Welcome to Palaeolexicon!

Palaeolexicon is a tool for the study of ancient languages. Its name derives from the Greek words palaeo meaning 'old' and lexicon meaning 'dictionary'. If you're interested in the ancient world and its languages, then this is a site for you. It is a place for people who love historical linguistics and ancient history.

2020-12-23 - The Hurrian dictionary is now available
A new year is soon here and we're bringing some presents. We're happy to announce that the Hurrian dictionary is now public under the languages section. There are hundreds of Hurrian words available to browse!
2019-12-30 - The Etruscan dictionary is now available!
We've just released the Etruscan dictionary under the languages section. It consists of 500+ lemmata from the available Etruscan epigraphic data. The commentary might be meagre at the moment, but we will be enriching it all the time. 
2019-03-20 - The Avestan dictionary is now available!
Avestan is a language of great historical importance. It was the language of Zoroaster and the religious scriptures produced by him. It's also the most archaic language of the Iranian subgroup of Indo-European. We have finally managed to compile a dictionary that is now available in the languages section.
2018-06-30 - The Lycian dictionary is now available
There's a new public Lycian dictionary available under the languages section. Lycian was one of the languages attested in Turkey during the first millenium BCE. With this addition we hit a milestone, covering all major known Anatolian Indo-European languages! 
2017-11-10 - New article: Anatolian cereals
We've got a new article called "Anatolian cereals: A survey on Anatolian early farming" by G. Tardivo. Consider this as an addenda to "Prometheus or Amirani part 2" focused on farming vocabulary. The introduction of a new lifestyle, brings along the vocabulary used, which in this case is cereals, bread and cakes.
2017-07-08 - The Palaic dictionary is now available!
We've compiled the Palaic word list and published it in under the public dictionaries. Palaic was one of the Indo-European languages that branched of from Proto-Anatolian. A small number of words survive, among which there is a considerable amount of Hattian loanwords.
2017-05-26 - Pre-Greek studies volume 2 is here!
Do you remember our first volume of Pre-Greek studies by G.Tardivo called "Prometheus or Amirani"? We've just publiced part 2 which is "An updated study on the Pre-Greek substrate and its origins". You will find it under our articles in both HTML and PDF format.
2017-01-22 - Ehe śoṣi! Hello world! The Tocharian A dictionary is now public!
Tocharian A dictionary
We have just added a Tocharian A dictionary in the languages section. It is fully browsable and material additions/updates are ongoing!
2016-12-13 - Major update in the Proto-Indo-European dictionary
Proto-Indo-European roots and their outcome in various languages
We've made a major update to the Proto-Indo-European dictionary. More than 250 roots have been updated/revised, while ~ 2100 new roots have been introduced. There might be few duplicates, but we're going to merge them soon.
2016-12-03 - The Urartian dictionary is available!
As promised, a browsable Urartian dictionary is now available in the public dictionaries section. We have collected a huge number of sources making this dictionary the most complete you will find online. We still have work to do regarding the commentary, the Hurrian equivalents, the loans from and to Armenian, personal names, toponyms and the affixes.
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Instagram Social media have not been our strongest point, but you can now follow us on Instagram. Every week we're posting some wonderful images related to archaeology and linguistics. Sites, inscriptions, statues, peculiar artifacts and many more.
Did you know these words?
Proto-Turkic: *č(i)ak- "to strike fire"
Eteocypriot: ta-na "?"
Tocharian A: cämpamo "able"
Etruscan: Afuna "personal name"
Cypriot Syllabic Script: i-ya-te-ra-ne "physician, doctor"
Latest articles
Anatolian cereals
Prometheus or Amirani part 2: An updated study on the Pre-Greek substrate and its origins
Language and genes: Let's think twice about it
Pre-Pre-Greek: Traces of a hunter-gatherer substrate in Greek
Alexarchos of Macedon, the word maker (350-290 BC)
See all ⇨