Minoan language

Minoan
Linear A tablet
Region	Crete
Era	ca. 1800–1450 BCE
Language family	unclassified
Writing system	Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: omn – Minoan lab – Linear A
Linguist list	omn Minoan
	lab Linear A

The language (or languages) of the ancient Minoan civilization of Crete was written in Cretan hieroglyphs and later in the Linear A syllabary. As the Cretan hieroglyphs are undeciphered and Linear A only partly deciphered, the Minoan language is unknown and unclassified—and indeed, it cannot be known that the two scripts record the same language, or even that a single language is recorded in each. The Eteocretan language, attested in a few alphabetic inscriptions from Crete a thousand years later, is possibly a descendant of Minoan, but it is itself unclassified.

References