From: Mark Odegard
Message: 1268
Date: 2000-01-30
It was Psamtik's learned priests who informed him that BEKOS was Phrygian. Who knows if they knew what they were talking about? But I suppose we must believe Herodotus -- he was in a position to check out that detail. If bekós is genuine, it could be related to some or all of the following: Greek phag- 'eat'; pho:g- 'roast, parch'; English bake (Old English bacan/bo:c/-bacen).
This Late Phrygian inscription is given by James Mallory in In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth, 1989, p. 32. The romanization and translation is Mallory's; Late Phrygian is usually given in Greek letters.
ios ni semoun knoumanei kakoun addaket
gegreimenen egedou tios outan
akke oi bekos akkalos tidegroun eitou.Who does evil to this grave
he bears the inescapable curse of god
and to him shall bread and water be unpalatable.
Mark.