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Minoan language

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Minoan
RegionCrete
Eraca. 1800–1450 BCE
Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
omn – Minoan
lab – 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