Graeco-Phrygian languages

Graeco-Phrygian (/ˌɡriːkoʊˈfrɪdʒiən/) is a proposed subgroup of the Indo-European language family which comprises the Hellenic and Phrygian languages.

Graeco-Phrygian
Greco-Phrygian
(proposed)
Geographic distribution	Southern Balkans, Anatolia and Cyprus
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Graeco-Phrygian
Proto-language	Proto-Graeco-Phrygian
Subdivisions	Hellenic Phrygian †
Language codes
Glottolog	grae1234

Modern consensus views Greek as the closest relative of Phrygian, a position that is supported by Brixhe, Neumann, Matzinger, Woodhouse, Ligorio, Lubotsky, and Obrador-Cursach. Furthermore, out of 36 isoglosses collected by Obrador Cursach, Phrygian shared 34 with Greek, with 22 being exclusive between them. The last 50 years of Phrygian scholarship developed a hypothesis that proposes a proto-Graeco-Phrygian stage out of which Greek and Phrygian originated, and if Phrygian was more sufficiently attested, that stage could perhaps be reconstructed.

Evidence

The linguist Claude Brixhe points to the following features Greek and Phrygian are known to have in common and in common with no other language:

• a certain class of masculine nouns in the nominative singular ending in -s
• a certain class of denominal verbs
• the pronoun auto-
• the participial suffix -meno-
• the stem kako-
• and the conjunction ai

Obrador-Cursach (2019) has presented further phonetic, morphological and lexical evidence supporting a close relation between Greek and Phrygian, as seen in the following tables that compare the different isoglosses between Phrygian, Greek, Armenian, Albanian and Indo-Iranian.

Phonetic

Phrygian features	Greek	Armenian	Albanian	Indo-Iranian
Centum treatment	+	–	–	–
*CRh₃C > *CRōC	+	–	–	–
Loss of /s/	+	+	+	–
Prothetic vowels	+	+	+	–
*-ih₂ > -iya	+	–	+	–
*ki̯- > s-	+	–	–	–
*-m > -n	+	+	?	–
*M > T	–	+	–	–

Morphological

Phrygian features	Greek	Armenian	Albanian	Indo-Iranian
Conditional ai	+	–	–	–
e-augment	+	+	+	+
e-demonstrative	+	–	–	–
*-eh₂-s masc.	+	–	–	–
t-enlargement	+	–	–	–
verbs in -e-yo-	+	–	–	–
verbs in -o-yo-	+	–	–	–
*-d^hn̥	+	–	–	–
*d^hh₁s-ó-	+	–	–	–
*-eu̯-/*-ēu̯-	+	–	–	–
*g^u̯her-mo-	+	+	+	–
*g^u̯neh₂-ik-	+	+	–	–
*h₂eu̯-to-	+	–	+	–
*h₃nh₃-mn-	+	+	–	–
*méǵh₂-s	+	–	–	–
*meh₁	+	+	+	+
*-mh₁no-	+	–	–	–
ni(y)/νι	+	–	–	–
*-(t)or	–	?	–	–
-toy/-τοι	+	–	–	+

1. Highlighted text indicates that borrowing cannot be totally ruled out.

Lexical

Phrygian features	Greek	Armenian	Albanian	Indo-Iranian
*b^hoh₂-t-/*b^heh₂-t-	+	–	–	–
*(h₁)en-mén-	+	–	–	–
*ǵ^hl̥h₃-ró-	+	–	–	–
kako-	+	–	–	–
ken-	+	+	–	–
*koru̯-	+	–	–	–
*mōro-	+	–	–	–
*sleh₂g^u̯-	+	–	–	–

1. Highlighted text indicates that borrowing cannot be totally ruled out.

Other proposals

Greek and Ancient Macedonian are either classified under Hellenic as sister languages, or according to most scholars Ancient Macedonian is seen as a Greek dialect. Hellenic has also been variously grouped with Armenian and Indo-Iranian (Graeco-Armenian; Graeco-Aryan) and, more recently, Messapic. The linguist Václav Blažek states that, in regard to the classification of these languages, "the lexical corpora do not allow any quantification" (see corpus and quantitative comparative linguistics).

Bibliography

• Ligorio, Orsat; Lubotsky, Alexander (2018). "Phrygian". In Jared Klein; Brian Joseph; Matthias Fritz (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. HSK 41.3. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 1816–1831. doi:10.1515/9783110542431-022. hdl:1887/63481. ISBN 9783110542431. S2CID 242082908.
• Obrador-Cursach, Bartomeu (2018). Lexicon of the Phrygian Inscriptions (PDF). University of Barcelona – Faculty of Philology – Department of Classical, Romance and Semitic Philology.
• Obrador-Cursach, Bartomeu (2020). "On the place of Phrygian among the Indo-European languages". Journal of Language Relationship. 17 (3–4): 233–245. doi:10.31826/jlr-2019-173-407. S2CID 215769896.
• Woodhouse, Robert (2009). "An overview of research on Phrygian from the nineteenth century to the present day". Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis. 126 (1): 167–188. doi:10.2478/v10148-010-0013-x. ISSN 2083-4624.

Further reading

• Anfosso, Milena (2021). "Le Phrygien: une langue balkanique perdue en Anatolie" [Phrygian: a Balkan Language Lost in Anatolia]. Anatolie: de l'époque archaïque à Byzance. Actes de la journée doctorale organisée à l'université de Paris-Sorbonne dirigée par Anaïs Lamesa, Giusto Traina. Dialogues d'histoire ancienne (in French). Vol. 22. Besançon: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté. pp. 37–66. doi:10.3917/dha.hs22.0037. ISSN 2108-1433.
• Blažek, Václav (2005). "Paleo-Balkanian Languages I: Hellenic Languages" (PDF). Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity. Vol. 10. Brno: Masarykova univerzita. pp. 15–33. ISBN 80-210-3784-9.
• Brixhe, Claude (2002). "Interactions between Greek and Phrygian under the Roman Empire". In Adams, J. N.; Janse, Mark (eds.). Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Text. Oxford University Press. pp. 246–266.
• Fortson, Benjamin W. (2011). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Blackwell. pp. 203, 252.
• Masson, Olivier (1991). "Anatolian Languages". In Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 668–9.
• Woudhuizen, Fred C. (2008–2009). "Phrygian & Greek" (PDF). Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society. Vol. 40–41. pp. 181–217. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.