Mycenaean Greek

Mycenaean Greek is the oldest form of the Greek language that we know about. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and the island of Crete from about the 16th to the 12th century BC, during a time called Mycenaean Greece.

We learned about this ancient language mostly from writing on clay tablets. These tablets were written in a special script called Linear B. Scholars learned how to read it in 1952.

Most of these tablets were found in places like Knossos in central Crete and Pylos in the southwest part of the Peloponnese. Other important spots include Mycenae itself, Tiryns, Thebes, and Chania in western Crete. Even though these tablets are mostly just lists and inventories, they help us learn about the people who lived in Mycenaean Greece and what life was like before a time called the Greek Dark Ages.

Phonology

Mycenaean Greek kept some old sounds from its early roots that later disappeared in ancient Greek. For example, it had special sounds called labialized velars, written with the symbol ⟨q⟩. These sounds changed into different letters in later Greek depending on the word and dialect.

The language also included semivowels and a special sound between vowels. However, the writing system, called Linear B, was very simple and did not show all the sounds clearly. This made it tricky to know exactly how words were pronounced, so scholars use clues from older languages and later Greek to guess the meanings and sounds.

Orthography

Further information: Linear B

Mycenaean Greek is written in a script called Linear B. This script uses about 200 symbols to show sounds and pictures. These symbols came from an older writing system used by a different language, so they do not show every sound in Mycenaean Greek clearly.

Because of this, some sounds are missing in the writing. For example, the script cannot show the difference between some soft and hard sounds, or between some similar letters. Also, some ending sounds are left out, and long vowel sounds are not marked. Writers could sometimes choose between similar symbols, depending on their own style.

Morphology

Nouns in Mycenaean Greek changed forms to show things like who something belongs to or where it is. These changes are called "cases." Nouns also had genders — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and could be singular, dual, or plural. Over time, some of these forms changed, and by Classical Greek, only a few remained.

Verbs showed different times and ways actions happened, like past, present, or future. They could also be active, middle, or passive. Most of the verbs we find are in the present tense, with only a few examples of future or past actions.

Greek features

Main article: Proto-Greek language

Mycenaean Greek had special changes that helped it become the Greek language we know today. For example, some sounds changed, like the soft "s" turning into an "h" sound. Words also changed, such as adding “-eus” to make words that describe a person’s job.

Some words from Mycenaean Greek are only found in Greek. One example is qa-si-re-u, which later became the word for “king” in Greek. Other words, like wa-na-ka for “overlord” or “king,” were used in Mycenaean times and changed into Greek words we still know today.

Corpus

Main article: Linear B § Corpus

The Mycenaean Greek writing includes about 6,000 tablets and pieces of broken pottery. They were written in Linear B and date from the LMII to LHIIIB periods. These tablets help us learn about this ancient form of Greek.

One item, the Kafkania pebble, was thought to be one of the oldest Mycenaean inscriptions. It might be from the 17th century BC, but many experts are not sure if it is real. The earliest widely accepted Linear B tablets come from a room at Knossos. They are believed to be from the late 15th to early 14th century BC.

Variations and possible dialects

Mycenaean Greek was mostly the same everywhere, but small differences showed up. Sometimes, people wrote "i" instead of "e" or "a" instead of "o". Scholars think these small changes might show words people used in everyday speech.

After Mycenaean Greece ended, these local dialects kept changing. They grew into the many Greek dialects spoken later. Some experts think Mycenaean Greek was used for official records, while people still spoke their own dialects. But not all experts agree because the writing doesn’t show enough to prove different dialects for sure.

Survival

In southern Greece, in places like Achaea, the Argolid, Laconia, Crete, and Rhodes, people spoke a dialect called Proto-Arcadocypriot. This was closely related to Mycenaean Greek. Over time, these dialects changed and became what we call Arcadocypriot. An ancient dialect called Pamphylian also showed some similarities to Mycenaean Greek.