Locrian Greek

Locrian Greek is an ancient Greek dialect that was spoken by the Locrians in Locris, Central Greece. It is a dialect of Northwest Greek. The Locrians were divided into two tribes, the Ozolian Locrians and the Opuntian Locrians, thus the Locrian dialect can be also divided in two branches, the Ozolian and Opuntian respectively. The traits of both dialects were described by Wilhelm Dittenberger, editor of the project '' Inscriptiones Graecae''.''Inscriptiones Graecae Septentrionalis'', Pars I Inscriptiones Phocidis, Locridis, Aetoliae, Acarnaniae, Insularum maris Ionii, Berolini, 1897, IG. IX, I Unlike some other Northwest varieties, that are not so well known from a dialectal point of view, Locrian, along with Phocian, is generally considered to be a well–attested and recognizable dialect.

Orthography

Locrian Greek was written utilizing the West Greek alphabet, which represented " ξ" with " χ," " χ" with "," and lacked "." In Locrian and Arcadian, a unique sign "" was used to denote "ψ," which was represented in other West Greek dialects by "" or "." More archaic forms of the Greek alphabet persisted into 3rd-century BCE inscriptions amongst the Epizephyrian Locrians, a Locrian people inhabiting Magna Graecia, who utilized the letter "ψ" as numeral representing the number "1,000." The Epizephyrian Locrians, like various other cities of Magna Graecia, utilized the symbol "" to represent the phoneme voiceless glottal fricative, .

Some Locrian inscriptions represent double consonants utilizing only a single letter: "" instead of "." However, there are certain instances in both consonants are present orthographically: "" and "" appear in one inscription, despite the presence of "" and "" in the same text. In Locrian Greek, the preposition "" was assimilated to all consonants, appearing orthographically merely as "" due to the omission of double consonants. Thus, "" instead of "," itself instead of "." Locrian texts, like other Northwestern Greek dialects, often represent "" with "" (Locrian "" for Attic Greek ""). According to Carl Darling Buck, this indicates that "" was, in some circumstances, pronounced as a fricative in Locrian, but had remained an aspirated silent letter in other positions, such as after "."

Some Locrian terms bear the letter heta in certain circumstances and omit it in others: the Locrian word "," without heta, appears in the same inscription as "" and "." Buck proposes that these discrepancies indicate that the asper was so faintly sounded that it Locrian scribes often erroneously recorded the sound in their writings. This variation also occurs with the definite article: In two Locrian inscriptions from Oeantheia, dated to the first and second half of the 5th-century BCE respectively, the forms "" never appears with the letter heta, however "" appears once with and without the letter, suggesting that the rough breathing was likely lost or faintly sounded. One Locrian inscription from Oeantheia, dated to first half of the 5th-century BCE, extensively utilizes the letter " ϙ," although only before the forms "" and "." However, a later inscription dated to the second half of the 5th-century BCE, also from Oeantheia, lacks the letter "ϙ."

Morphology

One Locrian inscription from the first half of the 5th-century BCE represents long " with"" and long "" with "" in the genitive singular and "" in the accusative plural. However, a later inscription dated to the second half of the 5th-century BCE, also from Oeantheia, represents"" and "" with "" and "" respectively. One Locrian accusative singular form "," presumably an inflected form of "," suggests that the substituted represented the ending "" for "." The accusative singular ending "" ending is attested in Locrian for nouns ending in "," although it is "" in most Doric dialects. Moreover, Locrian forms such as "" (Attic: ""), "," and "" suggest that Locrian generally changed "" to "" before "." Ancient Greek grammarians often quote Doric genitive forms ending in "," although Locrian provides the only inscriptional evidence of this morpheme: "." There is also attestation of a dative plural ending "" instead of the Attic "." One inscription from Naupaktos dated to around 500 BCE contains the form "" and another inscription dated to the 2nd-century BCE, during the Hellenistic period, contains the dative forms "" and "." Ozolian Locrian contained an athematic third declension dative plural form "" (see terms such as "πάντοις " or ""), although this is unattested in Opuntian Locrian. The Ozolian Locrian term "" provides attestation of locative adverbs marked by the ending "." Terms such as Epizephyrian Locrian "" and Ozolian Locrian "" provide evidence of temporal adverbs denoted by "." In Locrian, the preposition "" ("") is paired with the genitive in circumstances where the term governs the accusative in Attic, e.g. — . In most Greek dialects, the preposition "" was used, in epitaphs, with the nominative of deceased individual, although—in Locrian—it was used with the dative. The definitive article shows the nominative plural endings "" and "" appear in Ozolian Locrian and Epizephyrian Locrian. There is attestation of Locrian patronymics with the ending "," which also appears in Thessalian, Euboean, and Boeotian. It is likely a corollary to the Boeotian form "" and the Phocian and Euboean form "."

Locrian dialects may have retained in verbal endings and numerals, as attested in Ozolian Locrian "" (compare Attic "," both from Proto-Hellenic "") and the Epizephyrian Locrian "" (compare Attic ""). Ozolian Locrian terms such as "" and Epizephyrian Locrian terms such as "" attest to an athematic infinitive form "." The Epizephyrian Locrian term "" provides attestation of a first person plural ending "," which appears in other Northwestern dialects such as Delphic. Third-person plural imperative forms may have been marked by the ending "," as attested by the Ozolian Locrian form "." The linguist Julián Dosuna reconstructs a middle-passive imperative form "" based upon the aforementioned evidence. Thematic third-person plural optative forms bear the ending "" in early inscriptions, such as in the Ozolian Locrian term ";" however, inscriptions from the 2nd-century BCE onwards show the ending "," such as in the Ozolian Locrian and Delphic form "." In Ozolian and Epizephyrian Locrian, the form "" shows that the morpheme "" appeared in the aorist plural of the verb "." Dosuna suggests that the optative may have carried a prescriptive force in Epizephyrian Locrian, citing the phrase "," which Dosuna translates as "let her dedicate to the goddess a sum twelve times their value". There is attestation of the 3rd person plural ending in Opuntian Locrian: The form "" (Attic: "") appears in an Opuntian inscription from Halae. It is possible that this form emerged due to influence from the Boeotian dialect.

The Ozolian Locrian middle participle form "" shows the ending "-" where Attic Greek shows "-." However, the Epizephyrian Locrians showcase a form "." The linguist Vit Bubenik considers this evidence that the Ozolian Locrians belonged to a "" ("Middle Doric") class whereas the Epizephyrian Locrians belonged to a "" ("Strict Doric") class. The "Strict Doric" class included dialects such as Laconian or Messenian and used a system of five long-vowels, unlike the "Middle Doric" class, which also used the five long-vowel system but bore additional, diverging vowels. Locrian may have contracted the forms "-," "," "-," and "-" to "-:" Compare Ozolian Locrian "" to Attic "." Furthermore, Locrian may have contracted "-" and "-" to ":" Compare Epizephyrian Locrian "" to Attic "." It is also likely that Locrian contracted "" to ";" thus, Ozolian Locrian "" instead of Attic "." However, the Epizephyrian Locrians contracted the dative singular form "" to "." Epizephyrian Locrian also likely merged open and close-mid vowels together, leading the forms such as "" or "" instead of Attic "" and "." Dosuna proposes that this development likely occurred due to the influence of nearby "Strict Doric" dialects. Terms such "" and "," both found in two separate Locrian inscriptions from Naupaktos dated to around 500 BCE and the 3rd-century BCE respectively, indicate that the phoneme /eo/ was uncontracted in Locrian, unlike Attic. One inscription dated to the 2nd-century BCE from the Opuntian Locrian city of Opous shows the forms "" (Attic: "") and "" (Attic: "") and another inscription from the same city shows the genitive ending "-" for names ending in "-." This irregularity is unattested outside of these inscriptions and is contradicted by other evidence from the same city which conforms to the aforementioned rules. It is possible that this peculiarity emerged due to influence from the neighboring Boeotian dialect. The German scholar Wolfgang Blümel suggested that, in this scenario, the spelling "" may represent the realizations uor o

Ozolian Locrian

*The adjective διπλειός ''dipleios'' instead of ''diplous''
*The assimilation of κ (k) in the preposition ''ek'' with the first consonant of the next word, e.g. λιμένος ''e(l) limenos'' — λιμένος ''ek limenos''

Opuntian Locrian

*The infinitive in -εν (''-en'') instead of -ειν (''-ein''), e.g. ''anagraphen'' — ''anagraphein''
*The patronymic names are according to the name they define, an Aeolic trait, e.g. Δαναΐς Νικοτελεία ''Danais Nikoteleia'' — Δαναΐς Νικοτέλους ''Danais Nikotelous''

Glossary

*
deilomai
' will, want (Locrian and Delphian) (Attic ''boulomai'') ( Coan ''dêlomai'') (Doric ''bôlomai'') (Thessalian ''bellomai'')
*
Werrô
' go away (Attic ''errô'') ( Hsch.br>''berrês''
fugitive, ''berreuô'' escape)
* ''Wesparioi Lokroi'' Epizephyrian (Western) Locrians in Calabria (Attic ''hesperios'' of the evening, western, Doric ''wesperios'') (cf. Latin Vesper) IG IX,1² 3:718
* ''Lokroi toi hypoknamidioi'' (Attic ''Lokroi hoi hypoknemidioi'') Hypoknemidian Locrians; under mount Knemis IG IX,1² 3:718
*
opliai
' places where the Locrians counted their cattle

See also

*Doric Greek

References

Bibliography

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

External links

*Fr. Bechtel. ''Die griechishe Dialekte'', II. Berlin, 1923.

{{Greek language periods

Doric Greek
Locrians