Evidence · Eteocretan and Eteocypriot

Finkelberg argues that the pre-Greek language of Crete was Anatolian and close to Lycian, but the case rests on the…

Finkelberg argues that the pre-Greek language of Crete was Anatolian and close to Lycian, but the case rests on the Linear A libation formula and on place names rather than on any Eteocretan word.

Speculative0

What it means

Key questionWhat language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?

5 answers, none ahead yet

Openunchanged

Answer this evidence bears onEteocretan is an Anatolian language, related to Hittite, Luwian or Lycian.

Supports1 for, 1 against

Still possibleunchanged

Next steps 3

From the site's transliteration CSV (DAT0DEDYM8KKQV6), build letter and bigram frequency tables for the Eteocretan lines and compare them with Greek, Lycian, Etruscan and Phoenician samples of equal length, with a shuffled-text null, to measure whether 420 letters can discriminate between candidate languages at all.

~6 h

On: What language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?

—not judged

Measure whether 420 letters can discriminate between candidate languages using frequency tables and a shuffled null.

~6 h

On: What language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?

—not judged

List every recurring Eteocretan sequence of three or more letters (inai, irer, -mit-, komn, phraiso-) with line positions across all six stones, and check each published Anatolian, Semitic and Tyrrhenian proposal against the full list rather than the words it chose.

~4 h

On: What language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?

—not judged

Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

Sources 2

Greeks and Pre-Greeks: Aegean Prehistory and Greek Heroic Tradition

Finkelberg 2005

SRC

Minoan Inscriptions on Libation Vessels

F 1990

SRC

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Finkelberg argues that the pre-Greek language of Crete was Anatolian and close to Lycian, but the case rests on the… [Evidence EVD0DEED2YXWG1P]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEED2YXWG1P

@misc{mysteriesdept_evd0deed2yxwg1p,
  title     = {Finkelberg argues that the pre-Greek language of Crete was Anatolian and close to Lycian, but the case rests on the…},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Evidence, catalog key EVD0DEED2YXWG1P},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEED2YXWG1P}
}