The Pre-Greek substrate (or Pre-Greek substratum) consists of the unknown language or

languages spoken in prehistoric Greece before the settlement of Proto-Greek speakers in the
area. It is thought possible that Greek took over some thousand words and proper names from
such a language (or languages), because some of its vocabulary cannot be satisfactorily
explained as deriving from the Proto-Greek language. However, most of the words classified as
part of a "Pre-Greek substrate" are in reality part of a linguistic adstrate in Greek where Minoan
cultural influence in the Aegean resulted in many Minoan words being borrowed by the
Mycenaean Greeks during the Bronze Ag

There are different categories of Pre-Greek, or "Aegean", loanwords such as:[2]

Animals: e.g. /, 'wild ox'; , 'beetle'; , 'mouse'.
Architecture: e.g. , 'labyrinth'; , 'brick'; , pyrgos, 'tower'.[3]
Maritime Vocabulary: e.g. , 'thlassa', 'sea'.
Metals and Metallurgy: , 'kassiteros', 'tin'; , 'chalkos', 'bronze'; ,
'molivos', 'lead'; , 'sidiros', 'iron'.
Musical Instruments: e.g. , 'flute'; , 'kitharis', 'guitar'; , 'trumpet'; ,
'lyre'.
Personal Names: e.g. , 'Odysseus'.[4]
Plants: e.g. , 'elaia', 'olive tree'; , 'kissos', 'ivy'; , 'ampelos', 'vine'.
Social Institutions: e.g. , 'tyrannos', 'absolute ruler'.
Theonyms: e.g. , 'Apollon', 'Apollo'.[5]
Toponyms (or Placenames): -nth- (e.g. 'Korinthos', 'Zakynthos'), -ss- (e.g.
'Parnassos') and -tt- (e.g. 'Hymettus').[6]
Use of Domestic Species: , 'elaion', 'olive oil'; , 'oinos', 'wine'; , 'likythos', 'oilflask'; , 'kanthon', 'pack-ass'.
Weapons: , 'hunting spear'; , 'javelin'; , 'corselet'.
Weaving: , 'cord'; , 'purse'; , 'tunic'.
Substratum theories[edit]
Various explanations have been put forward for these substrate features. Among these are:[7]
Minoan substratum[edit]
The existence of a Minoan (Eteocretan) substratum is the view of English archaeologist Arthur
Evans who assumed widespread Minoan colonisation of the Aegean, policed by a Minoan
thalassocracy. However, the Minoan loanwords found in Mycenaean Greek (i.e. words for
architecture, metals and metallurgy, music, use of domestic species, social institutions, weapons,
weaving) are the result of the socio-cultural and economic interactions between the Minoans and
Mycenaeans during the Bronze Age and are therefore part of a linguistic adstrate in Greek rather
than a substrate.[1]
Anatolian Indo-European substratum[edit]
An Anatolian, perhaps specifically Luwian,[8] substratum has been proposed, on the basis of
-ssa- and -nda- (corresponding to -ssos- and -nthos- in mainland Greece) placenames being
widespread in Western Anatolia.[9] However, of the few words of secure Anatolian origin, most
are cultural items or commodities likely the result of commercial exchange, not of a substratum.
[10] Furthermore, the correlations between Anatolian and Greek placenames may in fact
represent a common early phase of Indo-European spoken prior to the emergence of Anatolian
languages in Asia Minor and Greek in mainland Greece.[11]
Anatolian loanwords include:[12]
Aplln (Doric: Aplln, Cypriot: Apeln), from *Apeljn, as in Hittite Appaliuna;[5]
dpas cup; pot, vessel, Mycenaean di-pa, from Hieroglyphic Luwian ti-pa-s sky; bowl, cup (cf.
Hittite npis sky; cup);
elphs ivory, from Hittite lapa (itself from Mesopotamia; cf. Phoenician lp, Egyptian bw);
kanos dark blue glaze; enamel, from Hittite kuwannan- copper ore; azurite (ultimately from

Sumerian k-an);
kmbachos helmet, from Hittite kupai headgear;
kmbalon cymbal, from Hittite uupal wooden percussion instrument;
mlybdos lead, Mycenaean mo-ri-wo-do, from *mork-io- dark, as in Lydian mariwda( )-k the
dark ones;
bryza vessel for refining gold, from Hittite uprui vessel;
tolp ball of wool, from Hittite taluppa lump (or Cuneiform Luwian taluppa/i).
Tyrrhenian substratum[edit]
On the basis of statements in Thucydides that Tyrrhenian was a former language of Athens and
that the Tyrrhenians had been expelled to Lemnos, it has been suggested that the substrate
language was related to Lemnian, and thus by modern association to Etruscan.
Other possibilities[edit]
The possibility exists that the source may be more than one of these possibilities, or that
vocabulary may have entered the Proto-Greek language before its speakers actually reached
Greece and its pre-Indo-European population. Confusingly, the words wnax ("king") and
wnassa ("queen"), terms that would be expected to originate from a local prestige language or
superstratum, also may appear as natak ("lord") and nasi ("lady") in the Tocharian languages,
spoken far to the east by a people not known to have ever visited Greece.
See also[edit]
Proto-Greek language
Eteocretan
Eteocypriot
Etruscan language
Pelasgians
Tyrrhenian languages
Sicel language