Dr.
Albert Vlash Nikollay d’Ohër
The Mycenaean Language
and the Methodology of Decipherment
using Gheg Albanian!
Fragment from “ETYMOLOGY AND STRUCTURAL SEMANTICS”
Part II
L'Esprit des Aigles Editions BRUSSELS 2024
“Sur l'Origine Hittite des Langues Indo-Européennes”
European University Editions, London 2023”
ISBN 10: 620344913X; ISBN 13: 9786203449136
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“You Albanians have been here since the beginning, you founded Europe.”
From the speech of His Excellency, the President of the French Republic Emmanuel
Macron, held at the Palace of Brigades on the occasion of his visit to Albania on October 16-
17, 2023.
In the very field where the Greek-Englishman Ventris “failed
intentionally” in decipherment, we will begin our linguistic, etymological,
semantic, structural, metalinguistic, and logical analysis. There is only one
living language that allows for such an operation: Albanian, in its Gheg and
Arvanitik versions... it is a Pelasgian sector as informed by Plato and Aristotle
regarding what is called the presence of pre-Greek peoples.
In the Linear A script, we find words such as */kö-wöwa/, which is the
plural of the word */kô/ (kâ → käu → käua), which in Albanian means */ka-
kau/ (bull), and in plural becomes */kee/ in Northern Gheg Albanian and */qe
or qet/ in Southern Gheg (Epirote-Macedonian version) based on dialects in the
Lezha-Elbasan-Skopje triangle. This form of Gheg Albanian and Mycenaean
language is found semantically derived in German in the concept that names the
cow, as in German */kuh/, → */koe/ in Dutch, and */cow/ in English.
We see clearly that the word */kö-wöwa/ finds its original meaning in
Gheg Albanian, or what we call archaic Albanian, which, based on the
trajectories and chronology of primitive human findings, is 3-5 thousand years
older than the Celtic languages and logically precedes them.
We also have the object that the bull pulls, which in Gheg is called */karr/
or */kerr/, and from English has given the name to the car, */car/. The word
*/mushkë/ in modern Albanian is pronounced in Greek as */moulári/ (μουλάρι),
which comes from the form */mul/ (pronounced */mul/) and in Gheg Albanian is
*/mushk/, which has as its etymon a Gheg Albanian verb */m’u - ush/ (to fill
oneself). In Albanian, the noun */ush/ is the common term for beasts of burden:
horse, donkey, and mule. It is understood that the physical function and
therefore the semantic meaning of */mushkës/ is */mu mush/ or the phrase
*/me u mbush/, meaning a pack animal, a transporting animal. So clearly, this
is a word from the Mycenaean language, but it finds etymological explanation in
Gheg, Tosk, and Arvanitik Albanian. In the Gheg dialects of Mirdita and Mat
(Ancient Emathia), the term */mul/ or /mule/ is used exclusively for mules, and
if we accept the interchange of vowels [n/l] or vice versa, we have the reflected
semantic concept of the formative verb in Gheg; */mun/ (can) */mune/ (able) -
hence, an animal of */burden/ or */work/.
Since these words are written on tablets that have not been deciphered
by ancient Greek and modern language scholars, they have been classified as
indecipherable, creating a mystery among researchers. For me, there is no
mystery, not even for the Pylos tablet. In it, we find words from the
Mycenaean language, in Albanian, in ancient Greek, in modern Greek, and
etymons of modern Latin languages, Germanic languages, and even
Georgian, Chinese, etc., which proves that we are simply dealing with a
substrate of the beginnings of Indo-European languages.
In Gheg Albanian, we have different versions of expressions, for example
in Gheg: */i ky kā kâ cof/ (this ox is dead) and in Tosk */ky kau ka ngordhur/.
In the first Gheg Albanian phrase, we find the Mycenaean language in a still-
living version, while in the Tosk version, we find a third-level derived language.
The first speech, Gheg, appears as a musical language with monosyllabic
words, and the second, Tosk, as a modern prosaic language. This means that if
we can achieve etymology with Gheg Albanian, based on initial etymons, this
cannot be realized with Tosk Albanian.
Since nearly all Linear A and B tablets of the Mycenaean language deal
with trade in early antiquity, we are compelled to first analyse the origin of such
words in various languages that are very distant from each other, such as */treg/
in Albanian, */pazar/ (allegedly borrowed from Turkish via Albanian) →
*/marché/ in French, → */shopping/ in English, */market/ (in many languages)
→ */suukun/ in Arabic, → */shuka/ (ՇՈՒԿԱ) in Armenian, → */qhathy/ in the
Aymara language, → ( 市 場 ) * /shìchǎng/ in Chinese, and */maarukeytu/ (ުޓ ޭކުރ
)ާމin the Dhivehi language, for the simple reason that besides the semantic
concept (buying and selling), they must also contain within them their linguistic
origin or the initial matrix which should be the source for all languages. For
example, the Albanian word */treg/ is very simple, as it comes from the phrase
*/të re ke/ (new goods for sale). This term is also found in Mycenaean writings,
“Linear A and B”.
Further, let's consider the word */pazar/, which Turkish has adopted, and
when broken down into matrices, we find within it the semantic concept */pa/
and */za/ (see and take, in Gheg Albanian), which is seen transformed in French
as */bazar/ (after the sound exchange p/b) with the same semantic concept,
which French likely inherited from the sister languages of Illyrian, namely
Gothic and Visigothic. Then we have the word */marché/, from Gaulish, which
comes from the Gheg Albanian phrase */marr e sheh/ (take and see), a physical
action that every buyer performs when going to the market. The same can be
said for */shopping/. When broken down to initial matrices, it leads us to
Albanian */shoh/ and */pi +ng/, while in German it appears as */market/,
corresponding to the Gheg form */marr kët/ (take this – in modern Albanian),
encompassing the buying action and the object of the purchase.
If we go further, we notice that the Arabic word */suukun/ corresponds to
the Armenian word */shuku/ (viewing, a place for viewing goods) and the Gheg
Albanian */si kum/ (What do you eat - the verb */ku/or */kun/ – and tosk
albanian */koj/ or */kova/ - */eat/ and */what was eaten/). Interestingly, in
Chinese */shìchǎng/ we encounter the Albanian phrase */shi si han/- or */shih
ç’han/ (in Shkodra dialect)( English: */what do they eat/), because in Chinese
tradition, during purchases, something is both seen and eaten, while in the
English version, during shopping something is seen and consumed */Shoh pin +
(g)/. But among all these, the oldest written form is the */te re/ in the
Mycenaean language, preserved only by Gheg, Tosk, and Arvanitik Albanian in
the form */te re +g/ = /treg/ (market). Since Albanian as a whole finds the
etymological and semantic key to all these words in different languages of the
world, both Indo-European and non-Indo-European, we are dealing with a
foundational language.
Slightly further, ancient Greek appears at the initial level, but even the
word */agoré/ (αγορά) comes from an Albanian phrase */â gör/, or */â gur/,
because in ancient Greek tradition, new goods for sale were displayed on stones
or in areas surrounded by stones (columns) — a psychology that corresponded
with the semantic concept of a market. It is fascinating how Gheg Albanian is
almost identical to the Mycenaean language on one hand, yet on the other hand,
it is clear that both ancient and modern Greek represent a modified linguistic
system derived from Arvanitik Albanian in some cases and from Gheg Albanian
in others.
The most frequent archaic phrase found in the “Linear A and B”
Mycenaean writings is */ti ri ja/, which is also found in Arvanitik as */ti reja/
and in Gheg Albanian as */t’reja/. This etymological form has given rise in
Albanian to an entire family of words, such as those with direct semantic
meanings like */treg → tregti → tregtar/ (market → trade → trader) and those
with pure semantic derivation, */tregues → tregim → tregimtar → tregimtari,
→ trezor, → trezori/, along with the French word */tres/ (very), commonly used
in Gheg Albanian */ç’po kem t’re/ or tosk albanian */çkemi të reja/ etc.
What stands out in these combined comparative, semantic, and structural
analyses, based on the methodology of metalinguistics or the layering of
creation history within the word, is that there is a strong connection between the
Mycenaean language, Arvanitik dialects, and Gheg dialects.
The facts that intrigue researchers include the following questions: What
scientific methodology did Ventris use in his deciphering work on the Linear A
and B scripts of Crete? Which original European languages are still alive and
could help us decode these writings? Why wasn't a multilingual comparative
methodology used after these writings were discovered, and why was only Greek
used, knowing that Greek itself is a second-generation language, derived as
acknowledged by Aristotle, Plato, and Hermogenes?
“Many people ask whether what we call Mycenaean is a form of
writing. Arthur Evans, curator at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, was
convinced, after his persistent work in Crete, that we were dealing with
Bronze Age tablets that bore inscriptions in an unknown form of writing.
Then, conducting research at Knossos in Crete starting in 1900, he
discovered, in the first week of excavation, a collection of texts that today are
among the most important in the Mycenaean-Age world. It was Evans who
classified two evolutionary writing systems and gave them the names we still use
today. In the first volume of “Scripta Minoa,” published in 1909, he identified
based on external criteria the hieroglyphic script; “Linear A,” and “Linear B”.
These terms refer to the sign's aspect: the more pictographic it is, the older the
sign is, and despite the name, they have nothing to do with Egyptian
hieroglyphs.
Evans only proposed a few hypotheses about individual signs without
attempting a complete decipherment. He was convinced that these three types
of writing were purely Cretan and Mycenaean, marking a language that had
nothing to do with modern Greek.” [1]
Linguistic analyses support Evans. At the time when Evans conducted his
research in Crete, the population still spoke the descendant of Ancient Greek,
Arvanitik Albanian, and the only name found concerning the ethnicity was the
term “eliros”, a version of the term “iliros” (Illyrians), unfortunately, the term
Greek is nowhere to be found!.
The second phase of studies of Cretan writings can be classified as a
patriotic endeavour by the grandson of modern Greece, Michael Ventris, in
collaboration with the Englishman John Chadwick, because they ignored all
of Evans’ findings regarding the non-Greek character of these writings.
Naturally, the Greeks had nothing to do with these writings, as they were
formed much later as an ethnicity. Evans’ work might be classified using the
stylistic Albanian phrase “dru me pre” (wood to chop).
In analysis, no norm of Franz Bopp's comparative linguistics was
respected, nor the semantic and structural systems of etymological analysis.
When emotional systems (preferences and love for a particular culture) become
dominant in linguistic studies, objective research ends, as it leads to prejudice
against other languages. Unfortunately, this ailment can also affect even the
most prestigious universities in the world.
What holds the most value in pure linguistic analysis is the phonetic
principle, the meta-linguistic grammar and word-formation rules, and the
semantic-logical principle of word construction, which enable the scientific
decipherment of writings. Now let's specifically look at the Mycenaean tablets.
In the interpretation published by “Bennet and Olivier,” after extensive
archaeological research in 1976 {Scribes (4 PY Aa 62)}, the Mycenaean word
*/me-re/ is the same as in the Arvanitik language, as well as in Albanian
*/mere/ (goods designated to be taken from storage—a phrase still used today:
*/mere mallin/, ( or */mere atë që të pëlqen/, or */mere ose leje/.
1
« Les écritures égéennes anciennes, déchiffrées et indéchiffrables » Julien
Zurbach, p.8-15. Https://journals. Openedition. org/rbnu/1463
Another word is the adjective in the Mycenaean language */ti ri ja/, which
corresponds to the Albanian word */të reja/ (new ones). By combining the two
words, we have the phrase that symbolizes the expression */mere ti rija/ in
Arvanitik and */marrje të reja/ (new acquisitions or supplies) in Gheg Albanian
and standard Albanian. Further, there is */mul 7-vkowa 10 and kowo 6/, which
corresponds to Albanian */mule/ (mushka) 7, kowa (ka-kau-kaua) 10, ko-wo
(viça 6)/—referring to livestock, which in Mycenaean times were considered
significant wealth. In another interpretation of the linear script, deciphered by
Shandrick (1988), we distinguish the word */mere/, related to the Albanian word
*/marrje/ (purchase), the repeated word */ti rija; - mul 7, -kowa 13, - da 1/
(*/da/ 1 in Gheg and */ndarë/ 1 in Tosk). [2]
The same terminology is deciphered as */blerje/ (purchase) by Bennett &
Olivier in 1973; */me-re-ti-ri-ja/; (retirijame; tirija-mere); in Arvanitic and
Gheg Albanian; */marrje te reja; -mul 7 -ko-wa 10; - ko-wo 6./ (new
purchases; mules; -mushka 7, - cows (ka-kava) 10, -calves (ko-wo+ç= vaiç) 6).
In French, the form is found as: */veaux/ which corresponds to the Gheg
Albanian; - */vaiç/ -/woiç/, or */viç/.
Similarly, in other tablets {Bennett & Olivier 1976: Scribe 4 (PY Aa
63)}; phrases such as; */ki-ma-ra; mul 3; ko-wo 4; kowa 5/, (In Gheg
Albanian: */ki më ra →ki më la →ki ma la/ (he didn’t buy them directly) → but
he will return to take them; */da 1 /, &/ta 1 / &/dha 1 talan/ and */ta lan/ (paid
as a guarantee or deposit - in Gheg Albanian), which means. The word "etalon"
found in modern languages belongs to Gheg Albanian: */e-ta-lan/ (and it is left
to you, i.e., the deposit): */mul -3/, */kawa 5/, */ko-wo 4/.
In the scribe {4PY Aa 89 (Bennett & Olivier 1976)}: the transcription is
*/Ara-ka-te-reja/, which exists in Gheg Albanian in the form */Arje ka të reja/
= */Ardhje ka të reja/. Then we have the Mycenaean enumeration system:
{"Mul" (mules) 37; “Ko-wa” (cows and cattle) 26 ; Ko-wo" (calves) -16}, The
person adds a talan (a coin more) */ta 1/. The buyer addresses the seller */me-
rre/ in Mycenaean, which in Albanian is the same */merr- merre/.
Many linguistics specialists, faced with this fact, say these are “just
coincidences”. Coincidence, that Gheg Albanian manages to explain all of
Greek mythology → coincidence that Gheg Albanian corresponds with the
Mycenaean language → coincidence that Gheg Albanian shares the same
kind of grammar as Sumerian, → coincidence that Gheg Albanian aligns with
the Coptic language, → coincidence that Gheg Albanian has a shared lexicon
with Chaldean. Many coincidences! But here we have the stubborn scientific
fact that sets us against linguistic laws: when similarity exceeds 60 percent of
the linguistic material, coincidence and borrowing fall in the scientific aspect,
2
To Do: = double check this transliteration in Chadwick 1988
and we are dealing with a linguistic phenomenon with an original linguistic
origin.
“The decipherment of Mycenaean B by Michael Ventris continues to be
one of the most remarkable achievements in the field of philology; it was the
first script to be read without the aid of any multilingual text, distinctly based
on the inner analogy that existed between the various graphic structures of
the texts. But to properly understand the effectiveness of Ventris's
decipherment, we must place this victory, despite its uniqueness, in a
particularly challenging position”. [3] says the Greek specialist Jean
Zafiropulos, who offers only praise without providing any scientific critique!
In fact, Ventris, when faced with unknown scripts as a model and the
inability to apply etymological, semantic-structural, and sociolinguistic
methods in analysis, resorted to a system of ideograms and personal analogies
as his only path for decipherment, which I consider unscientific and entirely
emotional.
In this case, we can continue to advance our evidence that the “Linear A
and Linear B” scripts, from 2000 to 1600 BC, are completely decipherable
using Gheg Albanian, much like many other writings from the pre-Indo-
European and Indo-European periods. It is sufficient to use the “semantic table
of etymological words” contained in Albanian, particularly in the Gheg and
Arvanitik versions, to achieve accurate scientific results. For example, by taking
the “Hagia Triada” tablet and analysing it.
Although Ventris was not a linguist by profession to conduct syntactic,
morphological, etymological, phonetic, and structural analyses of all languages
considered ancient in the Balkans or around the Mediterranean, he still has
colossal merit in terms of archaeological research but not in the reading of
artifacts, which need to be reinterpreted.
His hypothetical observations, through Gheg Albanian, are transformed
into easily provable linguistic statements using structural and semantic
etymological methodologies. While reading the “Linear A tablets,” British
researcher John Young thought that they mainly dealt with names of animals.
This hypothetical observation becomes a linguistic reality when using Gheg
Albanian.
The word */di/ in Mycenaean, which is undecipherable, exists in Albanian
as */dhi/ (goat). The word */cap/ in Mycenaean is found in Gheg Albanian as
*/cap → capi → tcapi/ and in Tosk as */cjap- cjapi/ (he-goat). The Mycenaean
phrase */le-ku-re he-qu/ appears in Gheg Albanian as */lëkur e hequn/ and in
Tosk as */lëkur e hequr/ (removed skin). Another word found in Mycenaean
3
0 Jean Zafiropulos ,« Le role de l’Analogue dans le déchiffrement de l’écriture
Mycénienne linéaire B », Dialectica Vol. 17, No. 4 (15. 12. 1963), pp. 307-327pages 307-
327
writings is */kuleta/, originating from the Gheg Albanian phrase */ku let ä/
(where the savings are kept) and is still found in Albanian today as it was 4,000
years ago */kulet-a/ (wallet).
The same can be said for the word */fic/, which is the same in Albanian as
*/fik/ (fig). Additionally, entire expressions noted in the “Linear A and B”
tablets are identical to modern Albanian, such as */vi-na-re/ with */vina re/
(new wine) and */vi-na-si/ - /vina zi/ (black wine).
In writings of a commercial nature, we also find elements of economic
accounting and financial status at certain moments. One of the words found is
*/sa-ro/, which corresponds to the Gheg Albanian phrase */sharro/, meaning
“shortage”. This word is still used in Gheg Albanian as */paret jön sharru/ (the
money has run out); */toka ka po sharron për uj/ (the land is drying for lack of
water); */malli sharroj/ (the goods have run out); */jam ka sharroj unit/ (I
have nothing to eat). The “Linear A and B” tablets are a type of market from
the primitive era, also found in Sumerian tablets, but in cuneiform script.
[4]
4
Έλυρος (Elyros-Iliros) - is described as an ancient site in the pre-Greek language
in Crete (now Greece), inexplicable in Greek and left unexplained precisely because it is
written and has the clear meaning: Έλυρος; Élyros = ILYRIN. The ruins of the prehistoric
city of Elyros are located in southwestern Crete on the hill of Kefalas, near the current
village of Rodovani. Elyros experienced a period of flourishing at least until the classical
Greek period, from 500 to 350 BC.
