Aeolic Greek

In linguistics, Aeolic Greek ( /iːˈɒlɪk/; also Aeolian /iːˈoʊliən/, Lesbian or Lesbic Greek) is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia (a region in Central Greece), Thessaly, in the Aegean island of Lesbos, and the Greek colonies of Asia Minor (Aeolis).

The Aeolic dialect shows many archaisms in comparison to the other Ancient Greek dialects (Attic-Ionic, Doric, Northwestern and Arcadocypriot), as well as many innovations.

Aeolic Greek is most widely known for being the language of the writings of Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene. Aeolic poetry, the most famous example of which being the works of Sappho, mostly uses four classical meters known as the Aeolics, which are: Glyconic (the most basic form of Aeolic line), hendecasyllabic verse, Sapphic stanza and Alcaic stanza (the latter two so named after Sappho and Alcaeus respectively).

In Plato's Protagoras (dialogue), Prodicus labelled the Aeolic dialect of Pittacus of Mytilene as barbarian (barbaros), because of its difference from the Attic literary style:

he didn't know to distinguish the words correctly, being from Lesbos, and having been raised with a barbarian dialect