Arcados-Cypriot dialect of the ancient Greek language

Arkado-Cypriot or South Achaean is a dialect of the ancient Greek language spoken by the inhabitants of Arcadia (central Peloponnese ) and Cyprus . Its resemblance to Mycenaean Greek , known from the inscriptions in the linear letter B , shows that the Arcadian-Cypriot dialect is its descendant. Presumably, the Achaeans of the Peloponnese spoke before the invasion of the Dorians in Proto-Arcadian-Cypriot (c. 1200 BC), therefore it is also called South Achaean.

Distribution of ancient Greek dialects in the classical period ^{[1] [comm. 1]} .

Western group:      Dorian      Northwestern	Central group:      Aeolian      Arcados Cyprus	Eastern Group:      Attic      Ionian
Achaean (northern) Dorian ( M Macedonian - classification unclear)

The isoglosses of the Cypriot and Arcadian subdialects confirm that the Achaeans settled in Cyprus. As Pausanias writes:

After Ehem, the king of the Arcadians was Agapenor , the son of Ankey and grandson of Lycurgus ; he led the Achaeans on a campaign against Troy . When Ilion was taken and when the Hellenes sailed home, Agapenor and the ships of the Arcadians were brought to Cyprus by a rising storm; there Agapenor became the builder of the city of Paphos and erected the temple of Aphrodite in Palai Paphos (in Old Paphos). [2]

Paphos was founded until 1100 BC. e. After the appearance of the Dorians in the Peloponnese, part of the population of Arcadia moved to Cyprus, and the rest were locked up in the Arcade Mountains. After the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, communication ceased and the Cypriot sub-dialect began to differ from the Arcadian. His letter until the III century BC. e. was the Cypriot syllabary ^{[3] [4]}

Only in Arkadian writing was the letter san used until almost the VI century BC. e. The Arcados-Cypriot dialect has retained many of the features of Mycenaean, early lost in the Attic and Ionic dialects, e.g. sound / w /, denoted by the letter digamma .