Editing Messapic language (section)

===Ancient Greek===
The Messapic verbal form ''eipeigrave'' ('wrote, incised'; variant ''ipigrave'') is a notable loanword from Greek (with the initial stem ''eipigra-'', ''ipigra-'' deriving from [[Epigraphy|''epigrá-phō'']], ἐπιγράφω, 'inscribe, engrave'), and is probably related to the fact that the Messapic alphabet has been borrowed from an Archaic Greek script.{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|p=1846}} Other Greek loanwords include ''argora-pandes'' ('coin officials', with the first part deriving from ἄργυρος),{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|p=1846}} and names of deities like ''[[Athena|Athana]]'' and perhaps ''Aprodita'',{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|p=1843}}{{Sfn|Krahe|1946|p=199–200}} however the latter name is considered to be a Messapic theonym of an [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] goddess.{{sfn|Marchesini|2021|p=16}} It coincides with the [[Proto-Albanian]] ''*apro dītā'' 'come forth brightness of the day/dawn', which could be the original source of the Ancient Greek [[Aphrodite]], and which is preserved in the Albanian phrase ''[[Afrodita|afro dita]]'' 'come forth the day/dawn', referring to the planet [[Venus]],{{sfn|Dedvukaj|2023a|pp=1–4}} and also used to refer to [[Prende]], the dawn goddess, goddess of love, beauty, fertility, health and protector of women, in the [[Albanian paganism|Albanian pagan mythology]], the equivalent of Ancient Greek Aphrodite.

The origin of the Messapic goddess ''Damatura/Damatira'' is debated: scholars like [[Vladimir I. Georgiev]] (1937), [[Eqrem Çabej]], [[Shaban Demiraj]] (1997), or [[Martin Litchfield West|Martin L. West]] (2007) have argued that she was an Illyrian goddess eventually borrowed into Greek as [[Demeter]],{{Sfn|Orel|1998|p=80}}{{sfn|West|2007|p=176}} while others like [[Paul Kretschmer]] (1939), [[Robert S. P. Beekes]] (2009) and [[Carlo De Simone (linguist)|Carlo De Simone]] (2017) have argued for the contrary.{{sfn|Beekes|2009|p=324}}{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|p=1843}} More recently it is considered a Messapic theonym of an Indo-European goddess by Marchesini (2021).{{sfn|Marchesini|2021|p=16}}