Minoan language
Appearance
Minoan | |
---|---|
Region | Crete |
Era | ca. 1800–1450 BCE |
Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:omn – Minoanlab – Linear A |
omn Minoan | |
lab Linear A |
The language (or languages) of the ancient Minoan civilization of Crete was written in Cretan hieroglyphs and later in the Linear A syllabary. As the Cretan hieroglyphs are undeciphered and Linear A only partly deciphered, the Minoan language is unknown and unclassified—and indeed, it cannot be known that the two scripts record the same language, or even that a single language is recorded in each. The Eteocretan language, attested in a few alphabetic inscriptions from Crete a thousand years later, is possibly a descendant of Minoan, but it is itself unclassified but recently it has been ascertained that lydian language is the basis for this specrt.
References