Midas and the

Phrygians

Macedonian names and makeDONSKI pseudo-linguistics:

The case of the names Mita and the Mushki

Miltiades Elia Bolaris

Chicago, 2020
Balkan Illusion - phantasia archaica:
"...it is very interesting to note that many of the authentic ancient Macedonian
words, according to their etymology and pronunciation, have a striking resemblance
to the appropriate words used in the modern Macedonian language (and other so
called "Slav"[sic] languages)."…" We would also mention the name of a Brygian
tribe, the "Mushki", who lived in the 9th century before Christ.
Their name is identical to the noun "mushki" (men), which exists in other "Slavic"
languages.
Their king was called Mita a name which remains unchanged in a number of "Slavic"
languages."
Quote taken from: "Similarities between ancient Macedonian and today's'
Macedonian Culture (Linguistics and Onomastics)" by Aleksandar Donski, celebrity
propagandist-historian from FYROM.

Mushki / Mύσιοι - Phrygians/Φρύγες

Mita/Midas/Μίδας

In our search for the Mushki we will start at the easternmost location where they
have been said to be located, in the Caucasian highlands of the ancient Moschoi:
the area now called Meskheti. Meskheti / მესხეთი is a mountainous region of
Georgia on the Caucasus. It takes its name after the ancient Georgian tribe of the
Meskhi whom the Greeks called Moschoi and their region Moschia. The Meskhi, like
all Georgians speak a Kartvelian language, which is a linguistic family indigenous to
the Caucasus, distinct from, and unrelated to the Indo-European languages.

Stephanos Byzantios in his 5th c.AD "Ethnika" dictionary of ancient nations

mentions them as follows:
Mόσχοι, Κόλχιον έθνος προσεχές τοις Ματιηνοίς. Εκαταίος Ασία.
Moschoi, a Kolchian nation that lives next to the Matienoi, as Hecataeos (of Miletos,
c. 550 - 476 BCE) mentions in his book on Asia.

Meskheti is the modern Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. Hecataeos´ Matienoi

(also known as Hurrians) lived in Matiene / Ματιηνή, a place that became a satrapy
under the Persians and continued to be so under Alexander. After Alexander the
Great´s death Matiene became independent under its satrap, Atropates /Ατροπάτης
who declared himself a king. His kingdom became known as Media Atropatene or
simply Atropatene / Ατροπατηνή. Its name, paraphrased over the centuries, became
what we now call Azerbaijan. The Stephanos Byzantios´ geography for the Kolchian
Moschoi is therefore confirmed. The Kolchian Moschoi, despite the similarity in the
phonetics of their name, are not the same people as the Mushki, though the
possibility always exists that their name "Moschoi" was assigned to them by others,
confusing them with the "Mushki".
The people whom the Assyrians called Mushki are the Phrygians, and the Greeks,
who knew their neighbors and described them well in detail, never confused the
Moschoi with the Mushki-Phrygians. The Assyrians mention two distinct Mushki
people. The first ones to appear in the record are the eastern Mushki around 1165
B.C. The western Mushki appear in the Assyrian records a few centuries later (end of
the 8th to the beginning of the 7th cBC). Igor Diakonoff, the great Russian historian
and linguistics scholar who specialized in the peoples of ancient near East identifies
the Mushki solidly with the Phrygians:

"It is also important that their designation coincides in Assyrian with that of the
Phrygians."
(I. M. Diakonoff, "The Pre-history of the Armenian People", Delmar, New York, 1984,
Предыстория армянского народа, in the original Russian).

Igor Diakonoff, of the Institut Vostokovedenija, in Leningrad - St. Petersburg, should

know a thing or two about the Phrygians: he wrote a book on the Phrygian
language: "Phrygian" by Diakonoff and Neroznak, published by Caravan Books, in
1986. (The original Russian title was Očerk frigijskoj morfologii, published in 1977 in
Vilnius. The book came just before Claude Brixhe's research was published as
I.Diakonoff mentions in his forward ["while reading the proofs, we learned that
Lejeune's and Brixhe's Old Phrygian Corpus is to appear shortly, and that a project
for a Phrygian etymological vocabulary by B. Kowal in Salzburg, Austria is well on its
way. It seems we are on the eve of a breakthrough in Phrygian studies - God-
speed!" so his own findings were not in par with what we now understand of the
Phrygian language, though his hopes and prayers for a breakthrough were indeed
fully answered...!)

Continuing with his (now universally accepted) solid identification of the Mushki with
the Phrygians Igor Diakonoff continues:
"Note that there are are two different groups called "Mushki" in the Assyrian
sources: one group of Mushki captured Alzi and Purulumzi (near the confluence of
the Arsanias and the Euphrates) around 1165 B.C. They are in evidence as an
agricultural population in this region right up to the beginning of the 9th century
B.C.", while "The other group of Mushki are mentioned in connection with the
campaigns of the Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 B.C.) and the Urartian king Rusa
II (first half of the 7th century B.C.) as dwelling to the west of the Cilician Taurus.
They are unquestionably to be identified with the Phrygians."

I. Diakonoff identifies these Eastern Mushki with the Proto-Armenians. And he goes
on to explain the meaning of the name "Mushki":

"One thing is clear, however: in the Ancient Oriental sources the term Mushki was
used to designate Phrygia and the Phrygians, whose Indo-European linguistic
affiliation is unquestionable. Therefore other Thraco-Phrygian tribes may also have
been so designated, including the Proto-Armenian ones. Note the important
suggestion of A. Goetze that the term Mushki originally referred to the Thraco-
Phrygian tribe of the Mysians in northwestern Asia Minor and Troad, and to the
province of Moesia in the Balkans. (Gk. Mysoi, read /Musoi/; the stem is *mus-, /sh/
did not exist in Greek.) The Mysians may have been the first Thraco-Phrygian tribe
whom the inhabitants of Asia Minor learned to know. Later their name spread to all
the tribes related to them or close to them in culture."

The name Mushki, therefore, as Igor Diakonoff clearly explains, was a misnomer for
the Phrygians that originally appeared into the Anatolian scene via Mysia, and it
simply meant "Μύσιοι / Mysians": people (who came from) from Μυσία / Mysia.
Who are the Mysians?
We follow Diakonoff again:

"The northwest corner of Asia Minor was occupied by the Mysians, who spoke a
Phrygian (or Thracian) dialect strongly influenced by Lydian while the western part
of the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, beginning with the Bosporus, was occupied by
the Thracian people of the Bithynians, who had moved from the Balkans later than
the others."

How does Igor Diakonoff know this? He obviously read the Greek Geographer
Strabo, or Strabon / Στράβων as the Greeks prefer to call him, This is what Strabo
tells us about the language of the Mysians:

μαρτυρεῖν δὲ καὶ τὴν διάλεκτον• μιξολύδιον γάρ πως εἶναι καὶ μιξοφρύγιον• τέως
μὲν γὰρ οἰκεῖν αὐτοὺς περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον, τῶν δὲ Φρυγῶν ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης
περαιωθέντων ἀνελόντων τε τῆς Τροίας ἄρχοντα καὶ τῆς πλησίον γῆς, ἐκείνους
μὲν ἐνταῦθα οἰκῆσαι τοὺς δὲ Μυσοὺς ὑπὲρ τὰς τοῦ Καΐκου πηγὰς πλησίον Λυδῶν.
The language also is an evidence of this. It is a mixture of Lydian and Phrygian
words, for they lived some time in the neighborhood of Olympus (ps: The Mysian
Olympus, in Troy, not the Macedonian one, in Greece - M.E.B.). But when the
Phrygians passed over from Thrace, and put to death the chief of Troy and of the
country near it, they settled here, but the Mysians established themselves above
the sources of the Caïcus near Lydia.

As for the Mysians themselves, and the name of their nation, Strabo brings us
ancient testimony:

12.8.3…ὅτι τοὺς Μυσοὺς οἱ μὲν Θρᾷκας οἱ δὲ Λυδοὺς εἰρήκασι, κατ´ αἰτίαν παλαιὰν
ἱστοροῦντες, ἣν Ξάνθος ὁ Λυδὸς γράφει καὶ Μενεκράτης ὁ Ἐλαΐτης,
ἐτυμολογοῦντες καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ τῶν Μυσῶν ὅτι τὴν ὀξύην οὕτως ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ
Λυδοί• πολλὴ δ´ ἡ ὀξύη κατὰ τὸν Ὄλυμπον, ὅπου ἐκτεθῆναί φασι τοὺς
δεκατευθέντας, ἐκείνων δὲ ἀπογόνους εἶναι τοὺς ὕστερον Μυσούς, ἀπὸ τῆς ὀξύης
οὕτω προσαγορευθέντας•
12.8.3… some writers regard the Mysians as Thracians, others as Lydians, according
to an ancient tradition, which has been preserved by Xanthus the Lydian, and by
Menecrates of Elæa, who assign as the origin of the name Mysians, that the Lydians
call the beech-tree (Oxya) Mysos, which grows in great abundance near Olympus,
where it is said decimated persons were exposed, whose descendants are the later
Mysians, and received their appellation from the Mysos, or beech-tree growing in
that country.
Mysia therefore, according to Xanthos the Lydian and Menecrates of Elea, both of
whom Strabo quotes, takes its name from the beech trees that are abundant in its
territory and the Beech tree is called Mysos in the native language of the Lydians,
who were the original inhabitants of that land. Mysia therefore, means "land of the
beech trees" in Lydian. Since the Phrygians stayed in Mysia (also called Minor
Phrygia because of them) after they entered Asia, coming from Thrace and
Macedonia, the neighboring people of Anatolia called them "Mysians". With the
collapse of the Hittite kingdom, around 1180-1160, the bulk of the Phrygians started
moving further east into central Anatolia. Coming from Mysia, the name "Mysians"
stuck with them, and this is the name the Assyrians named them: Μύσιοι / Musioi,
paraphrashed in Assyrian as "Mushki".

If we choose to ignore history and take a plunge into innovative para-history and
pseudo-makedonist ethno-mythology, then we can simply follow Aleksandar Donski
´s rumblings about his imaginary Protoslavonomakedonci "Mushki":

" We would also mention the name of a Brygian tribe, the "Mushki", who lived in the
9th century before Christ.
Their name is identical to the noun "mushki" (men), which exists in other "Slavic"
languages."
Aleksandar Donski, "Simmilarites Between Ancient Maedonian and Todays'
Macedonian Culture(Linguistics and Onomastics)"
http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/show.dml/449188

Furthermore, Donski continues, shamelessly miss-quoting Quintus Rufus:

"Philotas equated the terms Phrygians and Paphlagonians. It is well known that the
Phrygians (in the Balkans were known as Brygians) became the constitutional
ethno-cultural core (???) of the ancient Macedonians (!!!), whereas the term
Paphlagonians represents a geographic name for Veneti(???), i.e. for the ancestors
of the "Slavs"(!!!). What this means actually is that Philotas equated the ancient
Macedonians and the Veneti(???), and this happened before IV BC.(!!!)".

My eyes are hurting trying to read such utter nonsense that is being promoted and
propagated to the people in Skopje as "Istorija na Makedonija". What Istorija? What
Makedonija? Yet, Aleksandar Donski continues marching on into Istorija
paranormalija unabated:

"Even earlier than this, Herodotus wrote that Phrygians (ancient Macedonians)(???)
and Paphlagonians (ancestors of the "Slavs")(???) wore very similar clothes. There is
narrative evidence regarding the analogy between the "Slav" and ancient
Macedonian culture (!!!) from a later period as well."

Ah! Yes! This is exactly why Pinocchio´s nose kept growing longer and longer every
time he told a lie!

Having for now escaped from the History-torture chamber of the Skopjan
propagandists, where History of Macedonia is constantly undergoing Procroustian
"alterations", we go back to professor Igor Diakonoff and breath the fresh air of his
writings. We follow the Phrygians once again. It is historically accepted that the
Phrygians came from Europe, originating from Macedonia, via Thrace into Asia
Minor during the early part of the 12th cBC. A large group of them settled in central
Anatolia, around what is now the capital of Turkey, Ankara, a Phrygian
establishment itself, conquering the lands previously held by the Hittites. It has
been archaeologically suggested that it was not the Phrygians who destroyed the
Hittite kingdom, since Hattusa itself had been destroyed by the "Sea Peoples"
shortly before the arrival of the Phrygians. There, in the land previously held by the
Hittites, they established the kingdom of Phrygia. Their capital was established not
on Hattusa but in Gordion, making a new start, signaling a complete break from the
Hittite past of the area. Another group of Phrygians, which Diakonoff calls the
eastern Mushki, continued on and it is from them that the nation of the Armenians
came about. As Igor Diakonoff tells it:

"Therefore the most probable date for the appearance of the Proto-Armenians in the
Armenian Highlands is the 12th century B.C., the century when there actually is
historical evidence of great migrations (including, in the first place, the Thraco-
Phrygian migration, of which the Proto-Armenians must have been a part). And
when we have direct evidence about the appearance, in precisely this place and at
precisely this time, of a new tribe bearing the designation which was
unquestionably applied to certain Thraco-Phrygian tribes, it can logically be inferred
that this tribe, i.e., the Eastern Mushki, should be identified as the Proto-
Armenians".
Indeed,
"Some 9th or early 8th century Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from Carchemish
on the euphrates actually mention the Musa alongside the Muska (the Proto-
Armenians)"..."while the Luwians, better acquainted with the local conditions,
distinguished netween the Musa (Phrygians) and the Muska (Proto-Armenians), the
other peoples of the Near East called both of them Mushki."
"Phrygian", Diakonoff & Neroznak, Caravan Books, N.Y.1985
What I. Diakonoff tells us is corroborated by the ancient Greeks. Herodotus, in the
mid 5th cBC tells us that the Armenians were dressed and armed like the Phrygians
and in fact he calls them "Phrygian settlers":

οἱ δὲ Φρύγες, ὡς Μακεδόνες λέγουσι, ἐκαλέοντο Βρίγες χρόνον ὅσον Εὐρωπήιοι

ἐόντες σύνοικοι ἦσαν Μακεδόσι, μεταβάντες δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην ἅμα τῇ χώρῃ καὶ τὸ
οὔνομα μετέβαλον ἐς Φρύγας. Ἀρμένιοι δὲ κατά περ Φρύγες ἐσεσάχατο, ἐόντες
Φρυγῶν ἄποικοι.
Ηροδότου Ιστορίαι (7.73)

As the Macedonians say, these Phrygians were called Briges as long as they dwelt in
Europe, where they were neighbors of the Macedonians; but when they changed
their home to Asia, they changed their name also and were called Phrygians. The
Armenians, who are settlers from Phrygia, were armed like the Phrygians.
Herodotus Histories (7.73) translation by A.D. Godley
Incidentally, Herodotus tells us another thing of interest here, which Aleksandar
Donski would not want us to know: that the Macedonians and the Phrygians were
NOT the same people:
οἱ δὲ Φρύγες…ἐκαλέοντο Βρίγες / these Phrygians were called Briges
χρόνον ὅσον Εὐρωπήιοι ἐόντες / as long as they dwelt in Europe
σύνοικοι ἦσαν Μακεδόσι / where they were neighbors of the Macedonians

In other words, the Bryges were NEIGHBORS of the Macedonians…NOT

Macedonians themselves. And who told that to Herodotus?

...ὡς Μακεδόνες λέγουσι... /...as the Macedonians say…

The Macedonians themselves!

The Skopjans in their attempt to shed their own Slavic roots and claim autochthony
in the lower Balkan peninsula long before the 7th c.AD in which their early-Slavonic
speaking ancestors appeared in Macedonia, and trying to un-historically claim direct
descent from the Greek speaking ancient Macedonians of Philip and Alexander the
Great, fall from one Big Lie onto another. They originally begun by claiming the
name "Macedonia" and "Macedonians" as exclusively their own. Then they followed
by claiming identity with the ancient Macedonians. Now they claim the Paionians
and the Phrygians as supposedly being (Slavonic-speaking, of course) "Makedonci".
We have dealt with the Paionians at an earlier article and we promise to return to
them, but as far as the Phrygians are presently concerned, we can see that the
Macedonians did not consider them as one and the same as themselves. They
simply considered them as neighbors.
Herodorus, as mentioned earlier, considers the Phrygians σύνοικους / synoikous /
neighbors of the Macedonians in ancient times, and furthermore he considers the
Armenians as ἄποικους / apoikous / colonists of the Phrygians, therefore closely
related to them.

To make things more interesting, we find that a consensus seems to be forming

among modern Linguists (Antoine Meillet, Solta, Vladimir Georgiev, Igor Diakonoff,
Clackson, Eric Hamp, etc) about the chronologically distant but linguistically close
relationship between Greek and Armenian. Many linguists now speak of a Hellenic-
Armenian sub group within the broad Indo-European linguistic family. This
relationship is represented in multiple linguistic trees:
http://www.phil.muni.cz/linguistica/art/blazek/bla-003.pdf
In the "Grammar of Modern Indo-European", Second Edition, by Carlos Quiles &
Fernando López-Menchero (http://dnghu.org/en/Grammar-Indo-European-
Language/), we read that:

"Armenian was traditionally regarded as a close relative of Phrygian, apparently

closely related to Greek, sharing major isoglosses with it. The Graeco-Armenian
hypothesis proposed a close relationship to the Greek language, putting both in the
larger context of Paleo-Balkans languages – notably including Phrygian, which is
widely accepted as an Indo-European language particularly close to Greek, and
sometimes Ancient Macedonian –, consistent with Herodotus´ recording of the
Armenians as descending from colonists of the Phrygians."

In the same grammar we also read that:

"traditional linguistic theory, proposed by Pedersen (1924), establishes a close

relationship between both original communities, Greek and Armenian, departing
from a common subdialect of IE IIIa (Southern Dialect of Late PIE).
PIE voiceless stops are aspirated in Proto-Armenian, a circumstance that gave rise
to the Glottalic theory, which postulates that this aspiration may have been sub-
phonematic already in PIE.
In certain contexts, these aspirated stops are further reduced to w, h or zero in
Armenian – so e.g. PIE *p‟ots, into Arm. otn, Gk. pous, ―foot‖; PIE *t‟reis, Arm.
erek‟, Gk. treis, ―three‖.
The reconstruction of Proto-Armenian being very uncertain, there is no general
consensus on the date range when it might have been alive. If Herodotus is correct
in deriving Armenians from Phrygian stock, the Armenian-Phrygian split would
probably date to between roughly the 12th and 7th centuries BC, but the individual
sound-laws leading to Proto-Armenian may have occurred at any time preceding the
5th century AD."
Finally:

"Grammatically, early forms of Armenian had much in common with classical Greek
and Latin, but the modern language (like Modern Greek) has undergone many
transformations."
In the "Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture", by J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams,
we read that:

"Only Armenian, Greek and Indo-Iranian show clear traces of the reconstructed PIE
imperfect tense. Likewise, they, and Phrygian are the only IE languages to show the
"augment" in past tense formations. Within the smaller group Armenian appears to
be most closest allied with Greek showing a number of shared lexical items with it
(i.g., Arm. Awelum "I increase" and Grk. ὀφέλλω "I increase" from *h3bhel- or Arm.
siwn "column" and Grk. κίων "column" from something like *kijon). (page29)

The ancient Greeks, and not just Herodotus, were actually very much aware of the
linguistic and ethnic connection between the Armenians and the Phrygians and of
the affinity of the Phrygian language to Greek, even if they did not always have the
right linguistic tools to analyze these relationships. In Stephanos Byzantios´
dictionary we read under the lemma Armenia / Αρμενία what Εύδοξος / Eudoxos
mentions about the Armenians:
Αρμένιοι δε το μεν γένος εκ Φρυγείας και τη φωνή πολλά Φρυγίζουσι
Armenioi de to men genos ek Phrygias kai tei phonei polla Phrygizousi
As for the Armenians they are by ethnic descent from Phrygia and in language very
Phrygian
(Στέφανος Βυζαντιος / Stephanos Byzantios, quoting Εύδοξος / Eudoxos)

Indeed, as Igor Diakonoff tells us:

"...the Phrygian and Armenian sounded so strikingly similar to the Greek observers".
To any hypothetic connection between the ancient Armenians and the Phrygians to
the Slavs, for which the infamous falsifiers of history from Skopje are so certain
about, the ancient Armenians would emphatically answer:
OCH' !...No, Not!
The Phrygians would also answer:
OFKE ! Ovke...Not!
While the ancient Macedonians, along with the other Greeks would answer :
OYXI! Ouchi...No, Not!
And the Modern Greeks will say :
OXI! Ochi...No!

I suppose the Slavonic answer would simply be Nyet, Ni, Ne, Nie...!

As for the supposed imaginary connection between the Mushki, both, the Western
Mushki, the Phrygians and the Eastern Mushki, the early Proto-Armenians, to the
Slavo-Bugarski - speaking inhabitants of modern FYROM, in Skopje, Igor Diakonoff, a
Russian, a Slav himself, but a world class scholar, not some provincial Skopjan
charlatan, is once again assuring us that:

"...Proto-Armenian did not belong to the Anatolian (Hittito-Luwian), Indo-Iranian, or,

e.g., the Slavonic branch of Indo-European, since the phonetic changes in
comparison with reconstructed Proto-Indo-European which are peculiar to Old
Armenian are different from those in all of these branches."

Having uncovered the ethnic and linguistic connections between the Proto
Armenian Eastern Mushki and their ethnic and linguistic brethren, the western
Mushki, the Phrygians, and having explored the chronologically distant but
linguistically and grammatically close connections of Armenian to Greek, it is time
for us to explore the connections between Phrygian and Greek.
While the Phrygians have been attested in central Anatolia since about 1165 and we
hear of the battles of the Assyrians with the Mushki around 1125, the first written
documents in the Phrygian language come to us in the form of the Paleo-Phrygian
inscriptions, most of which are from the 8th century to about the 6th, though they
continue to the time of Alexander the Great.
In the same way that Hurrian and Urartian vocabulary entered Old Armenian as a
substratum base through a period of bilingualism and helped create the Armenian
language (which was also later augmented by Persian, Parthian and Coine and
Byzantine Greek loanwords), the Phrygian language likewise absorbed many words
from the Anatolian languages from the areas into which it spread.
This is confirmed by Claude Brixhe, the French historical linguist most immersed in
the Phrygian language, who tells us that:

"Phrygian shares several isoglosses with the Anatolian Indo-European languages;"

But as in any other language, loanwords do not determine the essence of a
language. Claude Brixhe has no doubts about the fundamental nature of the
Phrygian language:
"Unquestionably, however, Phrygian is most closely linked with Greek."
Isoglosses of Phrygian and Greek include the relative pronoun yos/ios/ιος, the aorist
augment e/ε, the stem pant- / παντα, the –s/-ς ending of the nominative singular in
masculine names, the denominative verbs built on o- stems (Greek κακόω / paleo-
Phrygian κακοιοι), the participial suffix –meno, the pronoun αυτο/auto, the stem
κακο- / kako-, the conjunction ai/αι, in the same usage as in Doric and Aeolic αι, and
others."

"These features" according to Claude Brixhe "betray very close prehistoric ties
between the two languages, Phrygian and Greek, as well as the fact that they
belong, no doubt, to the same dialectal subgroup of early Indo-European."
Phrygian, from "The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor", Cambridge University Press,
Edited by Roger Woodard

The extensive common vocabulary between Greek and Phrygian did not in fact go
unnoticed by the ancient Greeks. This is how Plato narrates Socrates´ conversation
with Ermogenes / Ἑρμογένης in Cratylus / Kρατύλος:
Σωκράτης ὅρα τοίνυν καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα τὸ "πῦρ" μή τι βαρβαρικὸν ᾖ. τοῦτο γὰρ
οὔτε ῥᾴδιον προσάψαι ἐστὶν Ἑλληνικῇ φωνῇ, φανεροί τ᾽ εἰσὶν οὕτως αὐτὸ
καλοῦντες Φρύγες σμικρόν τι παρακλίνοντες: καὶ τό γε "ὕδωρ" καὶ τὰς "κύνας" καὶ
ἄλλα πολλά.
Πλάτωνος Kρατύλος ή «Περί ονομάτων ορθότητος» [410α]
Socrates Well then, consider whether this "pur"(fire) is not foreign; for the word is
not easily brought into relation with the Hellenic tongue, and the Phrygians may be
observed to have the same word slightly changed, just as they have "hudor"(water)
and "kunes" (dogs), and many other words.
Cratylus, Plato [410α] (Translated by Benjamin Jowett)
"πῦρ"/ "pur"(fire) ,
"ὕδωρ"/ "hudor"(water),
"κύνας"/ "kunas" (dogs),
"καὶ ἄλλα πολλά " / kai alla polla (and many other words),

The Greeks of Plato´s day, in the 5th c.BC, fully seven centuries after the Bryges -
Phryges – Mushki had left Macedonia for Asia Minor, instinctively recognized that
their language, indeed the very distant from Phrygian dialect of Attic Greek, still had
a multitude of everyday words in common with the language of the Phrygians.
Despite this recognition of similarity in their languages and lacking the linguistic
tools of today, they assumed that these words were simply "barbarian" loanwords
into Greek.

Were the Greeks mistaken in recognizing this linguistic similarity? Is the French
linguist Claude Brixhe (arguablyr the most authoritative Phrygian scholar alive) a
lone voice in believing that Greek and Phrygian are sister languages? Let us hear
what a Russian scholar, Vladimir Orel had to say on this subject:

"The comparative data, both etymologies and the historical grammar of Phrygian,
demonstrate the existence of close links between Phrygian and Greek. In fact,
Phrygian and Greek must be described as parts of a taxonomic subgroup within the
larger branch of southern Indo-European languages, including Armenian and Indo-
Iranian."
Who is Vladimir Orel? He is the man that wrote the book on the subject:
"The language of the Phrygians" – Description and Analysis, in the series of
"Anatolian and Caucasian Studies", Delmar, NY, 1997

I think this is all best demonstrated once we read a few inscriptions in Paleo-
Phrygian. Then the similarities and affinity of the language of the Phrygians to either
Greek or (as our friends from Skopje claim) to south Slavic will become apparent.
Following below is inscription #2 from the city of Midas, known to archaeologists as
Phrygian inscription "M-02":

Inscription: 2
Line: 1
bba : memevais : proitavo[s]
ΒΒΑ : ΜΕΜΕFΑΙΣ : ΠΡΟΙΤΑFΟ[Σ]

Line: 2
kcianaveyos : akaragayun
Κ!ΙΑΝΑFΕJΟΣ ΑKΑΡΑΓΑJΥN

Line: 3
edaes
ΕΔΑΕΣ

Commentary (My note, M.B.: all commentaries and explanations, unless otherwise
indicated, are by professor Vladimir Orel, taken from his book sited above)

ΒΒΑ
Baba, nominative, singular, masculine a- stem. Proper name of the late Anatolian
type. Reference: Bithynian Βαβας, Lydian Βαβας, Carian Βαβης, Pisidian Βαβις. Note
also Thracian Βάβας.
ΜΕΜΕFΑΙΣ
memevais, nominative, singular, masculine ai- stem"councelor" (?): a title of Baba.
Another form in –evais (see reference arkiaevais in M-01a, where: «–evais is
probably connected with with Greek derivatives in –εὐς»). No certain etymology has
been suggested but it is perhaps connected with Hittite mema- "speak, recite, read
aloud, report", memijan- "word(s)".
On the other hand note Late Anatolian names: Pisidian Μεμμας Μεμουα. The later
may go back to *memawa.
ΠΡΟΙΤΑFΟ[Σ]
proitavo[s], nominative, singular, masculine, o –stem "leader, chief" (?). Derivative
in –avo- (reference akenanogavos in M-01a, where –avo- (cf Greek -αός ?) based on
pro-it- "preceding", a prefixal formation connected with IE *ei- "go, walk", or more
exactly with *i-to-, cf Greek ἰτός "passable" and its derivatives (ἐξιτός and the like).

Κ!ΙΑΝΑFΕJΟΣ
Kτianaveyos, nominative, singular, masculine, adjective, o-stem "Tyanian"(?). The
word in question is a derivative in -eyo- of ktianava- (with a secondary glide –y-)
that could be identified with the name of an East Phrygian city of Tyana: Greek
Τύανα =Anatolian Tuwanuwa = Akkadian Tuhana. Ktianaveyos seems to be an
ethnic or geographic name.

ΑKΑΡΑΓΑJΥN
akaragayun, nominative, singular, masculine, o-stem "altar". The ending –un < *-on
reflects a sporadic Old Phrygian narrowing of unstressed vowels before a nasal. As
in comparison with M-01b shows, akaragayo- belongs to the same semantic field as
keneman-. The word akaragayo- appears to be a compound consisting of , akaraga-
that may be identified with Greek άκαρος / (akaros) σημαίνει τον εγκέφαλον ή την
κεφαλήν (means the brain, or the head), (Et. Magn. 45.13) and gaio-, probably, to
be compared with Greek –γαιος as a second part of composites derived from γαία
"earth". Thus, the possible source of this term may have meant something like
"earth head" or "earth mount".

ΕΔΑΕΣ
edaes, 3 singular, aorist, trans. Verb "dedicative". A sigmatic form nased on the
zero-grade or on the full grade of IE *dhe- "put". An alternative etymology deriving
edaes from IE *do- "give" is less probable. (My note, M.B.: edaes is therefore related
to έθεσεν/ethesen more probably that to έδωσεν/edosen, despite the later's
similarity)

The dedicator is the same person as in inscription M-01b. the text says:
"B(a)ba, the councelor (?) and the leader (from) Tyana (?) has dedicated this
altar(?)".

As it becomes apparent, in order to translate Old Phrygian, modern scholars,

including Vladimir Orel in this case, need to know Anatolian place and proper
names, which the Phrygians adopted in their new homeland, in Asia Minor, on one
hand, and Greek linguistic roots, with which Phrygian shares a common source, on
the other.
To bring this point home even further, I decided to bring to the reader one more
Phrygian inscription, this one much later than the one above, from the 2nd cBC. By
this time it had been a thousand years since the Phrygians had left Macedonia and
lost contact with their Greek speaking distant linguistic cousins. This inscription is
from Western Phrygia, and in Vladimir Orel´s "The language of Phrygians" book it is
inscription W*-21, while in the on line Titus website of Phrygian inscriptions it is

Inscription #15
http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/phrygian/phryg216.htm
Inscription: 15

Line: 1
kseunE tan eiksa. ups.o/dan protuss[.]stam/e.nan mankan ami./a.sianioi anar
doruka[nos...]
ΞΕΥΝΗ ΤΑΝ ΕΙΞΑ. ΥΨ.Ο/ΔΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΥΣΣ[.]ΣΤΑΜ/Ε.ΝΑΝ ΜΑΝΚΑΝ ΑΜΙ./Α.ΣΙΑΝΙΟΙ ΑΝΑΡ
ΔΟΡΥΚΑ[ΝΟΣ...]
ξευνη ταν ειξ(α) υψο
δαν προτυσσ[ε]σταμ
εναν μανκαν αμ(ι)
(α)ς ιαν ιοι αναρ δορυκα[νος...]
Commentary

ΞΕΥΝΗ
ξευνη / kseunE, dative, singular, feminine, a-stem(?). A proper name. Besides
Phrygian forms (also in numerous Greek inscriptions), a Galatian name Ξευνα is also
attested. The comparison with Lithuanian kiaune "weasel" < keynje is groundless.
An alternative etymology may be suggested linking ξευνη to Greek ξένος "host,
stranger", feminine ξένη < *ξένFος, *ξένFα. Note various proper names derived
from ξένος as, for instance Ξενέας, Ξένειος, Ξένων, etc. Thus, assuming that in
Phrygian *-nu- changed to *-un- (no contradictory data are known), Ξευνη is derived
from an earlier *ksenua.

ΤΑΝ
ταν / tan, accusative, singular, feminine, demonstrative pronoun
(My note- MEB: ταν/tan is identical to Doric ταν/tan. See Spartan: ή τάν ή επί τάς / i
tan i epi tas. Attic, Coine and Modern Greek: την/tin)

ΕΙΞΑ
ειξ(α) / eiksa, adverb, "later, afterwards". The sourse of this form seems to be Greek
ἐξής "in one line, successively, one after another", or, rather its supposed source
*εξα.As the Greek adverb may have a temporal meaning, in our case, with a single
object (see μανκαν), ειξα may be interpreted as referring to some later addition to
the originally established tombstone.

ΥΨ.Ο/ΔΑΝ
υψοδαν/upsodan, adverb, "above, on the top". This form is identical with Greek
*υψοθα, a form in –θα, parallel to the attested ύψόθεν. As -θα appears to go back to
*dhn, the comparison seems to be fairly accurate.

ΠΡΟΤΥΣΣ[.]ΣΤΑΜΕΝΑΝ
προτυσσ(ε)σταμεναν / protuss[.]stam/e.nan, accusative, singular, med. participle,
"set, located, established". The form consists of a proverb (or autonomous adverb ?)
προτυ / protu and a usual reduplicated participle of sta- "put, stand"…The proverb is
undoubtedly connected with Greek (Homeric) προτί / proti, skt prati.

ΜΑΝΚΑΝ
μανκαν / mankan, accusative, singular, a-stem "part of monument". Taking into
account that Φρύγες μέχρι νύν τα λαμπρά και θαυμαστά των έργων μανικά
καλούσιν (Plutarch, Is. U. Os. 24.360), we may assume that μανκα- results from a
syncope of manika-. Its further etymological connection with *men- "remember,
think" cannot be excluded.

ΑΜΙΑΣ
Αμιας / amias, nominative, singular, masculine, a-stem. A proper name of late
Anatolian type, cf Lydian Αμιας, Αμμιας, Carrian Αμιας, Αμμιας, Myssian Αμμιας.

ΙΑΝ
ιαν / ian, accusative, singular, feminine, dem., pronoun. A form of yo- ("which, that,
who". Connected with IE relative pronoun *io-s: Skt ya-, Av yo, Greek ὃς). (My note
MEB: in Coine Greek in Ioannes Stobaeos Anthologion (Ανθολόγιον, Ιωάννης from
Στόβοι /Stobi): η σωφροσύνη, ήν και οι πολλοί ονομάζουσι σωφροσύνην)

ΙΟΙ
ιοι / ioi, dative, singular, masculine, demonstrative pronoun A form of yo- ("which,
that, who". Connected with IE relative pronoun *io-s: Skt ya-, Av yo, Greek ὁς). The
hypothesis of ioi being feminine is farfetched. (My note MEB: in Coine Greek in the
bible: ὃς γὰρ ἐὰν θέλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι, ἀπολέσει αὐτήν• Mark 8:35)

ΑΝΑΡ
aναρ / anar, nominative, cons. Stem "husband". Etymologically identical with Greek
ἀνήρ / aner, Armenian ayr. (My note MEB: ἀνήρ / aner, "husband, man" genitive:
andros / ανδρος is also the word behind the name Andreas / Ανδρεας, Andrew).

ΔΟΡΥΚΑΝΟΣ
δορυκανος / dorykanos, noun singular, o-stem. A proper name appearing as
Δορυκανος, dative Δορυκανωι in Greek inscription in Phrygia. A compound with
Phrygian or Greek δορυ-/dory- as the first element. As to the second element, it
could be tentatively compounred with Greek καινός /kainos < *κανjος (My note
MEB: καινός /kainos means "new", as in Καινή Διαθήκη /Kaine Diatheke = New
Testament ).

"The text," Vladimir Orel tells us, "is unfinished. Its meaning, however, is securely
established:"

"Afterwards, for Xeuna, Amias (put) on the top this part of the monument which (her
husband Dorykanos ga(gave or ordered) him.

This is Vladimir Orel´s Translation. A translation from the Phrygian that would be
impossible unless the translator had a deep knowledge of the Greek language,
since, as it becomes apparent, Phrygian was at some point (from roughly 2500BC to
2000 BC) the same language as Greek and then it started splitting from it as most
Greeks, starting with the Achaeans, pushed further south into the Hellenic
peninsula, leaving some of their kin further up, in areas of what is now southern
Serbia, Kossovo. Subsequently they were pushed once again further south, into
what is now FYROM-Skopje and, later, Macedonia. At some point, possibly pushed
by other neighbors from the north, they left Macedonia and moved further east ,
initially into Thrace and then into Asia Minor. This was about eight hundred years
after their initial split from the other Hellenic tribes, or shortly after 1200BC. By
then, their linguistic paths with the other Greeks were completely split into separate
directions. It took Alexander and his capture of Phrygia (cutting the "Gordian knot"
being the most memorable moment of his passing through Phrygia), along with the
rest of Asia, for Greeks and Phrygians to re-unite once again.

Since the Gordian knot is mentioned, I think it is wise to say a few words about
Gordion, the historic capital of the Phrygians. Because of its similarity with the
Slavic wird Gorod, with which it obviously shares a common linguistic root, both
Phrygian and Slavonic being of the same broad Indo-European family, the Skopjans
try to make a case for Slavonic Phrygians. One shallow does not bring the spring,
say the Greeks and one or two cognates, common with othger languages does not
make such an Historically unsupported case. Let us read what Stephanos Byzantios
says about Gordion:

"Γορδίειον, πόλις της μεγάλης Φρυγείας προς τηι Καππαδοκίαι, από Γορδίου του
πατρός Μίδου. το εθνικόν Γορδιεύς, ώς Κοτιάειον Κοτιεύς, Δορυλάειον Δορυλεύς..."
Στέφανος Βυζάντιος
"Gordieion, city of the Greater Phrygia towards Cappadocia, from Gordios, father of
Midas. the ethnic name is Gordieus, as in Kotiaeion (present Kutahya, my note: MB)
Kotieus, Dorylaeion (Present Eskişehir, my note: MB) Doryleus..."
Stephanos Byzantios

But then, he continues with more lemmata, like Gordiou Teichos, in Thrace, which
Stephanos Byzantios clearly identifies as a Phrygian establishment:
« Γορδίου τείχος, πόλις...Μίδου κτίσμα, του παιδός Γορδίου. ο πολίτης
Γορδιοτειχίτης.»
Gordiou teichos, city…Midas´ foundation, the son of Gordios. The citizen is called
Gordioteicheitis."

Then there is a Gordynia/Γορδυνία, in Macedonia, which the Yugoslavian-Greek

professor Fanoula Papazoglou identified in 1988 with modern Gevgeli (Гевгелија -
Γευγελή), on the Greco-Yugoslavian border:

"Γορδυνία, πόλις Μακεδονίας, το εθνικόν Γορδυνιάτης

Gordynia, city of Macedonia, the ethnic (citizen's name) Gordyniates

Then there is also a province Gortynia/Γορτυνία, and a municipality named Γόρτυνα

/ Gortyna even today, in Arcadia, in Central Peloponnese and cities named
Gortyn/Γόρτυν in Thessaly, in Crete, etc.

"Γόρτυν, πόλις Κρήτης. Ούτω δε διά του ν. Από ήρωος Γόρτυος. Εκαλείτο δε και
Λάρισσα. Πρότερον γάρ εκαλείτο Ελλωτίς (ούτω γάρ παρά Κρησίν η Ευρώπη), είτα
Λάρισσα, είτα Κρημνία και ύστερον Γόρτυς. Φασί δέ τήν αιτιατικήν οι μέν
δισυλλάβως Γόρτυν, οι δέ τρισυλλάβως «Γόρτυνά τε τοιχειόεσσαν» οι δέ Γόρτυναν
ώς άμυναν"

"Gortyn, city of Crete, so called because of Gortys, the hero. Such was also called
Larissa (in Thessaly, central Greece, my note: MB). Earlier it was called Ellotis (since
this was the name of the Cretans for Europe). then Larissa, then Cremnia and later
yet Gortys. Some say that in accusative it was bisyllabic, Gortys, while others insist
it was trisyllabic "Gortyna te teicheioessan/ and Gortyna the high walled" and still
others Gortyna, as in defence."

I stress the last sentence:

"...οι δέ Γόρτυναν ώς άμυναν"
"...and still others (call it) Gortyna, as in defence."

Gortys-Gortyna, as we can see is indeed a Phrygian-Greek isogloss that meant a "a

city surrounded by wall", i.e. "a well defensible city". So much for the presence of
Slavs in ancient central Anatolia, or ancient Crete and ancient Peloponnese, for that
matter.

Alexander's passing through Phrygia and its eventual incorporation into the
Seleukid empire shortly afterward, quickly led to the Phrygian´s complete
Hellenization, a process that was completed in the first centuries of the Christian
era, leading into Byzantium.

Yet, despite this, there are people, like the Skopje government´s mouthpiece by the
name of Aleksandar Donski, who twist accepted history and arbitrarily claim that
the Phrygians were somehow "Slavic" in speech, and, in some way or another,
related to the modern Slavonic speakers of the Vardarska region, in FYROM.
Aleksandar Donski goes indeed as far as to claim that:

"Their king was called Mita a name which remains unchanged in a number of
"Slavic" languages."

Who was Mita?

We will read a section from Igor Diakonoff´s book "The Pre-history of the Armenian
People" (in the original Russian: Игорь Михайлович Дьяконов, Предыстория
армянского народа). It is from the chapter "The History of the Armenian Highlands
in the Middle Bronze and Early Iron Ages" where I. Diakonoff is speaking of the
Assyrian advance into Anatolia, from the middle of the 8th Century to the middle of
the 7th Century B.C.

"The right shore of the Upper Euphrates valley also remained independent for a
while. However Sargon II now tried to drive a wedge between Urartu and Phrygia
(Western Mushki), whose king Midas (Mita) became an ally of Rusa I and later
apparently of his successor, Argishti II. Assyria needed such a wedge in the Cilician
Taurus Mountains and on the right shore of the Upper Euphrates [89] to safeguard
the Assyrian possessions in Syria and the uninterrupted conveyance into Assyria of
iron and other raw materials from Asia Minor. Therefore Sargon II decided to
undertake a series of campaigns into this province. They began in 718 B.C.,243 and
in 715 Sargon II collided in Que with the forces of Midas, the king of Phrygia (Mita,
the king of Mushku), who obviously had undertaken a counteroffensive."

One curious thing is that Professor Diakonoff is using parenthesis when he speaks of
the "Mushki" (Western Mushki) and "Mita" (Mita) or (Mita, the king of Mushku), but
he does not use parenthesis when he calls them "Midas" and "Phrygia". As we
explained earlier above, the name Mushki and Mushku meant "Mysians" and it was
the name by which the Phrygians were known to the Assyrians (and also to other
Anatolian people), hence Diakonoff´s parentheses. The Phrygians preferred to call
themselves Βρύγες / Bruges, which the Greeks pronounced as Φρύγες / Phryges.
The name of their most famous king was likewise not Mita either. Aleksandar Donski
might pride in the fact that"Mita" is "a name which remains unchanged in a number
of "Slavic" languages." But this was simply the name by which he was known to the
Assyrians and to other Anatolian neighbors of the Phrygians, and this happens to be
the name which we find written in the Assyrian documents. This is why Igor
Diakonoff puts it in parentheses.
The Greeks knew him as Μίδας / Midas. He was famous for his legendary wealth and
riches. Dionysos, it was said being in his Midas´ debt for having hosted Selinus in
his palace, when he found him drunk and witless, so he gave him the choice of a
wish he could have granted by the God, and Midas asked for what we now know as
the Midas touch: to make gold out of everything he touched. Soon, of course he
realized his folly when food and water and his own daughter turned into gold upon
his touch. Midas had to wash off in the river Pactolos to shed his Golden touch. Even
today, Greeks still say that someone has a "Pactolos of money" when speaking of
someone very wealthy.Midas was also known for another folly of his. Having chosen
Pan and not Apollo as the better musician in a contest, he earned for himself the
wreath of Phaebos Apollo and two donkey ears to show for it, just so as to
remember to be more careful next time and to listen more attentively – hence the
bigger ears. Embarrassed, Midas covered his ears into a Turban, revealing it only o
his barber. The barber, unable to break his oath of secrecy about the king´s ears,
dud a hole and told his secret to the ground. Then he covered it.Reeds grew on top
of that ground and when the wind blew, the wreaths were saying: Μίδας έχει ώτα
όνου / Midas ehei oota onou /Midas has donkey´s ears!

Midas!…Not Mita!

His real name in his own language, Phrygian, was indeed Μιδας / Midas, not "Mita"!
How do we know? The stones, once again, they speak. Phrygian inscriptions come
to truth´s rescue. Here is one:
From Midas-city
Inscription: 1dI
Line: 1
midas
ΜΙΔΑΣ
It is in fact as straightforward as it can get! ΜΙΔΑΣ / MIDAS !
ΜΙΔΑΣ / MIDAS, masculine, a-stem. Proper name, identified with the name of the
Phrygian king Μίδας, Ionian Μίδης (Herodotus .14), of late Anatolian origin, cf.
Hittite Mita.

Hence the burning question arises: Were the Hittites Bugarski-speaking, Skopjan
Slavs too? I am only asking because the last time I checked, the Turks were
claiming the (most definitely not Altao-Turkic but Indo-European) Hittites as their
ancestors…And since we mentioned the Turks, their capital Ankara is a Phrygian
city. The Greeks call it Άγκυρα /Ancyra, meaning "anchor" and this is what the
Phrygians call it too. We know that there was a temple of Apollo in Ancyra with a
curious relic inside it, a stone anchor, a religious relic that gave its name to the new
foundation when that city was built, so we know that Ancyra meant anchor in
Phrygian too, not only in Greek. This makes for one more Greek-Phrygian isogloss,
in other words, indeed the most famous one today.

And since the conversation brought Midas into the Greek-Phrygian isoglosses issue,
let us read the most celebrated of all the Phrygian inscriptions, the one inscribed
outside the tomb of King Midas himself!:

From Midas-city
Inscription: 1a

Line: 1
ates : arkiaevais : akenanogavos : midai : lavagtaei : vanaktei : edaes
ΑΤΕΣ : ΑΡΚΙΑΕFΑΙΣ : ΑΚΕΝΑΝΟΓΑFΟΣ : ΜΙΔΑΙ : ΛΑFΑΓΤΑΕΙ : FΑΝΑΚΤΕΙ : ΕΔΑΕΣ

With Vladimir Orel as our teacher, and his monumental work in "The language of the
Phgrygians" as our guide, let us walk through this sentence, word after word.

Commentary:

ΑΤΕΣ ates, nominative, singular, masculine, e-stem. Proper name of the late
Anatollian type.

ΑΡΚΙΑΕFΑΙΣ arkiaevais, nominative, singular, masculine ai-stem "senior official,

archont" (?). hardly a part of an onomastic formula. The word belongs to the group
of formations in –evais (probably, connected with Greek derivatives in -εύς). Its root
arki-, may be tentatively connected with Greek άρχω "be first, begin" and "order,
command" in the military sense of the word. Note that in compounds the Greek
stem has a morphological variant ἀρχι (…).(My note MB: Modern Greek
αρχιγεύων/archigevon = leading person. Also similar but with altered meaning:
αρχιερεύς/archiereus = chief priest)

ΑΚΕΝΑΝΟΓΑFΟΣ akenanogavos, nominative, singular, masculine, o-stem "senior

official, keeper of monuments". The second title of Ates, this is a compound
consisting of two elements: aken- " monument" and anogavo-, a derivative formed
by the suffix -avo- (cf. Greek -αός?) from a verbal stem anog(a)- compared with
Greek άνωγα / anoga (epic perfect), ανώγω / anogo (secondary present) "order,
request". (…). As to the social function of akenanogavos, cf. similar institutions and
terms are attested in Lycian A and B.

ΜΙΔΑΙ midai, dative, singular, masculine, a-stem. Proper name well attested as
belonging to Phrygian king Μίδας, Ionian Μίδης (Herodotus .14), and belonging to
the late Anatolian origin. It must have been a dynastic name of Phrygian kings. As
such, it may be identified with Hittite Mita.

ΛΑFΑΓΤΑΕΙ lavagtaei, dative, singular, a-stem, "chief, military chief". Quite probably,
spelled mistakenly as lavagtai instead of lavagetai by the engraver. Title of Midas,
identical with the Greek compound λαγέτας, Mycenaean ra-wa-ke-ta = λαFαγέτας
(chief of the people). The Phrygian form does not seem to be borrowed from Greek,
and may be considered as a part of a Graeco-Phrygian inherited vocabulary. (My
note, MEB: In Linear B script, Mycenaean Greek: ra-wa-ke-ta λαFαγέτας. λαός/laos
= people (in Homeric times : people under arms) + ηγέτης /hegetes = leader, and
also Modern Greek: λαοηγέτης/laoegetes = people´s leader.)

FΑΝΑΚΤΕΙ vanaktei, dative, singular, masculine, consonated stem "lord, master,

sire". To be compared with Greek άναξ / anaks "lord, master, sire" (with initial F-
preserved in dialects and reflected in Homeric texts), Mycenaean wa-na-ka.
Phrygian vanak- is not necessarily a Greek loanword. (My note, MEB: Ιn Mycenaean
Linear B: wa-na-ka Fάναξ. άναξ/anax άνακτος/anaktos, and modern Greek
ανάκτορον/anaktoro = royal palace)
ΕΔΑΕΣ edaes, 3 singular, aorist, trans. Verb "dedicative". A sigmatic form nased on
the zero-grade or on the full grade of IE *dhe- "put". An alternative etymology
deriving edaes from IE *do- "give" is less probable.

The general meaning is as follows: "Attes, the senior official (and) the keeper of
monuments, dedicated (this) to Midas, the (military) chief and the lord".

"The odds are that Midas´ titulature in M-01a, Midai lavagtai vanaktei, where appear
two functions that are also found in the Mycenaean Greek documents (lawagetas
and wanax), does not correspond to Greek borrowings, but rather reflects the
existence of a common heritage",
is what the French linguist Claude Brixhe, the most authoritative scholar of the
Phrygian language tells us in the chapter "Phrygian", in "The Languages of Asia
Minor", published by the Cambridge University Press.

This statement is in fact quite easy to demonstrate. If someone were to translate

the Midas tomb inscription in Modern Greek, so that even a grade school Greek
child could read and understand it, yet still using essentially the same words as
those which appear in the Phrygian text (ΑΚΕΝΑΝΟΓΑFΟΣ being the only one hard
to translate in this case) the translation would have to be as follows:
(I am using capital letters to make the point more apparent to the non Greek-
speaking reader)
ΑΤΕΣ : ΑΡΚΙΑΕFΑΙΣ : ΑΚΕΝΑΝΟΓΑFΟΣ : ΜΙΔΑΙ : ΛΑFΑΓΤΑΕΙ : FΑΝΑΚΤΕΙ : ΕΔΑΕΣ
ΑΤΗΣ, ΑΡΧΙΓΕΥΩΝ & ΚΤΗΜΑΤΟYXOΣ, εις ΜΙΔΑN ΛΑΟΗΓΕΤΗN & ΑΝΑΚΤΑ ΕΔΩΣΕN
ΑΡΧΙΓΕΥΩΝ can also be replaced with ΑΡΧΙΕΡΕΥΣ and ΕΔΩΣΕN with ΕΘΕΣΕΝ
(probably more proper anyway)

This, I need to repeat, is an inscription 2800 years removed from the modern Greek
speaker, written in a foreign and ancient language that was broken off the main
Hellenic language corpus about four to dour and a half thousand years ago (4000-
4500), yet, using essentially the same words, albeit slightly altered, a modern Greek
can still make perfect sense out of its text! If this is not amazing, I do not know what
is…!

"Phrygian shares more features with Greek that with any other IE language, a few of
which are further shared by Armenian and Indo-Iranian. On the basis of such
similarities, a subgroup consisting of Greek, Phrygian, Armenian and Indo-Iranian
has been suggested." says Benjamin. W. Fortson in "Indo-European language and
culture". And O. Mason in "The Cambridge Ancient History" concludes that "the
shared elements between Greek and Phrygian are of greater interest these include
isoglosses…such as the participial suffix -meno-, the pronoun auto-, and the stem
kako- "bad" (which cannot have been borrowed from Greek, as it forms a verb in
Paleo-Phrygian), etc. These features reveal close pre-historic links between the two
languages: do they arise from mere geographic proximity or from the fact that
Greek and Phrygian belong to the same Indo-European branch? It is by no means
impossible that we shall one day be able to speak of "Greco-Phrygian".

Enough has been said for now, I suppose, for that "Brygian tribe, the "Mushki", who
lived in the 9th century before Christ, and whose name is identical to the noun
"mushki" (men), which exists in other "Slavic" languages" and their king who "was
called Mita a name which remains unchanged in a number of "Slavic" languages."

APPENDIX:
EXAMPLES OF GREEK AND PHRYGIAN GRAMMAR, ILLUSTRATING COMMON
INNOVATIONS:

Adjective: Kakos (bad)

LANG.: Phrygian ~ Greek

Nom. KAKOS ~ KAKOS
Gen. KAKOYO ~ KAKOY
Dat. KAKOI ~ KAKOI
Acc. KAKON ~ KAKON

Noun: Appelan ~ Apollon

LANG.: Phrygian ~ Ionian Greek ~ Doric Greek

Nom. APELLAN ~ APOLLON ~ APELLON
Gen. APELLANOS ~ APOLLONOS ~ APELLONOS
Dat. APELLANEI ~ APOLLONI ~ APELLONI
Acc. APELLANAN ~ APOLLONA ~ APELLONA

PHRYGIAN GLOSSARY WITH LEXICAL COGNATES IN MODERN GREEK

What is the point of comparing Phrygian with Modern Greek

and finding cognates between the two languages?
Simply because I find it amazing that someone who lives
in Greece today, can still understand so many words from
the now dead language of a bronze age people, being at least
4000 years apart since the last time Greeks and Phrygians
could easily communicate in the same tongue.
FOUR thousand years!
Caution to Donski's pseudo-makedonians: DO NOT try this at home!

PHRYGIAN / Ancient Greek = Transtlation / Modern Greek usage

AGLAVO- / aglao-s = Brilliant / Aglaia - proper name

AKALO- / kalo-n = Beautifull / Kalos, kale, kalo
AKARAGAYO- / akar+gaio- = Mount (head) of earth / Akariaios, geologia
AKRAYO- / akraio-s = High, elevated / Akraios, akropoli
AKRODMA- / akrodme = Elevated (dome-structure) / Akrodomi, domikos
ANANKA / ananga, anangi = Need (loanword?) / Anangi
AN-EGER- / aneger- = Erect / Anegersis
ANAR- / aner- = Man, husband / Andras, Andreas
AP- / apo = From / Apo, apotheke
ARGO- / archo- = Beginning with / Arche, archontas
AS / eis = In/ Eis to, sto
AVTO- / auto- = Self- / Auto, autokinito
BEKOS / phogo = Bread, bake / Phagito
BROKION / brokion = Stupid / Blakas
DE / de = Emphatic particle / Kalos men achristos de
DEIK- / deik- = Show, indicate / Endeikneitai, anadeiksis
DEIMNO- / kre-demno-n = Building/battlement / Dema
DETO- / theto-s = Placed / Yotheto, topothetisi
DIE / die, dia = Through, at / Dia auto, diaphanes
DORUKANO- / dorukano-s = Young spear (man)/ Kainodoxia, doryphoros
EGER- / egeir-o = Erect / Egersi
EK-DA- / ekdosis = Give out / Ekdoseis
EKEI / ekei = There / Ekei
EKSA / ekses / Afterwards / Sto exis, ephexis
ETI / eti = Also / Eti kai eti
EUKA- / eucha- = wish, prayer / Eucharisto
EV- / eu- = Good / Eukolos
EV-MEM- / eumen-es = Benevolent / Eumenes
EVTEV-/ euthus = Straight / Euthus
GARIT- / charit-os =of glory, of devotion / Charitomeni
GONIO- / gonio- = Descending of / Gonios, gonikos
-GONO / -gono-s = Descending of / Gonos, goneas
GRIB- / griph-asthai , grapho Inscribe, write / Grapho
KAI, KE / kai = And / Kai
KAKON / kakon = Bad / Kakos, kaki, kako
KTE- / kte-sis = Possession, establishment / Kataktesi, kataktetis
LAKE- / laki- = Tear to pieces Lakizo, lakise
LAVA- / lava-s, lao-s = People (in arms) / Laos, leophoreio
LAVAGETA- / lavagetas = Leader of the people Laoegetis
LEUKIO- / leukio-s = Bright white (borrowed?) / Leukos, leuki
LIK- / lei-po = Leave, being absent / Leipo
MAIMAREO- / marmareo-s = Of marble / Marmarou
MANI / menos (maniac) = Wrath / Maniakos, menos
MATERAN / meteran = Mother / Metera
MEYOMO- / meioma = Decrease / Meiosi, meiotikos
MEYON- / meion = Smaller / meion
MEKAS / megas = Big, great / Megas Alexandros, megalos
MIDAS / Midas = Hittite name: Mita / Midas ehei ota onou
MIKRO / micron = Small / Micros, mikri, mikro
MERAN / mera = Divide, share / Meirasia
MURO / moron = Imbecile, stupid / Moro, morophernei
NADROTO / androtes / Manly, strong / Andrikos
NEIVO / neios = Depth, deep earth / Peineios
NEKROYO / nekros = Dead / Nekros, nekri, nekrofora
ONOMAN- / onoma = Name / Onoma
OPAD- / opazo / Give, grant / Arpazo, diarpazo, synarpazo
OPITO / opiso = Back, behind / Piso, opiso, opisthen
ORBO- /orphanos = Orphan / Orphanos
ORO- / oros = Top/mountain top / Oros, oroseira
OV / ou = Not / Oudeis
OV KE / ou te = And not / Oute
PATER / pater = Father / Pater, pateras
MATER / meter or mater = Mother / Metera
PATRIO- / patrios = Kinsman, of paternal ancestors / Patrios, patrida, patriotis
POD- / pod-os = Related to foot, step / Podi, odos, epi podos
POLO- / pollo- = Multiple, many / Polla, pollaplos
PONT- / pontos = Sea / Pontos, pontios
POS / pos and pros = Towards / Pros
PROTI-STA / proti-sta = Set before everything else / Protista
PROTO- / proto- = First / Proto-
PUR- / para = For / Para
SO- / ho = This (masc.) / O (masculine article)
SORO- / soros = Sarcophagus / I soros tou nektou
TEKMAR- / tekmar-(tos) = Bordering / Tekmarto, tekmerio
TEN- / tein-o = Set, bring, stretch / Teino, antikteino
TIK- / tykos = Strike/chisel / Stiksis, stigma
TO- / to- = That/ To
TOTTI- / tossi- = So much / Tosos, tosi
TRAPEZA / trapeza = Table / Yrapezi, trapeza, trapezaria
UPSODAN- / upsothen = From above / Ypsothen, ypsos
URANIO- / uranio-= Heavenly / Ouranios, ourania
VANAK-T- / vanak-tos = Of the lord / Anaktoro, anaktorikos
VEIKON / eikon = Icon / Eikona, eikonisma
VELA- / eile & vela = Sun´s heat / Heliakos
VERGATEVO- / ergateuo = Work hard, toil / Ergatiko
VESTA- /(F)estia = Fire place, altar / Estia
VOIKA- / oik-os = Home / Oikonomia, katoikia
YO- / ho-s = Who, which / Opo-ios
ZEIRA- / phthora = Destruction / Phthora
ZEMELE / chthamale, Semele = Terrestrial , lowly / Chamelos, themelio, Semela,
chamomele

[Note: All the above glosses are taken from Vladimir Orel's book on Phrygian, "The
language of the Phgrygians" as sited above. I selected words that would be easily
understood by a modern Greek who has no knowledge of ancient Greek.]

FINAL NOTE -as an afterthought- ON A PHRYGIAN CITY IN NORTHERN GREECE:

There was an ancient Macedonian city named Ἔδεσσα (Édessa) in northern
Mesopotamia, now part of Turkey, named Urfa. It was commemorated by Seleucus I
Nicator in refounding a still more ancient city. It was founded by the Macedonians in
memory of their old city also named Ἔδεσσα (Édessa), now in Central Macedonia, in
northern Greece. The Macedonian Edessa is indeed a Phrygian foundation that was
later conquered by the Macedonians. Its name been associated by modern scholars
with the Phrygian word for water: βέδυ - bedu. Βέδυ is linguistically connected to
the Greek word "hudor" Greek: ύδωρ , "water", from which other Greek words are
derived: βίδρα / bidra = Otter (the water weasle), ίδρως / idros Greek for "sweat"
and verb iδρώνω/idrono -ἰδρωσα/idrosa I sweat, I sweated. Ἔδεσσα (Édessa) means
the "town of waters", due to its renowned river and waterfall and abundant water
resources. In Greek it would be ΥΔΡΟΕΣΣΑ/Hudroessa, but the Greeks, kept the
ancient, original Phrygian name. From Phrygian FΕΔΥ / Bedy > FΕΔΕΣΣΑ > Edessa >
ΕΔΕΣΣΑ.
The Slavs who arrived into the lower Balkans by the 7th c AD named her
Voden/Водьнъ, from voda, "water". It is mentioned in the 11th century as Vodena.
Bulgarians and Slavomacedonians call it Воден / Voden. The Slavomacedonians
claim that the proper "Macedonian" name of the city is Vodena, and deride the
Greeks for "renaming" it with a Greek name after 1913. The truth of course lies
elsewhere. The Greeks have actually kept the original ancient Macedonian name of
the city which is of course (going further back from the 8th cBC and its capture by
the Macedonians, through Byzantine and modern times), the name that its original
settles, their cousins, the Phrygians had given it: FΕΔΕΣΣΑ, in Greek ΕΔΕΣΣΑ.

Bibliography:

GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON – Liddel & Scott, Oxford University Press, 1843 - 1951

PHRYGIAN - Diankonov & Neroznak, Caravam Book, NY, 1986

THE LANGUAGE OF THE PHRYGIANS - Description and Analysis, Vladimir Orel, Caravan Books, NY, 1997

THE ANCIENT LANGUAGES OF ASIA MINOR - Edited by Roger D. Woodard, Cambridge University Press,
2008

THE OXFORD INTRODUCTION TO PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN AND THE PROTO-EUROPEAN WORLD – J.P.

Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Oxford Linguistics, Oxford University Press, 2007
REAING THE PAST, LINEAR B AND RELATED SCRIPTS – John Chadwick, University of California Press /
British Museum, 1989

ΕΘΝΙΚΑ - Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ΚΑΚΤΟΣ, Αρχαία Ελληνική Γραμματεία «Οι Ελληνες», Αθήνα, 2004

ΛΕΞΙΚΟΝ - Ησύχιος, ΚΑΚΤΟΣ, Αρχαία Ελληνική Γραμματεία «Οι Ελληνες», Αθήνα, 2004