VII. Comparative phonetics of the Thracian language

Chapter VII. VERGLEICHENDE PHONETIK DER THRAKISCHEN SPRACHE (I. Duridanov, Die Sprache der Thraker, Neuried, 1985)

translated by Jordan Tchorbadzhijski

The concrete appearence of the words in every language is defined by the occurrence and sequence of a certain number of phonetic units (phonems) [1]. The Thracian language has developed its own phonetic system after its separation from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE). Some of the Indo-European (IE) phonems have remained unchanged, whereas others have experienced some change, especially regarding the consonants. The phonetic system of the Thracian could  be described purely descriptive, regardless of the origin of the particular phonems, or on a historical basis, in a diachronical perspective, that is comparing it with the phonetic systems of the other Indo-European languages. Following the second methodology would throw more light on the problem of the position of the Thracian in the group of the IE languages, which is why I have chosen it.

The preserved bits of the Thracian are chronologically erratic. The earliest records are from the end of the second millenium B.C. (some Thracian personal, tribal and geographical names attested in the Iliad and the Odyssey, whose oldest parts originate from the end of the Mycenaean period), the latest – from the 6. century AD. Certainly, during this long period of 1600 years the phonetics of the Thracian has been changing, a fact that can be observed on the basis of the evidence from the last centuries of the Thracian history.

1. A phoneme is a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can distinguish words.

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In some cases the possibility of a certain Greek influence is not excluded, and after the arrival of the Romans – accordingly Latin. Those are problems, which have not been adequately researched yet. The important thing, however, is that on the basis of the etymological analysis of the material we are able to reconstruct to a large extent the phonetic system of the Thracian and to identify a number of very old sound changes, as well as some that must have taken place in the late period of the evolution of the language.

The vowels

The IE featured in its last period long and short vowels: a, e, i, o, u, ə and ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. In the first period of its history, the Thracian preserved that state, excluding the short o, which changed to a and the so called Schwa (ə), that was substituted in Thracian (as in the most IE languages) by a.

IE a > Thr. a. There are many examples of that change: Hydronym (HN) Asamus –

IE *ak’mo- “stone“, Greek (Gk) ákmōn “anvil”, Old Indian (OI) aśman “stone, sky”; HN Angítēs – IE *ank-, *ang- “bend”, Gk ankn “bow, elbow”, ánkos “dale, ravine”

IE e > Thr. e: Sérmē – IE *sermā, IE stem *ser “flow“ in Latin (Lat) serum “the watery

part of the curd, whey”; Toponym (TN) Meldia – IE *meldh-, cf. Lithuanian (Lit) meldà, méldas “a kind of cane”. In the late period of the Thracian (it well may be the case only in some dialects) the e, followed by –nt(h)– developed to i, which can be concluded of the existence of the form –cinthus in the personal name (PN) Dias-cinthos alongside –centus, -kenthos (in Dias-centus and Dias-kenthos) < IE *kento-s “child, descendant”, Lat re-cens “fresh, young, new”. The unstressed e tended to i (reduction), maybe a vernacular feature, cf. the parallel forms Desa-(kenthos) and Disa-(centus), Diza-(kenthos) – IE dheso “god” in Gk theós.

 IE i > Thr. i: TN Idē, Idakos < IE *idhu “tree”, Old Irish (OIr) fid “tree, wood, forest”,

Gaulic tribal name (TrN) Uidu-casses, Old English (OE) widu “forest, wood, tree”; -diza, -dizos “castle, fortress” (in TN Tyro-diza, Burtu-dizos) < IE dhig’hā, Old Persian (OP) didā (from *dizā) “fortress”.

IE o > Thr. a: skálmē “knife, sword” < IE *skolmā, Old Icelandic (OIc) sklm “knife,

sword”, OE helma, English (En) helm (rudder); HN Pan(n)ysis,

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Panisas < IE *pon-iso, stem *pon(i)- in Gothic (Got) fani “mud”, Middle Irish (MIr) HN On, Onach (swamp); Thr. TN Markellai < IE *morkā in Lit markà “a hole, used in the treatment of hemp”, Ukrainian morokva “mire” (from Proto-Slavic *mărky, -ъve) < IE *merk in Lit mekti (merkiù) “to put in water, to dip, to wet”. The IE ending in Nominative, singular of the –o-roots was accordingly –as in Thracian, which can be concluded of the exactly rendered HN Iuras, Panisas (alongside Panisos), PN Taruthinas (alongside –os). But in the most cases the ending was rendered as –os (in the Greek sources) or –us (in the Latin; sometimes under Greek influence also –os), being the result of an (morphological) adaptation of the Thracian nouns of masculine gender, ending with –as to the Greek –os and the Latin –us.

IE u > Thr. u: Suitulēnos, a sobriquet of the Heros, a development of the TN *Suitula,

cf. Lit švitulỹs “something glaring, light”; Muka- in PN Muka-boris, Muka-poris and others – IE *muk, cf. Iranian muka- in Ossethian mugæ “family”, muggag “seed, house”. Sometimes the Thracian u was represented by an o in Greek (and also in Latin), which could be explained by the openness of the Thracian u (so D. Detchev) or by a peculiarity of the Greek vowel development: the letter υ has already been used to denote ü or (in a later time) even i, so that the Thracian u could not be represented by an υ.

Compare for example the PN Moka-poris, Moca-por alongside  Muka-; TrN Odrysai < *Udrusai, from IE *udrā in avestan (Av) udra- “otter”.

IE ə [2] > Thr. a: PN Gaidrēs < IE *ghəidr- in Lit gaidrùs “light (colour), clear (weather)”,

Gk phaidrόs “clear, bright, blazing”, from IE *ghēi, *ghəi; TN Daton (-os) < IE *dhəto-m(-o-s), cf. Albanian (Alb) datё “place, locality”, from IE *dhē-, *dhə- “to sit, to put, to lay”.

IE ē > Thr. ē (represented as η in Gr): PN Rhēsos (ρῆσος, testified by Homer) < IE

*rēg’o-s, cf. Lat rēx, rēgis “king”, OI rāj- “the same”; TN Zrynthos, Zērýnthion, Zrinthon (in Gr Ζήρυνθος and so on) < IE *g’hēr- “wild animal” in Lit žvėrìs “wild animal”, old bulgarian (OBul) zvĕrь “the same”, Gk thēr “animal”. In the late Thracian the ē could well have changed to an ī (cf. the word for wine, used by Hesychios zílai (ζίλαι) to the zēlas (ζήλας) and zelâs

2. This vowel has developed in the late IE from the composition of the so called second laryngeal and e, that is: H₂e.

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(ζελᾶς) in other Greek sources; from IE *g’hēlā), if the first example does not reflect the Greek change of ē (η) to i. I see a sure example for that sound change in a Thracian loan word in Bulgarian: griv “gray (of a dove, falcon, eye)”, OBul *grivъ, borrowed in modern Greek as grivós, Romanian griv “colourful, spotted white and black” from the Thr. *grīvas < Old Thr. *grēvas < IE

*g()hrēo-s, cf. Old High German (OHG) grāo, genitive grāwes, German grau.

IE ō > Thr. ō (represented as ω in Gr): HN Strmn (in Greek Στρῡμών, so Hesiodus in the 7.

century B.C. and Herodotus in the 5. century B.C.) < IE *Srū-mōn, cf. Lit sraumuõ, -meñs “a quick current“, where the –uo traces back to IE ō; Mygdon (Μυγδών, a personal name, used by Homer) is in fact a name of a region, known later as Mygdonia, from IE *Mko-ghdhōm, the second part being connected to Gk chthōn “earth, ground”.

IE ū > Thr. ū (represented as υ, ου in Greek): HN Strmn (Στρῡμών) < IE *Srū-mōn, root:

IE *sreu- - sr - in Lit srúti (srūvù, srūnù) “to fill with water, to stream, to flow”.

The quantity of the Thracian vowels often was not reflected in Greek, particularly the ā and ī. On the basis of the above mentioned examples we can assume that long vowels were a part of the Thracian phonetic system, that is, the length of the vowels was a distinctive attribute; hence long a and i must have existed along ō, ē, and ī. For example the IE ā as an ending in the singular, nominative form of the feminine nouns of the ā-root would be preserved; cf. Thr. bria “town, city” < IE *riā, cf. Tocharian (To) A ri, B riye „town, a refuge”; -diza in TN Tyro-diza, Oru-disza < IE *dhig’hā “fortress”. One should also keep in mind that the Thracian ā was not rarely represented by an η in Greek (especially at the end of a word), accordingly to the sound laws of the Greek (Ionic-Attic), compare for example the Thr. TN Στρύμη, which in Thracian must have been *Strmā.

IE ī > Thr. ī: TN Ilion < IE * īl(u)- “mud, dirt” in Gk īlýs “mud, dirt”, Old Church Slavonic

(OCS) ilь “sllime, mud”.

In late Thracian several changes affected the long vowels. The long ū lost its dislabilized and evolved to a front vowel, i, possibly via ü. Such a change can be suggested on the basis of a comparison of the name Dinace (from a Latin inscription in Carnuntum, Austria), if it is correctly regiven, and

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the Dunaka (Δούνακα, Accusative), mentioned by Strabo < IE *Dhūn-āk, root: IE *dhūn, cf. the OE dūn “elevation, mountain”. The same change of ū to ī is possibly reflected in the Thr. PN Bizo, Bizens, Bizias, Bizzos, Deo-Bizos (all of them known from inscriptions) alongside forms like Byzas, Byzēs, Byzos, which were represented in Greek by an υ in the stem; that Greek υ was used to represent Thr. ū is obvious, if we consider the etymology of the names: from IE *bhūg’o-s in Av būza “a he-goat”. However, the sound change ū > ī must have been typical just for some dialects and not for the whole Thracian language area. The rendering of the Thracian tribal name Bess as Βησσοί (with η = ē) by Herodotus and as Βέσσοι by the late autors (like Strabo, Polybius etc.) cannot be seen as an evidence for a change ē > e: in the Greek language of the 1.-2. century AD η already denoted i corresponding to the Greek sound development, that is why the foreign ē could not be represented by that letter. It is well possible that the Greek autors had to use ε, although it didn’t represent a long vowel at that time.

Previous to ē and ū at the beginning of a word sometimes appears a prothetic j-, as in the following examples: HN Ieterus < IE *ētro-, OHG ātar “quick” (ā < IE ē); Iuras < IE *Ūro-s, cf. the Old Norse (ONo) ūr “drizzle”, Lat ūrina “urine”, Lit (also with a prothetic j-) jra (and plural jrios, -s) “sea”, Latvian jūra “the same”. However, this phonetic phenomenon was not common Thracian, as we can see from the examples of an ū at the beginning of words (sure evidence of ē does not exist): HN Ucasus, Utus (etymologically both had a long ū at the beginning, s. p. 48).

In Thracian (especially in its late period, beginning with the 3.-2. century BC) the unstressed vowels were apparently subject to a reduction, as a result of which they could sometimes even fully disappear. The PN Mygdōn (Homer) gives us the earliest example for this phenomenon (syncope): the name is connected to the land, which was later to be known as Mygdonia (Thucydides, 5. century BC), as per the offered etymology derived from *Mko-ghdōm “marsh, swampland” (s. p. 35). Another example for syncope is the HN Atlas (Herodotus, 5. century BC) < *Attulas, cf. the Latvian HN Adula and the German HN Attel < Attula (s. p. 23). Syncopized appear in other Thracian names too, e.g. Pyr-mērulas (a sobriquet of the Heros) alongside Pyru-mērulas and Pyry-mērulas; the deity name (DN) Zbel-thurdos, Zbel-thiurdos etc. <  older *Zibel-thurdos, cf. the Latvian zibele “twinkling”; TN Zburulus < older

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 *Ziburulus, cf. Lit žiburỹs “fire, light”; Zym-drēnós, Zym-zdrēnós (a sobriquet of Asclepius) alongside Zym-ydrēnós, Zyml-yzdriēnós etc. Another example would be the word midne “village”, as in in its Latvian parallel *mĩtne “residence, dwelling, accommodation” < older *mītinē or *mītenē.

The diphthongs

The IE featured i- and u-diphthongs. They had their counterpart in Thracian as follows:

IE ai > Thr. ai: Aizikē (country), from the IE root *aig’- “a goat”, cf. Gk aix,

Genitive aigós, Armenian (Arm) aic “a goat”.

IE ei > Thr. ei: Seietovien(us) (a sobriquet of the Heros), derived from the TN *Seietovia

< IE *Seiətoā, cf. Lit sietuvà “a whirlpool, a deep spot in a river”.

IE oi > thr ai: Paisulēnos (a sobriquet of Zeus), derived from the TN *Paisula < IE

*Poik’ulā, cf. Lit paišaĩ “grime”, Gk poikílos “colourful”. In the TN Vevocasenus vicus, Vevo- (possibly from Thr. *Vaiva) < older *Vaevo is explained by the Latin mediation (s. p. 49).

IE əi (< H₂ei) > Thr. ai: PN Gaidrēs < IE *ghəidr- in Lit gaidrùs “light (colour), clear”, Gk

phaidrόs “clear, bright, blazing”.

IE əu (<H₂e) > Thr. au (av): bulgarian (Bg) Osogov(o) (a mountain) < Thr. *Asagav < IE

*Ok’o-ghəo-, compare the second element of the name to Got gawi “land, area”, pre-Greek gaia “land, area”.

IE ou > Thr. au: TN Pautalia < IE *pout-, cf. Old Prussian (OPru) HN Pauta < IE

*Poutā from the IE stem *peut-: *put- in Lit putà “foam”, Latvian putas “the same”.

IE ōu > Thr. o (maybe ō): TN Ost-aphos, Ostu-dizos, the first element being derived from

the IE *ōusto-s or *ōusta “mouth, estuary”, Lit úostas, uostà “estuary”, Lat ōstium “the same”.

In the word zetráia “pot” < IE *g’hetraā the IE diphthong eu is surprisingly substituted by e. In all likelyhood the word was not reproduced correctly by Pollux (2. century). Admittedly there is no sure example for the substitution of the IE eu, that is the case with the rest of the IE diphthonhs as well.

In the late Thracian we can assume a monophthongization of ai to i previous to consonants on the basis of the mountain name

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Im- < Haimos (s. p. 30). The only example for a monophthongization au > o is the TN Potelense, a Latin development of *Potela < *Pautela (s. p. 39). However, because the same sound change is typical of the balkanic Latin from the 2. century AD onward (see for examples H. Mihăescu 1978, p. 185), it is difficult to decide whether the monophthongization of au to o previous to a stressed syllable (*Pautéla, *Potéla) took place in the late Thracian or was due to the development of the balkanic Latin.

The sonants

The IE sonants , , , have a twofold substitution in Thracian:

1. IE , , > Thr. il, ir, in: TN Silta, Lit šitas “warm, comfortable” < IE *k’lto-; field name (FN) Zilmissus < IE *g’hm-is-(o)-, cf. Lit Žilmà, comprehensive (follstufig) Latvian zlme “verdant grass, a meadow”; TN Tirsai < IE *Tsoi, cf. OPru TN Tirs-kaymen, Lit tištis “thicket”; TN Dingion < IE *dhgh-, cf. Latvian dinga “plant; fructiferous land”; PN Brinkazis, Brinkainos < IE *bhrk-, cf. Lit brìnkti “to swell”. We have no evidence of IE > Thr. im.
2. IE , , > Thr. ul (ol), ur (or), um (om), un (on): bólinthos “a bison” < IE

*bhn-ent-, cf. German Bulle < IE * bhn-ēn; póltyn “a wooden fort” (TN Poltym-bria) < IE *(s)p-tu-(n), cf. OIc spjald “a board” (*spel-to-s); burt-, burd- “a ford” in TN Burd-apa, Burd-enis, Burt-icom, Burtu-dizos < IE *bhd(h), cf. OBul (OCS) neprĕ-brьd-omъ “boundless, unlimitted” (literally “impossible to roam through” < Proto-Slavic *bьrd-); TN Kurpisos, IE root: kp, cf. Lit kupti “to grub”; brynchós “a guitar” < IE *bhrko-s, cf. Polish brzęk “clink, rattle”, Ukrainian br’ak, “clink, rattle”; Rumbo- (in TN Rumbo-dona) < IE *rb(h)-, cf. Latvian ruba “a waterfall, a shoot”, Lit rubas “an edge”; Sonkētēnē, a sobriquet of Hera, a derivation of TN *Sonkētā, cf. Lit sunkà “juice, sap, liquid” < IE *sk-. The fact that Thr. u was reproduced in Greek as o could be explained either by the openness of the Thracian vowel or by the absence of another option: the Greek υ already denoted ü or i.

There are three examples of IE sonants previous to a vowel: PN Skilas < IE *skьlo-s, cf. Lit skìlti (skiliù, skýliau) “to light a fire” and “to run/ride very fast”; TN

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Keiris, Keir-para, Kēri-parōn (with Greek ει, η = i) < IE gьr(i)- in OI girí-, “a mountain”, Lit girià, žemait gìrė “a wood, a forest”; -thinas (-sinas) in PN Taru-thin(n)as, Taru-sinas, Taru-tinos < IE tьn-, a reduced grade of the IE root *ten- in Lat teneō, -ēre “to hold”.

The IE has resulted in Thracian in v, which was reproduced in Greek by υ, β, ου and in Latin by v and b. An incontestable example for the conservation of the Thr. v up to recent times in Bulgarian is the HN Veléka, that was inherited from the Thracians: it is a development of the root *el- in Lit velti “to wash”. Another example is the TN Βαίρος (= Vairos), used by Ptolemaios (2. century AD), cf. Lit vairùs, vairas “rotating, looping” < IE * o-ro-. Thr. v was reproduced as ου in the sobriquet of Dionissius Ουηρζεληνος, a derivation of the TN *Verzela, cf. Lit HN Vérža. In the first syllable of a word, previous to a vowel, v could disappear, apparently under Greek influence, e.g. TN Egerica, cf. Lit HN Veger, Latvian vedzere “a crick” < IE *