Carian language

Carian language

      an extinct Anatolian language (Anatolian languages) once spoken in Caria, an ancient district of southwest Anatolia. Most evidence for the language comes from Egypt, where Carian mercenaries in the service of the pharaohs from the 7th to 5th centuries BCE left behind more than a hundred tomb inscriptions and numerous instances of graffiti. Caria itself has yielded a limited number of texts, dated roughly to the 6th through 4th centuries.

      The Carian script defied analysis until 1981, when Egyptologist John Ray successfully exploited Carian-Egyptian bilingual tomb inscriptions to put decipherment on a sound basis. Subsequent analysis has confirmed the basic validity of Ray's work, but many questions remain. The long-held suspicion that Carian is an Indo-European language (Indo-European languages) of the Anatolian group has at least been confirmed by the appearance of such features as an -s suffix forming patronymics (patronymic) and the relative pronoun xi.

H. Craig Melchert
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Carian language — Infobox Language name=Carian region=Ancient southwestern Anatolia extinct=Early CE iso2=ine iso3=xcr familycolor=Indo European fam1=Anatolian fam2=Luwian subgroup script=Carian scriptThe Carian language was the language of the Carians. It was an… …   Wikipedia

  • Carian script — Infobox Writing system name=Carian type=Alphabet time=7th to 1st centuries BCE style= background:lightblue; languages=Carian language fam1=Greek alphabet children=None sisters=Lycian script iso15924=CariThe Carian script was used to write the… …   Wikipedia

  • carian — I. ˈka(a)rēən, er , ār noun ( s) Usage: usually capitalized Etymology: Caria, ancient division of SWelsh Asia Minor (from Latin, from Greek Karia) + English an …   Useful english dictionary

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  • Carian — /kair ee euhn/, n. 1. a native or inhabitant of Caria. 2. the extinct language of Caria, not known to be related to any other language, written in a script derived from the Greek alphabet. adj. 3. of or pertaining to Caria. 4. of or pertaining to …   Universalium

  • Carian — 1. noun a) A native or inhabitant of ancient Caria. b) An extinct Indo European language in the Anatolian subgroup. 2. adjective …   Wiktionary

  • Carian — ISO 639 3 Code : xcr ISO 639 2/B Code : ISO 639 2/T Code : ISO 639 1 Code : Scope : Individual Language Type : Ancient …   Names of Languages ISO 639-3

  • Hittite language —       most important of the extinct Indo European languages of ancient Anatolia. Hittite was closely related to Carian (Carian language), Luwian (Luwian language), Lydian (Lydian language), Lycian (Lycian language), and Palaic (Palaic language)… …   Universalium

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  • Pisidian language —       poorly attested member of the ancient Anatolian languages. Documentation for Pisidian is extremely sparse, comprising some two dozen tomb inscriptions consisting only of names and patronymics (patronymic). The specific form of the latter,… …   Universalium

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