Macedonian Linguistics information.

Macedonian Linguistics

The Ancient Cambridge History Book (Greece after the Persian Wars, ancient Hellenic language):

Relative to the North-western dialect was the Macedonian with many Thracian and Illyrians elements. They were a sector of Dorian race, according Herodotus (7-56,8-43), the Macedonians subjugated the Thracians and the Illyrians tribes, and it was natural that they adopts certain effects in their dialect from the languages of conquered peoples.

The ancient Greek North Western dialect was composed from the spoken dialects from Epirus, Acarnania, Aitolia, Lochrida , Fokida and Macedonia.

The Ancient Cambridge History Book (Greece after the Persian Wars, ancient Hellenic Language)

Akritas ©2005 macedoniaontheweb.com

Nicholas G. L. Hammond , a classicist, on the Macedonian Dialect:

"What language did these `Macedones' speak? The name itself is Greek in root and in ethnic termination. It probably means `highlanders', and it is comparable to Greek tribal names such as `Orestai' and `Oreitai', meaning 'mountain-men'. A reputedly earlier variant, `Maketai', has the same root, which means `high', as in the Greek adjective makednos or the noun mekos... At the turn of the sixth century the Persians described the tribute-paying peoples of their province in Europe, and one of them was the `yauna takabara', which meant `Greeks wearing the hat'.

There were Greeks in Greek city-states here and there in the province, but they were of various origins and not distinguished by a common hat. However, the Macedonians wore a distinctive hat, the kausia. We conclude that the Persians believed the Macedonians to be speakers of Greek.

Finally, in the latter part of the fifth century a Greek historian, Hellanicus, visited Macedonia and modified Hesiod's genealogy by making Macedon not a cousin, but a son of Aeolus, thus bringing Macedon and his descendants firmly into the Aeolic branch of the Greek-speaking family. Hesiod, Persia, and Hellanicus had no motive for making a false statement about the language of the Macedonians, who were then an obscure and not a powerful people. Their independent testimonies should be accepted as conclusive."

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