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The Pre-Greek substrate (or Pre-Greek substratum) consists of the unknown pre-Indo-European language(s) spoken in prehistoric Greece before the coming of the
Proto-Greek language The Proto-Greek language (also known as Proto-Hellenic) is the Indo-European language which was the last common ancestor of all varieties of Greek, including Mycenaean Greek, the subsequent ancient Greek dialects (i.e., Attic, Ionic, ...
in the Greek peninsula during the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
. It is possible that Greek acquired approximately one thousand words and proper names from such a language or group of languages, because some of its vocabulary cannot be satisfactorily explained as deriving from Proto-Greek and a
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
reconstruction is almost certainly impossible for such terms.


Introduction


Linguistic situation

Based upon toponymic and lexical evidence, it is generally assumed that one or several languages were once spoken in both the Greek peninsula and western
Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
before
Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the '' terminus ad quem'' for th ...
and the attested
Anatolian languages The Anatolian languages are an extinct branch of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Anatolia, part of present-day Turkey. The best known Anatolian language is Hittite, which is considered the earliest-attested Indo-European langua ...
( Hittite and Luwian) became predominant in the region. Various explanations for this phenomenon have been given by scholars. One substrate language, whose influence is observable on Ancient Greek and Anatolian languages, is taken by a number of scholars to be an Indo-European language related to the Anatolian Luwian language, and to be responsible for the widespread place-names ending in ''-ssa'' and ''-nda'' in western Asia Minor, and ''-ssos'' and ''-nthos'' in mainland Greece, respectively. For instance, the name of the mount ''Parnassos'' in Greece has been interpreted as the Luwian ''parna-'' ('house') attached to the possessive suffix ''-ssa-''. Both Hittite and Luwian texts also attest a place-name ''Parnassa'', which could be related. Philologist Martin L. West has proposed to name this unattested Anatolian language "Parnassian", and has argued for "a parallel movement down from
Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
by a branch of the same people as entered Anatolia, the people who were to appear 1,500 years later as the
Luwians The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
". From the distribution of the names, it appears that this language was spoken during the Early Helladic II period, which began around 2800 BC. However, since many clusters of sounds are possible in both pre-Greek and Indo-European, it is difficult in most cases to distinguish between eventual "Parnassian" loanwords and shared pre-Indo-European substrate words. For instance, terms like τολύπη (''tolúpē''; 'clew, ball of wool ready for spinning') show typical pre-Greek features while being related to Anatolian words (in this case Luwian and Hittite ''taluppa/i-'' 'lump, clod') with no other attested Indo-European cognate, suggesting that they were borrowed from the same probably non-Indo-European source. Some scholars have thus proposed that at least part of the pre-Greek substrate was brought to Greece by pre-Indo-European settlers from Asia Minor, and that we should distinguish between different layers of loanwords coming successively or concurrently from different families of languages. While the correlations between Anatolian and Greek placenames may be a strong indication of a common early phase of Indo-European – possibly Anatolian – influence in the area, some pre-Greek loanwords still remain incompatible with Indo-European phonology while showing certain recurrent patterns that set them apart from other languages. This likely indicates that "one language, or a group of closely related dialects or languages" was the source of another, possibly earlier, layer of pre-Indo-European loanwords in the region. Of the few words of secure Anatolian origin, most are cultural items or commodities which are likely the result of commercial exchange, not of a substratum. Some of the relevant vocabulary can also be explained as linguistic exchange between Greek and Anatolian languages across the
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...
without necessarily originating from a change of language.


Coming of Proto-Greek

Estimates for the introduction of the
Proto-Greek language The Proto-Greek language (also known as Proto-Hellenic) is the Indo-European language which was the last common ancestor of all varieties of Greek, including Mycenaean Greek, the subsequent ancient Greek dialects (i.e., Attic, Ionic, ...
into prehistoric Greece have changed over the course of the 20th century. Since the decipherment of
Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
, searches were made "for earlier breaks in the continuity of the material record that might represent the 'coming of the Greeks. The majority of scholars date the coming of Proto-Greek to the transition from Early Helladic II to Early Helladic III (c. 2400−2200/2100 BC), with the diversification into a southern and a northern group beginning by approximately 1700 BCE. This has been criticized by John E. Coleman, who argues that this estimate is based on stratigraphic discontinuities at Lerna that other archaeological excavations in Greece suggested were the product of chronological gaps or separate deposit-sequencing instead of cultural changes. Coleman estimates that the entry of Proto-Greek speakers into the Greek peninsula occurred during the late 4th millennium BC (c. 3200 BC) with pre-Greek spoken by the inhabitants of the Late Neolithic II period.


Reconstruction

Although no written texts exist or have been identified as pre-Greek, the
phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
and
lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word (), neuter of () meaning 'of or fo ...
have been partially reconstructed via the considerable number of words that have been borrowed into Greek; such words often show a type of variation not found in inherited Indo-European Greek terms, and certain recurrent patterns that can be used to identify pre-Greek elements.


Phonology


Vowels

The pre-Greek language had a simple vowel system, with either three or five monophthongs. This system consisted of either /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, or most likely just /a/, /i/, /u/, in which /a/ varied between /a/~/e/~/o/ as a result of palatalization for /e/ and labialization for /o/. Additionally, it had at least one diphthong (/au/), and it may also have had /ou/, although this is also often explained as the sequence -arʷ- adapted in Greek as -ουρ-, since /ou/ is often seen with an /r/.


Consonants

The phonology of pre-Greek likely featured a series of both labialized and palatalized consonants, as indicated by Mycenaean inscriptions in
Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
. These features were found not only in stops, but in resonants as well (presumably including even the rare modified approximants /jʷ/ and //), which was different from Indo-European languages at the time and is generally considered a rare feature characteristic of pre-Greek. It is, however, unlikely that voicing or consonantal aspiration were distinctive features, as pre-Greek loanwords in Greek vary freely between plain, voiced and aspirated stops (e.g. ἀσφάραγος/ἀσπάραγος, ', 'asparagus'). The observation of such variants for a particular word is often a strong indication of substrate-derived etymology. Furthermore, while the existence of word-initial
approximant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce ...
s /w/ and /j/ can be safely inferred from common motifs in inherited words (e.g. the ἰα‑ from *ja- in ἴαμβος, Ἰάσων) or even retained in early and dialectal forms (e.g. *wa- in the cases of ἄναξ-ϝάναξ, Ὀαξός-ϝαξός, ὑάκινθος-ϝάκινθος), word-initial aspiration probably did not exist, with /h/ considered by Beekes a non-native phoneme in pre-Greek. The initial consonant σ- /s/ or /z/ is very common in pre-Greek and characteristic when it shows up as an ''s''-mobile.


Consonant clusters

Certain characteristic
consonant clusters In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education ...
associated with pre-Greek phonology as reflected in words inherited into Greek, as listed by Beekes according to their frequency in the PIE language: Not possible in PIE * -κχ- /kkʰ/, not possible in PIE, only in pre-Greek (but rare) * -πφ- /ppʰ/, not possible in PIE, though still very rare in pre-Greek * -τθ- /ttʰ/, not possible in PIE, common in pre-Greek Rare in PIE * -βδ- /bd/, rare in PIE, not as much in pre-Greek * -γδ- /gd/, rare in PIE, not in pre-Greek * -δν- /dn/, rare in PIE, not in pre-Greek * -ρκν- /rkn/, very rare overall and found only in pre-Greek loans * -σβ- /sb/, very rare and problematic identification in PIE, common in pre-Greek probably from *-sgʷ- * -σγ- /sg/, rare in PIE, common in pre-Greek perhaps from *-tʲg- * non word-initial -σκ- /sk/ and -στ- /st/, rare in PIE, somehow common in pre-Greek derivative words * -χμ- /kʰm/ and -χν- /kʰn/, rare in PIE, sometimes in substrate words * word-initial ψ- /ps/, extremely common in pre-Greek loans (most words beginning with ψ- being such) Possible in PIE * -γν- /gn/, not as rare in both PIE and pre-Greek * -κτ- /kt/, common in PIE but in pre-Greek also with variants -χθ-, -χτ- etc. * -μν- /mn/, common in PIE and also in many pre-Greek words * -ρδ- /rd/, possible in PIE, also found in some pre-Greek words * -ρν- /rn/, when pre-Greek usually also with variants -ρδ- and -νδ- * -στλ- /stl/, possible in PIE but more common in substrate words * -φθ- /pʰtʰ/, possible in PIE but also common in pre-Greek loans


Lexicon

There are different categories of words that have been suggested to be pre-Greek (or "Aegean") loanwords such as: * Anatomy: ** αὐχήν, '','' 'neck'; ** λαιμός, ', 'neck, throat'; ** ῥίς, ', 'nose, snout'; ** σιαγών, ', 'jaw, jawbone'; ** σπόνδυλος/σφόνδυλος, ', 'vertebra'; ** σφάκελος/σφάκηλος, ', 'middle finger'. * Animals: ** ἀράχνη, ', 'spider'; ** βόλινθος/βόνασσος, ', 'wild ox'; ** κάνθαρος, ', 'beetle'; ** κῆτος, ', 'whale, sea monster'; ** πελεκῖνος, ', 'pelican'; ** σμίνθος, ', 'mouse'. * Architecture and building materials: ** ἄργῐλλος/ἄργῑλος/ἄργῐλλα, ', 'white clay, argil'; ** καλύβη/καλυβός/κολυβός, ', 'hut, cabin'; ** λαβύρινθος, ', 'labyrinth'; ** πέτρα, ', 'stone (as building material)'; ** πλίνθος, ', 'brick'; ** πύργος, ', '
tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...
'.If the substratum is actually Indo-European, ''pyrgos'' as well as '' Pergamos'' might be connected to
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
br>''*bhergh-''
.
* Geography and topography: ** ἄμβων/ἄμβη, ', 'crest of a hill', 'raised edge or protuberance'; ** κρημνός, ', 'edge of a trench, cliff'; ** κορυφή, ', 'mountain top'; ** ὄχθη, ', 'riverbank'; ** σπέος/σπεῖος, ', 'cave, cavern'; ** χαράδρα/χαράδρη, ', 'torrent, riverbed, gorge'; * Maritime vocabulary: ** ἄκατος, ', 'small dinghy, skiff'. ** θάλασσα, ', 'sea'. ** θάλαμος, ', 'an inner room or chamber', 'the lowest, darkest part of the ship', 'the hold'; ** θίς, ', 'heap of sand, beach, shore, sand at the bottom of the sea'; ** κυβερνάω, ', 'to steer, to be a steerman'. * Metals and metallurgy: ** κασσίτερος, ', 'tin'; ** μόλυβδος, ', 'lead'; ** σίδηρος, ', 'iron'; ** τάγχουρος/τάγχαρας/ἄγχουρος, ', 'gold'; ** χαλκός, ', 'copper'. * Musical instruments: ** κίθαρις, ', 'zither'; ** λύρα, ', '
lyre The lyre () is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it ...
'; ** σάλπιγξ, ', 'trumpet'; ** σύριγξ, ', 'flute'; ** φόρμιγξ, ', 'lyre'. *Mythological characters: ** Ἀχιλλεύς/Ἀχιλεύς, ',
Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...
; ** Δαναός, ',
Danaus In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; grc, Δαναός ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and ...
; ** Κάδμος, ',
Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; grc-gre, Κάδμος, Kádmos) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the da ...
; ** Ὀδυσσεύς, ',
Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odys ...
; ** Ῥαδάμανθυς, ',
Rhadamanthus In Greek mythology, Rhadamanthus () or Rhadamanthys ( grc, Ῥαδάμανθυς) was a wise king of Crete. As the son of Zeus and Europa he was considered a demigod. His name means "showing stern and inflexible judgement". He later became one o ...
. * Plants: ** ἄμπελος, ', 'vine'; ** ἀψίνθιον, ', 'wormwood' or ' absinthe'; ** ἐλαία, ', 'olive tree'; ** κισσός, ', 'ivy'; ** κολοκύνθη/κολοκύνθα/κολοκύνθος/κολοκύντη, ', 'bottle gourd'; ** κυπάρισσος, ', 'cypress'; ** μίνθη, ', '
mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAE ...
' ** σταφυλή, ', 'grape'; ** σῦκον/τῦκον, ', 'fig'. * Social practices and institutions: ** ἅμιλλα, ', 'contest, trial, sporting activity'; ** ἀτέμβω, ', 'maltreat' or 'to be bereft or cheated of a thing'; ** ϝάναξ/ἄναξ, ', 'lord, king'; ** θίασος, ', '
thiasus In Greek mythology and religion, the ''thiasus'' ( el, θίασος, thíasos), was the ecstatic retinue of Dionysus, often pictured as inebriated revelers. Many of the myths of Dionysus are connected with his arrival in the form of a processio ...
, Bacchic revel'; ** τύραννος, ', 'absolute ruler'. * Theonyms: ** Ἀπόλλων, ',
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
; ** Ἄρης, ',
Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war ...
; ** Ἄρτεμις, ',
Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified with ...
; ** Ἀσκληπιός, ',
Asclepius Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represen ...
; ** Ἀθήνη, ',
Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...
; ** Ἄτλας, ',
Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...
; ** Διόνῡσος, ',
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...
; ** Ἑρμῆς, ',
Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...
; ** Ἥφαιστος, ', Hephaestus; ** Ἰαπετός, ',
Iapetus In Greek mythology, Iapetus (; ; grc, Ἰαπετός, Iapetós), also Japetus, is a Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia and father of Atlas (mythology), Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus (mythology), Epimetheus, and Menoetius (mythology), Menoetius. ...
. * Tools related to agricultural activities: **δίκελλα, ', 'adze, pickaxe'; **κάμαξ, ', 'vine pole'; **μάκελλα, ', 'mattock, pick'; **χαλινός, ', 'bridle, rein'. *Toponyms/placenames: ** -νθ-, ''-nth-'' (e.g. Κόρινθος, ',
Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...
; Ζάκυνθος, ', Zakynthos); ** -σσ-, ''-ss-'' (e.g. Παρνασσός, ', Parnassus); ** -ττ-, ''-tt-'' (e.g. Ἀττική, ',
Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...
; Ὑμηττός, ', Hymettus); **region names e.g. Ἀχαΐα, ', Achaea; Λακωνία, ',
Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word '' laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
; Μαγνησία, ', Magnesia; ** city names e.g. Δωδώνη, ', Dodona; Κνωσσός, ',
Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...
; Κυδωνία, ',
Cydonia Cydonia may refer to: Music * ''Cydonia'' (album), a 2001 album by The Orb * "Cydonia", a track by heavy metal band Crimson Glory from '' Astronomica'' Places and jurisdictions * Kydonia or Cydonia, an ancient city state on Crete, at modern ...
; **isles e.g. Κρήτη, ',
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
; Νάξος, ', Naxos; ** mountain names e.g.Ὄλυμπος, ',
Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Le ...
; Πίνδος, ',
Pindus The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; el, Πίνδος, Píndos; sq, Pindet; rup, Pindu) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metres ...
; ** hydronyms e.g. Ἀχελῷος, ', Achelous; Γέλας, ', Gela; Ἰλισός, ', Ilisos; ** other geographical features e.g. Σούνιον, ', Sounion; **mythological locations e.g. Ἠλύσιον, ',
Elysium Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...
. * Use of domestic species: ** ἔλαιον, ', 'olive oil'; ** λήκυθος, ', 'oil-flask'; ** κάνθων, ', 'pack-ass'; ** στέμφυλον, ', 'mass of olives from which the oil has been pressed, mass of pressed grapes'. * Weapons: ** θώραξ, ', 'corselet'; ** μάστιξ, ', 'whip'; ** ὑσσός, ', 'javelin'. * Weaving: ** ἀρύβαλλος, ', 'purse'; ** βρόχος, ', 'slip knot, mesh'; ** ἠλακάτη, ', 'spindle'; ** μύρινθος, ', 'cord'.


Anatolian loanwords

Possible Anatolian or "Parnassian" loanwords include: * Ἀπόλλων, ''Apóllōn'' (Doric: ''Apéllōn'', Cypriot: ''Apeílōn''), from *''Apeljōn'', as in Hittite ''Appaliunaš''; * δέπας, ' 'cup; pot, vessel', Mycenaean ''di-pa'', from Hieroglyphic Luwian ''ti-pa-s'' 'sky; bowl, cup' (cf. Hittite ''nēpis'' 'sky; cup'); * ἐλέφας, ' ' ivory', from Hittite ''laḫpa'' (itself from Mesopotamia; cf. Phoenician ''ʾlp'', Egyptian ''ꜣbw''); * κύανος, ' ' dark blue glaze; enamel', from Hittite ''kuwannan-'' 'copper ore; azurite' (ultimately from Sumerian ''kù-an''); * κύμβαχος, ' 'helmet', from Hittite ''kupaḫi'' 'headgear'; * κύμβαλον, ' 'cymbal', from Hittite ''ḫuḫupal'' 'wooden percussion instrument'; * μόλυβδος, ' 'lead', Mycenaean ''mo-ri-wo-do'', from *''morkʷ-io-'' 'dark', as in Lydian ''mariwda(ś)-k'' 'the dark ones'; * ὄβρυζα, ' 'vessel for refining gold', from Hittite ''ḫuprušḫi'' 'vessel'; * τολύπη, ' 'ball of wool', from Hittite ''taluppa'' 'lump'/'clod' (or
Cuneiform Luwian Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') � ...
''taluppa/i'').


Other substratum theories

Other explanations have been made for these substrate features. Some fringe theories ranging from the mild (e.g., Egyptian) to the extreme (e.g., Proto-Turkic) have been proposed but have been given little to no consideration from the broader academic community and as such are not developed in this article.


Minoan substratum

The existence of a Minoan ( Eteocretan) substratum was the opinion of English archaeologist Arthur Evans who assumed widespread Minoan colonisation of the Aegean, policed by a Minoan
thalassocracy A thalassocracy or thalattocracy sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples ...
. Raymond A. Brown, after listing a number of words of pre-Greek origin from
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, suggests a relation between Minoan, Eteocretan,
Lemnian The Lemnian language was spoken on the island of Lemnos, Greece, in the second half of the 6th century BC. It is mainly attested by an inscription found on a funerary stele, termed the Lemnos stele, discovered in 1885 near Kaminia. Fragments of ...
( Pelasgian), and Tyrsenian, inventing the name "Aegeo-Asianic" for the proposed language family. However, many Minoan loanwords found in Mycenaean Greek (e.g., words for architecture, metals and metallurgy, music, use of domestic species, social institutions, weapons, weaving) have been asserted to be the result of socio-cultural and economic interactions between the Minoans and Mycenaeans during the Bronze Age, and may therefore be part of a linguistic adstrate in Greek rather than a substrate.


Tyrrhenian substratum

A Tyrsenian/Etruscan substratum was proposed on the basis of the Lemnos funerary stele: four pottery sherds inscribed in Etruscan that were found in 1885 at Ephestia in Lemnos. However, the Lemnos funerary stele was written in a form of ancient Etruscan, which suggested that the author had emigrated from Etruria in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, rather than the Greek sphere, and the Homeric tradition makes no mention of a Tyrrhenian presence on Lemnos. If Etruscan was spoken in Greece, it must have been effectively a
language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...
, with no significant relationship to or interaction with speakers of pre-Greek or ancient Greek, since, in the words of C. De Simone, there are no Etruscan words that can be "etymologically traced back to a single, common ancestral form with a Greek equivalent".


Kartvelian theory

In 1979, Edzard J. Furnée proposed a theory by which a pre-Greek substrate is associated with the Kartvelian languages.


See also

* Camunic language (probably Raetic) *
Elymian language Elymian is the extinct language of the ancient Elymian people of western Sicily. Its characteristics are little known because of the extremely limited and fragmentary nature of the surviving texts. The origins of Elymian and its exact relations ...
(probably Indo-European) * Eteocypriot * Hattic language * Hurro-Urartian languages ** Hurrian language ** Urartian language ** ?
Kassite language Kassite (also Cassite) was a language spoken by the Kassites in Mesopotamia from approximately the 18th to the 7th century BC. From the 16th to 12th centuries BC, kings of Kassite origin ruled in Babylon until they were overthrown by the Elam ...
*
North Picene language North Picene, also known as North Picenian or Northern Picene, is a supposed ancient language, which may have been spoken in part of central-eastern Italy. The evidence for the language consists of four inscriptions dating from the 1st millennium ...
* Paleo-Sardinian language (also called Paleosardinian, Protosardic, Nuraghic language) *
Sicanian language The Sicani ( Ancient Greek Σῐκᾱνοί ''Sikānoí'') or Sicanians were one of three ancient peoples of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization. The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, a ...
*
Sicel language Siculian (or Sicel) is an extinct Indo-European language spoken in central and eastern Sicily by the Sicels. It is attested in less than thirty inscriptions from the late 6th century to 4th century BCE, and in around twenty-five glosses from ancie ...


Substrates of other Indo-European languages

* Germanic substrate hypothesis * Goidelic substrate hypothesis *
Old European hydronymy Old European (german: Alteuropäisch) is the term used by Hans Krahe (1964) for the language of the oldest reconstructed stratum of European hydronymy (river names) in Central and Western Europe.Hans Krahe, ''Unsere ältesten Flussnamen'', Wiesb ...
* Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit


Citations


General sources

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Further reading

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External links

* (N.B.: Click the "Pre-Greek loanwords in Greek" tab found below the introductory text.) {{Eurasian languages Aegean languages in the Bronze Age Ancient Greek Greek language Language contact Linguistic strata Pre-Indo-Europeans