Aeolisch

Aeolisch is the German designation for Aeolic Greek, one of the historical branches of the Ancient Greek language. The Aeolic dialect group was spoken by the Aeolians in regions of Thessaly and Boeotia on the Greek mainland, as well as on the island of Lesbos and in parts of western Asia Minor once known as Aeolia. Aeolic Greek flourished from the early first millennium BCE to the Hellenistic period and is best known for its lyric poetry.

Linguistically, Aeolic is characterized by distinctive phonological and morphological features that set it apart from other Greek dialects. It is represented in surviving inscriptions and poetic fragments by poets such as Sappho and Alcaeus, whose work shows the Lesbian subdialect as well as other Aeolic varieties.

Major subdialects include Lesbian (centered on Lesbos), Thessalian, and various Boeotian and Asia Minor forms. The Lesbian dialect is especially associated with lyric poetry and has contributed many retained forms and metrical patterns that influenced later Greek literature.

From the 4th century BCE onward, Koine Greek supplanted Aeolic as the common vernacular, and Aeolic ceased as a living dialect. Today, Aeolic is studied primarily by linguists and classicists through inscriptions, papyri, and poetic fragments.

See also: Greek dialects, Sappho, Alcaeus, Lesbian, Thessalian.