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Wiktionary:About Mycenaean Greek

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For readers

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Language

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Mycenaean Greek is the variety of Greek attested in the Linear B script during the Mycenaean civilization. On Wiktionary it is treated separately from Ancient Greek under its own language header. Despite being a very similar situation, Arcadocypriot terms written in the Cypriot syllabary are currently treated under the Ancient Greek header.

Glossary and transliteration

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For the sake of Aegean studies, it is useful to pin down some conventions on terminology. The following are the ones employed by the English Wiktionary:

  • abbreviation: A form spelled with its initial syllabogram alone, e.g. 𐀓 (ku) is a common abbreviation of 𐀓𐀖𐀜 (ku-mi-no). Despite it being common practice in literature to transliterate these as lowercase and italic, e.g. KU, here they are transliterated identically to normal syllabograms. They are also sometimes called acronyms.
  • adjunct: A syllabogram written in superimposition of an ideogram, in order to pin down a particular meaning, e.g. 𐂑+𐀒 (AROM+ko). Due to technical limitations, the plus sign is employed to indicate the superimposition, both in the transliteration and in the original script. Much like abbreviations, traditionally the adjuncts are transliterated in uppercase italic, but here they are transliterated the same as other syllabograms.
  • ideogram: A sign employed not for its phonetic value but by the meaning in conveys, e.g. 𐂚 (AES). Although measure units are traditionally considered a different class, they work as ideograms and are hence here considered as such. They are traditionally transliterated with the first few letters of the concept's name in Latin in uppercase, or whenever a name has not been assigned, with an asterisk followed by its identification number, e.g. 𐃂 (*190). Vessels are most often transliterated with their identification number followed by a superscript VAS, e.g. 𐃞 (*155VAS).
  • logogram: Grouping that includes ideograms, abbreviations consisting of a single syllabogram and monograms.
  • ligature: Grouping that includes both monograms and adjuncts. Its use should be limited to a minimum to avoid confusion.
  • monogram: A ligature of two or three syllabograms into a single character, e.g. 𐂔 (ka+na+ko). They are transliterated with their syllabogram components separated by a plus sign. The sign 𐂝 (LANA) was originally a monogram in Minoan but should be considered as an ideogram in Mycenaean Greek.
  • pictogram: The term should be avoided in the sense of ideogram (see above), and only be employed when referring to the Cretan hieroglyphs.
  • syllabogram: A sign employed for its phonetic value to denote a syllable, e.g. 𐀏𐀒 (ka-ko). They are transliterated as lowercase, and separated by hyphens. If the phonetic value of a syllabogram has not been clearly eastablished, the identification number is used, as also in ideograms.

Symbols used

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Also in the quote in the original script:

  • square brackets [ ]: Portion of the original inscription that was later damaged or broken away. Often contains a reconstruction of what could have been written.
  • double square brackets ⟦ ⟧: Reconstructed portion of the original inscription that was subsequently erased, either by the original scribe or by one of their contemporaries.
  • curly brackets { }: Portion of the original inscription considered erroneous.
  • angle brackets ⟨ ⟩: Absent portion from the original inscription which was mistakingly omitted.
  • full stop .: When in brackets, any single unreconstructible sign.
  • three hyphens ---: When in brackets, an unknown amount of missing signs.
  • vacat or vacant, abbreviated as vac.: Indicates a portion of the inscription that that has always been willingly empty. When denoting multiple lines, may be followed by the number of empty lines.
  • plus sign +: Denotes adjuncts.
  • slash /: Indicates the portion of the inscription that follows is smaller.
  • double slash //: Indicates the portion of the inscription that follows is larger.

Only the transliteration:

  • hyphen -: Separates syllabograms of the same word.
  • plus sign +: Separates the syllabic components of a monogram.
  • asterisk *: Precedes a sign's identification number, to clarify it is not a transliteration of a numeral. Leading zeroes are not used, unlike some literature does.
  • comma ,: Transliterates the word separator 𐄀. Not to be interpreted with the modern usage the comma has.

Classification of incriptions

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The first two uppercase letters indicate the inscription's find-place. An incomplete list below.

The following uppercase letter after a space refers to the subject dealt with in the inscription.

  • A: personnel
  • C: livestock
  • D: sheep
  • E: grain
  • F G: rations, offerings, allocation of olive oil
  • J: metals
  • K: vase
  • L: cloth
  • M N O P Q: miscellaneus assessments or allocations
  • R: weapons
  • S: chariot and armour
  • T: utensil
  • U: miscellaneus provisions
  • V: lists without ideograms
  • Wa–We: labels
  • Wm–Wu: sealings
  • X: fragmentary tablets
  • Z: inscriptions on clay items other than tablets (e.g. vases), stone or ivory

The class is usually further divided into subclasses, denoted by a lowercase letter attached to it. Subclasses a–m indicate leaf shaped or narrow tablets, while n–z are used for page shaped or tall tablets.

After this the fragment number is given (each findplace has its indipendent fragment list), or if the inscription is was reconstructed from multiple fragments, all its components separated by a plus sign. Unnumbered fragments are mentioned as fr., or frr. when multiple.

After the classification usually follows the line number or list of lines cited, separated by the fragment number by a full stop.

Bibliography

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  • Aura Jorro, Francisco, R. Adrados, Francisco (1985) Diccionario micénico, volume 1, Madrid
  • Aura Jorro, Francisco, R. Adrados, Francisco (1993) Diccionario micénico, volume 2, Madrid
  • Baumbach, Lydia (1971) “The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary II”, in Glotta, volume 49, number 3/4, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, →JSTOR, pages 151–190
  • Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
  • Bennett, Emmett L., Jr. (1955) The Pylos Tablets. Texts of the Inscriptions found 1939–1954, Princeton: Princeton University Press
  • Bennett, Emmett L., Jr., Chadwick, John (1958) “The Mycenae Tablets II”, in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume 48, number 1, American Philosophical Society, →JSTOR, pages 1–122
  • Chadwick, John, et al. (1962) “The Mycenae Tablets III”, in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume 52, number 7, American Philosophical Society, published 1963, →JSTOR, pages 1–76
  • Chadwick, John, Baumbach, Lydia (1963) “The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary”, in Glotta, volume 41, number 3/4, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, →JSTOR, pages 157–271
  • Chadwick, John, Killen, J. T. (1964) “The Knossos Tablets (Third Edition)”, in University of London. Institute of Classical Studies, editor, Bulletin Supplement, number 15, Oxford University Press, →JSTOR, pages 1–218
  • Chadwick, J., Godart, L., Killen, J. T., Oliver, J.-P., Sacconi, A., Sakellarakis, I. A. (1986) Corpus of Mycenaean Inscriptions from Knossos (Incunabula Graeca; 88), volume 1, Edizioni dell'Ateneo & Cambridge University Press, →ISBN
  • Hooker, J. T. (1980) Linear B. An Introduction, Bristol Classical Press
  • Lejeune, Michel (1958) Mémoires de Philologie Mycénienne. Première Série (1955–1957), Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
  • Lejeune, Michel (1971) Mémoires de Philologie Mycénienne. Deuxième Série (1958–1963), Rome: Ed. dell'Ateneo
  • Lejeune, Michel (1972) Mémoires de Philologie Mycénienne. Troisième Série (1964–1968), Rome: Ed. dell'Ateneo
  • Nakassis, Dimitri (2013) Individual and Society in Mycenaean Pylos (Mnemosyne supplements. History and archaeology of classical antiquity; 358), Leiden, Boston: Brill
  • Palmer, L. R. (1963) The Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • Palmer, Leonard R. (1972) “Mycenaean Inscribed Vases”, in Kadmos, volume 11, number 1, →DOI, pages 27–46
  • Ventris, Michael, Chadwick, John (1973) Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 2nd edition, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN

Technical notes

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For proper display of Linear B text it is recommended to have fonts such as Aegean or Noto Sans Linear B.

Further reading

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For editors

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Treatment

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Terms should be kept under the header Mycenaean Greek, with the code gmy, written in the Linear B script exclusively.

Transliteration

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Transliteration is automatically provided by Module:Linb-translit. Note however that some ideograms can have the same character as syllabograms, e.g. 𐀥 (qi) and 𐀥 (OVIS). The transliteration module by default assumes the character has the syllabic value. To override this in quotes, precede the character with an at sign @ in the |subst= parameter, e.g. |subst=𐀥//@𐀥.

Page layout practices

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Inscription should be mentioned following the traditional classification scheme (see above), and should, whenever possible, be followed by a citenote with the works the inscription is published in.

For references, the use of the template {{gmy-R}} is recommended. If a useful source is not recognised by the template, it should be added in the list at Module:gmy-R/data.

Quotations that contain single lines that later divide in two (notably the inscriptions of MY Ge series) should use the template {{gmy-table}} to achieve the same visual effect.

Forms which are only attested once may bear the label hapax. Ideograms, monograms and abbreviations may have their respective labels ideo, mono and abbr.

That's all. Have fun and be nice to others, g'bye.

Online utilities

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