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Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek

196 points · 74 comments · axiologist

  1. TFNA · · 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. theanonymousone · · focus · HN ↗
      So, the field was making a joke of someone's dementia?
      1. TFNA · · focus · HN ↗
        Everyone knows about the weakness of the research and jokes about it, but much fewer people are aware of the dementia behind it.
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