Aeolodoricisms and other non Attic/Koine remnants in modern Greek dialects

[Dr. Evil]

Bravo,doc,and I thought before that "mouggos" is probably a non-Greek loanword!

Not only it is not a non-Greek loanword
Not only does it preserve original "Aeolic" pronounce (mug-)

But it also shows what lingusits call "expressive reduplication"/"expressive gemination"

when a compound word was shortened the last consonant was reduplicated in order to show that it is a shorten form:

Kleomakhos >> Kleòmmas
Ptolemaios >> Ptolèmmas
Peridikaios >> Perdìkkas

Mugi-lalos >> Muggos

In rarer cases it was the last vowel that was geminated ... the best example being:

Nausikasta ("Ship's ornament" >> "what makes a ship shine" , kekadmai/kekastos/Epikasta/Iokasta) >> Nausikaa

Since your German is much much better than mine you can understand directly the great Ernst Rish in work:


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[Dr. Evil]

One defining characteristic of the Aeolic dialects was the use of the digamma «F» (/w/) in place of Attic spiritus asper /h/. More interestingly, the Aeolic poetry of Sappho & Alcaeus uses frequently the letter «β» to express a digamma, which offers the earlier attestation (Sappho & Alcaeus wrote around 600 BC) of fricative pronunciation (/v/) of the letter «β».

Examples:

1) initial /r/

In the Attic-Ionic dialects every initial /r/ (wheather originating from *sr or *wr) was aspirated (hr > rh). In the Aeolic dialects instead, it was pronounced with a digamma (/wr/ written «Fρ» / «βρ» or even «υρ»)

Example: Sappho uses βρόδον [wròdon/vròdon] instead of Attic ῥόδον [rhòdon]

2) negation and double /r/

Each time the steretic /a/ was added to a word that started with /rh/ in Attic the /r/ was reduplicated and maintained its aspiration (a+rh > arrh). The same thing occured each time a compound word had as second element a word starting with /rh/. Hence, διά + ῥέω >> διάρῥοια borrowed in english as diarrhea.

Aeolic on the other hand did not reduplicate the /r/ , and did not aspirated it ... hence simply added /a/ in the /wr/ complex.

Example: «αὔρηκτος» [àwrektos/àvrektos] is Aeolic for Attic «ἄρῥηκτος» [àrrhektos]

That the Ancient Macedonians used the Aeolic variant in their native speech is demonstrated by the ancient Macedonian toponym «Αὔραντος» ("dry land" in the swamp of the Central Macedonian Plain, modern name Νησί -"Island"), which is nothing else but the Aeolic variant of Attic «ἄρῥαντος» -"unwet"/"unwatered"~"dry".

It is interesting that the Aeolic variants have survived in modern Greek along with their Attic counterparts ! And most interestingly, in the evolution of Greek the Attic variants lost their aspiration and the pronounce of the reduplication (we write «αρρ-» and in Kathareuousa/Polytonic «ἀρῥ-», but in both cases we pronounce it simple as /ar/, but the Aeolic variants have survived intact !!!

For example, we say ράχη ("spine"/"mountain edge" from Attic ῥάχη) , but also βράχος ("rock"), from the Aeolic variant «βραχίς» of «ῥαχίς» and we say ρακένδυτος ("dressed in strips of cloth" a compound containing Attic ῥάκος) , but βράκα/βρακί ("underwear") from Aeolic βράκος.