Editing Lydian language (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Indo-European language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Lydian
| altname          = Maeonian
| region           = [[Lydia]]
| latd             = 
| latm             = 
| latNS            = <!-- latitude degrees/minutes/direction -->
| longd            = 
| longm            = 
| longEW           = <!-- longitude degrees/minutes/direction -->
| ethnicity        = [[Lydians]]
| era              = attested {{nowrap|ca. 700–200 BCE}}
| ref              = 
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian]]
| fam3             = [[Anatolian languages#Luwic branch|Luwo]]-Lydian?
| script           = [[Lydian alphabet]]
| iso3             = xld
| glotto           = lydi1241
| linglist         = xld
| notice           = IPA
}}
'''Lydian''' is an extinct [[Indo-European language|Indo-European]]<ref>{{cite book |title=The Etruscan Language: An Introduction |first1=Giuliano |last1=Bonfante |author-link=Giuliano Bonfante |first2=Larissa |last2=Bonfante |author2-link=Larissa Bonfante |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1983  |page=50 |quote="..confirmed by an analysis of the Lydian language, which is Indo-European.."}}</ref> [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian language]] spoken in the region of [[Lydia]], in western [[Anatolia]] (now in [[Turkey]]). The [[language]] is attested in [[graffiti]] and in [[coin]] legends from the late 8th century or the early 7th century to the 3rd century BCE, but well-preserved inscriptions of significant length are so far limited to the 5th century and the 4th century BCE, during the period of [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian domination.]] Thus, Lydian texts are effectively contemporaneous with those in [[Lycian language|Lycian]].

[[Strabo]] mentions that around his time (1st century BCE), the Lydian language was no longer spoken in Lydia proper but was still being spoken among the multicultural population of [[Kibyra]] (now [[Gölhisar]]) in southwestern Anatolia, by the descendants of the [[Lydians|Lydian]] colonists, who had founded the city.<ref>{{cite book|title = An Epigraphical Survey in the Kibyra-Olbasa Region conducted by A S Hall (Monograph)  | author= N. P. Milner |publisher= British Institute of Archaeology at [[Ankara]] | year= 1998}}</ref>