308 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



the dialect of Tzakonia. The hypothesis that it is a remnant of the an- 

 cient Doric or Pelasgic is too fantastic to merit any serious considera- 

 tion. It may not be amiss to state here, that all the Byzantine writers 

 of whom we have any knowledge are silent on the subject of the Tza- 

 konic dialect, properly so called.* 



Nothing satisfactory has been proposed in relation to the etymology 

 of the word T^aKccpes, the name of the inhabitants of T^aKcovla or 

 TCaKMvid. It occurs for the first time in authors of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. Pachymeres, Gregoras, and the anonymous writer already 

 alluded to, regard it as a corruption of AaKaves ; and naturally enough 

 confound the modern Tzakones with the ancient Lacones.f It must be 

 borne in mind, however, that Byzantine etymologists unsupported by 

 higher authority are entitled to little or no credit. Pedants capable of 

 deriving TpaiKos from TpdviKosl will have no difficulty in forming Tfa/cwrer 

 from AoKcoves, KavKcovfs, or KiKoves. The Tzakones of the above-men- 

 tioned authors are apparently the modern Mavtarfs. According to 

 Curopalates, a writer pi'obably of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, 

 the name TCaKoves was used at Constantinople in the sense of garrison.% 



* For Tzakonic words and inflections, and ingenious speculations concern- 

 ing the origin of this dialect, see Leake's Researches in Greece, p. 196 

 (London, 1814). Travels in the Morea, Vol. IL p. 505 (London, 1830). Pe- 

 loponnesiaca, p. 304 (London, 1846). Thiersch's Article on the Tzakonic 

 Dialect, in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich, 

 1832. 



f Pachymeres, I, 309 "AXXoi re TrXeloroi €k tcov Aukuivcov, oiis Koi Tfa- 

 Kapas Trapa(f)d(ipovTes eXeyoi/, ovs eK re Moptov koi twv 8v(riKa>v apa pev 

 TToWovs, dpa 8e koi pa^ipovs dpa yvvai^i koi tckvois fls Kcova-ravTivovTroXip pe- 

 TCdKi^ev 6 Kparup [Michael Palaeologus]. NiCErn. Gregoras, I, 98, 10 

 'S.vvTJv 8e TOVTOLS Koi arparbs iv rols dnKoLS dakdmos, AaKcoves dpn TTpoaeX- 

 66irr(s €K UeXoTTOWTjaov t<5 ^aaiXel, ovs fj koivtj napa(j)d(ipa<Ta yXSxraa TfaKW- 

 vas peroivopaa-fv. BoiSSONADE's Anecd. GRiEC. Ill, p. 164 'Re^apfiapavTal 

 ye 01 AuKcoviS kol vvv KfKkijvrai T^aKOives- 



X PORPUYROGEXITUS, Them. 1, 4, p. 25, 9 Ta Be npos tt^v daXaacrav Ka\ 

 T^v Kv^iKOV naToiKovcri ^pvyes re kqI TpaiKol, cmb tov norapov TpaviKov ttjv ovo- 

 paaiav TrXovTrjaavres- 



§ Curopalates, p. 12, 4 'O crrpaTOTrebdpxrjSTcbvT^aKovav {sic). 27, 5 ToG 

 arpaToneBdpxov tcov T^anovcov. 37, 10 EtVa evpia-Kovrai (se trouvent) ol ovopa- 

 ^opevot T^dKoves (f)fpovTes Koi ovtol mXaTiKia. 42, 18 'O (TTpaTOTrebdp)(r]s rai 

 TfaKovo)!/ eTTipeXelrai rav els ra Kaa-rpa evpicTKopivcav ((jui se trouvent) (f)vXd- 

 ^e(ov, oXrives T^dKOves ovopd^ovrai. 



