Editing Lydian language (section)

== Text corpus and decipherment ==
[[File:Lydian inscriptions.png|thumb|Map showing locations where inscriptions in the Lydian language have been found.]]
In 1916 the [[Sardis bilingual inscription]], a bilingual inscription in Aramaic and Lydian allowed [[Enno Littmann]] to decipher the Lydian language.<ref name="littmann1916">{{cite journal |last1=Littmann |first1=Enno |title=Sardis: Publications |journal=Publications of the American Society for the Excavation of Sardis |date=1916 |volume=VI |issue=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/lydianinscriptio00littuoft/page/n3/mode/2up |access-date=2021-02-09}}</ref> From an analysis of the two parallel texts, he identified the alphabetic signs, most of them correctly, established a basic vocabulary, attempted translation of a dozen unilingual texts, gave an outline of Lydian grammar, and even recognized peculiar poetical characteristics in several texts. Eight years later [[William Hepburn Buckler]] presented a collection of 51 inscriptions then known.<ref name="buckler1924">{{cite journal |last1=Buckler |first1=William Hepburn |title=Sardis: Publications |journal=Publications of the American Society for the Excavation of Sardis |date=1924 |volume=VI |issue=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/lydianinscriptio00littuoft/page/n3/mode/2up |access-date=2021-02-09}}</ref> The 109 inscriptions known by 1986 have been treated comprehensively by [[Roberto Gusmani]];{{sfn|Gusmani|1964|p={{pn|date=July 2022}}}}<ref name="gusmani1980" /> new texts keep being found from time to time.<ref>{{cite web |last1=CHG |title=Grave Stele from Haliller |url=https://www.sardisexpedition.org/en/artifacts/latw-11 |website=Archaeological Exploration of Sardis |access-date=2021-02-14}}</ref>

All but a few of the extant Lydian texts have been found in or near [[Sardis]], the Lydian capital, but fewer than 30 of the inscriptions consist of more than a few words or are reasonably complete. Most of the inscriptions are on marble or stone and are sepulchral in content, but several are decrees of one sort or another, and some half-dozen texts seem to be in verse, with a stress-based meter and vowel [[assonance]] at the end of the line. Tomb inscriptions include many [[epitaphs]], which typically begin with the words 𐤤𐤮 𐤥𐤵𐤫𐤠𐤮 ''es wãnas'' ("this grave"). The short texts are mostly graffiti, coin legends, seals, potter's marks, and the like. The language of the [[Ionians|Ionian]] Greek poet [[Hipponax]] (sixth century BCE, born at [[Ephesus]]) is interspersed with Lydian words, many of them from popular [[slang]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoffmann |first1=O. |last2=Scherer |first2=A. |title=Geschichte der griechischen Sprache |date=1969 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter & Co. |location=Berlin |page=I, 55}}</ref>

Lydian can be officially studied at Marburg University, Germany, within the Hittitology minor program.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/114022851 | title=Hethitologie in Marburg studieren | last1=Sasseville | first1=David }}</ref>