Grammar of Lydian language

The Grammar of the Lydian Language. Note: special "Symbol" font is used here 1. The history of the Lydian language. 2. The Lydian Phonetics. 3. The Lydian Substantives. 4. The Lydian Verb. 5. The Lydian Auxiliary Forms. 6. The Lydian Texts and Dictionary.
§ 5. The Lydian Auxiliary Forms.

Here we will give a list of particles, conjunctions, prepositions and postpositions which existed and were found in the Lydian language. It is essential that these auxiliary parts of speech were quite important in the language, their number is great and their role in the sentence was really vital. Practically every word was shaped by a particle or several of them, and those proclitics and enclitics could be not only prepositional, but also pronominal (see infixed pronouns), meaning the subject, the object, etc. But most of them were just service affixes helping to understand the place of the word in the whole sentence.

Particle	Meaning	Examples available
*ak-*	an introductory prefix	*ak-it* (So...)
-an	the pronoun pointing at a direct object
*-bu, buk*	separatory conjunction "or", "either"	mru-t buk vâna-t (to a stele or a tomb)
*do-*	preposition "until", "till", "to"
*êt-, ên-*	preposition or prefix "in", "in-", "inside"	*ên-sarb-* (to write in)
*fa-*	prefix meaning "along", "on", or the imperfective aspect meaning for verbs	*fa-korfi-* (to have done harm to smth)
*fra-*	through, by, with the help of
*-in-*	a particle uniting two parts of speech
-k	a postposition "and" (< *kwe)	*es-t mru-d es'-s'-k vâna-s'* (this stele and this tomb)
-t	a pronoun pointing at an object in dative case (do not mix with the case ending)
*nâ-*	an introductory particle
*-nak-*	a conjunction "also" (made of *na-* and -k)
*ni-*	not, non-	*ni-kantoru* (I do not trust)
-ti, -ta, -li	a possessive suffix	*es'a-tis* (grandson's), *atas' tivdalis* (Atas, son of Tivdas)
-ta-	with the verb, meaning "to come to some condition"
**-t, -it, -t, -it, -m, -in**	different kinds of emphatic particles	fak-m-t (so to this - and not to that...)

This is not the full list, but the basic one of the most widespread Lydian auxiliaries. Below in the given texts you will see their usage in the sentence. Some of them are clearly Indo-European, like -k (and) which is common among European tongues: Latin terra mari-que (on land and on sea), Greek hpeiron nhsous te (the continent and the islands), Lepontic Latumarui Sapsutaipe (for Latumaros and Sapsuta); this postposition was used in Proto-Indo-European to link nominal forms. Some of those particles are derived from Hittite: such as -m from -ma, a Hittite emphatic postfix, fra- from Hittite paran, the negative particle ni- from Indo-European n- via Luwian and Palaic ni-. Some are unique, or their cognates are not found yet.

In whole, the Lydian sentence construction had some strict rules which stress its Indo-European character. The pronoun es- was always used before the noun, having the functions similar to those of the English definite article. The attribute stood usually before the subject or the object, though some predicative adjectives, following thier nouns, were found. The possessive pronouns could be used only before the substantive. The verb is placed mostly at the end of the sentence. That's all for the Lydian syntax.

§ 6. The Lydian Texts and Dictionary.

The Lydian lexical composition is known very poorly - just for you to be happy with two short texts we can offer. The most part of Lydian epitaphias written in the 6-4 centuries BC were deciphered and translated easily, but sacral texts and particularly Lydian verses are less understandable. The vocabulary of the language contained only about 10% of Indo-European words, the rest were borrowings from native languages or simply of unknown origin. We will give texts with translation, and after them a short glossary with the etymological explanations for those words we found Indo-European by origin.

1. borl-t X artaks'assa-t qatmtu-t dân
ora-t isl-t bakill-t es-t mru-d es'-s'-k vâna-s'
laqrisa-k qela-k kud-ki-t ist es-t vâna-t
bt tarvo-d ak-a-d maneli-d kumlili-d silukali-d ak-it nãqi-s
es-t mru-t buk es-t vãna-t buk esna-n
laqirisa-n buk-it kud ist es-t vãnat bt tarvo-d
ak-t-in nãqi-s qel-t-k fênstifi-d fak-m-t artimu-s'
ibs'imsi-s artimu-k kulumsi-s aara-t bira-t-k
ktida-t kofu-t-k qira-t qel-t-k bil-t vdbaqênt

In the year X of Artaxerxes the king was given
In the month this Bacchus's this stele and this tomb
And this wall and the area and where to this tomb
belonging and this is Manes's Kumlis's son's from Silukas's clan and-so if anyone
To this stele or this tomb or this
Wall or-here where to this tomb belonging
And-so if anyone to anything harm does and-so-to-him Artemis
Of Ephesus and of Kolos the yard his and the house
Land and water and property and everything that is his will destroy.

(The translation given is literary for better understanding of the text word by word. The sense is:
This tomb belongs to Manes, son of Kumlis, and who touches it, will have a little unpleasant conversation with Artemis goddess, who will easily destroy every property of him.)

2. ak-it qed fas'fênu ak-at qt fakantrov ak-m-t-is qis ditollad bitad fak-m-t-it-in qtdãn-k artimu-k katsarlokid ak-it edkok êtqratad kot-ad amu mitridastas' fêtamnidn ak-s' qis êmn êtamn un bavdnas'od buk in mêtrid buk bidên qik int akmt qed êmed êtams' un ak-ad artimus' bifers't.

So-here, what I have and-this to whom trust and-so-to-him-who harm does and-so-him and Kildans and Artemis will revenge, and will be-done as-this I, Mitridast, decide, and he, who my prescription to-be made, ignores or breaks it, or any harm does, and-so-to-him the prescription to-be made, will order and-this Artemis will-define.

(In normal words:
This is what I have and give to gods, and who takes it, will get acquainted with Artemis, who will decide what to do with him.)

These two texts above are inscriptions on tomb-steles, so the contens is like this. And here is the vocabulary for you to learn some words from Lydian:

aara - a yard, an estate
afari - a buying
ama - to love (Proto-Indo-European *am-, Latin amare - to love)
ãrte - to define
as'aa - kindness (PIE *wesu- - good)
as'trho, as'tarho - a defender
avka - legal
atas' - other, another (PIE *alyo-, Latin alius - other)
basos'aknãki - to do harm
bi - to give (Hittite peja - to give)
bifers't - he will define
bira - a house (Hittite par-, Luwian parna - house)
borli, forli - a year
brafr - a member of the commune (PIE *bhrátér-, Latin frater, Old English bróþor - brother)
brvãs' - a year
da - to give (PIE *dó-, Latin dare, Slavic *dati - to give)
daul - to press
dêt - property
da, di - to devote
divi - a god (PIE *deiwo-, Lithuanian dievas, Sanskrit deva- - a god)
divnali - divine (PIE *deiwo- - a god)
duve - to construct (Lwwian tuwa - to put)
e - to be (PIE *es- - to be)
ebad - here, there (PIE *ebho-, Hittite apa - this)
es'a - a grandson (Hittite hašša, Luwian hamša - grandson)
êna - mother
ên-sarb - to write in
êtam - a prescription
êtos' - to surround
êtqra - to complete
fênani - to complete
fênstifi - to spoil
fêtamn - to define
fabatko - broad
fadol - he constructed
fakarse - to destroy
fakatvãmi - to go forward
fakorfi - to spoil
fas'fên - to grasp, to steal
fata - defense
fratinid - does, effects
i - to do (Hittite aia, ai - to do)
ifrli - a robber
isqasãnvn - we possess
istamin - a family
kantoru - I trust
kardal - he made, constructed
kartt - to abolish
katanil - he built
katsarloki - to curse
kave - a priest
kattadmê - an inscription
ktida - land
ko - to discover
kofu - water
kot - he swears
late - to speak (Greek lalos - talkative, Hittite lala - tongue)
laqrisa - a wall
mêtrid - he breaks
mruvaa - a stele
mtvênda - a part
nãrs' - virtue, valor (PIE *ner-, *nert- - man's strength, Irish neart)
ora - a month (Greek hóra - a season)
qatmtus - a king
qelis - everything, anything
qela - an area
qên - to kill (PIE *kwen- - to kill)
qira - property
sav - the good
savênt - they flourish
savtarid - he approves
serli - a leader
silavad - to take care
s'rfas'ti - upper (Luwian sarri - up)
tarb, trfno - to possess
tas'e - a column
tans'a - powerful
tro, tor - to speak (Anatolian tr- - to speak, Luwian tatar - to curse)
tên, dên - to sanctify
tes'a - a sarcophagus
u, uve - to prescribe
vanã - a tomb
ves'fas' - elder
vis'i - good (PIE *wesu- - good)
vid - to build (PIE *widhu- - wood, tree ?)
vs'ta - a heir
vdbaqên - to destroy, to eliminate

That's all we would like to tell here about the grammar of the Lydian language. We apologize for the lack of materials, but the literature about the subject is still scarce, and the sources from where we can extract more knowledge are not numerous. Anyway, this grammar has no analogues on the Web yet. We hope it will be welcomed by our guests. And we will work under the next grammars, and hope that they will be looked forward to.

Welcome,
Cyril Babaev

1. The history of the Lydian language. 2. The Lydian Phonetics. 3. The Lydian Substantives. 4. The Lydian Verb. 5. The Lydian Auxiliary Forms. 6. The Lydian Texts and Dictionary.