Eteocretan language
The
Minoan language is a non-
Hellenic language of
Crete that was spoken before the invasion of
Mycenaean armies. It was written in
Linear A, a
syllabary used extensively up to 1420 BCE, primarily for the purposes of religious inscriptions and administrative records in the
Minoan civilization.
The
Eteocretan (i.e
True Cretan)
language is likely descended from Minoan and largely written in a
Euboean-derived script that was the norm after the
Hellenic Dark Ages, although Linear scripts did continue on side-by-side for some time afterwards in the form of a few tiny religious inscriptions.
The Eteocretans are mentioned in
Homer's
Odyssey and by
Strabo as living on southern Crete, alongside
Kydones in the west (according to Strabo also indigenous) and Greek
Achaeans and
Dorians in the east.
Very little is known about Eteocretan except that it may be the descendent of a language used in the
Linear A tablets. It is generally described as non-Indo-European or rather
pre-Indo-European. The late Prof.
Cyrus Gordon, better known for his work on
Ugaritic, argued that it was a
Semitic language closely related to
Phoenician, but his attempted decipherments have been proven to be inaccurate and have not been accepted by other linguists. A relationship with
Luwian, an
Anatolian language belonging to the Indoeuropean family, has also been suggested.
Despite the fall of the Minoan civilization, inscriptions in Eteocretan survive dating from the 7th century BC to the 3rd century BC, typically written in the local archaic
Greek alphabet and the
Ionian Greek alphabet. Five inscriptions have been found that are surely Eteocretan, two in
Dreros and three in
Praisos in the Cretan prefecture of
Lasithi. There are several other inscriptions that might be Eteocretan.
Dreros 1: 1:
---rmaw|et|isalabre|komn:: 2:
---d|men|inai|isaluria|lmo: 3:
tonturonm"a.oaoiewad:: 4:
eturo:: 5:
Part of the inscription (lines 3 to 5) is written in Greek, probably the
Doric dialect. Due to the lack of preservation of many of the words, it is difficult to ascertain what even the Greek text is saying. It has been pointed out that
(lines 3-4) may be "it is decided". Another suggestion is that (line 4) and (line 3) refers to "goat cheese" which is further connected to what are believed to be Pelasgian words for 'goat' found in various forms in Greek dialects (ιξάλη, ιζάλη, ιζάνη, ισάλη, ισσέλα, ιτθέλα, ισθλη, ισσέλη) showing a goat-like root *itsala which is perhaps present in Eteocretan (line 1) and (line 2). The word is found also on the Praisos 2 artifact on line 2 and may be a verb (cf. Etruscan and ).
Dreros 2
The following inscription was published by Henri van Effenterre in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 70, 1946 (Paris), pages 602 & 603. The artifact originates from the Delphinion in Dreros and contains an inscription written on a long block made from grey schist. It is not preserved in entirety and so there are chips on either end of the artifact that obscure the text. Parts of the artifact have been lost but thankfully we at least have what was recorded before its disappearance.
: 1: --S|TUPRM'RI'IAomo :: 2: saidaperenorkioisi|a-- :: 3: --kaθarongenoito
The text is in fact a bilingual inscription. Part of the text is recognizably Doric Greek, and so there is hope that the Eteocretan text at least partially repeat similar notions. The Greek section of the text was written above in minuscule letters and is translated thus:
:Ομοσαι δαπερ Ενορκίοισι.::Omosai d-haper Enorkioisi.::But may he swear [these] very things to the Oath-Keepers (aka 'the gods').
:Α.... καθαρον γένοιτο.::A kaθaron genoito.::… may it become pure.
The Eteocretan text is much shorter suggesting that it is merely a summary of the Greek text:
:--S|TUPRM'RI'IA
Praisos 1
: 1: --nkalmitke:: 2: os barze a:: 3: --ark-agset med-:: 4: arkrkokles de---:: 5: --asegdnanit
Praisos 2
: 1: --onadesimetepimitsφa :: 2: iaralaφraisoiinai vac. :: 3: --restnmtorasardoφsano :: 4: --satoissteφ-satiun vac. :: 5: -animestepaluneutat vac. :: 6: '''-sanomoselosφraisona :: 7: :: 8: :: 9: - :: 10: :: 11: :: 12: :: 13: ---
What is intriguing about this longer text is its evident mention of the city of Praisos, showing differing inflections as well. We see this city's name on line 2 (<φraiso-i> 'in Praisos') and again on line 6 (<φraiso-na> 'of Praisos').
Praisos 3
: 1: '''-x-nnumit :: 2: '''--atarkomn:: 3: '''---"d"sdea :: 4: '''--sōpeirari:: 5: '''--en tasetwseu :: 6: '''--nnasiroukles :: 7: '''--irerm"iamarφ :: 8: '''--eirerφinasdan :: 9: '''--mamdedikark :: 10: '''--risrairariφ :: 11: '''---nneikarx :: 12: '''--tarido"i :: 13: '''--enba :: 14: '''--dnas :: 15: '''- :: 16: ---
Praisos 4
: 1:uo--''':: 2::: 3:-:: 4:
Praisos 5
: 1: :: 2: :: 3: -a--:: 4: -:: 5: vacat :: 6: :: 7: :: 8: :: 9: :: 10: :: 11: vacat
Praisos 6
: 1: :: 2: - :: 3: vacat * Cretan hieroglyphs
* Linear A
* Aegean languages - language family to which Eteocretan purportedly belongs.
* Etruscan language
* Lemnian language
* Eteocypriot*Eteocretan language homepage
