geoffreycaveney's Judaeo-Greek theory

[ChenZheChina]

(continued)

1. The omission rules are not stable.

You have used Linear B as an example where Greek could be written with a hugely different script. However, according to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., the omission rules seem quite stable and constant for me. For example:

Omission Rules:

1. Final -l, -r, -n, -m, -s and some diphtongs cannot be expressed in Linear B, so they are simply omitted.
   
2. Consonant clusters are sometimes expressed by inserting an adjacent vowel.
   
3. However, initial s in consonant clusters is usually omitted.
   
4. Linear B has only k/q, so k/kh/g are not distinguished.
   
5. Linear B has only p, so p/ph/b are not distinguished. Except a possible phu is used sometimes.
   
6. Linear B has d/t, so d/t are distinguished, but t/th are not.
   
7. Linear B has only r, so l/r are not distinguished.
   
8. Linear B has j/w, so they are properly used.
   

And let us see some example of words:

a-pi-qo-ro = amphiquoloi (1) (5) (7)
a-te-mi-ti-jo = artemitios (1) (6) (8)
a-to-ro-qo = anthrōquos (1) (6) (7)
ko-no = skhoinos (1) (3) (4)
ko-no-so = knōsos[/i] (1) (2) (4)
ku-ru-so = khrusos (1) (4) (7)
ku-wa-no = kuanos (1) (4) (8)
o-da-tu-we-ta = odatwenta (1) (6) (8)
phu-te-re = phutēres (1) (5) (6) (7)
pu-te = phutē (5) (6)
qo-u-ko-ro = guoukoloi (1) (4) (7)
ti-ri-po = tripos (1) (2) (5) (6) (7)
tu-ri-so = tulisos (1) (6) (7)

They all fit the simple rules above quite well.

As we know, without relatively fixed rules, it would be hard to interpret from defected script back into original script.

For example, last month, I heard a Japanese saying a new word I’ve never heard before: sokui. To figure out what it might be, I have done these things in my mind.

1. From context (The Sokui of the Emperor is going to be in May) I know it’s a verb-noun or noun, so adjacents are not possible.
   
2. The k is a short consonant, not long consonant, so this is probably a Sino-Japanese word or a native Japanese word, but almost impossible to be an English word.
   
3. If it is a native Japanese word, there is no way I could figure it out by guessing. Go on with Sino-Japanese word.
   
4. In Sino-Japanese word, each kanji corresponds to 1 or 2 morae, so so-ku-i must be at least two kanji.
   
5. I searched in my mind and found no Kanji could be read as kui, so soku-i is the most possible candidate. So-ku-i is also possible, but most Sino-Japanese words are 2-kanji words. We’ll come back later if soku-i fails.
   
6. Japanese i usually corresponds to wei in Mandarin Chinese, with 位 (seat, place) being very common. Because Chinese wei was transliterated into Middle Japanese wi, and then Middle Japanese wi became Modern Japanese i.
   
7. At this step, a Chinese word 即位 jíwèi (enthrone, enthronement) came into my mind. This word fits the context well.
   
8. I verified the Japanese reading of 即 and it is certainly soku.
   
9. Resolved the new word sokui as enthronement.
   

As you could see, there are many rules that helped me during the deduction.

However, in your You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., you have to add arbitrary suffixes:

interpretation:
" ouk-ouden  an  [e]meis  kathar'[a]  ethelom[en]  autes  ti'-[o]poies  ekheis  ou  ethel'[ei]  oks[e]os "

" ουκ-ουδεν  αν  [η]μεις  καθαρ'[α]  εθελομ[εν]  αυτες  τι'-[ο]ποιες  εχεις  ου  εθελ'[ει]  οξ[ε]ως "

I’m not a professional in Greek, so I cannot be certain if these suffixes could be omitted in this way but still recognized by readers. I would place a question mark here.

(This is long, so I’ll write in separate posts)