Pamphylian Greek


Pamphylian is a little-attested and isolated dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Pamphylia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor. Its origins and relation to other Greek dialects are uncertain. A number of scholars have distinguished in Pamphylian dialect important isoglosses with Arcadocypriot which allow them to be studied together. Pamphylia means "land of all phyles ". The Achaeans may have settled the region under the leadership of Amphilochus, Calchas, and Mopsus. However, other cities in Pamphylia were established by different Greek tribes: Aspendos was a colony of Argos, Side was a colony of Aeolian Cyme, Sillyon was a colony of an unknown Greek mother city, and Perga was a colony established by a wave of Greeks from northern Anatolia. The isolation of the dialect took place even before the appearance of the Greek article. Pamphylian is the only dialect that does not use articles other than Mycenean Greek and poetic language.

Pronunciation and writing

Pamphylia had a variant local alphabet, that made use both of the original "Pamphylian digamma" and a standard digamma, which was probably borrowed from other Greek alphabets. It has been surmised that the original sound in some environments was represented by Ͷ; where the sound has changed to labiodental in the Pamphylian dialect, it was represented by Ϝ. Sometimes Ͷ stood also in the place of beta.
There is also a psi-like sampi, used probably to represent the sounds,, or.
An inscription from Perge dated to around 400 BC reads: ͶανάFile:Greek Sampi Pamphylian.svg.

Glossary

Source: Brixhe, Dialecte grec de Pamphylie