Ionic Greek

Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. 400 BC.

Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the Attic-Ionic dialectal group of Ancient Greek (see Greek dialects). Ionic (or Ionian) dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C. By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 8th Century B.C, the central west coast of Asia Minor, along with the islands of Chios and Samos, formed the heartland of Ionia proper. The Ionic dialect was also spoken on islands across the central Aegean and on the large island of Euboea north of Athens. The dialect was soon spread by Ionian colonization to areas in the northern Aegean, the Black Sea, and the western Mediterranean. Ionic dialect is generally divided into two major time periods, Old Ionic (or Old Ionian) and New Ionic (or New Ionian). The exact transition between the two is not clearly defined, but 600 B.C. is a good approximation. The Homeric works (the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Homeric Hymns), and the works of Hesiod, were written in a literary dialect called Homeric Greek or Epic Greek, which consists largely of Old Ionic, with some borrowings from the neighboring Aeolic dialect to the north. The poet Arkhilokhos (Archilochos) wrote in late Old Ionic. The most famous New Ionic authors are Anacreon,Theognis,Herodotus,Hippocrates and in roman times Aretaeus,Arrian and Lucian. The main differences between the Ionic dialect (Old and New) and Classical Attic were the following:

1. In Ionic, the shift from long alpha to eta occurs in almost all words, whereas in Attic it does not occur after eta, iota, or rho. Example: Attic νεανίας (ne-a-ni-as) versus Ionic νεηνίης (ne-ei-ni-eis), a "young person". Often the simple vowel ε or o of Attic dialect appears in Ionic as a diphthong (κούρη "young lady, girl", for κόρη; πείρας "end, border" for πέρας)
2. In many cases Ionic turned Proto-Greek labiovelar sound /kw/ into /k/ rather than /p/ before back vowels. Example: Attic ὅπως (hopos) versus Ionic ὄκως (okos), "the same way (as)". It is worth mentioning that similar divergent outcomes for /kw/ occurred also in Celtic and Italic branches of the Indo-European language family, for example between Latin and Oscan, as well as between P-Celtic (Welsh) and Q-Celtic (Irish) — e.g. Welsh pump, Breton pemp, Cornish pymp vs. Gaelic cóig or cùig, Irish cúig, Manx queig (note the treatment of the same consonant in English with this word meaning "five ").
3. Ionic contracted adjoining vowels much less frequently than Attic. Example: Ionic γένεα (gen-e-a) versus Attic γένη (gen-ei), "family, stock".
4. Ionic "ss" appears as "tt" in later Classical Attic. Example: Ionic τέσσαρες (tessares) versus Attic τέτταρες (tettares), "four".
5. Ionic had a very analytical word-order, perhaps the most analytical one within ancient Greek dialects. Moreover the Ionic morphology of noun and verb doesn't have dual-forms.
6. In some words, Attic initial aspiration was lacking in Old Ionic (the so called "psilosis"), and in New Ionic initial aspiration was probably lost entirely. Example: Attic ἵππος (hippos) versus Ionic ἴκκος (ikkos), "horse".

Glossary

• ἄεθλον aethlon (Attic ἆθλον athlon prize)
• ἀλγείη algeie illness (Attic ἀλγηδὼν algedon pain) Algophobia
• ἄνου anou (Attic ἄνω ano ,up)
• Απατουρια Apaturia Panionian festival
• ἀππαλλάζειν appallazein (Attic ἐκκλησιάζειν ekklesiazein gather together,decide) maybe related to Pallas Athena
• ἀχάντιον achantion (Attic ἀκάνθιον akanthion small thorn acanthus)
• βάθρακοι bathrakoi (Attic βάτραχοι batrachoi, frogs)
• βροῦκος broukos specie of locust (Attic akris) (Cypriots call the green locust βρούκα brouka)
• βυσσός byssos (Attic βυθός bythos depth,bottom,chaos)
• εἴδη eide (Attic ὕλη hyle forest) (Aeolic Greek eide also) (Greek Eidos)
• ἐργύλος ergylos (Attic ἐργάτης ergates worker)
• ἑστιᾶχος hestiachos ionic epithet for Zeus ,related to Hestia (oikouros,housekeeper,οἰκῶναξ)
• ἠγὸς egos (Attic εὐδαίμων eudaimon happy) (Hesychius s.v. εὐηγεσίη) (τ 114)
• ἠέλιος eelios (Attic helios sun)
• Ἰαστί Iasti the ionian or greek way (Ἰάονες Iaones,Ionians) (Ἰας Ias or Ionia old name of Attica (Strabo IX, 1.5)
• ἰδη ide forested mountain (Attic δρυμῶν ὄρος drymon oros) (Herodotus 4,109,2) (Mount Ida)
• ἰητρὸς ietros (Attic iatros doctor)
• ἴκκος ikkos (Attic ἵππος hippos ,horse) (Mycenaean i-qo horse)
• κάρα kara head and sheep(plural)
• κιθών kithon (Attic χιτών chiton)
• κοεῖν koein (Attic νοεῖν noein to think) noesis
• κοῖος koios (Attic ποῖος poios who?)
• κύθρη kythre (Attic χύτρα chytra cooking pot)
• μύτταξ myttax (Attic πώγων pogon beard)
• Ξουθίδαι Xouthidai Ionians from Xuthus
• ὀδμή odme (Attic ὀσμή osme scent,smell)
• πηλός pelos wine οἶνος (hence Greek κάπηλος kapelos wine-seller,tavern keeper) (Attic πηλός pelos mud,silt)
• σαβακός sabakos (Attic σαθρός sathros deceased) Χῖοι
• Φοινικκία Phoinikkia Lydians and Ionians call so the Letters
• χλοσσός chlossos (Attic ἰχθῦς ichthys fish)
• ὦ οἰοῖ o oioi exclamation of discontent ἐπιφώνημα σχετλιαστικὸν παρὰ Ἴωσι

References

• Hesychius of Alexandria
• A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity- A.Panayotou Ionic and Attic
• A Grammar of the Greek Language by Benjamin Franklin Fisk Ionic Dialect

See also

• Ionians