The race to decode a mysterious language - Susan Lupack

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Pui-Ching Siu

In the early 1900s on the island of Crete,

1900 年代初期，在克里特島上，

British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans uncovered nearly 3,000 tablets

英國考古學家亞瑟·埃文斯爵士 發現了近三千塊石板，

inscribed with strange symbols.

上面刻著奇怪的符號。

He thought these symbols represented the language spoken

他以為這些符號代表

歐洲最古老的文明所說的語言。

by Europe’s oldest civilization.

Their meaning would elude scholars for 50 years.

這些符號的意思 讓學者困惑了 50 年。

Evans discovered these tablets amid the colorful frescoes

埃文斯在克諾索斯宮殿 迷宮般的走廊上

and maze-like hallways of the palace of Knossos.

和多彩的壁畫中發現這些石板。

He called the civilization Minoan—

他稱之為米諾斯文明——

after the mythical Cretan ruler, King Minos.

以傳說中的克里特統治者 米諾斯王所命名。

He thought the script, dubbed Linear B, represented the Minoan language,

他以為這種書寫字母 （稱為線性文字 B）

代表了米諾斯的語言，

and scholars all over the world came up with their own theories.

世界各地的學者提出自己的理論。

Was it the lost language of the Etruscans?

這是失落的伊特拉斯坎語言嗎？

Or perhaps it represented an early form of Basque?

或許它代表巴斯克語的早期形式？

The mystery intensified because Evans guarded the tablets closely––

因為埃文斯緊守著這些石板， 讓神秘感越來越強——

only 200 of the inscriptions were published during his lifetime––

在他一生中，只有 200 個碑銘被公開出來——

but he couldn’t decipher the script.

但他無法破解這些書寫文字。

However, he did make two accurate observations:

然而，他確實做了兩項正確的觀察：

the tablets were administrative records, and the script was a syllabary,

石板是行政管理的記錄， 且這些書寫文字是音節文字，

where each symbol represented both a consonant and a vowel,

每個符號代表著 一個子音和一個母音，

mixed with characters that each represented a whole word.

再混搭代表整個字詞的字符。

Evans worked on Linear B for three decades before a scholar from Brooklyn, New York,

埃文斯花了三十年 研究線性文字 B，

接著，愛麗絲·科伯爾， 紐約布魯克林的學者，

named Alice Kober set out to solve the mystery.

打算要破解這個謎。

Kober was a professor of Classics at Brooklyn College

科伯爾是布魯克林大學的 古典學教授，

when few women held such positions.

當時很少有女性擔任這類職位。

To help in her quest, she taught herself many languages––

為了協助探索， 她自學了多種語言——

knowledge she knew she would need to decipher Linear B.

她知道若要破解線性文字 B 就會需要這些知識。

For the next two decades, she analyzed the symbols.

她接下來花了二十年分析這些符號。

Working from the few available inscriptions,

只根據少數可取得的銘文，

she recorded how often each symbol appeared.

她記錄下每個符號有多常出現。

Then she recorded how frequently each symbol appeared next to another.

接著，她記錄了每個符號 出現在彼此旁邊的頻率。

She stored her findings on scrap paper in cigarette cartons

她把研究結果寫在廢紙上， 再放到煙盒裡，

because writing supplies were scarce during the Second World War.

因為二次大戰期間， 書寫用品十分稀少。

By analyzing these frequencies,

透過分析這些頻率，

she discovered that Linear B relied on word endings

她發現線性文字 B 的句子文法

to give its sentences grammar.

要看文字的結尾。

From this she began to build a chart of the relations between the signs,

依此，她開始建立符號關係圖，

coming closer than anyone before to deciphering Linear B.

比任何人都更接近 破解線性文字 B。

But she died, probably of cancer, in 1950 at the age of 43.

但她在 1950 年過世， 可能死因是癌症，

享年 43 歲。

While Kober was analyzing the Knossos tablets,

當科伯爾在分析克諾索斯石板時，

an architect named Michael Ventris was also working to crack Linear B.

建築師麥可·文特里斯 也致力於破解線性文字 B。

He had become obsessed with Linear B as a schoolboy after hearing Evans speak.

他在學生時代聽了埃文斯的談論， 從此就著迷於線性文字 B。

He even worked on deciphering the script while serving in World War II.

他連在二次大戰服役期間 都在破解這種書寫文字。

After the war, Ventris built on Kober’s grid

戰後，文特里斯把科伯爾的對照表

using a newly published cache of Linear B inscriptions

用在從希臘本島 另一考古地點皮洛斯

excavated from a different archeological site called Pylos, on mainland Greece.

新近出土且公開的一系列 線性文字 B 刻文上。

His real breakthrough came when he compared the tablets from Pylos

當他把皮洛斯的石板 和克諾索斯的石板做比較後，

with those from Knossos

才出現了真正的突破，

and saw that certain words appeared on tablets from one site but not the other.

發現有某些字詞只出現在 一處的石板上，另一處就沒有。

He wondered if those words represented the names of places

他懷疑那些字詞是否 代表地方的名稱，

specific to each location.

專門指每個地點。

He knew that over centuries, place names tend to remain constant,

他知道，數世紀以來， 地名通常都維持不變，

and decided to compare Linear B

因此決定將線性文字 B 拿來

to an ancient syllabary from the island of Cyprus.

和賽普勒斯島嶼的 古老音節文字做比較。

The Cypriot script was used hundreds of years after Linear B,

賽普勒斯的書寫字母 比線性文字 B 遲幾百年，

but some of the symbols were similar—

但有些符號很類似——

he wondered if the sounds would be similar, too.

他在想，也許發音也會類似。

When Ventris plugged some of the sounds of the Cypriot syllabary

文特里斯把一些 賽普勒斯音節文字的發音

into the Linear B inscriptions,

放到線性文字 B 的書寫字母中，

he came up with the word Knossos,

他得到了「克諾索斯」這個詞，

the name of the city where Evans had discovered his tablets.

也就是埃文斯發現石板的 那個城市的名稱。

In a domino effect, Ventris unraveled Linear B,

在骨牌效應之下， 文特里斯解開了線性文字 B，

with each word revealing more clearly that the language of Linear B

了解越多字詞，就越清楚知道 線性文字 B 這種語言

was not Minoan, but Greek.

不是米諾斯的，而是希臘的。

Ventris died in a car crash four years later, at the age of 34.

文特里斯四年後 在車禍中身亡，享年 34 歲。

But his discovery rewrote a chapter of history.

但他的發現重寫了歷史的這一章。

Evans had insisted that the Minoans conquered the mainland Greeks,

埃文斯曾經堅持 米諾斯征服了希臘本島，

and that was why examples of Linear B were found on the mainland.

那就是為什麼在本島可以 找到線性文字 B 的例子。

But the discovery that Linear B represented Greek, and not Minoan,

但發現線性文字 B 代表希臘， 而不是米諾斯後，

showed that the opposite had happened:

表示發生的狀況完全相反： 希臘本島人入侵克里特，

mainland Greeks invaded Crete and adopted the Minoan script for their own language.

把米諾斯的書寫字母 用在他們自己的語言上。

But the story isn’t over yet.

但故事還沒完。

The actual language of the Minoans,

米諾斯的真正語言

represented by another script called Linear A,

是另一套書寫字母 「線性文字 A」，

has yet to be deciphered.

它目前尚未被破解。

It remains a mystery— at least for now.

它依然還是個謎—— 至少目前是如此。