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Lydian was an Indo-European language spoken in the region of Lydia in western Anatolia (present-day Turkey). It belongs to the Anatolian group of the Indo-European language family. Within the Anatolian group, however, Lydian occupies a unique and problematic position due, first, to the still very limited evidence and understanding of the language and, second, to a number of features not shared with any other Anatolian language. It is not presently known whether these represent peculiarly pre-Lydian developments in or the retention of archaic features lost in other Anatolian languages. Until more satisfactory knowledge becomes available, the status of Lydian within Anatolian remains a "special" one. The Lydian language is attested in graffiti and in coin legends from the end of the 8th or the beginning of the 7th century BC down to the 3rd, but well-preserved inscriptions of significant length are presently limited to the 5th and 4th centuries BC, during the period of Persian domination. Lydian texts are thus effectively contemporaneous with those in Lycian. Extant Lydian texts now number slightly over one hundred, all but a few having been found in or near the Lydian capital but fewer than thirty of the inscriptions consist of more than a few words and are reasonably complete. A majority of the inscriptions are on stone, and are sepulchral in content, but several are decrees of one sort or another and some half-dozen texts seem to be in verse, with a stress-based meter and vowel assonance at line end. Tomb inscriptions include many epitaphs, which typically begin with the words ''eś wãnaś'' ("this grave"), as well as short graffiti. Strabo mentions that around his time (1st century BC), the Lydian language had become extinct in Lydia proper, but was still being spoken among the multicultural population of Kibyra (present-day Gölhisar) in south-west Anatolia by the descendants of the Lydian colonists who had founded the city. ==Writing system== (詳細はGreek and to its western Anatolian neighbors, the exact relationship still remaining unclear. The direction of writing in the older texts is either from left to right or right to left. Later texts show exclusively the latter. Use of word-dividers is variable. The more than 100 Lydian texts, written in an alphabet related to the Greek alphabet, were found chiefly at the ancient capital of Sardis. They include decrees and epitaphs, some of which were composed in verse; most were written during the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, although a few may have been created as early as the 7th century.〔http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/22939/Anatolian-languages/74580/Lydian〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lydian language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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