Thread

Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek

196 points · 74 comments · axiologist

TFNA · 1789708775 · focus · HN ↗
The title is super-clickbaity, as no Indo-Europeanist working today believes in a single Pre-Greek language; this was the idée fixe of the scholar Robert Beekes well over a decade ago now, and very flawed research as Beekes was succumbing to dementia then. In fact, within the field "Pre-Greek!" has become something of an inside joke.
The article does eventually mention the current state-of-the-art, but only after perpetuating the misconception for some paragraphs, and that is poor form for a pop-sci article.
1. kavalg · 1789720498 · focus · HN ↗
  Even for a non-linguist like myself, the article didn't feel right. I expected to find more information about the Thracians, who inhabited those lands for quite some time and left some extraordinary (albeit non-written) heritage.
  1. BigTTYGothGF · 1789734601 · focus · HN ↗
    I thought the Thracians spoke an IE language.
    TFNA · 1789738228 · focus · HN ↗
    Recent paper by Kassian in Transactions of the Philological Society makes formidable case that Thracian was not Indo-European.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.