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The Language of Phrygians: Description and Analysis (Anatolian and Caucasian Studies)

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The subject of this book is Phrygian, a now extinct Indo-European language once spoken in parts of eastern Europe and Anatolia. It was what German linguists quaintly call a "Trümmersprache" (Rubble language). This term is particularly apt when applied to Phrygian, since our knowledge of it is based almost entirely on inscriptions on tombs and other monuments and covers a period from about 1200 B.C. to about 300 A.D. The language from the older period is called Old Phrygian, and the language which dates from the period after hellenisation is termed New Phrygian.

In the first section of the book the author provide, for each inscription, a transcription (Old Phrygian in the Latin alphabet and New Phrygian in the Greek alphabet), an etymological discussion and a translation.

This section is followed by a grammar which traces analyses the phonetics of the language back to Indo-European counterparts, goes on to present the morphology of nouns, adjectives, pronouns and other parts of speech, and concludes with a section on syntax.

Finally, the book presents a comprehensive glossary, cross-references to each inscription.

This is a well-researched and authoritative work. It presents evidence to show hat Phrygian is an Indo-European language belonging to the Centum group which has certain affinities with Greek.