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Glite Dictionary
🏺 Related to Phoenicia 🧑‍✈️ An ancient person 📜 An ancient language ⛵ Ancient seafaring people
Phoenician

Phoenician

1 9.9
An ancient language no longer spoken that was used around the eastern Mediterranean
  • noun
  • /fəˈniːʃən/
  • Specialized
: fenicio
  • Scholars have studied ancient texts to gain insights into the Phoenician language and its trade routes.

And in the Phoenician, the letter M looks like the top of the owl's head.

Examples

  • Archaeologists discovered inscriptions in Phoenician during their excavation of the ancient port city.

  • The Phoenician script is considered one of the earliest forms of writing in history.

  • And in the Phoenician, the letter M looks like the top of the owl's head.

    Danny Jones

Synonyms

Phoenician language
vsPhoenician
  • Specialized
1 9.9

An old language once spoken by people of ancient coastal cities in the eastern Mediterranean that is no longer spoken

ends earlier in history and stresses dominance in Mediterranean trade

Compounds

Phoenician language
  • Specialized
1 9.9

An old language once spoken by people of ancient coastal cities in the eastern Mediterranean that is no longer spoken

Surface Forms

Phoenician singular
Phoenicians plural

Morphology

Phoenician = Phoenicia (transparent) = Phoenicia + ian

The language name is formed by the usual derivation from the place/people name with '-ian', so the connection to the people/place is straightforward.

Etymology

Phoenician comes from the Greek root phoinix meaning 'purple', after the famous dye the people produced, and they also invented one of the earliest alphabets. So the Phoenician language is the name for the old language spoken by that people.