2013/01/01 by Charles de Lamberterie · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Linguistics and language evolution #Historical and Linguistic Studies #Byzantine Studies and History
paper · doi:10.3406/jds.2013.6300
openalex publication_date 2013/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Greek, Phrygian and Armenian, from ancient authors down to modern scholarship. According to ancient Greek authors (notably Herodotus and Plato) the Phrygian language had some features in common with both Greek and Armenian. This view must not be thought to reflect unrealistic views unsupported by linguistic data, for it is confirmed by modern comparative linguistics. Among Indo-European languages Greek and Armenian exhibit many common feautures, some of which are found in Albanian too, while others are attested in Indo-Iranian as well. Thanks to recent advances in the understanding of Phrygian it is now possible to rely on evidence from this language and identify several noteworthy isoglosses which can be shown to bind Phrygian to both Armenian and – even more clearly – Greek. Hence a “ Balkan area” of Indo-European can now be delineated, extending from Albanian to Armenian through Greek and Phrygian.