DORIC Dialect, one of the five dialects, or manners of speaking, which obtained among the Greeks.
It was first used by the Lacedæmonians, and particularly those of Argos; thence it passed into Epirus, Libya, Sicily, the islands of Rhodes and Crete. In this dialect, Archimedes and Theocritus wrote, who were both of Syracuse; as likewise Pindar.
In strictness, however, we should rather define Doric, the manner of speaking peculiar to the Dorians, after their retreat near Parnassus and Asopus; and which afterwards came to obtain among the Lacedæmonians, &c. Some even distinguish between the Lacedæmonian and Doric; but in reality, they were the same; setting aside a few particularities in the language of the Lacedæmonians; as is shown by Rulandus, in his excellent treatise De Lingua Græca ejusque Dialectis, lib. 5.
Beside the authors already mentioned to have written in the Doric dialect, we might add Archytas of Tarentum, Bion, Callinus, Simonides, Bacchylides, Cypselas, Aleman, and Sophron.
Most of the medals of the cities of Græcia Magna, and Sicily, favour of the Doric dialect in their inscription: witness, ΑΜΒΑΚΙΩΤΑΝ, ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΑΤΑΝ, ΑΧΕΟΦΟΝΤΑΝ ΑΧΥΡΙΤΑΝ, ΗΡΑΧΛΕΩΤΑΝ, ΤΡΑΧΙΝΙΩΝ, ΘΕΡΜΙΤΑΝ, ΚΑΥΛΟΝΙΑΤΑΝ, ΚΟΠΙΑΤΑΝ, ΤΑΥΡΟΜΕΝΙΑΤΑΝ, &c. Which shows the countries wherein the Doric dialect was used.
The general rules of this dialect are thus given by the Port Royalists.
D's Hra d'u grand, d's d'o et d'u l'a fait le Dore.
D'u fait n'a; d's, u; et d'u au fait encore.
Oste i de l'infini: et pour le singulier
Se sert au féminin du nombre pluriel.
But they are much better explained in the fourth book of Rulandus; where he even notes the minute differences of the dialects of Sicily, Crete, Tarentum, Rhodes, Lacedæmon, Laconia, Macedonia, and Thessaly.
The abounds everywhere in the Doric; but this dialect bears so near a conformity to the Æolic, that many reckon them but one.