Talk:Eteocypriot language

Merging "Eteocypriot" with "Eteocypriot language"
This seems sensible to me. --Glengordon01 21:09, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Done. --Thunderhead 16:18, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

The Eteocypriot translation
Can someone please tell me why Velhan has changed the perfectly correct sentence "To his city, dedicated [by] the Tyrrhenians in Mukula" to the grammatically incorrect "To his city, dedicate [by] the Tyrrhenians in Mukula". No sense. He's also screwed with the Greek case endings and the result is equally nonsensical in both languages. Grr. Looks like Velhan is either a vandal, a kook or just plain bored and needed something to do. I'm choosing to undo his changes. --Glengordon01 23:23, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

No... wait. Now I'm thinking. Gotta check. I wish Velhan made a comment to explain his changes. --Glengordon01 23:28, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Strange. This website [] has what Velhan wrote. Something's changed on me... Hmm. Oh well, all good then. I will admit. Mea culpa. --Glengordon01 23:33, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Okay, so rather than changing Velhan's contribution, I changed me :) I know that the first phrase Ana mator-i is in the locative -i (Etr -i [loc]) and must correspond to Greek polis. The word ana seems to relate to Etruscan an 'he, she'. I presume here that it's a possessive. So "in his city" is probably more accurate and this would then imply that the ceremony was at his home (sounds logical enough), simply adding to what it says in Greek. I think Velhan might have been changing "dedicated" because he presumes that the Tyrrhenians are the agent of the verb here, in which case I took "by" out. If we understand the Etrusco-Lemnian animate dative *-as(e)i to merely be a composite of the animate genitive *-ase plus locative *-i, perhaps then we may presume a more multi-purpose Proto-Aegean possessive-purposive case ending *-ase which would have become ECyp -ose with the same multi-purpose function. --Glengordon01 23:48, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

A-RA-TO-WA-NA-KA reduplication
Yes it was an error. Thanks for taking that out, Kupirijo. --Glengordon01 21:39, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

ECyp *kan- / Etr cenu / Gr kaneon
I've located the Greek word kaneon on Perseus. It does not just mean "basket of offerings". It's specifically a "basket of reed". The word "reed" in Greek is coincidentally kanna from the Semitic root *qanaw- 'reed', the same Semitic root underlying Greek kanōn.

So I'm reasonably confident that the connection of ECyp *kan- to Greek words is simply accidental similarity at work. I'm taking it outta there. But, man, it had me thinkin' for a while, hehe. --Glengordon01 23:27, 11 August 2006 (UTC) -- Thanks Gordon. I am suspicious about the fact that there is another verb to give, taraw as opposed to *kanio that seems to be attested in the participle form only, i.e. "is given"/"gift"/"present". I think *kan might be a borrowing from Greek. Also the word kaneon is almost exclusively used as food offering in Homer. My Cypriot Greek dictionary says that today in Cyprus its diminutive kaniskion > kaniskin is used exclusively as gift basket. It can still be Semitic of course but it seems to be pan-Mediterranean. Is *qanaw- found in non-Semitic Afroasiatic languages? I still think that the connection of basket with gift is strong. --Kupirijo 04:15, 12 August 2006 (UTC) -- That's nice. If you want vandalize, try somewhere else. --Glengordon01 08:21, 12 August 2006 (UTC) -- TA KA NA KU NO SO TI A LO KA I LI PO TI TAKANA KUNO SOTI ALOKA ILI POTI TAKANA=container, KUNO=earthpot, SOTI= perfect, ALOKA=use to keep liquid, ILI= the shiny, POTI=the liquid keeper The whole sentence is about a perfect shiny earthen pot. all the words of the sentence are still in use in Cyprus(with small changes in pronunciation . the roots of the greek cypriot language did not change in the millenniums.the so called eteocypriot script is just a dialect of the greek writing. the roots are common in all the greek dialects). KANA = today is KANATA.you mention kanna or kalami which is the cane in English.......KUNO = today is KUMNO the earthen pot...... SOTI= today SOSTI mean the perfect.........ALOKA=today is KOLOKA and it is a container which is used to carry any liquid.......ILI= today ILE mean anything shiny, see ILIOS the sun......POTIS= today is still in use exactly the same word POTIS and it mean exactly the same i.e. the earthen pot from where water is served on the table.actually POTIS etymologycally mean 'the keeper of something'. in the ancient times the word POTIS or POSSIS was used to mean the leader the master as he had the ability to keep the law. the word POSSIDON -the god of the waters-mean the master of the water as DON,DIN,DAN,DEN is a root which mean the water ( reaver DANUBER ,reaver DENESTER,DANISH, DANAOS). kanistrion or kanistron is the flat basket.kaniskion or kaniski or kanischi today is the gift which was offered in a basket. in all the languages the root ka,ke,ko,ki,ky mean the emptiness,a space in all the languages the root la, le, lo,li,ly mean any sort of liquid in all the languages the root ta,te,ti,to,ty mean to stop. in all the languages the root na,ne,ni,no,ny mean to go or has negative meaning for the rest of letters of a word. user...Θεόδωροςς

Strange unreferenced text
Hello there theodoross, although your erudition seems at first glance complex I am sure you will agree the general reader does not share it and therefore needs some set-up and explantion for this strange text inserted without explanation or lead-in after the categories at the end of the article, if in fact it really is you who put it there. Remember now, no original work here.Dave 16:42, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

ANAMATOR IUMIESAI MUKULA I LAS ANAARI SI TONO SE ARATO WANAKA SOKO OSE KERAKERE TULOSE A KANAKU NO SOT IA LOKA  ILI POTI. ΠΑΤΕΡΑ ΜΑΣ, ΕΛΑ ΣΕ ΜΑΣ, ΙΑΣΕ ΤΑ ΣΩΜΑΤΑ ΜΑΣ, ΑΠΟΜΑΚΡΥΝΕ ΑΣΘΕΝΙΕΣ, ΤΟΥΣ ΚΛΙΝΗΡΕΙΣ ΚΑΝΕ ΝΑ ΚΙΝΗΘΟΥΝ ΧΑΙΖΟΝΤΑΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΥΓΙΕΣ ΠΝΕΥΜΑ ΚΑΙ ΣΩΜΑ, ΕΣΥ Ο ΠΑΝΤΟΥ ΥΠΑΡΧΩΝ, ΕΜΠΕΔΩΣΕ ΥΓΕΙΑ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΥΣ ΦΩΤΕΙΝΕ ΚΥΡΙΕ. 'Θεόδωροςς'

References request
I put the references request in there because after working on this article for a while it became clear that the author may well be undertaking to put his own decipherment in there. Moreover, it sems clear that the author views the language as related to Etruscan. No such general decipherment has been made. Therefore this view represents a partiality toward the Etruscan "partial decipherment" so I probably will question its objectivity. While I appreciate enthusiasm and zeal nevertheless one has to keep a balanced view. There are two or three people plugging their own brand of decipherment on the Internet; for example, that the Minoan language was proto-Indo-European. It seems to me Wikipedia can present opinions if they are labeled as such but should not fall into the trap of going for one of these academically unaccepted "decipherments." Now, Ventris and Chadwick were able to come up with coherent and convincing translations of Linear B but I do not see any such thing here. So, if the references do not show up I will remove the text (eventually) as original work. Some people do publish original work on the Internet but that is against Wikipedia policy. I'd say, find another vehicle.Dave 05:21, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * PS. I've been looking at your translations and giving the matter some thought. I do not wish to discourage your very enthusiastic but obviously amateur efforts to decipher. This is game that has been played by many for over 100 years. That does not make any difference, however. You may be the one to decipher. If you are looking for an educated opinion, I would say, keep on plugging, this isn't it. Decipherments have to make sense of the language. You've got the inscription on poor old witile Ranu putting him in the ground three times in succession. Isn't once enough? You aren't alone I dare say. Someone with access to the Internet is putting up articles saying Linear A writes proto-Indo-European, making the texts say some really quite outlandish things. I'd say, follow the approach of Ventris and Chadwick, of learning all you can about the texts, the circumstances, the names, the signs, everything. And Ventris you know was a polyglot, so you can't stop learning languages for a minute. How's your Greek? How's your Hebrew? Ever looked at Sumerian? Etc. Etc. You got a lot of work to do to come up with a presentable theory, but then Wikipedia unfortunately is not the place to do it. There should be a Wiki.. just for the presentation of papers that are original and can't get published elsewhere. Good luck.Dave 16:09, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

The frequency analysis data suggests that Minoan is probably Indo-European, but the same cannot by said for Eteocypriot. Eteocypriot is really a mystery. However, it would be wrong to assume that it is not Indo-European. It could be Indo-European, or it could be something else. Astrohoundy (talk) 01:30, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Black marble?
The article states that the Amathus bilingual was "inscribed on a black marble slab," but the slab shown in the accompanying image appears to be anything but black. Is this due to aging or is there another explanation? 850 C (talk) 15:47, 25 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Black marble, like Italian paragone, is truly black and isn't going to loose its color. Is that piece even marble at all?  — kwami (talk) 18:23, 25 April 2014 (UTC)


 * The bilingual is on black marble, per Steele (2013:105). But there's more than one inscription from Amathus, and this one doesn't appear to be bilingual.  — kwami (talk) 18:30, 25 April 2014 (UTC)