2
the term “Aecolic dialect” to the idiom of Lesbian poetry, very infrequently characterizing as Aeolic a form which is Boeotian or Thessalian.
Giese (Der aeolische Dialekt, p. 131) has well remarked, in discussing the difficulties presented by the utterances of the Greeks in reference to their tribal and dialectological relations: “Nicht in den Meinungen der Alten liegen die wahrhaft historischen Zeugnisse, sondern in ihrer Sprache selbst.” If we supplement this statement by another, which in reality is not excluded by the first: “Ohne Rücksicht auf das Leben des Volks ist die Sprachwissenschaft todt und werthlos” (Fick, Ilias, p. 564), we open up the two avenues by which the science of Greek dialectology is to be approached. It will, therefore, in the first instance be necessary to pass in review the various phenomena which constitute each of the cantonal idioms of that wide territory reaching from the Aegean Sea to the western part of Epirus, and from Olympus to the southernmost parallel of those states washed by the Corinthian Gulf Upon this scientific basis alone can we hope to attain results, the value of which will doubtless be enhanced by the fact that so comprehensive an investigation has as yet net been attempted in Germany.
To establish the position of the dialects of Thessaly and Boeotia as dialects of North Greece, in their connection with Asiatic-Aeolic and in their relation to one another, I present the following table of their chief distinctive morphological features.
I.—Dialect of Thessaly.
A. Peculiarities which belong specifically to Thessaly.
1. ε for α in διέ. 2. ου for ω; ω has ceased to exist. 3. κ for τ in κίς. 4. φ for θ in φείρ. 5. τθ for φθ in Ἀτθόνειτος. 6. δδ for δ inἱδδίαν. 7. Gen. sing. -ο decl. in -οι.[1] 8. Demonstr. pron. ὄνε. 9. Infin. pass. in -σθειν. 10. 3 pl. pass. in -νθειν. 11. Infin. aor. act. in -σειν. 12. μά for δέ. 13. δαύχνα for δάφνη in ἀρχιδαυχναφορείσας. 1314. σσ for ζ in ἐμφανίσσοεν. 14. -εν in 3 pl. imperf. aorist (ἐδούκαεμμά).
B. Points of agreement with the dialect of Boeotia.
1. ε for α in θέρσος (θάρσος also is Boeot.). 2. ει for η. 3. A labial for a dental: Thess. Πετθαλός = Boeot. Φετταλός. 4. A dental surd and aspirate in Thess. = a double dental in Boeot. = σσ in Attic. See example under 3. 5. θ for τ; ἐγένονθο ἐφανγρένθειν Thess., παργινύωνθη, ἐποείσανθο Boeot. 6. ἐροτός for ἐρατός. 7. ϝ = υ in middle of a word. 8. μικκός = μικρός (gramm.). 9. γίνυμαι for γίγνομαι from the analogy of the -μυνι verbs. The change must have taken place after the withdrawal of the Asiatic Aeolians. 10. Dat. pl. cons.- ↑ In the Pharsalian inscr. the gen. ends in -ου.
