PHILOGLOSSA: Pre-Hellenic Loanwords in Greek

The postdoc research project PHILOGLOSSA: Pre-Hellenic Loanwords in Greek: Lexicon of the Substrate Analysed (2023–2025) is conducted by Matthew Scarborough and is funded by the EU Skłodowska-Curie programme.

In the depths of linguistic history lies a profound puzzle - the enigmatic Pre-Hellenic loanwords that infiltrated the Ancient Greek language during the Bronze Age Aegean era. These ancient borrowings, dating back to Mycenaean Greek, have baffled scholars for years. Attempts to explain them from a single source have stumbled upon methodological roadblocks. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PHILOGLOSSA project will create an open-access linguistic database, enabling a fresh analysis. Recent archaeogenetic studies highlight intense interactions between early Greek speakers and the Aegean’s original inhabitants. Indo-European linguists, Aegean prehistorians, archaeologists, and geneticists will find the project’s results invaluable. This endeavour promises to uncover hidden threads of our linguistic and cultural heritage.