Now on academia.edu. Verb paradigms in Hittite infinitives present past imperative participles substantives here (click on the image):I have been learning Hittie for the past 5 months and I have fully mastered the language. Hittie is the first ever Indo-European language, from which Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B, ancient Greek, Latin and all modern Occidental languages are derived. Here is list of Verb paradigms in Hittite infinitives present past imperative participles substantives: Common verbs classified: + Linear A (LA=) + Linear B (LB=) + Greek (gr=) & Latin (la=) (where applicable) + English + français existence/creation: es = to be = la = essere = to be = English = is = français = être/es/est LB = eesi = they are gr = ei0mi essa/issa = to realize, do tahr? to be able to tarna = to let, allow; to abandon; to leave; to forgive; to let, put (a spoon in a liquid) huinu = to cause asas/ases = to sit = English = sit = français = s'asseoir LA = ase/asi = to sit, to settle, to put into ki/kikki = to lie down gr = kei=mai aniya = to act, create, work, achieve; ? to make grow (a plant) samn?i = to create, bring up, raise = English = to assemble = français = assembler give food: ad/ed = to eat + azzikk = to eat again + hassik/ispai = to eat until full = English = edible eku = to drink akkusk = to drink a lot life & death: ak/ek/akkisk = to die armaniya/irmaliya = to fall ill = English = harm dassanu = to make strong has = to open; to give birth (for a woman); to testify (for a man) huis/huisw?i = to live, to stay alive haddules = to recover maliskunu = to weaken = English = malaise = français = mal, malade, malaise ses/suppariya = to sleep, to fall asleep = English = supine teshaniya = to sleep, dream perception: uh/usk//sakuwai = to see usk = to see often istamas = to hear = English = to listen gr = i3sthmi = to stand expression: dariyanu = to call halz?i = to call, name + halzessa = to call , to name; to read = English = hail lamniya = to name; to call; to order; to assign, appoint mem?i = to talk, say; to announce = la = memoria = memory English = memory = français = mémoire talliya = to call, invite; to implore te/tar (2 infinitives) = to speak tarsik = to talk again, proclaim tarsikk = to say/speak/talk several times tekkus(sa)nu = to indicate; to show; to accuse = English = accuse = français = accuser gr = dei/knumi tekuss?i = to appear, show s?kiya = to declare gr = fa/skw tarkumm?i = to announce, report watarnah = to order; to entrust; to inculcate; to command, lead; to ask; to inform punus = to ask, to examine uesk = to implore = English = ask wek = to wish, ask, demand, claim = English = wish/ask LB = eukoto = he wishes wewakk(iya) = to ask again LB = eukoto = he wishes education: hatrai = to write = English = write LA = jatikutu = to write? handai = to add = English = hand/handle kupawi/kappuwar = to count = English = cut = français = couper sak/sek = to know = English = to seek annanu= to teach, educate ishiullah = to teach lazziya = to rectify, set straight LA = kireza? siy?i = to open (by pushing), push; to stamp, flatten; ? to draw; ? to seal; to cover with a seal = English = to seal gr = shmai/nw = to signify, mark, seal motion: uwa = to come ?nna = to drive; to receive; to come, hurry pai = to go gr = bai/nw = to go arr?sa p?war = to go d?la/d?liya = to leave = English = dally tiya = to move forward watkunu = to drive away, to dismiss huwai(huya) = to run, to flee = English = flee = français = fuir pars = to run, to flee = français = partir = je pars piddai = to run, hasten, flee + to pay = English = pittance LA = daipita = to lay, put, sit, pay as = to stay, to come to stay sakuwantariya = to stop, rest zenna/zinna = to end, finish; to settle, put an end to; to demolish husk = to wait istand?i = to remain, stay; to hesitate, wait, tarry = English = stand gr = i3sthmi = to stand ispart = to escape = la = evanescere = to disappear English = escape = français = disparaître kark = to disappear sanna = to conceal, hide maus = to fall waktu = to jump wahnu/weh = to turn up = to rise (the sun) = English = up action: dai/te/ti/tai = to put tittanu = to put, set. awan arha t. : to remove, withdraw tittiya = to put, set out ep = to grab iya = to do hark(iya) = to hold, to have + to collapse LA = apieke LB = oka + LB = ekee= to have + ekei = he has + ekonsi = they have d? = to take; to take as possession; ? to take for oneself + to decide in favor of s.o. huitiya = to pull hamenk= to attach, to link; to marry tarm?i = to attach, fix karp = to lift w?k = to bite, bite off = English = to whack duwarn?i = to break parsiya = to break LA = parosu la = to detach mark = to cut, distribute = English = mark LA = makarite, almost definite! tuhs/tuhhus = to cut; to separate (a girl from her lover) mat/maz/mazas = to support = français = mettre sarkuwai = to tighten wesuriya = to squeeze maninkuwah/maninkues = to shorten wete= to build + wetenu = to have sth. built, reinforced, fortified Linear B = wete = he works gr = e1rgon = work sarlai = to raise = la = sublevare = to raise = français = soulever taks/takkes/taggas = to gather; to implement, undertake; ? to found, buildLB = akere = to collect + LB = apeeke = to let go gr = ta/cij = arranging, putting in place, order, arrangement etc. zikk = to put several times has/hes = to open siy?i = to open (by pushing), push; to stamp, flatten; ? to draw; ? to seal; to cover with a seal = la = consignare = to seal = English = to seal gr = shmai/nw = to signify, mark, seal hatk = to close istap = to close; to block = la = subsistere = to stand = English = stop gr = i3sthmi = to stand less?i = to pick up = français = laisser karsanu = to omit kanes = to point out; to obtain, get; to find out, realize; to acknowledge, accept LB = dekasato = to be accepted harp?i = to pile, to heap = English = heap sarnink = to replace was/wes = to buy/to dress + wessiya = to dress arnu = to bring, to send; to address uwate = to bring uda = to bring; to cause (distress) LB = pere = to bring piya = to send uppa = to send piyanna = to give = English = pay = français = payer ussaniya = to give, sell piyan?i = to reward, give a present = la = dependere = to pay = English = pay = français = payer maniyahh = to give back pesk = to give several times dask = to take several times LB = dosei = he gives wemiya = to find sah/sahn = to search n?i/ne = to guide, lead; to turn sth. nann? = to drive, shove, push pehute = to supply assanu/asnu = to prepare/obtain = la = assignare = to assign = English = assign (absolutely the same word!) newah = to renew = la = novus = newb= English = new/renew gr = ne/oj = new pahs = to protect pahsanu = to ensure; to guarantee, protect; to strenghten, reinforce hap (Mid.) = to succeed wek = to require = la = egere = call for = English = require LB = weke = to work gr= e1rgon handalliya = to dare, risk mal?i = to approve markiya = to disagree agriculture & vessels/pottery: ahu(w?i) = to pour; to empty (a container) = English = wash LA = ra2sa (raisa?)/rua?/rujami? + lahu(w?i) = to pour; to empty (a container) LA = ra2sa (raisa?)/rua?/rujami? ishuw?i = to pour + ishuwann?i = la = effusus = pouring rain = to pour out = English = wash less?i = to pick up LB = resi? suhha = to pour suppiyahh = to clean parkunu = to cleanse; to excuse = la = purus = clean arra = to wash français = arrosser =to water hat = to dry = English = hot salliya = to melt (away), dissolve = la = (dis)solvi = to dissolve = English = dissolve m?i = to grow, blossom; to prosper + mid. miyari = he/she is born makkes = to become many, grow = la = maximus = the greatest = English = maximum/maximize = français = maximum salles = to grow, increase = la = salio = to spring, to jump, to leap LA = sareju? parkiya = to raise, grow; to remove; to flatter maknu = to multiply, increase, pile up = = la = maximus = the greatest = English = maximum/maximize = français = maximum mes (Mid.) = to grow, prosper = la = maxime = the most (adv.) = English = most uliliya = to grow, blossom ul?i = to unite, blend zanu/zeya = to cook sallanu = to make larger; to stretch; to raise, bring up = la = salio = to spring, to jump, to leap dankues = to get dark = la = obscurus = dark = English = dark LA = dakusene luk = to light; to set ablaze + middle = to brighten, get light = English = light maiszasti = to glow, shine = la = micare = to glitter teth?i = to thunder = = la = (in)tonare = to thunder = English = to thunder war/+warnu (set on fire) = to burn = English = warm wars = to wipe off, slip off; to pluck, harvest = English = wash wesiya/wisiya = to graze (trans.) military/government: tamas = to squeeze; to press; to attack, pester, force = English = pester dammesh?i = to damage, strike, punish = English = to damage = français = endommager dannattah = to devastate, ravage = = la = damno = to condemn, sentence, punish = English = to damage tarh(za) = to defeat, submit, conquer (with -za) harni(n)k = to destroy hull?i/hulliya = to fight = to topple (a decree) hullanz?in = to give battle harr/kuskus = to crush = la = fungere = to crush = English = crush kakkur = to cut, maim = la = caedere = to cut = English = cut gr = ko/ptw t?ya = to rob, steal; to abduct s?ruw?i = to plunder ispar = to spread; to cover; to crush, tread on = la = dissipare = to disperse = English = disperse = français = disperser, éparpiller gr = spei/rw = to sow, scatter, spread ninik= to mobilize hatkesnu = to bother, disturb; to attack, plague, press; to add h?ni(n)k = to injure, to damage, to hurt = = English = hurt wen = to harm hurna = to hunt hatukes = to worsen kuen = to strike, kill = la = caedere = to kill = English = kill gr = a0poktei/nw walh = to strike; to attack zah = to strike zahhiya = to fight walhann?i = to hit, beat hazziknu = to beat, hit, strike; to fight s.o. hazziya = to push, stab, strike pessiya = to throw, push, project; to dismiss, reject, abolish = English = push/press = français = presser hatt?i = to put to death; to cut off = English = hit hariya = to bury taksul?i = to be friendly, peaceful, tolerate each other; to sign a treaty hassuw?i/hassuizn?i = to govern as king emotional: dusk = to rejoice, be happy m?g?i = to complain = la = mugire = to rumble, groan ilaliya = to desire, envy nah = to fear uwai = to worry = English = worry wiya = to lament/wesk = iterative of wiya sa= to be angry waggariya = to be indignant, rebel = English = to wag indignant judicial/religious: ha = to believe walla/wallu = to glorify, praise; to pride oneself on sth. ariya = to study an oracle, ask an oracle =la =oraculum = oracle = Eng= oracle = fr = oracle azzikk = to adore (all the time) assiya = to love hahhars = to laugh = English = haha parkus/parkues = to become pure = = la = parcere = to spare, economize = English = pure = français = pur gr = kaqaro/j = pure + kaqai/rw = to purify warressa = to hasten to help = English = hasten hanna = to judge, decide has = to open; to give birth (for a woman); to testify (for a man) tuwadd = to have mercy, pity hanti tiya = to accuse wasta = to sin = English = waste idalawes = to become evil = la = idolon = a spectre = English = idol/idolize = français = idole/idolizer idalawahh = to behave badly = la = idolon = a spectre = English = idol/idolize = français = idole/idolizer huwap = to do evil huek = to swear (under oath) + to throw down = English = heck/heckle sull?i/sulliya = to argue, quarrel; to scold, rebuke = English = sully zammur?i = to offend, insult h?wart?- : to swear, curse link = to swear mald= to vow, swear wars/warsiya = to calm down (intrans.) Conjugations follow 35 pp.
Tag Archive: Classical Greek
The absurd fallacy of HERSTORY. There is no such thing in any language other than English, and in fact no such thing in English!
If there is anything which raises my hackles, it has got to be the absurd notion adapted by English language feminists alone that the word HISTORY is somehow gender related, when in fact it most certainly is not! English feminists who insist on changing the word history to herstory are displaying the most egregious linguistic ignorance. As anyone with even a smattering of higher education knows beyond a doubt, the English word history is in fact directly derived from the ancient Greek i9stori/a=, which means: inquiry, knowledge, information, science, narration and above all, a story. Now the sheer absurdity of the position of English feminists is blown wide open by the equivalent words for history in practically every other language, for instance, Dutch = geschiedenis, French = histoire, German = Geschichte, Italian = storia, Polish = przeszłość and Portuguese = história, to cite just a few examples. Any French feminist would laugh out loud at the notion that herstory is somehow the same thing as history, since in French the word for “her” is “son” (masculine gender) and “sa” (feminine gender). Of course, some allophone English feminists will scream aloud that “son” is gender-biased, without realizing in the least that gender in French, and for that matter in any and all inflected languages, including Greek, Latin, German, Russian etc. has nothing whatsoever to do with masculinity or, what is even worse, in their silly “intellectual” construct, sexism! The Dutch and German words, geschiedenis and Geschichte respectively, blow the English feminists’ ridiculous claim right out of the water, let alone the Polish przeszłość. I could cite hundreds of other languages, and the results would always be the same, to wit, the English word history has absolutely nothing to do with masculinity or sexism. So all I have to say to unilingual English feminists, “Get a life!” and at least swallow the truth with grace and dignity.
In the citations below, all italics are mine:
Consider Wikipedia:
Herstory is history written from a feminist perspective, emphasizing the role of women, or told from a woman’s point of view. The principal aim of herstory is to bring women out of obscurity from the historical record. It is a neologism coined as a pun with the word “history”, as part of a feminist critique of conventional historiography, which in their opinion is traditionally written as “his story”, i.e., from the masculine point of view.[1] (The word “history”—from the Ancient Greek ἱστορία, or historia, meaning “knowledge obtained by inquiry”—is etymologically unrelated to the possessive pronoun his.
And Rational Wiki:
“Herstory” is a neologistic term for “women’s history,” a variant of the Marxist “people’s history”; while a people’s history professes to reinterpret history from the perspective of workers and/or common men, a herstory professes to reinterpret it from the perspective of women. Most feminists don’t use it.
The term is an illustration of its coiners’ belief that regular history is heavily slanted toward men’s point of view, a “systemic bias” reflected in the term history, which they seem to have simply assumed was a portmanteau of “his story”.
Unfortunately, it happens that the English word history is a loan word, derived directly from the Latin historia, which is itself a loan word from ancient Greek.[1] On the other hand, the English word his is derived from a proto-Germanic root,[2] and is not in the least etymologically connected to the first three letters of history. They just happen to sound the same, and only in English. The origin of this term is a testament to the intellectual laziness of extremists in any field, who are quick to grab hold of anything that seems to support their point of view but reluctant to examine it critically.
and Reddit:
Also, I appreciate the title quote is somewhat playful. But I find it extremely irritating – ‘history’ is directly taken from the Greek word historia, roughly translating to ‘inquiry’ or ‘investigation’. ‘His’ and ‘her’ as actual words do not exist in Ancient Greek; words in the language meaning the same thing do exist. But the only reason ‘herstory’ is a thing is because it’s an awful pun based on the conventions of the English language which the word ‘history’ does not follow; it betrays a lack of knowledge of context, a tendency to jump on anything resembling ‘gendered’ words, and it’s a bad pun.
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You do not want to miss this Fantastic Twitter account, FONT design company of the highest calibre! I have just fortuitously come across what I consider to be the most fantastic font site or Twitter account on newly designed, mostly serif, extremely attractive fonts, some of which they offer for FREE!!! You simply have to check them out. Click here to follow typo graphias:Here is a composite of some of the astonishing font graphics on this amazing site!
Serendipitously happening on this account put a bee in my bonnet. I simply had to send you all on the fast track to downloading and installing the Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C + several beautiful ancient Greek fonts, of which the most heavily used is SPIonic, used for Ionic, Attic, Hellenistic and New Testament writings and documents. Hre are the links where you can download them, and much more besides! Colour coded keyboard layout for the Mycenaean Linear B Syllabary:
includes font download sites for the SpIonic & LinearB TTFs
The first ever keyboard map for the Arcado-Cypriot Linear C TTF font!
which also includes the direct link to the only site where you can download the beautiful Arcado-Cypriot Linear B font, here:
How to download and use the Linear B font by Curtis Clark:
Easy guide to the Linear B font by Curtis Clark, keyboard layout:
What’s more, you can read my full-length extremely comprehensive article, An Archaeologist’s Translation of Pylos Tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris) by Rita Roberts, in Archaeology and Science (Belgrade) ISSN 1452-7448, Vol. 10 (2014), pp. 133-161, here:
in which I introduce to the world for the first time the phenomenon of the decipherment of what I designate as the supersyllabogram, which no philologist has ever properly identified since the initial decipherment of Mycenaean Linear B by Michael Ventris in 1952. Unless we understand the significance of supersyllabograms in Linear B, parts or sometimes even all of at least 800 Linear B tablets from Knossos alone cannot be properly deciphered. This lacuna stood out like a sore thumb for 64 years, until I finally identified, categorized and deciphered all 36 (!) of them from 2013 to 2014. This is the last and most significant frontier in the complete decipherment of Mycenaean Linear B. Stay posted for my comprehensive, in-depth analysis and synopsis of The Decipherment of Supersyllabograms in Linear B, which is to appear early in 2017 in Vol. 11 of Archaeology and Science. This ground-breaking article, which runs from page 73 to page 108 (35 pages on a 12 inch page size or at least 50 pages on a standard North American page size) constitutes the final and definitive decipherment of 36 supersyllabograms, accounting for fully 59 % of all Linear B syllabograms. Without a full understanding of the application of supersyllabograms on Linear B tablets, it is impossible to fully decipher at least 800 Linear B tablets from Knossos.
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Mycenaean Linear B Progressive Grammar: Derived (D) Verbs/Infinitives in R = Greek = 423: In this post we find derived (D) infinitives in R. Here is the table of derived (D) thematic and athematic infinitives starting with the Greek letter R:It is absolutely de rigueur to read the NOTES on Mycenaean versus ancient archaic Greek orthography in the chart above. Otherwise, the Linear B sentences will not make any sense. It was highly likely that official documents, poetry (if any) and religious texts were written in natural Mycenaean Greek on papyrus. However, the moist climate of Crete and the Greek mainland meant that papyrus, unlike in the arid climate of Egypt, was doomed to rot away. So we shall never really know whether or not there were documents in natural Mycenaean Greek. But my educated hunch is that there were. The total number of natural Mycenaean Greek derived (D) infinitives we have posted so far = 423.
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INVITATION to Classical Sites (Greek & Roman) including Twitter to join us as * PARTNERS * FROM: Richard Vallance Janke of Linear B, Knossos and Mycenae Invitation to join the new Premier Network of Classical Sites on the Internet NOTE! If you are a regular visitor to Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae, please leave the LINK to your site in Comments, and I will add it to our * PARTNERS * Otherwise: To accept, please send me an e-mail at: vallance22@zoho.com OR vallance22@gmail.com We have just invited today (Wed. June 15 2016): Archaeology of the Mediterranean World Federico Aurora, DAMOS, Database of Mycenaean at Oslo Michael Cosmopoulos, Iklaina Archaeological Project MNAMON: Ancient Writing Systems in the Mediterranean Res GerendaeSee below no. 4 First, a few significant developments with our organization in the past two years: 1. We are now by far the largest Linear B & Linear C site on the Internet. 2. We have translated at least 500 tablets, mostly from Knossos, some from Pylos and Mycenae. 3. I am now being published on a regular basis in key archaeological and historical linguistic sites. My most significant article to date is “An Archaeologist's Translation of Pylos Tablet TA 641-1952 (Ventris) with an Introduction to Supersyllabograms in the in the Vessels & Pottery Sector of Mycenaean Linear B” in, Archaeology and Science. Vol. 10 (2014) pp. 133-161. Belgrade: Institute of Archaeology, 2016. ISSN 1452-7448 https://www.academia.edu/23643380/Archaeology_and_Science_Vol._10_2014_An_Archaeologists_Translation_of_Pylos_Tablet_641-1952._pp._133-161 NOTE that I am to be published again in next year’s issue of Archaeology and Science. And that article is going to be a ground-breaker in the refinement of the decipherment of Linear B. Another of my recent publications is, “The Role of Supersyllabograms in Mycenaean Linear B”, here: https://linearbknossosmycenae.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/the-role-of-ssyls-in-mycenean-linear-b.pdf 4. ** We are setting up a new Premier Network of Classical Sites on the Internet, which for the time being is subsumed under the Category ** PARTNERS **, the very first Category at the top of the first page of our site: https://linearbknossosmycenae.wordpress.com/ We are in full partnership with (Koryvantes) The Association of Historical Studies (Athens) http://www.koryvantes.org/en/ and with Sententiae Antiquae https://sententiaeantiquae.com/ and with The Institute of Archaeology (Belgrade). + one other site. We have just begun establishing the Network and we hope to expand it to at least 25 sites in the next year. We will be contacting scores of other invitees in the next few weeks. PS could you add our site to your list of sites under Linear B, as Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae is one of the major Linear B sites on the Internet? Thank you Richard Vallance Janke
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New MAJOR Category, * PARTNERS * added here:We have just added the new Category, * PARTNERS *, which is the very first Category on our site, because it links you to all other Classical Greek & Latin sites which are in partnership or are associated with Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae. For the time being, there are only three major sites in this Category, but as we invite more and more major Classical sites on the Internet, it will grow rapidly. All you need to do is hover your cursor over * PARTNERS * and the 3 sites which are already there will display. Simply click on the name of the site you wish to visit.
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Invitation to join The Premier Network of Major Classical Greek and Latin sites on the Internet: Linear B, Knossos and Mycenaeis spearheading a major initiative to bring together and co-ordinate a brand new Premier Network of Major Classical Greek and Latin Sites on the Internet, which will be comprised of as many major Classical sites as we can reach in the next few months, in order to build a research network unlike any other yet seen on the Internet, apart from academia.edu itself. To date, our site and Koryvantes, the Association of Historical Studies
and a major European Institute of Archaeology, in anticipation of their acceptance of membership. Our strategy is to ask as many major Classical sites that we can reach ourselves to join in our new Network, and then in turn to appeal to those new members who have already joined up to contact other key sites with which they are closely linked or in partnership with. Our eventual goal is to establish a new LINKS page on each of the participating sites to all other sites in the Network, which is to be multilingual, if at possible. Since LBK&M is a Canadian site, we hope to call our network: The Premier Network of Major Classical Greek and Latin sites on the Internet = Le premier réseau des sites les plus importantes des études classiques grecques et latines. And we are of course open to adding the title in other languages as well.
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Linear B tablet K 04.5 from the Knossos Armoury: the redoubtable challenges for translationLinear B tablet K 04.5 from the Knossos Armoury: the redoubtable challenges for translation While some of the military tablets from the Knossos Armoury dealing with the construction and design of chariots pose a few problems in the translation of certain words which yield at least two or possibly even three different possible meanings, others are much more of a challenge to the translator. Some vocabulary in the more challenging tablets proves to be much more fractious. There are several reasons for this phenomenon when we are dealing with Mycenaean Greek vocabulary, let alone that of any truly archaic ancient language, such as Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics. These are: 1 Some words in Mycenaean Greek may closely or somewhat resemble their later counterparts in Homeric Greek or Classical Greek, conveying the same or a similar meaning. Such is the case with – wanax – = “king” in Mycenaean Greek. 2 Some of the words in Mycenaean Greek may closely or somewhat resemble their later counterparts in Homeric Greek, and yet not convey precisely the same meaning or might even mean something more remotely associated, such as – qasireu – , which does not mean the same thing as “basileus” = “king” in Homeric Greek. A – qasireu – in Mycenaean Greek is merely a local leader of a town, citadel, redoubt or similar small centre and nothing more. A king in Mycenaean Greek is a – wanax – , for which there is an almost exact match in Homer’s Iliad. 3 Some words in Mycenaean Greek may look like variants of later Homeric or Classic Greek words, although they are spelled in a fashion alien to the latter, never appearing in them. 4 Some of the words in Mycenaean Greek may closely or somewhat resemble their later counterparts in Classical Ionic or Attic Greek, and yet convey an entirely different meaning. 5 Some vocabulary in Mycenaean Greek may be archaic Greek which later fell entirely out of use even prior to Homeric Greek, in which case it may be next to impossible to confirm that such words are even archaic Greek at all. 6 Some vocabulary in Mycenaean Greek may possibly be proto-Greek or even more ancient proto Indo-European, but we can never be certain of this at all. 7 Some vocabulary in Mycenaean Greek may possibly or even likely be Minoan or of Minoan origin. Such is the case with the word – kidapa – on tablet KN 894 N v 01, the very first tablet I translated in this series of tablets on chariots. L.R. Palmer assumes this word refers to a kind of wood, and I agree. This assumption is based on the fact that two other kinds of wood are referenced on the same tablet, i.e. elm and willow. With this evidence in hand, I have gone even further than L. R. Palmer and have taken the calculated risk to identify this word as meaning “ash (wood)”, a wood which Homer uses for weapons. 8 Just as is the case with Classical Greek, in which a few thousand words are not of Indo-European origin, Mycenaean Greek contains a fair proportion of such vocabulary. Words such as – sasama – (sesame) & – serino – (celery) come to mind. This is the scenario which confronts us in the translation of at least two of the words on this tablet, namely, – piriniyo – and – mano –, both of which are certainly open to more than one possible interpretation. The first word - piriniyo – meets the criteria outlined in 1 & 3 above. It probably means “an ivory worker”, but we cannot be sure of this. Since the latter – mano – may not have any relation to later Homeric or Classical Greek at all, it is a crap shoot to try and translate it. This word meets the criteria in 1,2 and 4 above. But I took the chance (as I always do), on the assumption, however fanciful, that – mano – may be related to the Classical Greek word – manos – , meaning “thin”, as defined in Liddell & Scott. And what applies to Mycenaean vocabulary on this and all other tablets dealing with chariots, whether or not they originate from Knossos, equally applies to all of the vocabulary on each and every tablet in the military sector of the Mycenaean economy. By extension, this principle must also apply to all of the vocabulary on Linear B tablets, regardless of provenance (Knossos, Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes etc.) and regardless of the sector of the Mycenaean economy with which they are concerned. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. In short, the 8 criteria outlined above must be applied on an equal footing, through the procedure of cross-comparative extrapolation, to all of the vocabulary of Mycenaean Greek. We shall return to this phenomenon in our article on chariot construction and design, which is to appear on my
account under the auspices of Koryvantes, the Association of Historical Studies (Athens):
sometime later this winter.
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Just added to my academia.edu: Did you know you speak Mycenaean Greek? You do! An amusing read too! Click on the banner to read, bookmark or download the article:To my utter astonishment, in the first two weeks alone I have been present on academia.edu, my little research corner has already been visited 552 times, and I now have 75 followers.
I would be delighted if you were to follow me on academia.edu, and if you yourself are already a member, please be sure to send me a message on site, and I shall follow you back. Richard
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Did you know you speak Mycenaean Greek? You do! K-Z = kunaya to zeukesi Mycenaean Greek in Modern English: korete to zeukesi: Click to ENLARGE[1] kunaya – Mycenaean Greek has no “g”, but ancient Greek does. Many English words begin with Greek words, as for instance gynecology + all others in this table marked with [1] [2] The same goes with prefixes. Many English words begin with the Greek prefix “peda”. [3] The ancient Phoenicians were famous for their purple cloth, which they inherited from the splendid purple cloth, the finest in the entire then known world (the middle Mediterranean & the Aegean) the Minoans at Knossos had produced before them. Hence, Phoenician is a synonym for “purple”. [4]The Mycenaean syllabary can express words beginning with “te”, but for some reason, they spelled 4 the same was the Romans did, “qetoro”, and there is nothing wrong with that. Archaic Greek sometimes expressed the number 4 with “petro” and sometimes with “tetro”. This too is not at all unusual with early alphabetic Greek, in which the various East Greek dialects derived from Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C flipped between these two spellings. Orthography was uncertain in archaic Greek, in other words, it had not yet fossilized into the final spelling used in Attic Greek in Classical Athens = tettares. [5] The English word “quartet” is derived from the Latin “quattro”, which in turn was preceded historically by the Mycenaean “qetoro”, although the Latin spelling is unlikely to have derived from the latter. It is just that Mycenaean Greek and Latin happened to resort to the same basic spelling for 4. [6] Since Mycenaean Greek had no “l”, words beginning with “lambda” in (archaic) Greek had to be spelled with “r” + a vowel in the syllabary. Hence, “rewo” = archaic Greek “lewon” = English “lion” & “rino” = ancient Greek “linon” = English “linen” [7] The ancient words “sasama” = “sesame” & Mycenaean “serino” = ancient Greek “selinon” = English “celery” are in fact not Greek words, but proto-Indo European. [8] While “sitophobia” = “fear of eating” in English does not seem to correspond with “sitos” = “wheat” in ancient Greek, in fact it does, since wheat was one of the main staples of their diet, just as it was for the Egyptians, Romans and most other ancient civilizations. In other words, wheat was a staple food. [9] Although the Mycenaean infinitive “weide” = archaic Greek “weidein” = English “to see”, the aorist began with “weis”, hence “vision” in English. Richard
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Review of the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary for General Users & for Researchers in Mycenaean Linear B: Click cover to orderMorwood, James & Taylor, John, eds. Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary. Oxford, New York etc.: Oxford University Press, © 2002. xii, 449 pp. ISBN 13:978-0-19-860512-6 I just bought the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary yesterday, and I can tell you I am fairly pleased with it. It has its drawbacks. The most notable of these is found in the paucity of vocabulary in the English-Greek section, pp. 357-431, which contains only about 5,000 words. Such a lexicon is probably more than adequate for beginners in ancient Greek, at whom this dictionary appears to be mainly aimed, though I cannot say that for sure. On the other hand, the English-Greek section is prefaced with a glossary of proper names, pp. 357-365, which is quite useful to Graecophiles, whether they be beginners or not. The pronunciation guide for the ancient Greek alphabet, pp. ix-xii, is the one of the best I have ever encountered, as it takes into consideration not only Classical Attic, but also early Homeric pronunciation. This feature has real implications for theoretical considerations, as well as practical applications of pronunciation, for not only the Mycenaean Linear B syllabary, but the Arcado-Cypriot syllabary as well, as you shall soon discover for yourselves on upcoming posts on our blog relevant to Mycenaean Linear B and Arcado-Cypriot orthography, considerations that have to date been largely overlooked by linguists, translators and researchers in the field of the archaic Greek dialects, Mycenaean and Arcado-Cypriot. The dictionary also features an appendix of Numerals (pp. 433-435), although it is very basic, as well as appendix of the elementary conjugational paradigms for the “Top 101 irregular verbs ” (pp. 436-447), as arbitrary yet as eminently useful as any other so-called basic table of the top ancient Greek verbs. While persons at the intermediate or advanced level in ancient Greek will find this table inadequate, it is more than adequate for beginners. The dictionary also has a generic map of ancient Greece on pp. 448 & 449, which once again serves its purpose well enough for beginners, but is less than adequate for persons more familiar with ancient Greek. This, however, is understandable for an introductory dictionary for ancient Greek, which we can be sure is all it claims to be, especially in light of the fact that Oxford University Press has had the prescience to co-publish both An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon and an Abridged Greek-English Lexicon, the latter presumably aimed at scholars proficient in ancient Greek. I look forward to reviewing the latter two dictionaries later on, once I have come up with the resources to purchase them. Of course, this dictionary also has its strengths, which the editors were careful to make the most of. These are: (1) The Greek-English section, the first in the dictionary, is much more comprehensive than the English-Greek, containing far in excess of 5,000 words and phrases. The editors have even taken into account early Homeric Greek vocabulary to complement the Classical Attic. While the entries in the Greek-English section are not as heavily annotated as they otherwise are in an advanced ancient Greek dictionary such as the Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell & Scott (1986), I would argue that too much lexical, grammatical and etymological information would amount to nothing less than overkill in a basic ancient Greek dictionary such as this one. Aficionados with advanced knowledge of ancient Greek, being perfectly aware of this, always have recourse to more sophisticated tools for translation and research, including Liddell and Scott, as well as the numerous online lexical resources available at the Perseus Catalog, here:
(2a) The font is quite large and eminently readable. This is an extremely important consideration in the compilation of any Greek dictionary, ancient or modern, given that Greek accents (acute, grave & circumflex) and especially the initial breathings, soft or unaspirated (’) and aspirated (‘), as well as the numerous compound accents, are so annoyingly difficult to see in small font. The editors of this dictionary are to be congratulated for having the foresight to realize this. If there is anything I cannot stand, it is the use of fonts which are too small to adequately display (ancient) Greek accents. Sadly, most editors of ancient Greek dictionaries and lexicons blithely ignore this most paramount of considerations in the format and presentation of entries. Even the eminently renowned Greek-English Lexicon (1986) by Liddell and Scott, the very last Greek dictionary which should be guilty of this practice, makes use of a font far too small for readers to easily read accents, even those with good reading vision. To my mind, this falls just short of being unforgivable, unless the editors of any such dictionary or lexicon passed over the issue of adequate font size by sheer oversight – something I find quite difficult to swallow. So a word to the wise. If the editors of an inexpensive paperback dictionary could make a real effort to make certain the entries would be readable off the top, why wouldn’t – or shall we say, shouldn’t – the editors of top-end hard-cover dictionaries and lexicons take the same trouble? This is even more obvious when the publisher of the inexpensive editions is the same one as the one for the expensive, hard-bound ones – by which I mean Oxford University Press, in this particular instance. (2b) In the Greek-English section, the Greek entries are in bold, set in Greek 486 Polytonic, while in the English-Greek section the English entries are in Monotype Arial bold, so that they stand out very clearly on the page. Once again, kudos to the editors. (3) Likewise, the layout of the entries, at 1.5 line spacing, in both the Greek-English and the English-Greek sections is very attractive. (4) Throughout the dictionary, the alphabetical entries are flagged with gray tags running vertically down the page, from left to right from alpha to omega in the Greek-English section, and from a to z in the English-Greek. Once again, a big plus. To summarize, this Greek-English, English-Greek dictionary of ancient Greek, in its physical layout and format, including all font formatting, is very pleasing to the eyes, hence, much easier to consult than practically any other ancient Greek dictionary I have ever encountered in print. The English-Greek section is woefully inadequate for anything but the most basic of ancient Greek vocabulary, so that even beginners are bound to outstrip its usefulness very quickly. On the other hand, the Greek-English section is more than sufficient for the needs of beginners, and adequate for those scholars at the intermediate level in ancient Greek studies and literature. Given its reasonable price, $17.95 USD, I would recommend it for students who are also beginners in Mycenaean Linear B or Arcado-Cypriot Linear C, given the very restricted lexical base of both these archaic Greek dialects. On the other hand, it is readily apparent that this dictionary alone cannot possibly serve as the sole resource for researchers in Mycenaean and Arcado-Cypriot Greek. It must be complemented by other resources, such as: 1. Chris Tselentis’ thorough Lexicon of Linear B, available free online in PDF. 2. Chadwick, John. The Decipherment of Linear B (second edition). Cambridge University Press, © 1970 x, 164 pp. 3. Palmer, R.L. & Chadwick, John, eds. The Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies. Cambridge University Press, © 1966. 309 (310) pp. First paperback edition, © 2011. ISBN 978-1-107-40246-1 (pbk.) 4. A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World. Volume 3. Peeters: Louvain-La-Neuve: Bibliothèque des cahiers de l’institut de linguistique de Louvain. © 2014. 292+ pp. ISBN 978-2-7584-0192-6 (France) I leave aside any comparison with online dictionaries and lexicons in the same class, preferring not to compare apples with oranges. Overall Rating: 3.75/5 Richard Vallance Janke April 2015
