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Ancient Macedonian, the language of the ancient Macedonians, either a dialect of Ancient Greek, or a separate Hellenic language, was spoken in the kingdom of Macedonia during the 1st millennium BC and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It gradually fell out of use during the 4th century BC, marginalized by the use of Attic Greek by the Macedonian aristocracy, the Ancient Greek dialect that became the basis of Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the Hellenistic period.^[4]

The surviving public and private inscriptions found in Macedonia indicate that there was no other written language in ancient Macedonia but Ancient Greek,^[5][6] and recent epigraphic discoveries in the Greek region of Macedonia, such as the Pella curse tablet, suggest that ancient Macedonian might have been a variety of North Western Ancient Greek.^[7][8][9] Other linguistic evidence suggests that although Ancient Greek was the language of literacy, the vernacular was a separate language, although closely related.^[10][11]

Classification

Due to the fragmentary attestation of this language or dialect, various interpretations are possible.^{[12][page needed]} Suggested phylogenetic classifications of Macedonian include:^[13][14][15]

• A Greek dialect, part of the North-Western (Locrian, Aetolian, Phocidian, Epirote) variants of Doric Greek, suggested amongst others by N.G.L. Hammond (1989), Olivier Masson (1996), Michael Meier-Brügger (2003), Johannes Engels (2010), M. B. Hatzopoulos (2011), J. Méndez Dosuna (2012), and Emilio Crespo (2017).^{[8][16][17][18][19][20][21]}
• A northern Greek dialect, related to Aeolic Greek and Thessalian, suggested among others by A. Fick (1874) and O. Hoffmann (1906).^[16][22]
• An aberrant form of Greek, with borrowings from Illyrian and Thracian.^[23]
• A Greek dialect with a non-Indo-European substratal influence, suggested by M. Sakellariou (1983) and M. Hatzopoulos (2011).^[24]
• A sibling language of Greek within Indo-European, according to a scheme in which Macedonian and Greek are the two branches of a Greco-Macedonian subgroup (sometimes called "Hellenic")^[25] suggested by Joseph (2001), Georgiev (1966),^[10] and Hamp & Adams (2013).^[26]
• An Indo-European language that is a close cousin to Attic Greek and also related to Thracian and Phrygian languages, suggested by A. Meillet (1913) and I. I. Russu (1938),^[27] or part of a Sprachbund encompassing Thracian, Illyrian and Greek (Kretschmer 1896, E. Schwyzer 1959).

Properties

From the few idiomatic words that survive, only a little can be said about special features of the language.^[] A notable sound-law is that the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirates (/b?, d?, g?/) sometimes appear as voiced stops /b, d, g/, (written ?, ?, ?), whereas they are generally unvoiced as /p?, t?, k?/ (?, ?, ?) elsewhere in Greek.^[28]

• Macedonian dán?s ('death', from PIE *d^henh₂- 'to leave'), compare to Attic ? thánatos
• Macedonian abroûtes or abroûwes compare to Attic ophrûs for 'eyebrows'
• Macedonian Bereník? compare to Attic Phereník?, 'bearing victory' (Personal name)
• Macedonian adraia ('bright weather'), compare to Attic aithría, from PIE *h₂aid^h-
• Macedonian ? báskioi ('fasces'), compare to Attic phásk?los 'leather sack', from PIE *b^hasko
• According to Herodotus 7.73 (c. 440 BC), the Macedonians claimed that the Phryges were called Bryges before they migrated from Thrace to Anatolia (around 8th-7th century BC).
• According to Plutarch, Moralia^[29] Macedonians use 'b' instead of 'ph', while Delphians use 'b' in the place of 'p'.
• Macedonian mágeiros ('butcher') was a loan from Doric into Attic. Vittore Pisani has suggested an ultimately Macedonian origin for the word, which could then be cognate to ? mákhaira ('knife', < PIE *mag^h-, 'to fight')^[30]

If gotán ('pig') is related to *g^wou ('cattle'), this would indicate that the labiovelars were either intact, or merged with the velars, unlike the usual Greek treatment (Attic ? boûs). Such deviations, however, are not unknown in Greek dialects; compare Laconian Doric (the dialect of Sparta) ?- glep- for common Greek ?- blep-, as well as Doric glách?n and Ionic gl?ch?n for common Greek bl?ch?n.^[31]

A number of examples suggest that voiced velar stops were devoiced, especially word-initially: ? kánadoi, 'jaws' (< PIE *genu-); ? kómbous, 'molars' (< PIE *gombh-); within words: arkón (Attic argós); the Macedonian toponym Akesamenai, from the Pierian name Akesamenos (if Akesa- is cognate to Greek agassomai, agamai, "to astonish"; cf. the Thracian name Agassamenos).

In Aristophanes' The Birds, the form ? kebl?pyris ('red head', the name of a bird, perhaps the goldfinch or redpoll) is found,^[32] showing a Macedonian-style voiced stop in place of a standard Greek unvoiced aspirate: (?) keb(a)l? versus kephal? ('head').

E. Crespo wrote that "the voicing of voiceless stops and the development of aspirates into voiced fricatives turns out to be the outcome of an internal development of Macedonian as a dialect of Greek" without excluding "the presence of interference from other languages or of any linguistic substrate or adstrate", as argued also by M. Hatzopoulos.^[33]

A number of the Macedonian words, particularly in Hesychius of Alexandria' lexicon, are disputed (i.e., some do not consider them actual Macedonian words) and some may have been corrupted in the transmission. Thus abroutes, may be read as abrouwes (), with tau (?) replacing a digamma.^[34] If so, this word would perhaps be encompassable within a Greek dialect; however, others (e.g. A. Meillet) see the dental as authentic and think that this specific word would perhaps belong to an Indo-European language different from Greek.

A. Panayotou summarizes some features generally identified through ancient texts and epigraphy:^[35]

Phonology

• Occasional development of voiced aspirates (*b^h, *d^h, *g^h) into voiced stops (b, d, g) (e.g. , Attic )
• Retention of */a:/ (e.g. ?), also present in Epirotic^[36]
• [a:] as result of contraction [a:] + [?:]
• Apocope of short vowels in prepositions in synthesis (?, Attic )
• Syncope (hyphairesis) and diphthongization are used to avoid hiatus (e.g. , Attic ?; compare with Epirotic , Doric ?).^[36]
• Occasional retention of the pronunciation [u] ?f /u(:)/ in local cult epithets or nicknames (? = )
• Raising of /?:/ to /u:/ in proximity to nasal (e.g. , Attic )
• Simplification of the sequence /ign/ to /i:n/ (?, Attic )
• Loss of aspiration of the consonant cluster /st^h/ (> /st/) (, Attic )

Morphology

Ancient Macedonian morphology is shared with ancient Epirus, including some of the oldest inscriptions from Dodona.^[37] The morphology of the first declension nouns with an - ending is also shared with Thessalian (e.g. Epitaph for Pyrrhiadas, Kierion^[38]).

• First-declension masculine and feminine in - and -? respectively (e.g. , ?)
• First-declension masculine genitive singular in -? (e.g. )
• First-declension genitive plural in -
• First person personal pronoun dative singular ?
• Temporal conjunction
• Possibly, a non-sigmatic nominative masculine singular in the first declension (, Attic ?)

Onomastics

Anthroponymy

M. Hatzopoulos summarizes the Macedonian anthroponymy (that is names borne by people from Macedonia before the expansion beyond the Axios or people undoubtedly hailing from this area after the expansion) as follows:^[39]

• Epichoric (local) Greek names that either differ from the phonology of the introduced Attic or that remained almost confined to Macedonians throughout antiquity
• Panhellenic (common) Greek names
• Identifiable non-Greek (Thracian and Illyrian) names
• Names without a clear Greek etymology that can't however be ascribed to any identifiable non-Greek linguistic group.

Common in the creation of ethnics is the use of -, - especially when derived from sigmatic nouns (? > ? but also ? > ?).^[35]

Toponymy

The toponyms of Macedonia proper are generally Greek, though some of them show a particular phonology and a few others are non-Greek.

Calendar

The Macedonian names of about half or more of the months of the ancient Macedonian calendar have a clear and generally accepted Greek etymology (e.g. Dios, Apellaios, Artemisios, Loos, Daisios), though some of the remaining ones have sometimes been considered to be Greek but showing a particular Macedonian phonology (e.g. Audunaios has been connected to "Haides" *A-wid and Gorpiaios/Garpiaios to "karpos" fruit).

Epigraphy

Macedonian onomastics: the earliest epigraphical documents attesting substantial numbers of Macedonian proper names are the second Athenian alliance decree with Perdiccas II (~417-413 BC), the decree of Kalindoia (~335-300 BC) and seven curse tablets of the 4th century BC bearing mostly names.^[40][41]

• 

  Octadrachm of Alexander I of Macedon, early 5th century B.C.

• 

  Stater of Perdiccas II of Macedon, mid to late 5th century B.C.

• 

  The Pella curse tablet, 4th century B.C.

• 

  Binding spell, 4th century B.C., Oraiokastro^[42]

• 

  Funerary stele, with an epigram on the top, mid 4th century B.C., Vergina

About 99% of the roughly 6,300 Macedonian-period inscriptions discovered by archaeologists were written in the Greek language, using the Greek alphabet.^[43] The Pella curse tablet, a text written in a distinct Doric Greek dialect, found in 1986 and dated to between mid to early 4th century BC, has been forwarded as an argument that the ancient Macedonian language was a dialect of North-Western Greek, part of the Doric dialect group.^[44]

Hesychius Glossary

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A body of idiomatic words has been assembled from ancient sources, mainly from coin inscriptions, and from the 5th century lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria, amounting to about 150 words and 200 proper names, though the number of considered words sometimes differs from scholar to scholar. The majority of these words can be confidently assigned to Greek albeit some words would appear to reflect a dialectal form of Greek. There are, however, a number of words that are not easily identifiable as Greek and reveal, for example, voiced stops where Greek shows voiceless aspirates.^[45] Specific words and consonant shifts are, however, present in most dialects of most languages.

⟨+⟩ marked words which have been corrupted.

• abagna 'roses amaranta (unwithered)' (Attic ? rhoda, Aeolic broda roses). (LSJ: amarantos unfading. Amaranth flower. (Aeolic aba 'youthful prime' + hagnos 'pure, chaste, unsullied) or epithet aphagna from aphagnizo 'purify'.^[46] If abagnon is the proper name for rhodon rose, then it is cognate to Persian b, 'garden', Gothic bagms 'tree' and Greek bakanon 'cabbage-seed'. Finally, a Phrygian borrowing is highly possible if we think of the famous Gardens of Midas, where roses grow of themselves (see Herodotus 8.138.2, Athenaeus 15.683)
• ? abarknai ? + (komai? ? abarkna hunger, famine).
• abarú 'oregano' (Hes. origanon) (LSJ: ? barú perfume used in incense, Attic ? barú 'heavy') (LSJ: amarakon sweet Origanum Majorana) (Hes. for origanon agribrox, ? abromon, ? artiphos, ? keblênê)
• , ablo?, alogei Text Corrupted + [ ? ] spendô)
• or abroûtes or abroûwes 'eyebrows' (Hes. Attic ophrûs acc. pl., ophrúes nom., PIE *b?ru-) (Serbian obrve, Lithuanian bruvis, Persian ? abru) (Koine Greek ophrudia, Modern Greek frydia)
• ? ankalis Attic 'weight, burden, load' Macedonian 'sickle' (Hes. Attic ákhthos, drépanon, LSJ Attic ? ankalís 'bundle', or in pl. ? ankálai 'arms' (body parts), ? ánkalos 'armful, bundle', ankál? 'the bent arm' or 'anything closely enfolding', as the arms of the sea, PIE *ank 'to bend') (? ankylis 'barb' Oppianus.C.1.155.)
• addai poles of a chariot or car, logs (Attic rhumoi) (Aeolic usdoi, Attic ozoi, branches, twigs) PIE *H?ó-sd-o- , branch
• ad? 'clear sky' or 'the upper air' (Hes. ? ouranós 'sky', LSJ and Pokorny Attic aith?r 'ether, the upper, purer air', hence 'clear sky, heaven')
• ? adiskon potion, cocktail (Attic kykeôn)
• adraia 'fine weather, open sky' (Hes. Attic aithría, Epirotan , PIE *aidh-)
• ? Aeropes tribe (wind-faced) (aero- +opsis(aerops opos, Boeotian name for the bird merops)
• akontion spine or backbone, anything ridged like the backbone: ridge of a hill or mountain (Attic rhachis) (Attic akontion spear, javelin) (Aeolic akontion part of troops)
• akrea girl (Attic ? korê, Ionic kourê, Doric/Aeolic kora, Arcadian korwa, Laconian kyrsanis (, epithet of Aphrodite in Cyprus, instead of Akraia, of the heights). Epithet of a goddess from an archaic Corcyraic inscription ( h ).
• akrounoi 'boundary stones' nom. pl. (Hes. ? hóroi, LSJ Attic ákron 'at the end or extremity', from ak? 'point, edge', PIE *ak 'summit, point' or 'sharp')
• ? alí? 'boar or boarfish' (Attic kapros) (PIE *ol-/*el- "red, brown" (in animal and tree names)^[47] (Homeric ellos fawn, Attic elaphos 'deer', alkê elk)
• aliza (also alixa) 'White Poplar' (Attic leúk?, Epirotan , Thessalian alphinia, LSJ: , aluza globularia alypum) (Pokorny Attic elát? 'fir, spruce', PIE *ol-, *el-, P.Gmc. and Span. aliso 'alder')
• ? axos 'timber' (Hes. Attic hulê) (Cretan Doric ausos Attic alsos 'grove' little forest. (PIE *os- ash tree (OE. æsc ash tree), (Greek ? oxya, Albanian ah, beech), (Armenian ? hac'i ash tree)
• aortês, 'swordsman' (Hes. ; Homer áor 'sword'; Attic aort?r 'swordstrap', Modern Greek aortír 'riflestrap'; hence aorta) (According to Suidas: Many now say the knapsack abertê instead of aortê. Both the object and the word [are] Macedonian.
• ?rantides Erinyes (in dative ?) (Arae^[48] name for Erinyes, arasimos accursed, araomai invoke, curse, pray or rhantizô sprinkle, purify.
• ? argella 'bathing hut'. Cimmerian ? or argila 'subterranean dwelling' (Ephorus in Strb. 5.4.5) PIE *areg-; borrowed into Balkan Latin and gave Romanian argea (pl. argele), "wooden hut", dialectal (Banat) arghela "stud farm"); cf. Sanskrit argal? 'latch, bolt', Old English reced "building, house", Albanian argësh "harrow, crude bridge of crossbars, crude raft supported by skin bladders"
• ?(?)? argiopous 'eagle' (LSJ Attic argípous 'swift- or white-footed', PIE *hrg'i-pods < PIE *arg + PIE *ped)
• Ar?tos epithet or alternative of Herakles (Ares-like)
• arkon 'leisure, idleness' (LSJ Attic argós 'lazy, idle' nom. sing., acc.)
• arhphys (Attic ? himas strap, rope), (? harpedôn cord, yarn; Rhodes, Lindos II 2.37).
• ? aspilos 'torrent' (Hes. kheímarrhos, Attic ? áspilos 'without stain, spotless, pure')
• babrên lees of olive-oil (LSJ: babrêkes gums, or food in the teeth, babuas mud)
• bathara pukliê (Macedonian), purlos (Athamanian) (unattested; maybe food, atharê porridge, pyros wheat)
• birrhox dense, thick (LSJ: beiron)
• garka rod (Attic charax) (EM: garkon axle-pin) (LSJ: garrha rod)
• ? gola or goda bowels, intestines (Homeric cholades) PIE: ghel-ond-, ghol-nod- stomach; bowels^[49]
• gotan 'pig' acc. sing. (PIE *g?ou- 'cattle', (Attic botón ' beast', in plural ? botá 'grazing animals') (Laconian grôna 'sow' female pig, and pl. grônades) (LSJ: goi, goi, to imitate the sound of pigs) (goita sheep or pig)
• gyllas kind of glass (gyalas a Megarian cup)
• gôps pl. gopes macherel (Attic koloios) (LSJ: skôps a fish) (Modern Greek gopa 'bogue' fish pl. gopes)
• daitas caterer waiter (Attic daitros
• danos 'death', (Hes. Attic thánatos ? 'death', from root - than-), PIE *d?enh?- 'to leave, o danotês (disaster, pain) Sophocles Lacaenae fr.338^[50]
• dan?n 'murderer' (Attic than?n dead, past participle)
• darullos 'oak' (Hes. Attic ? drûs, PIE *doru-)
• drêes or drêges small birds (Attic strouthoi) (Elean deirêtês, strouthos, Nicander.Fr.123.) (LSJ: ? digêres strouthoi, ? drix strouthos)
• dôrax spleen, splên (Attic thôrax chest, corslet
• ? epideipnis Macedonian dessert
• Zeirênis epithet or alternative for Aphrodite (Seirênis Siren-like)
• Êmathia ex-name of Macedonia, region of Emathia from mythological Emathus (Homeric amathos êmathoessa, river-sandy land, PIE *samadh.^[51] Generally the coastal Lower Macedonia in contrast to mountainous Upper Macedonia. For meadow land (m?-2, m-e-t- to reap), see Pokorny.^[52]
• Thaulos epithet or alternative of Ares ( Thaulia 'festival in Doric Tarentum, thaulizein 'to celebrate like Dorians', Thessalian ? ? Zeus Thaulios, the only attested in epigraphy ten times, Athenian ? Zeus Thaulôn, Athenian family ? Thaulônidai
• Thourides Nymphs Muses (Homeric thouros rushing, impetuous.
• izela wish, good luck (Attic agathêi tychêi) (Doric bale, abale, Arcadian zele) (Cretan delton agathon)^[53] or Thracian zelas wine.
• ? ílax 'the holm-oak, evergreen or scarlet oak' (Hes. Attic prînos, Latin ilex)
• in dea midday (Attic endia, mesêmbria) (Arcadian also in instead of Attic en)
• kancharmon having the lance up ? (Hes. ancharmon ? ? Ibyc? Stes?) having upwards the point of a spear)
• , Crasis kai and, together, simultaneously + anô up (anôchmon hortatory password
• ? karabos
  • Macedonian 'gate, door' (Cf. karphos any small dry body,piece of wood (Hes. Attic 'meat roasted over coals'; Attic karabos 'stag-beetle'; 'crayfish'; 'light ship'; hence modern Greek karávi)
  • 'the worms in dry wood' (Attic 'stag-beetle, horned beetle; crayfish')
  • 'a sea creature' (Attic 'crayfish, prickly crustacean; stag-beetle')
• ? karpaia Thessalo-Macedonian mimic military dance (see also Carpaea) Homeric karpalimos swift (for foot) eager, ravenous.
• kíkerroi 'chick-peas' ^[54] (Hes. Attic ?khroi, PIE *k?ik?er- 'pea') (LSJ: kikeros land crocodile)
• kommarai or komarai crawfishes (Attic karides) (LSJ: kammaros a kind of lobster, Epicharmus.60, Sophron.26, Rhinthon.18:-- also kammaris, idos Galen.6.735.) (komaris a fish Epicharmus.47.)
• komboi 'molars' (Attic ? gomphioi, dim. of gomphos 'a large, wedge-shaped bolt or nail; any bond or fastening', PIE *gombh-)
• kynoupes or kynoutos bear (Hesychius kynoupeus, knoupeus, knôpeus) (kunôpês dog-faced) (knôps beast esp. serpent instead of kinôpeton, blind acc. Zonar (from knephas dark) (if kynoutos knôdês knôdalon beast)
• lakedáma ? ? salty water with alix, rice-wheat or fish-sauce.(Cf.skorodalmê 'sauce or pickle composed of brine and garlic'). According to Albrecht von Blumenthal,^[31]-ama corresponds to Attic ? halmurós 'salty'; Cretan Doric hauma for Attic halm?; laked- is cognate to Proto-Germanic *lauka^[55]leek, possibly related is ? Laked-aím?n, the name of the Spartan land.
• leíb?thron 'stream' (Hes. Attic ? rheîthron, also libádion, 'a small stream', dim. of libás; PIE *lei, 'to flow'); typical Greek productive suffix -? (-thron) (Macedonian toponym, Pierian Leibethra place/tomb of Orpheus)
• ? mattuês kind of bird ( mattuê a meat-dessert of Macedonian or Thessalian origin) (verb mattuazo to prepare the mattue) (Athenaeus)^[56]
• paraos eagle or kind of eagle (Attic aetos, Pamphylian aibetos) (PIE *por- 'going, passage' + *awi- 'bird') (Greek para- 'beside' + Hes. aos wind) (It may exist as food in Lopado...pterygon)
• ? peripeteia or ? peritia Macedonian festival in month Peritios. (Hesychius text ?[]?[?])
• rhamata bunch of grapes (Ionic rhagmata, rhages Koine rhôgmata, rhôges, rhax rhôx)
• rhouto this (neut.) (Attic touto)
• tagonaga Macedonian institution, administration (Thessalian tagos commander + agô lead)

Other sources

• ? aigipops eagle (EM 28.19) (error for argipous? maybe goat-eater? aix ,aigos + pepsis digestion) (Cf.eagle chelônophagos turtle-eater)^[57]
• argyraspides (wiki Argyraspides) chrysaspides and chalkaspides (golden and bronze-shielded)^[58]
• dramis a Macedonian bread (Thessalian bread daratos)(Athamanian bread dramix. (Athenaeus)^[59]
• kausia felt hat used by Macedonians, forming part of the regalia of the kings.
• koios number (Athenaeus^[60] when talking about Koios, the Titan of intelligence; and the Macedonians use koios as synonymous with arithmos (LSJ: koeô mark, perceive, hear koiazô pledge, Hes. compose s.v. ?, ) (Laocoön, thyoskoos observer of sacrifices, akouô hear) (All from PIE root *keu^[61] to notice, observe, feel; to hear).
• ? pezetairoi (wiki Pezhetairoi), Hetairidia, Macedonian religious festival (Attic ,) (Aeolic )^[62]
• Púdna, Pydna toponym (Pokorny^[63] Attic puthm?n 'bottom, sole, base of a vessel'; PIE *b?ud?n?; Attic pýndax 'bottom of vessel') (Cretan,Pytna^[64]Hierapytna, Sacred Pytna^[65])
• ? sigynos spear (Cypriotic sigynon) (Illyrian sibyne) (Origin: Illyrian acc. to Fest.p. 453 L., citing Ennius) (Cyprian acc. to Herodotus and Aristotle^[66] Il. cc., Scythian acc. to Sch.Par.A.R.4.320 (cf. 111)
• sphuraina, hammer-fish sphyraena (Strattis, Makedones (fr. 28) - (Attic. , kestra) (cestra, needle-fish (modern Greek fish ?, sfyrida)
• uetês of the same year Marsyas (Attic autoetês, Poetic oietês)
• charôn lion (Attic/Poetic fierce, for lion, eagle instead of charopos, charops bright-eyed)^[67]

Proposed

A number of Hesychius words are listed orphan; some of them have been proposed as Macedonian^[68]

• agerda wild pear-tree (Attic ? acherdos).
• adalos charcoal dust (Attic ? aithalos, ? asbolos)
• addee imp. hurry up ? (Attic thee of theô run)
• ? adis 'hearth' (Hes. eskhára, LSJ Attic aîthos 'fire, burning heat')
• ? aidôssa (Attic aithousa portico, corridor, verandah, a loggia leading from aulê yard to prodomos)
• ? baskioi 'fasces' (Hes. Attic desmoì phr?gán?n, Pokorny baskeutaí, Attic phaskídes, Attic phásk?los 'leather sack', PIE *b?asko-)
• bix sphinx (Boeotian phix), (Attic sphinx)
• ? dalancha sea (Attic thalatta) (Ionic thalassa)
• ? dedalai package, bundle (Attic dethla, desmai)
• eskorodos tenon (Attic tormos ? skorthos tornos slice, lathe)
• Eudalagines Graces ? (Attic ? Euthalgines)
• ? kanadoi 'jaws' nom. pl. (Attic gnathoi, PIE *genu, 'jaw') (Laconian kanadoka notch (V) of an arrow ? )
• laiba shield (Doric ? laia, laipha) (Attic aspis)
• ? lalabis storm (Attic lailaps)
• homodalion isoetes plant ( thallô bloom)
• rhoubotos potion (Attic rhophema) rhopheo suck, absorb rhoibdeô suck with noise.

Macedonian in Classical sources

Among the references that have been discussed as possibly bearing some witness to the linguistic situation in Macedonia, there is a sentence from a fragmentary dialogue, apparently between an Athenian and a Macedonian, in an extant fragment of the 5th century BC comedy 'Macedonians' by the Athenian poet Strattis (fr. 28), where a stranger is portrayed as speaking in a rural Greek dialect. His language contains expressions such as ? for ? "you Athenians", being also attested in Homer, Sappho (Lesbian) and Theocritus (Doric), while ? appears only in "funny country bumpkin" contexts of Attic comedy.^[69]

Another text that has been quoted as evidence is a passage from Livy (lived 59 BC-14 AD) in his Ab urbe condita (31.29). Describing political negotiations between Macedonians and Aetolians in the late 3rd century BC, Livy has a Macedonian ambassador argue that Aetolians, Acarnanians and Macedonians were "men of the same language".^[70] This has been interpreted as referring to a shared North-West Greek speech (as opposed to Attic Koiné).^[71] In another passage, Livy states that an announcement was translated from Latin to Greek for Macedonians to understand.^[72]

Quintus Curtius Rufus, Philotas's trial^[73] and the statement that the Greek-speaking Branchidae had common language with the Macedonians.^[74]

Over time, "Macedonian" (), when referring to language (and related expressions such as ; to speak in the Macedonian fashion) acquired the meaning of Koine Greek.^[75]

Contributions to the Koine

As a consequence of the Macedonians' role in the formation of the Koine, Macedonian contributed considerable elements, unsurprisingly including some military terminology (?, , ?, etc.). Among the many contributions were the general use of the first declension grammar for male and female nouns with an -as ending, attested in the genitive of Macedonian coinage from the early 4th century BC of Amyntas III ( in the genitive; the Attic form that fell into disuse would be ?). There were changes in verb conjugation such as in the Imperative ? attested in Macedonian sling stones found in Asiatic battlefields, that became adopted in place of the Attic forms. Koine Greek established a spirantisation of beta, gamma and delta, which has been attributed to the Macedonian influence.^[76] Other adoptions from the ancient Macedonian include the simplification of the sequence /ign/ to /i:n/ (?, Attic ) and the loss of aspiration of the consonant cluster /sth/ (> /st/) (, Attic ), for example as in a Koine inscription from Dura-Europos from the 2nd or 3rd century AD: " ? ".^[]

See also

• Amerias
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Greek
• Ancient Greek dialects
• Government of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
• Hellenic languages
• History of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
• Macedon
• Phrygian language
• Proto-Greek language
• Thracian language

Notes

References

Further reading

• Brixhe, Claude & Anna Panayotou, "Le Macédonien", Langues indo-européennes, ed. Françoise Bader. Paris: CNRS, 1994, pp 205-220. ISBN 2-271-05043-X
• Chadwick, John, The Prehistory of the Greek Language. Cambridge, 1963.
• Crossland, R. A., "The Language of the Macedonians", Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 3, part 1, Cambridge 1982.
• Hammond, Nicholas G.L., "Literary Evidence for Macedonian Speech", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Vol. 43, No. 2. (1994), pp. 131-142.
• Hatzopoulos, M. B. "Le Macédonien: Nouvelles données et théories nouvelles", Ancient Macedonia, Sixth International Symposium, vol. 1. Institute for Balkan Studies, 1999.
• Kalléris, Jean. Les Anciens Macédoniens, étude linguistique et historique. Athens: Institut français d'Athènes, 1988.
• Kati?i?, Radoslav. Ancient Languages of the Balkans. The Hague--Paris: Mouton, 1976.
• Neroznak, V. Paleo-Balkan languages. Moscow, 1978.
• Rhomiopoulou, Katerina. An Outline of Macedonian History and Art. Greek Ministry of Culture and Science, 1980.
• Die Makedonen: Ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum by Otto Hoffmann

External links

• The speech of the ancient Macedonians, in the light of recent epigraphic discoveries
• Jona Lendering, Ancient Macedonia web page on livius.org
• Greek Inscriptions from ancient Macedonia (Epigraphical Database)
• Heinrich Tischner on Hesychius' words
• www.sil.org: ISO639-3, entry for Ancient Macedonian (XMK)