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Thursday, April 24, 2025

MACEDONIAN ELEMENTS IN KOINE AND MODERN GREEK

1. INTRODUCTION

In the 4th century BC, Philip II of Macedon (or Archelaus in the 5th century) introduced the Attic Greek dialect as an official administrative language of the Macedonian court ¹. The rise of Macedonia as the dominant power of the Greek world also led to the dominance of this Attic-derived Geeek dialect, which became the common dialect of the Greeks. This is the so-called Koine Greek, meaning "Common Greek" (κοινή="common"), the lingua franca of the Southern Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic times and Roman rule. This language evolved into Medieval Greek, from which the Modern Greek language descends.

2. LITERARY ATTESTATION

Despite Attic being the nucleus of Koine Greek, influences from other Greek dialects, especially Macedonian, were unavoidable. Αncient authors described the Macedonian influence on Attic and Koine Greek. Athenaeus in "Deipnosophistae", reported that many Attic writers used Macedonian dialectal features due to the bilateral influence Attica and Macedonia had on eachother:
«I know, too, that many of the Attic writers affect to imitate Macedonian expressions, on account of the great intercourse that there was between Attica and Macedonia» ². 
A lot earlier, during the 4th century BCE , Philippides the Athenian comedian mentions the noun "κοράσιον" (korásion, "little girl"), describing it as "foreign" ("ξενικόν", i.e. non-Athenian) ³. A scholiast (Ven. B Hom. Il. 20.404), while discussing the Doric long alpha (ᾱ), suggests that the word is Macedonian:
«εἰ δὲ τρέποιτο τὸ η τοῦ πρωτοτύπου εἰς α παρὰ Δωριεῦσι διὰ τοῦ α πρυμνάσιον, κορυφάσιον. οὕτως ἔχει καὶ τὸ κοράσιον, ὅ μαλλον ἐστὶ μακεδονικόν» ⁴. 
The scholiast's suggestion is proven to be true, judging by the frequent occurrences of κοράσιον in Macedonian epigraphy ⁵. From a linguistic view, he is also correct, since κοράσιον is the diminutive form of Doric κόρᾱ ("girl") with long ᾱ instead of Attic κόρη with η. The word κοράσιον involved into Medieval Greek as κοράσιν and ended up in Modern Greek as κοράσι ⁶. 
Another attestation comes from a fragment of a comic dialogue of Philemon (fr. 130), quoted by Phyrinchus:
«— βουνόν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ καταλαβών ἄνω τινά
— τί ἐσθ’ ὁ βουνός? ἵνα σαφῶς σου μανθάνω»

[— Having occupied a βουνός (hill) up on top of this
— What is a βουνός? So that I understand you clearly]
Phyrinchus also criticised the word βουνός (hill) as foreign and non-Attic ⁷. The word was most likely been familiar in Doric dialects ⁸ and, therefore, its sudden penetration and frequency into the Koine Greek everyday vocabulary could be attributed to Macedonian influence. Pausanias mentions the cult of Hera Βουναία at Corinth, which likely derived its name from Βοῦνος, the son of Hermes (Paus. 2.4.7). An entry in Hesychius informs us of the existence of a Toξίου βουνός in Sikyon – that is, a hill consecrated to Apollo (Hsch. τ 1134). The adjective βοῦνις, an early derivative of βουνός, is a Doricism in the lyric parts of Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women (117; 129; 776)       ⁷.  Claudius Salmasius in the 17th century had commented on the topic:
«The word βουνός, unintelligible to the Attics as a foreign term, appears in the Septuagint translation. And this fact makes that version less Hellenistic, if we take Hellenistic in the sense it was then understood—that is, as pure, authentic, and truly Greek. For when compared to Attic, which was considered the purest and most correct of all dialects, that Common Greek language of the Macedonians, which the general populace of Greece then used indiscriminately, seems provincial and crude, especially when set beside the more refined and elegant language of the Attics» ⁹.
The word βουνό is today the most popular and frequent term used in Modern Greek to describe a hill or a mountain.

Despite the few fragmentary accounts testifying the shift to Koine Greek and its differences from Attic, it seems that the role of Macedonian in the formation of the new dialect was so important that the verb "μακεδονίζειν" (="to 'macedonize', to speak the macedonian way") was commonly used as a synonym of "to speak Koine" ¹⁰. In other instances, as it can be seen from Salmasius' quote, Koine Greek was simply described as the Macedonian Language. The term Koine is preferred by modern scholarship to avoid confusion with the original Macedonian Northwestern Greek dialect. 

3. OTHER DATA

Ancient literature only provides us with information about dialectal influences in vocabulary. On the other hand, we can extract more essential linguistic data from other sources, such as epigraphy, Koine Greek texts and from the living descendant of it - the Modern Greek language and its dialects. The earliest change in Attic Greek is attested in an Attic oath related to the participation of the Athenians in the Hellenic League under the leadership of Philip II the Macedonian (337/8 BCE) ¹¹. In this inscription we find the forms θάλασσα instead of regular Attic θάλαττα and Θεσσαλῶν instead of regular Attic Θετταλῶν. This has been interpreted as an early attempt of "Koineization", given the fact that Attic -tt- appears as -ss- in the rest of the Greek dialects. The trope -tt- → -ss- was most likely a feature also shared by Northwestern dialects (including Macedonian), as seen by the Northwestern Greek ethnonym Μολοσσοί which is rendered as Μολοττοί in the Attic dialect ¹². Thus, we cannot exclude the possibility of a Macedonian influence. The same could apply in the case of -ρρ- (Attic) → -ρσ- (Koine/Mod. Greek): Attic ἀρρενικός became ἀρσενικός in Koine and Modern Greek. Accordingly, the root of the term is ἄρρην in Attic and ἄρσην in Koine and Modern Greek. The latter form shows striking resemblance to the Doric forms ἄρσης (Laconian, Theran) and ἔρσην (Cretan, Coan) ¹³.
Non-Attic features, which could be attributed a lot more confidently to Macedonian, are to be found in the living Modern Greek language. A dialectal feature of ancient Macedonian is the diminutive ending -(l)as in personal names ending in -laos, as attested in the Macedonian form Iolas for Iolaos ¹⁴. The same feature has been inherited by Modern Greek, where Nikolaos becomes Nikolas in every day speech. Modern Greeks have also inherited the the Macedonian form of first declension masculine genitive. The genitive of the noun νεανίας, while in Attic it would be (τοῦ) νεανίου, is (τοῦ) νεανία in Modern Greek. This exact version is frequently found in Macedonian coinage, where we read ΣΙΡΡΑ ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΑ, ΑΜΥΝΤΑ, ΠΕΡΔΙΚΚΑ instead of *ΣΙΡΡΟΥ, ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ, ΑΜΥΝΤΟΥ, ΠΕΡΔΙΚΚΟΥ (="of Sirrhas", "of Pausanias", "of Amyntas", "of Perdikkas") ¹⁵. Another Macedonian feature, which is also characteristic in Northwestern Greek Dialects, is the spirantization of aspirates (σθ → στ), as in Macedonian γενέσθαι → γενέσται (in the Pella tablet) and Modern Greek εἶσθε → εἶστε ¹⁶.
But were these enough for Hellenistic authors to classify a Koine speaker as a "Macedonian speaker" (μακεδονίζων τῇ φωνῇ)? The truth is that the aforementioned innovations were noticeable and "foreign", especially to the Attic ear, but even more foreign were the changes in phonology. During the Hellenistic period, Greek experienced a spirantisation of consonants, having the following evolution:
[pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] → [pᶠ, tᶿ, kᵡ] → [f, θ, χ] 
Linguist Babiniotis (1992) proposed that Macedonian followed an analogous spirantisation of voiced consonants:
[pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] → [pᵛ, tᵟ, kˠ] → [v, δ, γ]
The prominent linguist concluded that Macedonian was a precursor to later Greek spirantization in Hellenistic Koine and finally Modern Greek ¹⁷. Macedonian also presents an early stage of fricativization of úpsilon (υ), as it was used to render digamma (ϝ), equivalent of the letter w:
Macedonian  Αυραντον < Αϝραντον (Att. αρραντον)
Macedonian Αυδουναιος < Αϝδωναιος < Αϝιδωναιος ¹⁸
The Macedonian terms reflect the middle stage of fricativization of υ in Greek:
[u] → [w] → [v]/[f] ¹⁹. In today's Greek, εύρος is pronounced as évros, αυλή as avlí and αυτός as aftós.

4. ANCIENT MACEDONIAN AND MODERN MACEDONIAN

The Macedonians of Velventos have preserved several Macedonian archaisms in their dialect. They occasionally use Doric/Macedonian ᾱ instead of ῆ in words such as μακους ~ μηκων, αμαρουκουτους ~ αμηρυκητος, μαρκειουμι ~ μηρυκωμαι, ξιαλ’ ~ ξυηλη etc ²⁰. In mountainous Pieria, Macedonians use the diphthong ΟΥ in the place of Y: κουνταλου ~ κυνδαλος , σουχροι ~ συν χροι, τρουπωμα ~ τρυπωμα ²¹. Similarly, Ancient Macedonians called Heracles Κουναγιδας instead of Κυναγιδας and represented the inherited */u(:)/ as ΟΥ ²². It is worth mentioning the characteristic change of ω → ου (χωριό→χουριό), which is epigraphically attested in Macedonian (Άρτεμις Βλουρεῖτις → *Φιλωρεῖτις) ²³. According to linguist Claude Brixhe, the tendency of the Ancient Macedonian dialect towards a closing of the vocales mediae /e/ and /o/, (respectively becoming /i/ and /u/) was continued in the Koine Hellenistic variety of the region and it survived until today in the Modern Greek dialects of Northern Greece ²⁴.

5. SYNOPSIS 
In short, ancient Macedonian elements in Koine and Modern Greek can be listed as follows:

• Macedonian Vocabulary (βουνό, κοράσιον)

• Non-Attic features possible in Macedonian:

1. -tt- → -ss- (θάλαττα → θάλασσα)
2. -rr- → -rs- (χερρόνησος → χερσόνησος)

• Clear Macedonian features

1. Diminutive forms such as Nikolas for Nikolaos 
2. Macedonian first declension masculine genitive ( του Αμύντου → του Αμύντα)
3. -sth- → -st- (εἶσθε → εἶστε)
4. spirantisation of consonants:
    [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] → [pᶠ, tᶿ, kᵡ] → [f, θ, χ]
5. fricativization of /u/
    [u] → [w] → [v]/[f]

• Macedonian features in Modern Macedonian:

1. Doric ā (μακους ~ μηκων)
2. ου instead of Υ (τρουπωμα ~ τρυπωμα)
3. Ω → ΟΥ (χωριό → χουριό)

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Sources/References:
¹ Miltiades Hatzopoulos, Ancient Macedonia, p. 102
⁷ Olga Tribulato, Federico Favi, Lucia Prauscello, Ancient Greek Purism 1: The roots of Atticism, pp.194-195
For the form Molottoi see IG II² 1594 from Attica
¹⁷ George Babiniotis in: "Historical Philology:
Greek, Latin, and Romance, Papers in Honor of Oswald Szemerényi II", pp. 29-39
¹⁸ Miltiades Hatzopoulos, Macedonian Institutions Under the Kings, 
¹⁹ Philemon Zachariou, Reading and Pronouncing Biblical Greek: Historical Pronunciation Versus Erasmian, p.25
²⁰ Θαβώρης Α. Ι. (1998). Ιδιωματικοί αρχαϊσμοί και βόρεια νεοελληνικά ιδιώματα: οι αρχαϊσμοί του ιδιώματος Βελβεντού δυτικής Μακεδονίας. Μακεδονικά, 31(1), 31–91.  https://doi.org/10.12681/makedonika.114
²⁴ Miltiades Hatzopoulos, Recent Research in the Ancient Macedonian Dialect: Consolidation and New Perspectives, p.312
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Tuesday, April 15, 2025

ETHNOLINGUISTIC OBSERVATIONS IN UPPER MACEDONIA

1. THE TERM "UPPER MACEDONIA"

Strabo in his "Geography" defines as "Upper Macedonia" (ἄνω Μακεδονία) the area which consisted of the regions Lyncus, Pelagonia, Orestias and Elimeia («καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ περὶ Λύγκον καὶ Πελαγονίαν καὶ Ὀρεστιάδα καὶ Ἐλίμειαν τὴν ἄνω Μακεδονίαν ἐκάλουν») ¹. According modern historical research, Upper Macedonia consisted of Elimeia, Tymphaea, Lycenstis, Orestias, Pelagonia, Derriopus, Eordaea, with Antintania and Dassaretis being incorporated later into the region ² The following map ³ might be helpful:


 

2. ETHNIC AFFILIATIONS

2.1 Archaeological Data

Upper Macedonia, being part of the Mycenaean world, was inhabited by Greek tribes already since the Bronze Age. This was confirmed by archaeological discoveries of the last decades, namely pottery associated with North-Western/ Doric Greek tribes, which also point to Mycenaean Greek settlements in the region. According to L. Wynn - Antikas: 
«This can be seen in the numerous matt painted vases in the tradition of late Bronze Age pottery which developed from the Middle Helladic pottery in southern Greece ( 1900-1800 BC ). Matt painted ware has been found as far away as Albania, Central Macedonia and Thessaly, and was typically used by the north-western Greek tribes of the Dorians and the Macedonians. Among the Mycenaean finds found is a unique figurine ( Fig 6 ) which dates to the late Helladic - IIIb period ( 1300 to 1200 BC). Such artefacts have led archaeologists to believe that it is likely there were Mycenaean settlements in Upper Macedonia » ⁴.

2.2 Part of the Epirotic Ethne

The archaeological conclusions coincide with historical records, since the tribes of Upper Macedonia are associated with North-Western Greek tribes in ancient literature. Hecataeus of Miletus (6th c. BCE) , in a fragment preserved by Stephanus of Byzantium, describes the tribe of the Orestae as an Epirotic tribe and, more specifically, Molossian:
«Ὀρέσται, Μολοσσικόν ἔθνος. Ἑκαταῖος Εὐρώπῃ» ⁵.
Hecataeus' information can be confirmed by a 4th century BCE inscription found in Dodona, where an Orestian named Φρύνος appears as co-leader of the Molossian tribal state (κοινόν):

ἐπὶ προστά[τα] Δροάτου Κελαίθ̣[ου, γραμ]-
ματέος δὲ Παυσ[ανία Τριπ]-
ολίτα, συναρχόν[των Θεαρί(?)]-
5δα Κελαίθου, Ἄλκ[ωνος Πεί]-
αλος, Μενεφύλου [— — — — —],
Ἀντίκ̣κα Ἐθνεστοῦ, Μ̣[․․․․․ Τ]-
ριφύλα, Γεννάδα Ὀ[νοπέρνο]-
υ, Ἕκτορος Ὄνφαλος, Δ[αμοίτα]
10Ἀμύμνου, Αἰρόπου Γε[νοαίου, Ἀ]-
νεροίτα Ἀρκτᾶνος, Ν[ίκωνο]-
ς Φύλατος, Ἀνερεία Τρ̣[ιπολίτ]-
α, Φρύνου Ὀρεστοῦ, Ἀρ[χιδάμο(?)]-
υ Παρωροῦ, Ὀμοστακ[ίου Κυεσ]-
15τοῦ ἔδωκε τὸ κοινὸν τ[ῶν Μο]-
λοσσῶν πολιτείαν [Ἀριστ]-
οκλεῖ, Μονδαι[ῶι — — — Ἀντ]-
ιγένεος Ν[αυ]πα[κτίοις, εὐε]-
ργέτας εἶμεν τῶν [Μολοσ]-
20σῶν καὶ αὐτο̣[ῖ]ν̣ καὶ γ[ενεᾶι ὡς]
παντὶ Μολο[σσ]ῶ̣ι̣ κ̣[αὶ ἀτέλεια]-
ν καὶ ἐντέλειαν [καὶ γᾶς ἔγ]-
κτασιν καὶ ὅσα [τίμια πάντα]
τοῖς ἄλλοις ε[ὐεργέταις π]-
25ολιτευομέν[οις ὑπάρχειν]. ⁶.

In a 2nd c. BCE inscription we find the phrase "Orestian Molossians" ⁷:

< Ὀρεστοὶ Μολοσοί > 

The Epirote origin of the Orestae is also attested in Strabo's Geography, where other Upper Macedonian tribes, such as the Tymphaei and the Atintanes, are listed as Ἠπειρῶται:
«The Amphilochians are Epeirotes; and so are the peoples who are situated above them and border on the Illyrian mountains, inhabiting a rugged country—I mean the Molossi, the Athamanes, the Aethices, the Tymphaei, the Orestae, and also the Paroraei and the Atintanes, some of them being nearer to the Macedonians and others to the Ionian Gulf» ¹.
While in another passage, Strabo mentions the Orestae, the Pelagonians and the Elimiotae as Epirotes who were annexed to Macedonia:
 «For both on account of the fame and of the predominance of the Thessalians and the Macedonians, the countries of those Epeirotes who were their nearest neighbors were made, some willingly and the others unwillingly, parts of Thessaly or Macedonia; for instance, the Athamanes, the Aethices, and the Talares were made parts of Thessaly, and the Orestae, the Pelagonians, and the Elimiotae of Macedonia» ⁸.

Epirotic origin is also assigned to the Lyncestae (Λυγκῆσται) by Stephanus of Byzantium who mentions Lyncus (Λύγκος) as a "city of Epirus":
«Λύγκος, πόλις Ἠπείρου. Στράβων ἑβδόμῃ. ἐκλήθη ἀπὸ Λυγκέως. τὸ ἐθνικὸν Λυγκησταί. τὸ θηλυκόν Λυγκηστίς. λέγεται καὶ Λύγκιος ὡς Λύττιος. λέγεται καὶ Λυγκεύς» ⁹.

Based on the above, it is reasonable to conclude that the tribes of Upper Macedonia belonged to the branch of North-Western Greeks, or Epirotes, as archaeological data have indicated. N. G. L. Hammond is convinced that this is the case:
«On crossing the Balkan chain, we find that Hecataeus called the Orestae 'a Molossian tribe' (F 107), and Strabo (434; cf. 326) probably derived from Hecataeus his belief that the Elimeotae, Lyncestae, and Pelagones, as well as the Orestae, were Epirotic or rather Molossian tribes before their incorporation by the Macedones into the Macedonian kingdom» ¹⁰.

2.3 Connections to Macedonia

Marsyas of Pella, Macedonian writer, informs us that Orestis was also called Maketa (or Maketia) ¹¹ , while we also know that Maketai (or Macetae in Latin) was another name for the Macedonians ¹². It is possible that Orestis was home to a North-Western/Epirotic tribe, the Maketai, who migrated southwards and formed the new tribe of the Makedones. Moreover, given the fact that Orestai ("mountain-men") and Maketai/Makedones ("highlanders") are tribal names with almost identical meaning (see here), it can be assumed that Macedonians and Orestae were derived from the same North-Western Greek stock. This view is reinforced by Herodotus, who wrote that the ancestors of the Dorians, when they lived around Epirus, were called Macedonians ¹³ :
«For in the days of king Deucalion it inhabited the land of Phthia, then the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus, in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans, it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the Peloponnese, where it took the name of Dorian»
Eugene Borza summarizes:
«The “highlanders” or “Makedones” of the mountainous regions of western Macedonia are derived from northwest Greek stock; they were akin both to those who at an earlier time may have migrated south to become the historical “Dorians”, and to other Pindus tribes who were the ancestors of the Epirotes or Molossians. That is, we may suggest that northwest Greece provided a pool of Indo-European speakers of proto-Greek from which were drawn the tribes who later were known by different names as they established their regional identities in separate parts of the country» ¹⁴.


3. LINGUISTIC AFFILIATIONS 

Having said these, we can now come to the conclusion that it was Epirote tribes from Orestis who brought the Northwestern - Doric dialect to Macedonia. Thus, the Orestae, the rest of Upper Macedonians and the Macedonians should have spoken similar dialects. 

3.1 Ancient Testimonies

Indeed, the similarity in language between Upper Macedonians and Macedonians had been pointed out by the time of Strabo. Strabo reports that people classified as "Macedonia" the region from Upper Macedonia as far as Corcyra (Corfu) due to similarity in culture and speech:
«And in fact the regions about Lyncus, Pelagonia, Orestias, and Elimeia, used to be called Upper Macedonia, though later on they were by some also called Free Macedonia. But some go so far as to call the whole of the country Macedonia, as far as Corcyra, at the same time stating as their reason that in tonsure, language, short cloak, and other things of the kind, the usages of the inhabitants are similar, although, they add, some speak both languages» ¹. 
From Strabo's description we can distinguish the following regions: 
(a) Macedonia Proper
(b) Upper Macedonia & Epirus 
(c) Corcyra Island. 
In region (a) , the Macedonian idiom of North-Western Greek Doric was spoken ¹⁵. Region (c) was a Corinthian colony and, obviously, Corinthian Doric was the language of the Island. Corinthians, along with other Dorian colonists had founded several colonies along Western Greece and the Adriatic, such as Epidamnos. Thucydides clearly mentions the Corinthian Doric ancestry of the Corcyraeans:
«The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the Ionic gulf. Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an Illyrian people. The place is a colony from Corcyra, founded by Phalius, son of Eratocleides, of the family of the Heraclids, who had according to ancient usage been summoned for the purpose from Corinth, the mother country. The colonists were joined by some Corinthians, and others of the Dorian race» ¹⁶.
The dialects of Corcyra and Macedonia were so similar that they were considered equally Macedonian. Consequently, the Doric character of the language of region (b) is also confirmed once again. To make it more simple, Strabo basically implies an equation Corinthian ≈ Macedonian ≈ Epirotic (= Doric).

3.2. The ethnonymic suffix -stai

The ethnonymic suffix -stai is a characteristic of Upper Macedonian tribal names such as the Ὀρέσται (Orestai), the Ἀργέσται (Argestai/Argestaioi, tribe attested in Pelagonia ¹⁷) and the Ἐθνέσται (Ethnestai , tribe located at Orestis or near Orestis ¹⁸). The suffix is very regular in Greek derivatives of s-stem neuter nouns ¹⁹:

•   ὄρος > Ὀρέσ-ται
•   Ἄργος > Ἀργέσ-ται > ἀργεσταῖοι
•   ἔθνος >  Ἐθνέσ-ται 

However, the use of the suffix is also used in ethnonyms that are not derived from neuter s-stems. This generalization must have been applied by North-Western Greeks, as it is present in neighbouring Macedonian and Epirote tribal names:

•    Ἐορδαία > Ἐορδέσται, but Ἐορδίζω > Ἐορδισταί ²⁰, regular derivation in Greek from verbs in -ίζω (e.g. κτίζω , "to build" > κτίσται , "builders"). 
•    Δῖον > Διέσται ²¹ or Διάσται ²², the Macedonian inhabitants of Dion .
•    αἴξ (?) > Αἰγεσταῖοι , another name for the Thesprotians ²³

Finally, the form -ησται (ē/ before -stai) as in Λυγκῆσται/Λυγκησταί is only attested in Ἐγχηστοί, an Epirotic tribe ²⁴:

• Λύγκος > Λυγκησταί
• Ἐγχος > Ἐγχηστοί

According to Stephanus of Byzantium, these derivations are a Macedonian dialectal feature: 
«Μακεδόνων γὰρ ὁ τύπος, Ὀρέσται, Λυγκησταί» ²².

N. G. L. Hammond confirms that the suffix -estae is a West-Greek feature: 
«...The aetiologizing motive is patently obvious, the more so as the word Orestae has an obvious derivation from ὄρος and the west-Greek ethnic termination -estae» ²⁵.

The occurrence of -st- suffixal elements in Illyrian ethnonyms could be attributed to neighbourιng Greek influence. Greek suffixes such as -ānes or -atai are also found in Illyrian tribes:

•   Ἐγγελᾶνες , Illyrian tribe  — Δυμᾶνες , Doric tribe
•   Αὐταριάται , Illyrian tribe — Ποτειδαιάται , Greek inhabitants of Poteidaea ²⁶.

____________________
Sources/References:
¹⁵ The Ancient Macedonian Language:
    Part #1
    Part #2
²⁰ According to Stephanus of Byzantium ; for Eordestai see here
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