Pisidian language

Pisidian is known from about fifty funeral inscriptions, most of them from Sofular (classical Tymbrias). The first were discovered in 1890; five years later sixteen of them were published and analyzed by Scottish archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay.^[1] The texts are basically of a genealogical character (strings of names) and are usually accompanied by a relief picturing the deceased. Recently inscriptions have also been found at Selge, Kesme (near Yeşilbağ), and Deḡirmenözü.^[2] Four inscriptions from the Kesme region seem to offer regular text, not merely names. By far the longest of them consists of thirteen lines.^[3]

Pisidian is written left to right in a script that closely resembles the Greek alphabet. A few letters are missing (phi, chi, psi, and possibly theta), and two others were added (characters F and И, both denoting a /w/- or /v/-sound). In recently discovered inscriptions two new signs 𐋌 and ╪ have turned up; they are rare and it is not clear whether they are variants of other signs or entirely different characters (maybe rare sibilants).^[4] Texts are written without word dividers.

A typical example (the accompanying relief shows two men and a veiled woman):

ΔΩΤΑΡΙΜΟΣΗΤΩΣΕΙΗΔΩΤ / ΡΙΣΔΩΤΑΡΙΕΝΕΙΣ

Δωταρι Μοσητωσ Ειη Δωτ<α>ρισ Δωταρι Ενεισ

[Here lie] Dotari, [son] of Moseto; Eie [daughter] of Dotari; [and] Dotari [son] of Enei.

Alternatively, the end of the line may (with a different word division) be read as Δωταριε Νεισ, with dative Dotarie, meaning (...) to Dotari [the son] of Nei. In addition, Ειη may also be a dative (= Ειε-ε). The whole line would then mean:

Dotari, [son] of Moseto, [has made this tomb] for Eie [daughter] of Dotari [and] for Dotari [son] of Enei.

Due to the one-sided character of the inscriptions, little is known about the grammar. Two cases are assured: nominative and genitive; the presence of a dative is disputed:

About the verb nothing can be said; Pisidian verbal forms have not yet been found.

Pisidian personal name Δωτάρι Dotari may reflect the Indo-European root for "daughter".^[5] However, as Dotari is documented as a man's name this etymology is not assured.^[6]

• Sidetic language