Alphabets and Dialects in the Euboean Colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia or What Could Have Happened in Methone
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Francesca Dell’Oro
Abstract
It goes almost without saying that linguistic evidence found in a specific place does not have to belong to the language or dialect mainly spoken there. Linguistic contact is possible at any time. Greek colonies provide a privileged viewpoint from which to regard this issue. In this paper, four cases are discussed on the basis of the dialectal material found in the Euboean colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia: 1) features that can be ascribed to the originally mixed character of the colony’s population already at the time of the colonial enterprise; 2) features related to the presence of foreigners in the colony who arrived after its foundation, from faraway lands, or 3) from nearby regions, as in the case of the influence from other Greek colonial settlements or even from non-Greek settlements. A fourth possible case regards people coming from the mother-town at a later time after the foundation of the colony and bringing with them non-colonial features of the same alphabet and/or dialect.
Abstract
It goes almost without saying that linguistic evidence found in a specific place does not have to belong to the language or dialect mainly spoken there. Linguistic contact is possible at any time. Greek colonies provide a privileged viewpoint from which to regard this issue. In this paper, four cases are discussed on the basis of the dialectal material found in the Euboean colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia: 1) features that can be ascribed to the originally mixed character of the colony’s population already at the time of the colonial enterprise; 2) features related to the presence of foreigners in the colony who arrived after its foundation, from faraway lands, or 3) from nearby regions, as in the case of the influence from other Greek colonial settlements or even from non-Greek settlements. A fourth possible case regards people coming from the mother-town at a later time after the foundation of the colony and bringing with them non-colonial features of the same alphabet and/or dialect.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of Contents IX
- Introduction 1
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Part I: Graphê and Archaeology
- Transport Amphorae from Methone: An Interdisciplinary Study of Production and Trade ca. 700 BCE 9
- The Archaeological Background of the Earliest Graffiti and Finds from Methone 20
- To Write and to Paint: More Early Iron Age Potters′ Marks in the Aegean 36
- Counting on Pots? Reflections on Numerical Notations in Early Iron Age Greece 105
- Texts and Amphoras in the Methone “Ypogeio” 123
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Part II: Graphê, Alphabet, Dialect, and Language
- From Gabii and Gordion to Eretria and Methone: the Rise of the Greek Alphabet 135
- Alphabets and Dialects in the Euboean Colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia or What Could Have Happened in Methone 165
- Alphabet and Phonology at Methone: Beginning a Typology of Methone Alphabetic Symbols and an Alternative Hypothesis for Reading Hακεσάνδρō 182
- Thoughts on the Initial Aspiration of HAKEΣANΔPO 219
- The Impact of Late Geometric Greek Inscriptions from Methone on Understanding the Development of Early Euboean Alphabet 232
- Methone of Pieria: a Reassessment of Epigraphical Evidence (with a Special Attention to Pleonastic Sigma) 242
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Part III: Graphê and Culture
- Local ‘Literacies’ in the Making: Early Alphabetic Writing and Modern Literacy Theories 261
- Form Follows Function? Toward an Aesthetics of Early Greek Inscriptions at Methone 285
- Wine and the Early History of the Greek Alphabet 309
- Bibliography and Abbreviations 329
- Notes on Contributors 360
- General Index 365
- Index Locorum 374
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of Contents IX
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Graphê and Archaeology
- Transport Amphorae from Methone: An Interdisciplinary Study of Production and Trade ca. 700 BCE 9
- The Archaeological Background of the Earliest Graffiti and Finds from Methone 20
- To Write and to Paint: More Early Iron Age Potters′ Marks in the Aegean 36
- Counting on Pots? Reflections on Numerical Notations in Early Iron Age Greece 105
- Texts and Amphoras in the Methone “Ypogeio” 123
-
Part II: Graphê, Alphabet, Dialect, and Language
- From Gabii and Gordion to Eretria and Methone: the Rise of the Greek Alphabet 135
- Alphabets and Dialects in the Euboean Colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia or What Could Have Happened in Methone 165
- Alphabet and Phonology at Methone: Beginning a Typology of Methone Alphabetic Symbols and an Alternative Hypothesis for Reading Hακεσάνδρō 182
- Thoughts on the Initial Aspiration of HAKEΣANΔPO 219
- The Impact of Late Geometric Greek Inscriptions from Methone on Understanding the Development of Early Euboean Alphabet 232
- Methone of Pieria: a Reassessment of Epigraphical Evidence (with a Special Attention to Pleonastic Sigma) 242
-
Part III: Graphê and Culture
- Local ‘Literacies’ in the Making: Early Alphabetic Writing and Modern Literacy Theories 261
- Form Follows Function? Toward an Aesthetics of Early Greek Inscriptions at Methone 285
- Wine and the Early History of the Greek Alphabet 309
- Bibliography and Abbreviations 329
- Notes on Contributors 360
- General Index 365
- Index Locorum 374
