On 2007-12-12 22:05, Aigius wrote:
> Thanks. Does word EG exist in Greek language? Are there more
> examples of IE texts, which must be read the other way round?
Short for <ego:> 'I [am]'. The omission of a letter from a ring
inscription is hardly strange. The Greeks themselves wrote right-to-left
like the Phoenicians (and the Mycenaeans) or "boustrophedon" --
left-to-right, then right-to-left, etc., in alternate lines -- before
they decided to stick to one direction. Some Etruscan and early Latin
texts were also written boustrophedon (and the Hittites used this mode
much earlier). Some of the Old Italic languages, such as Oscan and
Umbrian were written right-to-left (which was the original direction of
Etruscan writing as well). There was no fixed direction in the earliest
Runic inscriptions. One could also mention the various IE scripts in
Asia modelled on Aramaic and written right-to-left (Avestan, Middle
Persian and others).
Piotr