The Philistine language () is the extinct language of the Philistines. Very little is known about the language, of which a handful of words survived as cultural loanwords in Biblical Hebrew describing specifically Philistine institutions, like the serānim, the "lords" of the Philistine five cities ("pentapolis"),The term is used as a military rank in contemporary Israel, equivalent to captain. the ʿargāz receptacle, mentioned in 1 Samuel 6,E. Sapir, "Hebrew 'argáz, a Philistine Word," Journal of the American Oriental Society (1936:272–281), found it to signify the box of a cart "a presumably non-Semitic word" (p. 274). and the title paḏi.Sapir 1936:279 note 23

Classification To judge from inscriptions alone, it could appear that the Philistine language is simply part of the local Canaanite dialect continuum, which includes Hebrew, Edomite, Moabite, and Phoenician. For instance, the Ekron inscription, identifying the archaeological site securely as the Biblical Ekron, is the first connected body of text to be identified as Philistine, on the basis of its location. However, it is written in a Canaanite dialect similar to Phoenician and Hebrew.Seymour Gitin, Trude Dothan and Joseph Naveh. "A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron." Israel Exploration Journal 48 (1997:1–18).

There is not enough information about the original language of the Philistines to relate it confidently to any other languages. Possible relations to Indo-European languages, even Mycenaean Greek, support the theory that immigrant Philistines originated among "sea peoples". There are hints of non-Semitic vocabulary and onomastics, but the inscriptions are enigmatic:I. Singer, "Egyptians, Canaanites and Philistines in the Period of the Emergence of Israel", in Finkelstein and Na'aman (eds.), From Nomadism to Monarchy, 1994:282–338. a number of inscribed miniature "anchor seals" have been found at various Philistine sites.Simcha Shalom Brooks, Saul and the Monarchy: A New Look (Ashgate) 2005:29, noting O. Keel, "Studien zu den Stempelsiegeln aus Palestina/ Israel IV." Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 135 (Freiburg: Universitätsverlag) 1994:21–34. On the other hand, evidence from the slender corpus of brief inscriptions from Iron Age IIA–IIB Tell es-Safi (Tell es-Safi inscription)Maeir, A., Wimmer, S., Zukerman, A., and Demsky, A. 2008. "A Late Iron Age I/early Iron Age IIA Old Canaanite Inscription from Tell es-Sâfi/Gath, Israel: Palaeography, Dating, and Historical-Cultural Significance." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 351: 39–71. demonstrates that at some stage during the local Iron Age, the Philistines started using one of the dialects of the local Canaanite language and script,In the late 9th century BC in Tell es-Safi, the West Semitic alphabet script was in use. which in time masked and replaced the earlier, non-local linguistic traditions, which doubtless became reduced to a linguistic substratum, for it ceased to be recorded in inscriptions. Towards the end of the Philistine settlement in the area, in the 8th and the 7th centuries BC before their destruction by Assyria, the primary written language in Philistia was a Canaanite dialect that was written in a version of the West Semitic alphabet so distinctive that Frank Moore Cross termed it the "Neo-Philistine script".Frank Moore Cross, "A Philistine Ostracon From Ashkelon", BAR 22 (January–February 1996:64–65). The Assyrian and Babylonian conquests destroyed the Philistine presence on the coast. When documentation resumes, under the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire), it is in Imperial Aramaic, the lingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid empires.

Philistine as an Indo-European language

There is some evidence in favour of the suggestionFirst made by Arie Noordtzij, De Filistijnen (1905), noted by G. Bonfante, "Who Were the Philistines" American Journal of Archaeology 50.2 (April–June 1946:251–262) p. 252 note 4. Bonfante argued for an Illyrian origin for the Palaistinoi, in Palaeste, an Illyrian toponym in Epirus, supplied with the Illyrian -ino suffix for ethnic groups; the suggested connection was introduced by :de:Hermann Jacobsohn, in Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift 34 (1914:483). that the Philistines did originally speak some Indo-European language, which would help explain the markedly Aegean origin of Philistine pottery styles and decorative motifs, particularly Philistine Bichrome ware, which differ markedly from the local Semitic artistic styles. A number of Philistine-related words found in the Hebrew Bible are not from Semitic languages, and can in some cases, with reservations, be traced back to Proto-Indo-European roots. R.D. BarnettBarnett, "The Sea Peoples" Sect. IV "The Philistines", New Cambridge Ancient History p. 17, critically remarked upon in Michael C. Astour's review article in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 92.3 (July – September 1972:457f. related the Philistine word for captain, seren,Only used in Hebrew in connection with Philistine princes; the Philistine etymology of seren, sranim was admitted by W.F. Albright in the New Cambridge Ancient History, vol. I, part I, p. 25, note 3. to the Greek word tyrannos (which may be related to the Neo-Hittite sarawanas/tarawanasSandars, Nancy K., The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean, 1250–1150 BC, Thames and Hudson, 1978)"Tyrannos is not a Greek word. It comes from one of the languages of Asia Minor and may have affinities with Lydian words and names," Robert Drews suggested, "The First Tyrants in Greece" Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 212 (2nd Quarter 1972:129–144) p. 138. Greek tradition recorded Gyges as the first ruler to whom tyrannos was applied (ibid.).Helck W., Ein sprachliches Indiz für die Herkunft der Philister, in: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 21, 1983, p. 31.Meriggi, P. "Schizzo della delineazione nominale dell'eteo geroglifico (Continuazione e fine)", in: Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 38, 1953. pp. 36–57.Chantraine, P. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Histoire des mots, vol. 4.1, 1968, p. 1146.Gusmani 1969: R. Gusmani, Isoglossi lessicali Greco-Ittite, in: Studi linguistici in onore di Vittore Pisani, Brescia 1969, Vol. 1, p. 511–512.Cornil, P. "Une étymologie étrusco-hittite", Atti del II Congresso Internazionale de Hittitologia, Pavía, 1995, p. 84–85.Rabin, C. "Hittite Words in Hebrew", Or NS 32, 1963, pp. 113–139. and Edward SapirSapir, "Hebrew 'helmet,' a loanword, and its bearing on Indo-European phonology" Journal of the American Oriental Society 57.1 (March 1937:73–77). made a case for relating (used of Goliath's copper helmet in 1 Samuel 17:5) to Hittite kupahis.Sapir, Edward. "Hebrew ‘Helmet," a Loanword, and Its Bearing on Indo-European Phonology." Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 57, no. 1, 1937, pp. 73–77. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/594782. Accessed 16 Aug. 2021. Both these words have been adopted into Hebrew. Sapir also described the Philistine title padî as "common IE property" to be compared with Greek πόσις, Lithuanian –pati-s, –pats, and Tocharian A pats.Sapir (1936:279 note 23) Some Philistine names, such as Goliath, Achish,Achish has been connected to Greek (Ἀγχίσης) and Hurrian. and Phicol, appear to be non-Semitic in origin, and Indo-European etymologies have been suggested."Little is known of Philistine personal names, but the little we know seems to confirm Jacobsohn's Illyrian hypothesis", observes G. Bonfante (1946:254), who adduces Jacobsohn 1914 and Greek usages of Ἀγχίσης, the Greek rendering of Goliath. In 2005, an inscription dating to the 10th century BC with two names, very similar to one of the suggested etymologies of the popular Philistine name Goliath (compare Lydian Alyattes,This connection was made by Georg Hüsing, according to Ferdinand Bork in AfO 13 (1939–1941:227), noted by G. A. Wainwright, "Some Early Philistine History" Vetus Testamentum 9.1 (January 1959:73–84) p. 79 note 3. Greek Kalliades, Carian Wljat) was found in the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Israeli archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov suggested that the Hebrew word נָפָה, which occurs only in connection with the Philistine city of Dor, is related to Homeric Greek .

Notes

External links The Canaanite Dialect of the Dedicatory Royal Inscription from Ekron, 2004 – A summary of articles about the Ekron inscription.