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[German version] (Ῥωμαῖοι). Rhōmaîos is the original Greek name for 'Romans', found in this sense especially in Greek historiographers (e. g. Polybius [2] or Dionysius [18] of Halicarnassus). As the imperial capital moved to Byzantium (Constantinople), however, Rhōmaîos came to be increasingly used for the Greek-speaking Byzantines; an initially still existing differentiation between οἱ ἐῷοι Ῥωμαῖοι/ hoi eṓioi Rhōmaîoi ('the eastern R.') and οἱ ἑσπέριοι Ῥωμαῖοι/ hoi hespérioi Rhōmaîoi ('the western R.' ) finally became obsolete with the decline of the western empire …

[German version] (κλητορολόγιον; klētorológion). Title of one of the best-known works of the genre of Taktiká, the lists of Byzantine offices and titles mainly from the 9th and 10th cents. AD that were manuals for the correct observance of court ceremonies (e.g. the seating order of dignitaries at court festivities, to be worked out by the atriklinḗs). They are an important source not only for customs and conventions at the Byzantine imperial court but also for the Byzantine administration, bureaucracy and officialdom of the period. From a linguistic…

[German version] A. Principles Orthography (Greek ὀρθογραφία/ orthographía is recorded as the title of ancient works, e.g. of the grammarian Herodianus [1], cf. also Flavius Caper, De Orthographia), 'correct' writing, i.e. that conforming to the norm, was originally not a topic of historical linguists, because for a long time they considered written language only as a more or less deficient copy of spoken 'true' language, not as a subject of study in its own right; in this respect they were able to view historical orthogr…

[German version] Modern Greek dialect spoken in a small number of villages in the eastern Parnon mountain ridge on the east coast of the Peloponnese. It is unanimously considered the only modern Greek dialect to predominantly continue an Ancient Greek dialect, Dorian Laconic, without any effects of the Koine. In other respects, it is difficult to assign Tsakonian to any dialect groupings (splitting into East or West Greek dialects according to retention/loss of final - n, respectively; splitting into North or South Greek according to the treatment of vowels following u…

[German version] (from ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος; hē koinḕ diálektos, ‘the common language’). Term adopted into Greek linguistic history which refers primarily to a relatively uniform post-classical Greek based on Attic but interspersed with numerous Ionian influences said to have replaced the Ancient Greek dialects and to be the ancestor of modern Greek. The sources consist of a number of no longer Attic but not yet Atticist prose authors in the Hellenistic and Imperial periods (such as Polybius, the NT, or Epictetus), also papyrus and inscriptions. One must, however, give special atte…

[German version] Language switching (LS) can occur on a social as well as on an individual level. In the first case, a demographic or functional minority gives up its language after a period of bilingualism, and adopts the language of the majority. Not the extinction of speakers, but LS is the most common cause of language death ( Language change and dialectal compensation are not considered LS). Typical attendant phenomena are interferences with the dominant language, non-adapted loan words, dism…

[German version] Latinization is understood as the influencing of other languages by Latin as a result of language contact. Since the historical circumstances varied for each language contact, Latinization occurred in a number of different ways. The most drastic result of language contact is the complete eradication of languages and dialects; thus, Latin replaced related Italic dialects and languages at an early time ( Italy, languages), the most prominent victim being Etruscan. However, the Rom…

[German version] A distinctive script of the Middle Ages, which emerged in the middle of the 8th cent. in the Abbey of Montecassino and which spread through the entire dukedom of Benevento in the 9th cent. It was still in use in the second half of the 15th cent. at Montecassino and in the first half of the 16th cent. in Naples [1]. The writing also reached the Dalmatian coast, where the earliest records of Beneventan documents date back to the 10th cent. The oldest Beneventan MSS from this region …

[German version] The present-day use of the term scriptorium refers to the writing workshop for the production of books in the period prior to the invention of the printing press. For Antiquity, there is no evidence of the word scriptorium in this sense; the first record is Isid. Orig. 6,9,2 (in the sense of a writing stylus). However, we know that ancient libraries must have had such an establishment since the book supply for the library was not acquired from booksellers but was produced on site. In an anecdote transmitted by Galen,…

[German version] ('Wolfling', Gr. Οὐλφίλας/ Oulphílas, also Οὐρφίλας/ Ourphílas), born c. 311, died 382 or 383. Bishop of the Goths (Goti), author of a Gothic translation of the Bible (Bible translations), the most important source by far for the Gothic language and the East-Germanic languages in general. Son of a Christian Greek mother (captured in a Gothic raid on Cappadocia) and a Gothic father. Probably in 341 (Auxentius of Durosturum in Maximinus [6], Dissertatio 34: triginta annorum episc opus est ordinatus), W. was consecrated 'bishop of the Christians in the land of…

[English version] Als L. versteht man die Beeinflussung anderer Sprachen durch das Lateinische (Latein) als Konsequenz von Sprachkontaktphänomenen; da die histor. Umstände des jeweiligen Sprachkontakts unterschiedlich waren, kann auch die L. auf unterschiedliche Arten vor sich gehen. Die drastischste Folge des Sprachkontakts ist das Aussterben von Sprachen und Dial.; so verdrängte das Lat. schon früh verwandte ital. Dial. und Sprachen (Italien, Sprachen); prominentestes Opfer war das Etr. Eine res…

[English version] (κλητορολόγιον). Titel eines der bekanntesten Werke aus der Gattung der Taktiká, der Listen byz. Ämter und Titel als Handbücher zur korrekten Einhaltung des Hofzeremoniells v.a. aus dem 9. und 10. Jh. (z.B. der vom atriklinḗs zu bewerkstelligenden Sitzordnung der Würdenträger bei einschlägigen höfischen Festivitäten). Sie sind eine wichtige Quelle nicht nur für Sitten und Konventionen am byz. Kaiserhof, sondern auch für die byz. Verwaltung, den Beamtenapparat und das Ämterwesen der entsprechenden Zeit. Von sprach…

[English version] Eine charakteristische Hs. des MA., die etwa Mitte des 8.Jh. in der Abtei von Montecassino entstand und sich im 9.Jh. im gesamten Herzogtum Benevento ausbreitete. Sie wurde noch in der zweiten Hälfte des 15.Jh. in Montecassino und in der ersten Hälfte des 15.Jh. in Neapel verwendet [1]. Die Schrift erreichte auch die dalmatinische Küste, wo die frühesten Belege beneventanische Urkunden aus dem 10.Jh. sind. Die ältesten beneventanischen Hss. aus dieser Gegend datieren ins 11.Jh., …

[English version] A. Grundsätzliches O. (griech. ὀρθογραφία ist bereits als Titel von antiken Werken z.B. des Grammatikers Herodianos [1] überl., vgl. auch Flavius Caper, De orthographia), die “richtige”, d.h. normkonforme Schreibung, war urspr. kein Thema der histor. Sprachwiss., da ihr die geschriebene Sprache lange Zeit lediglich als mehr oder weniger defizientes Abbild der gesprochenen “echten” Sprache, nicht als wiss. Gegenstand eigenen Rechts galt; insofern konnte sie eine histor. O., d.h. ein Festhalten an einer …

[English version] (Ῥωμαῖοι). Rhōmaíos ist die originäre griech. Bezeichnung für “Römer” und als solche aus sachlichen Gründen v. a. bei griech. Historiographen (z. B. Polybios [2] oder Dionysios [18] von Halikarnassos) belegt. Mit der Verlegung der Reichshauptstadt nach Byzanz (Konstantinopolis) aber konnte Rhōmaíos mehr und mehr auch für den griech.-sprachigen Byzantiner verwendet werden; eine anfangs noch vorhandene Differenzierung zw. οἱ ἐῷοι Ῥωμαῖοι/ eṓioi Rhōmaíoi (“die östl. Rh.”) und οἱ ἑσπέριοι Ῥωμαῖοι/ hespérioi Rhōmaíoi (“die westl. Rh.”) wird mit dem Unte…

[English version] (aus ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, “die gemeinsame Sprache”). Eingebürgerter Begriff der griech. Sprachgesch.; man bezeichnet damit zumeist undifferenziert ein relativ einheitliches nachklass. Griechisch auf att. Basis, aber mit zahlreichen ion. Einflüssen durchsetzt, das die altgriech. Dial. (Griechische Dialekte) verdrängt habe und der Vorfahr des Neugriech. sei; als Quellen gelten eine Reihe nicht mehr att., aber noch nicht attizistischer Prosaschriftsteller in Hell. und Kaiserzeit (etwa…

I. History [German version] A. Term Hellenization is understood here to be a complex acculturation phenomenon composed of different processes operating on several levels. In addition to the area of language and literature, Greek ideas and forms of expression were also adopted in architecture, fine arts, as well as in religion and cult; non-Greek patterns of sociopolitical organization were also adapted to fit the Greek model (polis state, forms of organizations and associations,  gymnasium). All of th…

[German version] I. General points The term UL today conveys two meanings: (1) an artificially created language, intended to serve as a lingua franca for the entire world; efforts of this kind were made especially in the 19th cent. (e.g. Esperanto and Volapük); yet, as might be expected, they fell behind their self-imposed goal. (2) A language actually in world-wide use today is, above all, English. In the wake of the colonial period, it has established itself on all continents at least as a subsidiary means of commun…

[German version] I. Ancient Cypriot The sources for C. are inscriptions in  Cypriot script (most important finding places: Idalium, Golgi, Paphus, Marion; oldest Text: o-pe-le-ta-u / opheltau/11th/10th cents. BC),  glossography (esp. Hsch., schol. on the Iliad and the Odyssey, fr. of an anonymous grammarians: Anecd. Bekk. 3,1094) and Cypriot proper names. C. a) corresponds particularly with  Arcadian and in parts also with  Mycenaean, and b) has its own specific features. For a): arsis of e, o before a nasal sound (/ in/= ἐν, / on-/ un-/ = ἀνά) and of o (gen. sg. in / -au/< -āo, 3rd sg. -tu …

I. Ancient Greek [German version] A. Age, Sources The earliest extant Greek texts date from around 1400 BC. Greek is thus the oldest known language transmitted in Europe and takes second place (after  Hittite) amongst the Indo-European languages. As Greek has a partly accessible prehistory (see B., C. below) and survives today, its linguistic history can be traced over about 5,000 years. The most important linguistic sources of Ancient Greek are textual. They range from functional ( Mycenaean,  Papyri) to literary texts. The latter are transmitted, sometim…