| Pisidian | |
|---|---|
| Region | Pisidia, ancient southwesternAnatolia |
| Era | attested 1st-2nd century |
Early forms | |
| Pisidian script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xps |
xps | |
| Glottolog | pisi1234 |
 Map showing where inscriptions in the Pisidian language have been found. | |
ThePisidian language is a member of the extinctAnatolian branch of theIndo-European language family spoken inPisidia, a region of ancientAsia Minor. Known from some fifty short inscriptions from the first to second centuries AD, it appears to be closely related toLycian,Milyan, andSidetic.
Pisidian is known from about fifty funeral inscriptions, most of them from Sofular (classicalTymbrias). The first were discovered in 1890; five years later sixteen of them were published and analyzed by Scottish archaeologistWilliam Mitchell Ramsay.[1] The texts are basically of a genealogical character (strings of names) and are usually accompanied by a relief picturing the deceased. Recently inscriptions have also been found atSelge, Kesme (nearYeşilbağ), andDeḡirmenözü.[2] Four inscriptions from the Kesme region seem to offer regular text, not merely names. By far the longest of them consists of thirteen lines.[3]
Pisidian is written left to right in a script that closely resembles theGreek alphabet. A few letters are missing (phi, chi, psi, and possibly theta), and two others were added (characters F and И, both denoting a /w/- or /v/-sound). In recently discovered inscriptions two new signs 𐋌 and ╪ have turned up; they are rare and it is not clear whether they are variants of other signs or entirely different characters (maybe rare sibilants).[4] Texts are written without word dividers.
A typical example (the accompanying relief shows two men and a veiled woman):
Alternatively, the end of the line may (with a different word division) be read as Δωταριε Νεισ, with dative Dotarie, meaning (...)to Dotari [the son]of Nei. In addition, Ειη may also be a dative (= Ειε-ε). The whole line would then mean:
Due to the one-sided character of the inscriptions, little is known about the grammar. Two cases are assured:nominative andgenitive; the presence of adative is disputed:
| case | ending | example | meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -Ø | ΔΩΤΑΡΙ | Dotari | (Dotari is a man's name) |
| Dative | -e (??) | ΔΩΤΑΡΙΕ (?) | to Dotari | |
| Genitive | -s | ΔΩΤΑΡΙΣ | Dotari's |
About the verb nothing can be said; Pisidian verbal forms have not yet been found.
Pisidian personal name ΔωτάριDotari may reflect the Indo-European root for "daughter".[5] However, as Dotari is documented as a man's name this etymology is not assured.[6]
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