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Concept information

Preferred term

gmyMycenaean Greek  

Type

  • Language

Definition

  • Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland, Crete and Cyprus in the 16th to 12th centuries BC, before the hypothesised Dorian invasion which was often cited as the terminus post quem for the coming of the Greek language to Greece. The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first attested on Crete before the 14th century BC. Most instances of these inscriptions are on clay tablets found in Knossos in central Crete, and in Pylos in the southwest of the Peloponnese. Other tablets have been found at Mycenae itself, Tiryns and Thebes and at Chania in Western Crete. The language is named after Mycenae, one of the major centres of Mycenaean Greece.

Entry terms

  • Greek, Mycenaean

ISO 639-3 code

  • gmy

Notation

  • gmy

In other languages

  • Mycénien

    French

  • Mykenisches Griechisch

    German

  • Dialetto miceneo

    Italian

  • Portuguese

  • Griego micénico

    Spanish

URI

http://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/gmy

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