| Eteocypriot | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Formerly spoken in Cyprus |
| Region | Eastern Mediterranean Sea |
| Era | 10th to 4th century BC[1] |
| Cypriot syllabary | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ecy |
ecy | |
| Glottolog | eteo1240 |
 One of the Eteocypriot inscriptions from Amathus | |
Eteocypriot is an extinct non-Indo-European language that was spoken in Cyprus by a non-Hellenic population during the Iron Age. The name means "true" or "original Cypriot" parallel to Eteocretan, both of which names are used by modern scholars to mean the non-Greek languages of those places.[2] Eteocypriot was written in the Cypriot syllabary, a syllabic script derived from Linear A (via the Cypro-Minoan variant Linear C). The language was under pressure from Arcadocypriot Greek from about the 10th century BC and finally became extinct in about the 4th century BC.
The language is as yet unknown except for a small vocabulary attested in bilingual inscriptions. Such topics as syntax and possible inflection or agglutination remain an enigma. Partial translations depend to a large extent on the language or language group assumed by the translator, but there is no consistency.
Due to the small number of texts found, there is currently much unproven speculation about the origin of the language and its speakers. It is conjectured by some to be related to the Etruscan and Lemnian languages[citation needed], Hurrian,[3] Northwest Semitic[citation needed], an unknown pre-Indo-European language[citation needed], or a language used in some of the Cypro-Minoan inscriptions[citation needed], a collection of poorly-understood inscriptions from Bronze Age Cyprus,[4] as both Cypro-Minoan and Eteocypriot share a common genitive suffix -o-ti.[5]
- ^ "Eteocypriot". Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
- ^ The derivation is given in Partridge, Eric (1983) Origins: A short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, New York: Greenwich House, ISBN 0-517-41425-2. The term Eteocypriot was devised by Friedrich in 1932, according to Olivier Masson in ETEO-CYPRIOT, an article in Zbornik, Issues 4–5, 2002–2003. Eteocretan is based on a genuine Ancient Greek word.
- ^ Petit, Thierry (1999). "Eteocypriot myth and amathusian reality" (PDF). Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology. 12 (1): 108–120. doi:10.1558/jmea.v12i1.108. HAL ffhalshs-00001435.
[Eteocypriot] is a Hurrian dialect [and] was not the first spoken language in Cyprus.
- ^ Steele, Philippa M. (24 January 2018). "Eteocypriot". Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8218. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
Eteocypriot had survived from the Cypriot Bronze Age (perhaps related to a language written in the undeciphered Cypro-Minoan script.)
- ^ Valério, Miguel Filipe Grandão (2016). Investigating the Signs and Sounds of Cypro-Minoan (PhD thesis). Universitat de Barcelona. Retrieved 17 February 2024.