Ancient Greek Dialectology in the Light of Mycenaean (Cowgill)

Ancient Greek Dialectology in the Light of Myccnacan* Warren C. Cowgill YALE UNI V EIIS ITY

1. I n the first half of this century many (probably most) experts be-

lieved that therc werc four principal dialects of Ancient Greek (leaving aside the difficult and litLie understood Pamphylian): West Greek (including Doric and Northwest Greek), Aeolic (Asiatic Aeolie, Thessalian, Boeotian), Arcado-Cypriall, and Attic-Ionic. It was also believed that the latter three constituted something of a unit (East Greek) against the first, with Areado-Cyprian intermediate between Acolie and Attie-Ionie.1 A substantial minority classed Arcndo-Cyprian and Acolie together as form s of a single dialect ("Achaean" or the like), resulting in a threefold classification : West Greek, Achaean, Attic-lonic.1 When features considen!d typical of one dialcct were found ill local varieties of another, this was generaliy taken as evidence for prehistoric tribal migrations and overiayering:s ; for instance, "A colic" dative plurals ill - EllUL were taken to indicate an Acolic substratum in Aetolia, Corinth, and so forth. 2. Closely related to problems of G reek dialectology is the problem of the prehistory of the Homeric epic. From the time of r ick linguists had been agreed that under the Old Ionic component of Homer's language there is an Acolic layer, implying that Ionians learned to compose epic from Aeolian poets, and no doubt took over much of t heir subjcct matter from them as wcll. But. perceptive scholars li ke Antoine Meilletl and Milman Pa rry4 had postulated a still earlier "Achaean" layer, reflecting the language of poets of the Mycelmeall age; traces of such a layer seemed clearest in the words peculiar to Homer and Arcadian or (especially) Cyprian. But in HJ50 Manu uumann's book Homerischc W arier appeared, expressing strong skepticism toward this view; Leumann sug• I wish t o exp ress here my gratitude to E. L. Bennetlll.nd his Nes/or, whie h has immelUmrably s implified the task of collecting mflterial for this repor t . That I have neve rtheless left many gaps T am painfully aware. I So, for example, C . D. Buck , The Greek dia/ects' 7- 9 (Chicago, 1D55) . • So, for example, O. Hoffmann, Dle griechisehen Dialekle Lv ii (GOttingen, 1891). • AperiU d·une hiMo;re de 10 longue grccque' liS (Paria, 1930). • Ha n'a r d Slu(Ncs in Classical Philology 43.1- 50 (1932). 77

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ANCIENT (lREEK DIALECTOLOGY IN TilE L I(lHT

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