lingvo.wikisort.org - Language

The Lemnian language was spoken on the island of Lemnos, Greece, in the second half of the 6th century BC.[1] It is mainly attested by an inscription found on a funerary stele, termed the Lemnos stele, discovered in 1885 near Kaminia. Fragments of inscriptions on local pottery show that it was spoken there by a community.[2] In 2009, a newly discovered inscription was reported from the site of Hephaistia, the principal ancient city of Lemnos.[3] Lemnian is largely accepted as being a Tyrsenian language, and as such related to Etruscan and Rhaetic.[4][5][1] After the Athenians conquered the island in the latter half of the 6th century BC, Lemnian was replaced by Attic Greek.

Lemnian
Region	Lemnos, Greece
Extinct	attested 6th century BC
Language family	Tyrsenian Lemnian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xle
Linguist List	xle
Glottolog	lemn1237
Location of Lemnos

Writing system

The Lemnian inscriptions are in Western Greek alphabet, also called "red alphabet". The red type is found in most parts of central and northern mainland Greece (Thessaly, Boeotia and most of the Peloponnese), as well as the island of Euboea, and in colonies associated with these places, including most colonies in Italy.[6] The alphabet used for Lemnian inscriptions is similar to an archaic variant used to write the Etruscan language in southern Etruria.[7]

Classification

A relationship between Lemnian, Rhaetic and Etruscan, as a Tyrsenian language family, has been proposed by German linguist Helmut Rix due to close connections in vocabulary and grammar.[4] For example,

• Both Etruscan and Lemnian share two unique dative cases, type-I *-si and type-II *-ale, shown both on the Lemnos Stele (Hulaie-ši, 'for Hulaie', Φukiasi-ale, 'for the Phocaean') and in inscriptions written in Etruscan (aule-si, 'to Aule', on the Cippus Perusinus; as well as the inscription mi mulu Laris-ale Velχaina-si, meaning 'I was blessed for Laris Velchaina');[1]
• A few lexical correspondences have been noted, such as Lemnian avis ('year') and Etruscan avils (genitive case); or Lemnian šialχvis ('sixty') and Etruscan šealχls (genitive case), both sharing the same internal structure "number + decade suffix + inflectional ending" (Lemnian: ši + alχvi + -s, Etruscan: še + alχl + s);[1]
• They also share the genitive in *-s and a simple past tense in *-a-i (Etruscan -⟨e⟩ as in ame 'was' (< *amai); Lemnian -⟨ai⟩ as in šivai, meaning 'lived').^{[citation needed]}

Rix's Tyrsenian family is supported by a number of linguists such as Stefan Schumacher,[9][10] Carlo De Simone,[11] Norbert Oettinger,[12] Simona Marchesini,[8] or Rex E. Wallace.[1] Common features between Etruscan, Rhaetic, and Lemnian have been observed in morphology, phonology, and syntax. On the other hand, few lexical correspondences are documented, at least partly due to the scanty number of Rhaetic and Lemnian texts and possibly to the early date at which the languages split.[13][14] The Tyrsenian family (or Common Tyrrhenic) is often considered to be Paleo-European and to predate the arrival of Indo-European languages in southern Europe.[15]

According to Dutch historian Luuk De Ligt, the Lemnian language could have arrived in the Aegean Sea during the Late Bronze Age, when Mycenaean rulers recruited groups of mercenaries from Sicily, Sardinia and various parts of the Italian peninsula.[16]

Scholars such as Norbert Oettinger, Michel Gras and Carlo De Simone think that Lemnian is the testimony of an Etruscan commercial settlement on the island that took place before 700 BC, not related to the Sea Peoples.[17][18][19]

After more than 90 years of archaeological excavations at Lemnos, nothing has been found that would support a migration from Lemnos to Etruria or to the Alps where Rhaetic was spoken. The indigenous inhabitants of Lemnos, also called in ancient times Sinteis, were the Sintians, a Thracian population.[20]

Vowels

Like Etruscan, the Lemnian language appears to have had a four-vowel system, consisting of "i", "e", "a" and "u". Other languages in the neighbourhood of the Lemnian area, namely Hittite and Akkadian, had similar four-vowel systems, suggesting early areal influence.

Lemnos Stele

The stele was found built into a church wall in Kaminia and is now at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. The 6th century date is based on the fact that in 510 BC the Athenian Miltiades invaded Lemnos and Hellenized it.[21] The stele bears a low-relief bust of a man and is inscribed in an alphabet similar to the western ("Chalcidian") Greek alphabet. The inscription is in Boustrophedon style, and has been transliterated but had not been successfully translated until serious linguistic analysis based on comparisons with Etruscan, combined with breakthroughs in Etruscan's own translation started to yield fruit.

The inscription consists of 198 characters forming 33 to 40 words, word separation sometimes indicated with one to three dots. The text consists of three parts, two written vertically and one horizontally. Comprehensible is the phrase aviš sialχviš ('aged sixty', B.3), reminiscent of Etruscan avils maχs śealχisc ('and aged sixty-five').

Transcription:

front:

A.1. hulaieš:naφuθ:šiaši

A.2. maraš:mav

A.3. sialχveiš:aviš

A.4. evisθu:šerunaiθ

A.5. šivai

A.6. aker:tavaršiu

A.7. vanalasial:šerunai:murinail

side:

B.1. hulaieši:φukiasiale:šerunaiθ:evisθu:tuveruna

B.2. rum:haraliu:šivai:eptešiu:arai:tiš:φuke

B.3. šivai:aviš:sialχviš:marašm:aviš:aumai

Hephaistia inscription

Another Lemnian inscription was found during excavations at Hephaistia on the island of Lemnos in 2009.[22] The inscription consists of 26 letters arranged in two lines of boustrophedonic script.

Transcription:

upper line (left to right):

hktaonosi:heloke

lower line (right to left):

soromš:aslaš

See also

• Tyrsenian languages
• Paleo-European languages

Notes

References

External links

• Development of the Etruscan Alphabet
• A Gloss of the Lemnian Inscription
• New Lemnian Inscription at R. Wallace' Rasenna blog
• Etruscan Grammar
• The Etruscan Texts Project (ETP)

На других языках

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[de] Lemnische Sprache

Für die lemnische Sprache gibt es aus der Antike spärliche Schriftzeugnisse aus dem 6. Jahrhundert vor Christus von der griechischen Insel Lemnos in der nördlichen Ägäis. Sie wird nach geographischen Kriterien zu den ägäischen Sprachen gezählt. Da von antiken Schriftstellern die Bezeichnungen Tyrsener (Tyrrhener), tyrsenisch (tyrrhenisch) sowohl für Bewohner von Lemnos, als auch in Bezug auf Italien (speziell: Etrurien) verwendet werden, stellt sich die Frage nach dem Zusammenhang. Ihr wird von der Sprachwissenschaft in Form der neueren Theorie einer tyrsenischen Sprachfamilie Rechnung getragen, der die drei Sprachen Lemnisch (als Osttyrsenisch), Etruskisch und Rätisch (beide als Westtyrsenisch) zugewiesen werden. Dies geschieht durch Ausweis triftiger Übereinstimmungen im Sprachbau, die nicht auf Zufall oder bloßem Sprachkontakt beruhen können. Die Diskussion über die Verbreitungswege dieser Sprachen ist noch in vollem Gang.

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- [en] Lemnian language

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[es] Idioma lemnio

El lemnio fue una lengua hablada en el siglo VI a. C. en la isla de Lemnos. Su principal testimonio es una inscripción encontrada en una estela funeraria, conocida como estela de Lemnos, descubierta en 1885 cerca de Kaminia; en 2009 se hizo pública otra inscripción de Hefestia.[1] Además, los fragmentos de inscripciones en cerámica local muestra que era la lengua de la comunidad local. El lemnio es académicamente aceptado como una lengua estrechamente relacionada con el etrusco. Después de que Atenas conquistara la isla en la segunda mitad de ese siglo, fue sustituido por el griego ático.

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[it] Lingua lemnia

La lingua lemnia è un idioma attestato da un numero limitato di iscrizioni rinvenute sull'isola greca di Lemno nel nord del Mare Egeo, ed è considerata una lingua preindoeuropea e paleoeuropea.[1] Dopo che gli ateniesi conquistarono l'isola nella seconda metà del VI secolo a.C., a Lemno si parlò greco attico.

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