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Eilidh Macleod Phd Thesis LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE FOR MYCENAEAN EPIC Eilidh Macleod A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2003 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14497 This item is protected by original copyright LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE FOR MYCENAEAN EPIC Presented for the degree of Ph.D. by Eilidh Macleod 2nd September 2003 * ProQuest Number: 10171037 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10171037 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Tl-v- £5^ Declarations i. I, Eilidh Macleod, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 99,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. 2nd September 2003 ii. I was admitted as a research student in September 1999 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. in January 2000; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St. Andrews between 1999 and 2003. 2 nd September 2003 iii. I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St. Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. 2nd September 2003 / In submitting this thesis to the University of St. Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker. 2nd September 2003 Abstract Linguistic Evidence for Mycenaean Epic It is now widely acknowledged that the Greek epic tradition, best known from Homer, dates back into the Mycenaean Age, and that certain aspects of epic language point to an origin for this type of verse before the date of the extant Linear B tablets. This thesis argues that not only is this so, but that indeed before the end of the Mycenaean Age epic verse was composed in a distinctive literary language characterized by the presence of alternative forms used for metrical convenience. Such alternatives included dialectal variants and forms which were retained in epic once obsolete in everyday speech. Thus epic language in the 2nd millennium already possessed some of the most distinctive characteristics manifest in its Homeric incarnation, namely the presence of doublets and the retention of archaisms. It is argued here that the most probable source for accretions to epic language was at all times the spoken language familiar to the poets of the tradition. There is reason to believe that certain archaic forms, attested only in epic and its imitators, were obsolete in spoken Greek before 1200 B.C.; by examining formulae containing such forms it is possible to determine the likely subject-matter of 2nd millennium epic. Such a linguistic analysis leads to the conclusion that much of the thematic content of Homeric epic corresponds to that of 2nd millennium epic. Non-Homeric early dactylic verse (e.g. the Hesiodic corpus) provides examples of both non-Homeric dialect forms and of archaisms unknown from Homer. This fact, it is argued, points to the conclusion that the 2nd millennium linguistic heritage of epic is evident also from these poems, and that they are not simply imitations of Homer, but independent representatives of the same poetic tradition whose roots lie in the 2nd millennium. kt Table of contents Introduction i Chapter One: The Epic Dialect and its Evolution 1 The Ionic Element 5 The Aeolic Element 9 The Arcado-Cypriot Element 12 Excursus: Dialect Distribution in the Second Millennium B.C. 19 Proto-AC and Mycenaean 23 Pro to-Aeolic 30 West Greek 36 Dialect Diversity: its implications for epic 37 Non-Ionic Elements in Homeric Language 41 Lack of Assibilation 42 Dative Plural in -eooi 45 Gemination and Compensatory Lengthening 47 Labiovelars 51 Long a 53 Vocalization of Sonants 56 The Preposition “towards” . .61 Apocope of Prepositions 65 The Potential Particle 67 69 Infinitives in -jxev, -jievat 70 Stratification of Epic Language 71 The Antiquity of the Attic-Ionic Group 77 Epic Language c. 1200 B.C. 84 Chapter Two: Archaisms: Epic as a Museum of the Greek Language 93 Phonological Archaisms 95 Digamma 96 Syllabic *1 and *r 101 Consonantal /h/ 110 Initial *s + Liquid I Nasal 116 Dative singular -i vs. -ei 118 Final stops 124 Morphological Archaisms 129 Genitive in -oio 130 The-01 case 132 Datives Plural: long and short 142 Augmentation 146 TheAorist 150 The Dual 160 Patronymic Formations . 166 Lexical Archaisms 171 Conclusions 176 Chapter Three: Tradition vs. Innovation in Homer: 180 What belongs to Mycenaean Epic? The Cast 184 The Exploits: idea dvbpmv 215 Warfare 216 Seafaring 226 Military Equipment 236 Weaponry 236 Shields 237 Swords 239 Helmets 242 Chariots and Horses 246 Conclusions 259 Chapter Four: Homer and other Early Epic 264 Epic outside Ionia 269 Hesiod 269 Epic in Laconia 285 The Language of Non-Homeric Epic 290 Non-Ionic Dialect Forms 292 Non-Homeric Archaisms 305 Inscriptional Evidence 318 Implications of Epic Language in Inscriptions 338 Conclusions 339 Appendix: Test Cases 347 Bibliography 379 Introduction In recent years it has been widely acknowledged1 that the tradition of Greek epic verse represented by Homer developed over the course of several centuries. It is now almost universally accepted that, rather than having originated in Asia Minor in the early centuries of the 1st millennium B.C., epic verse and its distinctive language have their roots in 2nd millennium mainland Greece. The language of the early epic corpus is unlike any other variety of Greek, presenting us with some of the most archaic Greek extant, in addition to a remarkable blend of dialectal forms. This idiosyncratic variety of Greek is not one which is ever likely to have been used as the language of daily discourse at any time in any part of the Greek-speaking world: this can be deduced from the variations in diachronic and dialectal forms which we find in epic: although all languages I dialects contain alternative forms, no natural language2 has as many alternatives as does epic. An analysis of the language of epic, therefore, provides strong evidence for a 2nd millennium origin for this type of poetry. This thesis will not only emphasize the 2nd millennium roots of the epic tradition, but will also 1 E.g. Geoffrey Horrocks, “Homer’s Dialect”, NCH, 1997, 193-217, “The Antiquity of the Greek Epic Tradition: Some New Evidence”, PCPS 1980, 1-11; Martin West, “The Rise of the Greek Epic”, JUS 108, 1988, 151-72; C.J.Ruijgh, “D’Homere aux origines proto-myceniennes de la tradition epique”, J.P. Crielaard (ed.), Homeric Questions, 1995,1-96, “Le mycenien et Homere”, Scripta Minora II, 221-284; Richard Janko, Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns, 1982, 196 2 A “natural” language: one which is employed in day-to-day parlance. i argue that epic verse was by the end of the Mycenaean Age composed in a highly developed, distinctive poetic language of considerable sophistication. Continuity and heritage: epic in its cultural context There are other factors besides the language of epic which point to its 2nd millennium origins. Oswyn Murray wrote: . .the result of the collapse of Mycenaean culture was a dark age, lasting for some three hundred years. Discontinuity with the past was virtually complete.”3 The latter statement is highly debatable to say the least: there was, for example, continuity in language and at least in some aspects of religion. As Nilsson showed,4 what the Greeks of the 1st millennium believed to be their history reflected conditions in the Mycenaean Age: the sites associated in legend with significant events and characters have been shown by 19th and 20th century archaeology to have been major centres of settlement and power. The Linear B documents name divinities still worshipped in the 1st millennium (e.g. Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Athene, Poseidon), indicating some degree at least of continuity of belief, although there is little evidence for Mycenaean cult practice and elements thereof which may have survived into the 1st millennium. There is also evidence from vase-painting that the practice of chariot-racing and other 3 Early Greece, 2nd edition, 1993, 8 4 Mycenaean Origins of Greek Mythology, 1932, 36-186 ii athletic contests continued from the 2nd millennium into the 1st.5 Given these elements of continuity, it would be entirely unsurprising to find that traditions of song and poetry had survived from the Mycenaean Age down to the 1st millennium. Epic poetry also has all the indications of a cultural element which survived from the 2nd into the 1st millennium.
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