Paeonian language

{{Short description|Extinct Indo-European language of the Balkans}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Paeonian

| altname = Paionian

| region = Paeonia (Modern North Macedonia, northern Greece, south-western Bulgaria)

| extinct = Late antiquity

| ref =

| familycolor = Indo-European

| iso3 = none

| glotto = none

| linglist = 0iz

| fam2 = (unclassified)

| ethnicity = Paeonians

}}

Paeonian,Harry van der Hulst, Rob Goedemans and Ellen van Zanten as ed., A Survey of Word Accentual Patterns in the Languages of the World, Empirical Approaches to Language Typology, Walter de Gruyter, 2010, {{ISBN|311019631X}}, p. 433. sometimes spelled Paionian, is a poorly attested, extinct language spoken by the ancient Paeonians until late antiquity.

Paeonia was located to the north of Macedon, south of Dardania, west of Thrace, and east of the southernmost Illyrians.

Classification

Classical sources usually considered the Paeonians distinct from the rest of the Paleo-Balkan people, comprising their own ethnicity and language. It is considered a Paleo-Balkan language but this is only a geographical grouping, not a genealogical one. Modern linguists are uncertain as to the classification of Paeonian, due to the extreme scarcity of surviving materials in the language, with numerous hypotheses having been published:

Wilhelm Tomaschek and Paul Kretschmer have put forward an “Illyrian” hypothesis (i.e a part of the linguistic complex of the ancient north-western Balkans) which, according to Radoslav Katičić, seems to be the prevailing opinion.Radoslav Katicic, (2012) Ancient Languages of the Balkans: n.a. Volume 4 of Trends in Linguistics. Walter de Gruyter, p. 119, {{ISBN|3111568873}}.
Dimitar Dečev and Susan Wise Bauer proposed a Thracian hypothesis.Susan Wise Bauer (2007). The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. {{ISBN|0-393-05974-X}}, page 518: "... Italy); to the north, Thracian tribes known collectively as the Paeonians."
Francesco Villari proposed a Thraco-Illyrian hypothesis.Francesco Villari. Gli Indoeuropei e le origini dell'Europa. Il Mulino, 1997. {{ISBN|88-15-05708-0}}.
Karl Beloch, Ioannis Svoronos and Irwin L. Merker consider Paeonian an ancient Greek dialect (or a lost Indo-European language very closely related to Greek, i.e Hellenic) with a great deal of Thracian and Illyrian influence.{{Cite journal|last=Merker|first=Irwin L.|date=1965|title=THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF PAIONIA|url=https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/578/585|journal=Institute for Balkan Studies (Greece)|volume=6|issue=1|pages=36–37|via=}}
Vladimir I. Georgiev suggested a Phrygian affiliation.
Athenaeus seems to have connected the Paeonian language to the Mysian language, which was possibly a member of the Anatolian languages, or of the Armeno-Phrygian languages.cite journal|Hrach Martirosyan “Origins and historical development of the Armenian language” in Journal of Language Relationship, International Scientific Periodical, n.º10 (2013). Russian State University for the Humanities, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.{{cite journal|last=Martirosyan|first=Hrach|title=Origins and Historical Development of the Armenian Language|date=2014|pages=1–23|publisher=Leiden University|url=https://ling.hse.ru/data/2014/09/01/1313574129/Hrach%20Martirosyan%20-%20Handout.pdf|access-date=5 August 2019}}I. M. Diakonoff [http://rbedrosian.com/Classic/diakph11.htm The Problem of the Mushki] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825171104/http://rbedrosian.com/Classic/diakph11.htm |date=August 25, 2011}} in The Prehistory of the Armenian People
Radoslav Katičić has said that “we know so little about their language that any linguistic affiliation seems meaningless”.

Paeonian vocabulary

Several Paeonian words are known from classical sources:

[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2368440 monapos], {{lang|ine-039|monaipos}}, the European bison
[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23103959 tilôn], a species of fish once found in [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0004%3aid%3dprasiad-lake Lake Prasias]
{{lang|ine-039|paprax|italic=yes}}, a species of fish once found in Lake Prasias. {{lang|ine-039|Paprakas}}, masc. acc. pl.

A number of anthroponyms (some known only from Paeonian coinage) are attested: {{Transliteration|ine|Agis|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Άγις|italic=no}}),

{{Transliteration|ine|Patraos|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Πατράος|italic=no}}), {{Transliteration|ine|Lycpeios|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Λύκπειος|italic=no}}), {{Transliteration|ine|Audoleon|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Αυδολέων|italic=no}}), {{Transliteration|ine|Eupolemos|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Εὐπόλεμος|italic=no}}), {{Transliteration|ine|Ariston|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Αρίστων|italic=no}}), etc. In addition several toponyms ({{Transliteration|ine|Bylazora|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Βυλαζώρα|italic=no}}), {{Transliteration|ine|Astibos|italic=no}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Άστιβος|italic=no}}) and a few theonyms {{Transliteration|ine|Dryalus}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Δρύαλος|italic=no}}), {{Transliteration|ine|Dyalos}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Δύαλος|italic=no}}), the Paeonian Dionysus, as well as the following:

{{lang|ine-039|Pontos|italic=yes}}, effluent of the Strumica River, perhaps from {{lang|ine|*ponktos|italic=no}}, "boggy" (cf. German {{lang|de|feucht}}, "wet", Middle Irish {{lang|mga|éicne}} "salmon", Sanskrit {{Transliteration|sa|pánka}} "mud, mire", Greek {{lang|grc|pontos}} "passage", "way");
{{lang|ine-039|Idomenae}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Ιδομένη}}) (nowadays near Gevgelija), name of a city (cf. Greek Idomeneus, proper name in Homer; "Ida", mountain in Crete);
{{lang|ine-039|Stoboi}} (today Gradsko), name of a city, from {{lang|ine|*stob(h)|italic=no}} (cf. Old Prussian {{lang|prg|stabis}} "rock", Old Church Slavonic {{Transliteration|cu|stoboru}}, "pillar", Old English {{lang|ang|stapol}}, "post", Ancient Greek {{Transliteration|grc|stobos}}, "scolding, bad language");
{{lang|ine-039|Dysoron}} ({{lang|ine-Grek-039|Δύσορον}} and {{lang|ine-Grek-039|Δύσωρον}},[http://www.poesialatina.it/_ns/greek/testi/Suda/Lexicon.html Suda, delta, 1679] nowadays Dysoro, {{lang|el|Δύσορο}}), name of a mountain, from "dys-", "bad" (cf. Greek {{Transliteration|el|dyskolos}} "difficult", and "oros" Greek {{Transliteration|el|oros}}, "mountain");
{{lang|ine-039|Agrianes}}, name of a tribe, possibly from {{lang|ine|*agro-}} "field" (cf. Lat. {{lang|la|ager}}, Grc. {{lang|el|ἀγρός}} {{Transliteration|el|agros}}, Eng. acre) with cognates in the Greek tribe of Agraioi who lived in Aetolia, and the name of the month Agrianos which is found throughout the Dorian and Aeolian worlds.{{Citation|last=Cuche|first=Vincent|title=Dorian festivals|date=2017|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30116|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History|volume=|pages=1–2|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30116|isbn=978-1-4443-3838-6|quote=...an Agrianos month is found throughout the Dorian and Aeolian worlds. (Burkert 1983: 168–79).|access-date=2021-01-02}}

Paeonian language

Classification

Paeonian vocabulary

References

Further reading