Editing Anatolian Languages (section)

== Carian (Southwestern Anatolia; 700-200 BCE) ==
<u>Carian</u>, an extinct language once spoken in <u>Caria</u>, southwest <u>Anatolia</u>. Most evidence for the language comes from <u>Egypt</u>, where <u>Carian</u> mercenaries in the service of the '''pharaohs''' from the 600s-400s BCE left behind more than a hundred tomb inscriptions and numerous instances of graffiti. Caria itself has yielded a limited number of texts, dated roughly to the 500s-300s BCE. In the 1980s CE, the pervasive theory that Carian was an Indo-European language of the Anatolian group was confirmed after the decipherment of such features as an ''-s'' suffix forming '''patronymic''' and the '''relative pronoun''' ''xi''.

No undisputable verb forms have yet been discovered in Carian; if verbal conjugation resembles the other Anatolian languages, it likely possessed 3rd person singular and plural forms, in both present and preterite, which ended in ''-t'' or ''-d'', or a similar sound. Virtually nothing is known of <u>Carian</u> syntax: first, due to uncertainty as to which words are verbs; second, the longer <u>Carian</u> inscriptions show very few word dividers.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples of Carian names in Greek
!Greek
!Transliterated
!Carian
|-
|Ἑκατόμνω
|Hekatomnō
|𐊴𐊭𐊪𐊳𐊫𐊸 K̂tmñoś
|-
|Καύνιος
|Kaunios
|𐊼𐊬𐊢𐊿𐊵 Kbdwn
|-
|Καῦνος
|Kaunos
|𐊼𐊬𐊹𐊢 Kbid
|-
|Πιγρης
|Pigrēs
|𐊷𐊹𐊼𐊥𐊺 Pikre
|-
|Πονυσσωλλος
|Ponussōllos
|𐊷𐊵𐊲𐊸𐊫𐊦 Pnuśoλ
|-
|Σαρυσσωλλος
|Sarussōllos
|𐊮𐊠𐊥𐊲𐊸𐊫𐊦 Šaruśoλ
|-
|Υλιατος
|Uliatos
|𐊿𐊣𐊹𐊠𐊭 Wliat
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples of Greek names in Carian
!Greek
!Transliterated
!Carian
|-
|Λυσικλέους (genitive)
|Lysikleous
|𐊣𐊿𐊰𐊹𐊼𐊣𐊠𐊰 Lùsiklas
|-
|Λυσικράτους (genitive)
|Lysikratous
|𐊣𐊿𐊰𐊹𐊼𐊥𐊠𐊭𐊠𐊰 Lùsikratas
|-
|Ἀθηναῖον (accusative)
|Athēnaion
|𐊫𐊭𐊫𐊵𐊫𐊰𐊵 Otonosn
|-
|Φίλιππος (nominative)
|Philippos
|𐊷𐊹𐋃𐊹𐊷𐊲𐊰 Pilipus
|}