Ancient Macedonian language
Spoken in
- Indo-European Macedonian
-
Ine
XMK
The Macedonian is an extinct Indo-European language, which can hardly be reconstructed and their position is difficult to determine within this language group. Talked it was in the historical region of Macedonia. The difficulties in the classification of the Macedonian arising from the sparse tradition and meager source location. All received certificates are written in Greek characters. In some Greek sources Macedonian place names and personal names are handed down, beyond a few isolated words.
Is still under discussion whether the Macedonian was a Greek dialect or a separate language with the Greek related.
According to the linguist Otto Hoffmann ( ref: 1906 ) is derived from the name of material, especially the persons name, but also the location and name of the month that the Macedonian was a Greek dialect. The linguist R. A. Crossland referred to this view as questionable as you about 130 names and inscriptions can not infer with certainty an entire language of, and claims that the Macedonian was a separate language. This view is also represented leading voice and historians of our time (CG Thomas, P. Green ). There is indeed a presence in Macedonia of inscriptions which are written with Greek letters, but what allows no conclusion on the language itself. (E. Borza ).
The Macedonians were sometimes referred to as barbarians by most Greeks (not so Hesychius frg 5. ), Which in Greek antiquity primarily expressed linguistic diversity: ie Macedonian was temporarily not recognized by the Greeks as Greek. In addition, show little more than a hundred traditional words that sound structure partly considerably from the Greek differed ( cf. Macedonian danos vs. Greek thanatos, death), but partly also distinct similarities shows ( Macedonian Hüerberetos " rain bringer " maked. Designation for the December). Consistently shows up in the Macedonian spelling the replacement of φ by β, such as in Φίλιππος ( Philipp ), which indicates the β as in Modern Greek on a fricative pronunciation. The lists of names ( grave stones, historians ) show a large proportion of ethnic Greek name for himself outside of the upper class ( which was accepted by the Greeks more than Greek, King List in Herodotus ).
His greatest distribution had the Macedonian in the 4th century BC under Philip II and Alexander the Great. His spokesman assimilated during the Hellenistic period gradually to the Koine Greek has now been produced.