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  • CHAPTER XXXIX (a) - THE PREHISTORY OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE

  • Edited by I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, E. Sollberger
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 September 1975, pp 805-819

  • Summary

    Historic Greek may be defined as the language as it is known from texts and monuments from the eighth century BC onwards. All Greek dialects exhibit certain features in common, and these are numerous and particular enough for us to be able to presume a common origin for them. This chapter presents a list, which though incomplete, can give some indication of the features which distinguished Greek from the other languages of the Indo-European family in the second millennium BC. These are divided on the basis of phonology, morphology and syntax, and vocabulary. It has been customary to regard the three main dialect groups, Doric, Ionic and Achaean, as corresponding to three separate waves of invaders, who brought to Greece their distinct dialects of the Greek language. All Greek dialects share a number of words borrowed from unknown languages, and some of these show differing forms in the dialects which prove that the borrowing took place in prehistoric times.