| Milyan | |
| Nativename: | Lycian B |
| Region: | Milyas, Anatolia |
| Ethnicity: | Milyae |
| Era: | First millennium BCE |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Anatolian |
| Fam3: | Luwo-Lydian |
| Fam4: | Luwo-Palaic |
| Fam5: | Luwic |
| Fam6: | Lyco-Carian |
| Fam7: | Carian–Milyan |
| Ancestor: | Proto-Indo-European |
| Ancestor2: | Proto-Anatolian |
| Script: | Lycian script |
| Iso3: | imy |
| Glotto: | mily1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Milyan |
| Linglist: | imy |
Milyan, also known as Lycian B and previously Lycian 2, is an extinct ancient Anatolian language. It is attested from three inscriptions: two poems of 34 and 71 engraved lines, respectively, on the so-called Xanthian stele (or Xanthian Obelisk, found at Xanthos (which was known to the Lycians as Arñna), and another, shorter, inscription (nine lines) on a sarcophagus at Antiphellus (Habessus). All three poems are divided in strophes.
The contemporaneous endonym of the language is unknown. The name Milyan was given to it by modern scholars, who believed that it was the language of the Milyae (Μιλύαι),[1] or Milyans, also known by the exonyms Sólymoi (Σόλυμοι), Solymi and Solymians. The Milyae were believed to have preceded the Lycians, Pisidians and Phrygians as the main inhabitants of Milyas.
"Milyan" may be regarded as a misnomer, because Milyas proper was an isolated, inland part of Lycia, whereas all known "Milyan" language inscriptions are from the near-coastal cities of Xanthos and Antiphellos. The alternate name, "Lycian B", stresses the close likeness to Lycian A.[2] [3] Diether Schürr characterizes the Lycian B as "poetical Lycian, with some conservative traits, a few idiosyncratic developments, and some elements that it shares with Carian".[4]
Regardless of the name used, the consensus view is that Milyan/Lycian B is a dialect of Lycian.[5]
Text in Milyan: Eχssñtawñta prñnawẽ wãna ebẽ eχssñtaẽ stta mẽbrẽ
On the Xanthian stele are two Milyan texts:
The third text is the so-called Pixre poem on a grave monument from Antiphellos (a harbour city 30 kilometers east of Xanthos). Its nine lines make up thirteen strophes. Pixre apparently is the name of a Lycian poet buried here, who in the inscription tells of the "Nymphs of Phellos", who were his Muses.
Though quite a few words in Milyan are the same as in Lycian, differences are also obvious, some of them systematic. Milyan seems to be the more archaic language,[7] as it preserves several early Anatolian characteristics, where Lycian shows a more innovative stage. This may have to do with the subject of the Milyan texts: while texts in Lycian are quite mundane (military exploits, tomb building activities), the two Milyan inscriptions also refer to religious rituals, where a more archaic sacred language may have been deemed appropriate (cf. for example the continued use of the words 'amen' and 'hallelujah' by Christians, or the use of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church).
Here are some differences between Lycian and Milyan, with examples (several examples show more than one phenomenon):[8] [9]
| description | Milyan (Lycian B) | Lycian (A) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| intervocalic *-/s/- in Lycian changed into -h- | masa, 'god' | maha, 'god' | |
| enese/i-, 'maternal, mother-' | enehe/i-, 'maternal, mother-' | ||
| esete, 'peace' | ahata, 'peace' | ||
| tbisu, 'twice' | kbihu, 'twice' | ||
| Proto-Anatolian */kw/ becomes /k/ in Milyan, /t/ in Lycian | ki, 'who, what' | ti, 'who, what' | |
| kibe, 'or' | tibe, 'or' | ||
| kere, 'territory' (or 'army') | tere, τere, 'territory' (or 'army') | ||
| Proto-Anatolian */du/ becomes */tb/ in Milyan, /kb/ in Lycian | tbisu, 'twice' | kbihu, 'twice' | |
| nominative and accusative plural in -(i)z in Milyan | masaiz (nom. pl.), masãz (?) (acc. pl.), 'gods' | mãhãi (nom. pl.), mãhas (acc.), 'gods' | |
| tuweiz (nom. pl.), tuwiz (acc.), 'votive offerings' | tideimi (nom. pl.), tideimis (acc.), 'sons, children' | ||
| ethnonym in -ewñn- in Milyan, -eñn- in Lycian | Xbidewñn(i)-, 'Kaunian, from Kaunos' | Xbideñn(i)-, 'Kaunian, from Kaunos' | |
| (sometimes:) intervocalic */u/ becomes -b- in Milyan, -w- in Lycian | xñtaba-, 'kingship' | xñtawa-, 'kingship' | |
| (sometimes:) a/e Ablaut: /a/ in Lycian, /e/ in Milyan | mere, 'law' | mara, 'law' | |
| esete, 'peace' | ahata, 'peace' | ||
| (sometimes:) initial */s/- becomes h- in Lycian, disappears in Milyan | uwedr(i)-, 'all' | huwedr(i)-, 'all' | |
| conjunction se/sebe, 'and' | sebe, 'and' | se, 'and' | |
| Milyan, unlike Lycian, seems to know u-stems | urtu (acc. sing.), urtuz/urtuwãz (acc. pl.), 'great (?)' | — |
Nouns and adjectives distinguish singular and plural forms. A dual has not been found in Milyan. There are two genders: animate (or 'common') and inanimate (or 'neuter'). Instead of the genitive singular case normally a so-called possessive (or "genitival adjective") is used, as is common practice in the Luwic languages: a suffix -si- is added to the root of a substantive, and thus an adjective is formed that is declined in turn.
Nouns can be divided in the same declension groups as in Lycian A: a-stems, e-stems, i-stems, consonant stems, and mixed stems; in addition in Milyan there exist u-stems. The differences between the groups are very minor. The declension of nouns goes as follows (endings
marked in brown show differences from Lycian A; parentheses indicate analogous forms—the form given is not attested itself, but words from the same stem group with this ending are attested):| case | ending | masa 'god' | kere 'territory' or 'army' | zrẽtẽni 'protector' | klleime- 'tribute' | uwedr(i)- 'all' (adjective) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| animate | inanimate | (a-stem) | (e-stem) | (e/i-stem) | (inanimate) | animate | inanimate | ||
| Singular | -Ø | -~ | masa | kere | zrẽtẽni | (klleimẽ) | uwedri | ||
| -~, -u | (masã, masu) | (zrẽtẽni) | |||||||
| -i | (masi) | keri | (zrẽtẽni) | (klleimi) | uwedri | ||||
| Possessive (genitival adjective): | -si- (Lycian A: -hi-) | masasi- | (keresi-) | (zrẽtẽnesi-) | |||||
| Sing., Pl. | -di | (keredi) | klleimedi | ||||||
| Plural | Nominative | -iz (Lycian A: -i) | -a | masaiz | (zrẽtẽneiz) | klleima | uwedriz | uwadra | |
| Accusative | -z (Lycian A: -s) | (masãz) | (kerez) | zrẽtẽniz | uwedris | ||||
| — | -ẽti | — | (uwedrẽti) | ||||||
| Dative/Locative | -e, -a | kere | (zrẽtẽne, zrẽtẽna) | klleime | |||||
| Genitive | ? | ||||||||
Verbs in Milyan are conjugated exactly like those in Lycian A, endings are the same. There are two tenses, present-future and preterite, with three persons singular and plural:
| ending | sla- 'to sacrifice' | xra- 'to offer' | other verbs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present / future | Singular | 1 | -u | xrau, 'I offer' | |||
| 3 | -ti, -di, -ni | slati, sladi, 'he sacrifices' | xradi, 'he offers' | sttã-, 'to become angry': sttãni, 'he becomes angry' | |||
| Plural | 3 | ~-ti | xrãti, 'they offer' | ||||
| Preterite | Singular | 1 | -xã, -(x)xa, -x | muwa-, 'to defeat': muwaxã, muwaxa, 'I defeated' | |||
| 3 | -te, -de | erme-, 'to proclaim': ermede, 'he proclaimed' | |||||
| Plural | 3 | ~-te | la-, 'to grant': lãte, 'they granted' | ||||
| Imperative | Singular | 1 | -lu | pije-, 'to give': pijelu, 'let me give!' | |||
| 2 | -Ø | pibi(je)-, 'to give': pibi, 'give!' | |||||
| 3 | -tu | slatu, 'he must sacrifice' | |||||
| Plural | 3 | ~-tu | slãtu, 'they must sacrifice' | ||||
| Participle passive | -mi/e/a- | slama (Plural), 'gift(s)' | xñtaba-, 'to regulate': xñtabaime/i-, ('what is regulated' >) 'ruling' | ||||
A suffix -s- (cognate with Greek, Latin -/sk/-), appended to the stem is thought to make a verb iterative:
stem as-, iterative of a(i)- (attested in Lycian A), 'to do, to make'; (Preterite 1 Singular:) asxxa, 'I always did, have made repeatedly'.
All known Milyan texts — the two poems on the North and West side of the Xanthian Obelisk and the so-called Pixre poem at Antiphellos — are in verse. Strophes are marked off by the use of . Dutch scholar Alric van den Broek and German linguist Diether Schürr[10] [11] [12] also identify other structural features suggestive of poetry, such as ring composition, internal rhyme, and the use of certain key words repeated in the strophes.
Each strophe has about 45 syllables. A poetic meter is evident according to van den Broek. Using Ivo Hajnal’s definitions of Lycian B syllables, van den Broek suggests that there are a significantly high number of word boundaries around the 11th, 22nd and 33rd syllables, before the phrase-ending sign <)> (that is, on the left side of the sign). Therefore, van den Broek argues, the text is a poem with four lines per verse – and the first line is either about seven (six to eight) syllables long, or about 11 (10–12) syllables long. The last three lines of each verse are also about 11 (10–12) syllables. Moreover, the meter may include a four-syllable pattern, with accents on the first, fifth, and ninth syllables of each verse.
The phonological implications of van den Broek's model may also fit known features of accent in Lycian, Anatolian and Proto-Indo-European.[13]
"perhaps an earlier form of [Lycian A]".