Paeonian language


Paeonian, sometimes spelled Paionian, is a poorly attested, extinct language spoken by the ancient Paeonians until late antiquity.
Paeonia once stretched north of Macedon, into Dardania, and in earlier times into southwestern Thrace.

Classification

Classical sources usually considered the Paeonians distinct from Thracians or Illyrians, comprising their own ethnicity and language. Athenaeus seems to have connected the Paeonian tongue to the barely-attested Mysian language, possibly a member of the Anatolian family.
On the other hand, the Paeonians were also regarded as being related to Thracians and ancestors of the Phrygians.
Modern linguists are uncertain on the classification of Paeonian, due to the extreme scarcity of surviving materials in the language. Wilhelm Tomaschek and Paul Kretschmer claim it belonged to the Illyrian family, while Dimitar Dechev claims affinities with Thracian. Irwin L. Merker considers Paeonian closely related to Greek, a Hellenic language with "a great deal of Illyrian and Thracian influence as a result of this proximity".
Irwin L. Merker considers Paeonian closely related to both Greek Hellenic and Illyrian languages with a gret deal of Thracian influence as a result of this proximity".

Paeonian vocabulary

Several Paeonian words are known from classical sources:
A number of anthroponyms are attested: Agis, Patraos, Lycpeios, Audoleon, Eupolemos, Ariston, etc. In addition several toponyms, Astibos and a few theonyms Dryalus, Dyalos, the Paeonian Dionysus, as well as the following: