Episode 3454
Ancient Cappadocian language
Mon, 2026-Oct-19 00:08 UTC
Length - 2:25
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The featured article for Monday, 19 October 2026, is Ancient Cappadocian language.
The ancient Cappadocian language is an unattested language once spoken in antiquity in Cappadocia, a historical region of central Anatolia in modern-day Turkey. There are no known texts written in Cappadocian, although classical Greek writers identified Cappadocian as distinct from Greek, and a few Greek words were attributed to a Cappadocian origin. The language also influenced the pronunciation of Greek spoken by Cappadocians, whose accent was infamous among classical authors, but there is no evidence for a corresponding influence on Greek grammar or vocabulary.
Although Cappadocian does not have a secure linguistic classification, it likely belonged to the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European languages, probably as a relative or descendant of Luwian. This view is supported by recurring Anatolian elements in personal and place names in Cappadocia and its history as part of the Anatolian-speaking Hittite Empire during the Bronze Age. Prior to the modern understanding of Anatolian languages in the twentieth century, Cappadocian was variously considered part of the Semitic family, part of other known branches of Indo-European, or part of an Anatolian language family unrelated to any other known languages.
Cappadocian became extinct by the sixth century AD when it was fully replaced by Greek, which in turn was eventually replaced by Turkish. Despite nineteenth-century claims to the contrary, the ancient Cappadocian language has had no demonstrable influence on the Modern Greek dialect of Cappadocian Greek.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:08 UTC on Monday, 19 October 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Ancient Cappadocian language on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm neural Salli.
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