Greek in contact with other languages from the late Bronze Age to the present

BARTONĚK LECTURES SERIES: Em. Prof. Mark Janse (Ghent University)

The lecture explores some of the most revealing episodes in the long history of linguistic contact of Greek with other languages. Beginning with the multilingual environment of the Late Bronze Age Aegean and the earliest attestations of Mycenaean Greek, it will consider the adoption of the alphabet from the Phoenicians and its subsequent adaptation to other languages, the evidence of bilingual and trilingual inscriptions from the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, and the changing position of Greek in the multilingual societies of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman worlds. Particular attention will be paid to cases in which linguistic boundaries intersect with those of writing systems, including the use of Greek letters for other languages and the writing of Greek in non-Greek scripts.

The history of Greek, extending over more than three millennia, is not only a history of linguistic continuity and change, but also one of constant interaction with other languages. From the emergence of Greek as a distinct Indo-European language to its present-day varieties, contacts with neighbouring peoples and cultures have left their traces in its vocabulary, structure, and writing systems. At the same time, Greek has exerted a profound influence on numerous other languages, both within and beyond the Mediterranean world. This lecture explores some of the most revealing episodes in this long history of linguistic contact. Beginning with the multilingual environment of the Late Bronze Age Aegean and the earliest attestations of Mycenaean Greek, it will consider the adoption of the alphabet from the Phoenicians and its subsequent adaptation to other languages, the evidence of bilingual and trilingual inscriptions from the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, and the changing position of Greek in the multilingual societies of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman worlds. Particular attention will be paid to cases in which linguistic boundaries intersect with those of writing systems, including the use of Greek letters for other languages and the writing of Greek in non-Greek scripts. By bringing together evidence from historical linguistics, epigraphy, and the history of writing, the lecture aims to show how language contact provides a particularly illuminating perspective on the history of Greek. In doing so, it pays tribute to Antonín Bartoněk’s pioneering contributions to the study of Mycenaean Greek and the ancient Greek dialects.