Lydian script

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Lydian
Type Alphabet
Spoken languages Lydian language
Time period 700-200 BCE
Parent systems Greek alphabet
Lydian
Sister systems Other Alphabets of Asia Minor
ISO 15924 Lydi
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
Ancient Near East Portal
For other uses, see Lydian.

Lydian script was used to write the Lydian language. That the language preceded the script is indicated by names in Lydian, which must have existed before they were written. Like other scripts of Anatolia in the Iron Age, the Lydian alphabet is a modification of the East Greek alphabet, but it has unique features. The same Greek letters may not represent the same sounds in both languages or in any other Anatolian language (in some cases it may). Moreover, the Lydian script is alphabetic.

Early Lydian texts are written both from left to right and from right to left. Later texts are exclusively written from right to left. One text is boustrophedon. Spaces separate words except that one text uses dots. Lydian uniquely features a quotation mark in the shape of a right triangle.

Contents

[edit] The alphabet

The Lydian alphabet[1][2] is closely related to the other alphabets of Asia Minor as well as to the Greek alphabet. It contains letters for 26 sounds. Some are represented by more than one symbol, which is considered one "letter." Unlike the Carian alphabet, which had an f derived from Φ, the Lydian f has the peculiar 8 shape also found in the Etruscan alphabet.

The Lydian Alphabet
Lydian Letter Transliteration Sound Table Notes
a vowel a and ā
ã nasal vowel Appears as ã or a before a nasal consonant: aliksãntru-/aliksantru.[3]
b stop consonant Probably /p/ (voiceless)
d stop consonant /ð/
c affricate /dz/
e vowel e and ē
ẽ nasal vowel
f fricative
g stop consonant
i vowel [i]
y vowel Used only 11 times as a substitute for i: artymu-/artimu-, under exact circumstances that are debatable.[4]
k stop consonant
l lateral consonant
λ Not the Greek lateral consonant
m
n
ν Not the greek n
o vowel
q labio-velar /kw/
q r liquid consonant
s /ç/
ś sibilant consonant /s/
T t stop consonant
τ affricate /ts/
y u vowel [u]
v

In addition are the two digrams, aa and ii, considered allophones of a and i under speculative circumstances.[5]

[edit] Lydian in Unicode

The Lydian script is included in version 5.1 of the Unicode standard. It is encoded in Plane 1 (Supplementary Multilingual Plane), range U+10920 - U+1093F.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Adiego (2007) page 769.
  2. ^ Everson (2006).
  3. ^ Gérard (2005) page 35.
  4. ^ Gérard (2005) page36.
  5. ^ Gērard (2005) page 34.

[edit] References

  • Adiego, I.J. (2007), “Greek and Lydian”, in Christidis, A.F.; Arapopoulou, Maria & Chriti, Maria, A History of Ancient Greek From the Beginning to Late Antiquity, Cambridge University press, ISBN 0521833078 . Translator Chris Markham.
  • Gérard, Raphaël (2005). Phonétique et morphologie de la langue lydienne. Peeters. ISBN:9042915749.  French language text.
  • Gusmani, R. Lydisches Wörterbuch. Mit grammatischer Skizze und Inschriftensammlung, Heidelberg 1964 (Ergänzungsband 1-3, Heidelberg 1980-1986).
  • Melchert, H. Craig (2004) "Lydian", in Roger D. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56256-2. pp. 601-608.
  • Shevoroshkin, V. The Lydian Language, Moscow, 1977.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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