Linguistic, literary and cultural studies

Abstract

Phrygian is a fragmentary Indo-European language recorded in inscriptions found mainly in central Anatolia, dated to between ca. 800 BC and the 3rd century AD. The main objective of this dissertation is to provide a comprehensive analysis of all the Phrygian words attested in these Phrygian inscriptions, using a dictionary structure. The result is an overview of the preserved Phrygian lexicon. Although the Phrygian texts are classified as belonging to one of three stages on the basis of chronology, linguistic features, script and contents (Old Phrygian, Middle Phrygian and New Phrygian), the whole lexicon has been compiled in a single dictionary. Before dealing with the main objective, a catalogue of all the known Phrygian inscriptions was created. Although the Old Phrygian inscriptions were collected by Brixhe and Lejeune (with Brixhe’s supplements), other inscriptions not considered in their corpus have been included here. An editio maior of the all New Phrygian inscriptions is still lacking and a complete catalogue was needed. Our work on the Phrygian language therefore began with the compilation of this catalogue. The middle stage of Phrygian is essentially attested by a single large epitaph, well edited by Brixhe. Consequently, this dissertation also offers a catalogue of the Phrygian inscriptions on which the study of the lexicon is based. Also addressed are the value of some letters of the Phrygian alphabet, used in the first stage of the language, and the segmentation of the inscriptions which employ scriptio continua. Once these preliminary problems have been dealt with, each segmented word is analysed, under one lemma when multiple forms are attested. Together with morphological analysis and examination of context, prior studies are corroborated by the current knowledge of Phrygian, when possible. Information from other fields such as Ancient Greek, the Anatolian languages and general Indo- European studies is also considered. Indeed, the comparative method is essential in this work, although context is constantly consulted in order to avoid purely etymological speculations. Innovative, personal contributions are often given, although many words remain unexplained because of the fragmentation of the inscriptions and the noteworthy abundance of hapax. After the detailed study of each word, a short grammar is built on the basis of the lexicon; this chapter is offered as an updated introduction to the Phrygian language.