue, green/ dark)
• prepon beast (Attic teras beast)(prepôn -ontos, a fish) (Attic prepon -ntos suitable)
• Pygmaion Adonis
• rhueina lamb, accusative (Attic arna)(nom. rhuein, arên from Wrêna)
• si bole? (Attic ; ti boulei? what do you want?)
• sigunon (Attic akontion spear)

Paphian

• epicoron (Attic epikopon) cutting, re-stamped coin (from keirô and koptô cut)
• es poth' herpes? (Attic pothen hekeis? where do you come from?) (Attic herpein to creep, to crawl, move slowly like a serpent
• eutrossesthai (Attic epistrephesthai return)
• thorande (Attic exo outside) thyra door
• hingia one (Cypr. ingia) ( heis) (Cretan itton hen one)
• imitraion (Hsch. hypozoston under-girdle, rope of ship
• impataon (Attic emblepson look inside -imperative) (Hsch. inkapathaon enkatablepson)
• kabeios young (Attic neos)
• kablê (Koine mandalos latch)
• kakkersai (Attic katakopsai to cut, slay) (kata + keirô cut)
• kalecheo (Attic katakeiso lay down -imperative) (Homeric lechos bed)
• kapataxeis (Attic katakopseis you will cut, slay)
• karrhaxon (Attic kataraxon strike -imperative) (kata + arassô
• katereai (Attic kathisa sit)
• kibos (Attic kibôtos ark or eneos speechless)
• kidnon here (Attic enthade)
• korza or korzia heart ( Attic kardia ) ( Ionic kardiê )( Homeric kradiê ) ( Aeolic karza )
• kubos saucer bowl dish (Attic trublion) (Attic kubos cube)
• limên ἀγορά and ( endiatribê delay, abide, stay) (Attic limên port, harbour)
• mochoi inside (Attic entos)(cf.muchos innermost part, nook, corner)
• sapithos sacrifice (Attic thysia)
• sasai to sit (Attic kathisai) (cf. Poetic thassô sit, thôkos backless throne)
• ses (Attic elathes you were hidden, escaped notice see lanthano)
• sihai to spit (Attic ptusai to spit, cast out)
• soana (Attic axinê axe)
• stropa (Attic astrapê) (Homeric sterope, lightning flash)
• huesi (Koine stolê "garment", (Attic amphiesis clothing, Hsch. huestaka)
• Phapê Paphia (Paphian Aphrodite)

See also

• Hesychius of Alexandria
• Cypriot Greek for the modern variety of Greek spoken on Cyprus

Bibliography

• A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity- Arcado-Cypriot by A.Panayotou
• C. M. Bowra Homeric Words in Arcadian Inscriptions
• Yves Duhoux. Introduction aux dialectes grecs anciens. Lounain-la-Neuve: Cabay, 1983 Template:ISBN
• Rüdiger Schmitt. Einführung in die griechischen Dialekte. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1977 Template:ISBN
• Markus Egetmeyer. Le dialecte grec ancien de Chypre. 2 vols., vol. 1: Grammaire; vol. 2: Répertoire des inscriptions en syllabaire chypro-grec. Berlin–NY: De Gruyter, 2010.

Further reading

• Bakker, Egbert J., ed. 2010. A companion to the Ancient Greek language. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Christidis, Anastasios-Phoivos, ed. 2007. A history of Ancient Greek: From the beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Colvin, Stephen C. 2007. A historical Greek reader: Mycenaean to the koiné. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Horrocks, Geoffrey. 2010. Greek: A history of the language and its speakers. 2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Palmer, Leonard R. 1980. The Greek language. London: Faber & Faber.