Mycenaean Greek

E40510

ancient language historical language stage variety of Greek

Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known from Linear B inscriptions dating to the Late Bronze Age.

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	ancient language → historical language stage → variety of Greek →
approximateEndDate	12th century BCE →
approximateStartDate	16th century BCE →
attestedIn	Linear B inscriptions →
chronologicalPeriod	Late Bronze Age →
closelyRelatedTo	later Ancient Greek dialects →
decipheredBy	John Chadwick → Michael Ventris →
decipheredFrom	Linear B tablets →
deciphermentYear	1952 →
earliestAttestedFormOf	Greek language →
hasAlternativeName	Mycenaean → Mycenaean dialect of Greek →
hasFeature	absence of explicit marking of word boundaries → case system similar to later Ancient Greek → grammatical gender system → largely phonetic spelling system → limited representation of consonant clusters → verbal system with aspect and tense distinctions →
influenced	later Greek dialect continuum →
ISO639-3Code	gmy →
languageBranch	Hellenic languages →
languageFamily	Indo-European languages →
mainArchaeologicalSites	Chania → Knossos → Mycenae → Pylos → Thebes → Tiryns →
notedFor	earliest written records of Greek → preservation of archaic Indo-European features →
partOf	Hellenic branch of the Indo-European languages →
precedes	Archaic Greek → Classical Greek →
primaryCorpusType	administrative documents → economic records → inventories → lists of personnel →
scriptType	syllabic script →
subclassOf	Greek language →
usedIn	Mycenaean civilization → Mycenaean palatial centers →
usedInRegion	Aegean islands → Crete → mainland Greece →
writingDirection	left-to-right →
writingSystem	Linear B →

Referenced by (7)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Greek language → Hellenic languages →	hasHistoricalStage
Linear B inscriptions → Mycenaean civilization →	language
Proto-Greek →	followedBy
Proto-Greek →	hasDescendant
Hellenic languages →	hasPart