Arcadocypriot edit
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Distribution of Greek dialects in the classical period.1
Western group:      Doric      Northwest Greek Central group:      Aeolic      Arcado-Cypriot Eastern group:      Attic      Ionic
     Achaean
History of the
Greek language
(see also: Greek alphabet)
Proto-Greek (c. 2000 BC)
Mycenaean (c. 1600–1000 BC)
Ancient Greek (c. 1000–330 BC)
Dialects:
Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, Attic-Ionic,
Doric, Locrian, Pamphylian;
Homeric Greek.
Possibly Macedonian.
Koine Greek (c. 330 BC–330)*
Medieval Greek (330–1453)
Modern Greek (from 1453)
Dialects:
Cappadocian, Cretan, Cypriot,
Demotic, Griko, Katharevousa,
Pontic, Tsakonian, Yevanic
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*Dates (beginning with Ancient Greek) from D.B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids 1997), 12.

Arcadocypriot or southern Achaean was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia in the central Peloponnese and Cyprus. Its resemblance to Mycenaean Greek, as we know it from the Linear B corpus, suggests that Arcadocypriot is its descendant. Proto-Arcadocypriot (~1200 BC) is supposed to have been spoken by Achaeans in the Peloponnese before the arrival of Dorians; for this, it is named also southern Achaean. The isoglosses of the Cypriot and Arcadian dialects testify that the Achaeans had settled in Cyprus. As Pausanias reported to us:

“ Agapenor, the son of Ancaeus, the son of Lycurgus, who was king after Echemus, led the Arcadians to Troy. After the capture of Troy the storm that overtook the Greeks on their return home carried Agapenor and the Arcadian fleet to Cyprus, and so Agapenor became the founder of Paphos, and built the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos (Old Paphos)2 ”

.

The establishment happened before 1100 BC. With the arrival of Dorians in the Peloponnese, a part of population moved to Cyprus and the rest was limited to the Arcadian mountains. After the collapse of the Mycenaean world, communication did not exist and Cypriot was differentiated from Arcadian. It was written up to the 3rd BC with Cypriot syllabary3 4

Tsan was a letter only in use in Arcadia, up to ca. the 6th century BC. Arcadocypriot kept a lot of characteristics of Mycenaean, early lost in Attic and Ionic, such as the /w/ sound (digamma).

Contents

Main traits

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

Glossary

Arcadian

Cypriotic

Paphian

References

  1. ^ Roger D. Woodard (2008), "Greek dialects", in: The Ancient Languages of Europe, ed. R. D. Woodard, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 51.
  2. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.5.1
  3. ^ Kypros — Salamis — ca. 600 BC [1]
  4. ^ Kypros — Kourion ~320 BC[2]
  5. ^ Mortals and Immortals[3] by Jean Pierre Vernant
  6. ^ Arkadia — Tegea — 4th c. BCIG V,2 6 38
  7. ^ Arkadia — Mantineia — stoichedon. — 5th c. BC[4]
  8. ^ LSJ[5]
  9. ^ Poetics (Aristotle)-XXI [6]