Ancient Macedonian language in the context of "Northwest Greek"

The Macedonians (Ancient Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedónes) were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian. They spoke Ancient Macedonian, which is usually classified by scholars as a dialect of Northwest Doric Greek, and occasionally as a distinct sister language of Greek or an Aeolic Greek dialect. However, the prestige language of Macedon during the Classical era was Attic Greek, replaced by Koine Greek during the Hellenistic era. Their religious beliefs mirrored those of other Greeks, following the main deities of the Greek pantheon, although the Macedonians continued Archaic burial practices that had ceased in other parts of Greece after the 6th century BC. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility. Similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle.

Although composed of various clans, the kingdom of Macedonia, established around the 7th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argead dynasty and the tribe named after it. The dynasty, also known as the Temenid dynasty, was allegedly founded by Perdiccas I, descendant of the legendary Temenus of Argos, while the region of Macedon derived its name from Makedon, a figure of Greek mythology. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of Alexander I (r. 498 – 454 BC). Under Philip II (r. 359 – 336 BC), the Macedonians are credited with numerous military innovations, which enlarged their territory and increased their control over other areas extending into Thrace. This consolidation of territory allowed for the exploits of Alexander the Great (r. 336 – 323 BC), the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, the establishment of the diadochi successor states, and the inauguration of the Hellenistic period in West Asia, Greece, and the broader Mediterranean world. The Macedonians were eventually conquered by the Roman Republic, which dismantled the Macedonian monarchy at the end of the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) and established the Roman province of Macedonia after the Fourth Macedonian War (150–148 BC).

The Proto-Greek language, also known as Proto-Hellenic, is the Indo-European language which was the last common ancestor of all varieties of Greek, including Mycenaean Greek, the subsequent ancient Greek dialects (i.e., Attic, Ionic, Aeolic, Doric proper, Arcadocypriot, Northwest Greek, ancient Macedonian—either a dialect or a closely related Hellenic language) and, ultimately, Koine, Byzantine and Modern Greek (along with its variants). Proto-Greek speakers entered Greece sometime between 2200 and 1900 BC, with the diversification into a southern and a northern group beginning by approximately 1700 BC.

The Pella curse tablet is a text written in a distinct Doric Greek idiom, found in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedon, in 1986. Ιt contains a curse or magic spell (Ancient Greek: κατάδεσμος, katadesmos) inscribed on a lead scroll, dated to the first half of the 4th century BC (c. 380–350 BC). It was published in the Hellenic Dialectology Journal in 1993 and is currently held in the Archaeological Museum of Pella. The Pella curse tablet exhibits some of the typical Northwest Greek features, as well as a cluster of unique Doric features that do not appear in other subdialects of this family (e.g. Epirote, Locrian). It represents the same or a very similar vernacular dialect that is also attested in the other Doric inscriptions from Macedonia. This indicates that a Doric Greek dialect was not imported, but proper to Macedon. As a result, the Pella curse tablet has been forwarded as an argument that Ancient Macedonian was a variety of Northwest Greek, and one of the Doric dialects.

The spell was written by a woman, possibly named Dagina or Phila. It was intended to prevent the marriage of her love interest, Dionysophon, with Thetima, and secure that Dionysophon would marry and live a happy life with her instead. The spell was entrusted to the corpse of a deceased man, named Macron.

The Pydna curse tablets are a collection of six texts or catalogues written in Ancient Greek that were found at the ruins of Pydna, a prominent city of ancient Macedon, between 1994 and 1997. They were discovered during the archaeological excavations of the Makrygialos cemetery and were first published by Curbera and Jordan in 2003. Each tablet contains a curse or magic spell (Ancient Greek: κατάδεσμος, katadesmos), probably all of judicial nature, and has been dated to the 4th century BC. Three of them are merely name catalogues, while the others also contain language which indicates they were meant to influence legal proceedings. The tablets document in total 66 individuals, most of whom bear well-known Greek names. The onomasticon of the tablets can be overall characterized as typically ancient Macedonian (e.g. Amyntas, Philippos, Pausanias etc.). The tablets have had important contribution to modern understanding of ancient Macedonian anthroponymy and prosopography, particularly in the city of Pydna.

Argos Pelasgikon (Ancient Greek: Ἄργος Πελασγικόν) is a Homeric location of Thessaly mentioned in the "Catalogue of Ships" passage:

It has been interpreted to be a city in the Pelasgiotis district or an alternative name of Phthia, the kingdom of Peleus and Achilles or pertaining to the whole Thessaly. Strabo reports that: Some take the Pelasgian Argos as a Thessalian city once situated in the neighborhood of Larisa but now no longer existent; but others take it, not as a city, but as the plain of the Thessalians, which is referred to by this name because Abas, who brought a colony there from Argos, so named it. Strabo gives also the following post-classical meaning of the word 'argos': And in the more recent writers the plain, too, is called Argos, but not once in Homer. Yet they think that this is more especially a Macedonian or Thessalian usage.

Berenice (Ancient Greek: Βερενίκη, Bereníkē) is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name Φερενίκη Pherenikē, which means "bearer of victory" from Ancient Greek φέρω (pherō) 'to bear' and νίκη (nikē) 'victory'. Berenika, priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC, is the oldest epigraphical evidence. The Latin variant Veronica is a direct transliteration. The name also has the form Bernice.

Many historical figures bear the name Berenice: