According to a theory which has been very commonly accepted by archaeologists in this country, the local names of Greece prove that a single language was once spoken there and in Asia Minor which was totally different from Greek, Thraeian, Illyrian, or Phrygian. It was neither Aryan nor Semitic, and resembled that of the Lycian inscriptions. At a later date, whether before or after the arrival of the Greeks, certain Thraeian and Illyrian elements were added, but they contributed little to the sum of geographical names.
This belief is founded on the occurrence in Greece of local terminations in -σσ- and especially in -νθ-, which are considered to be foreign, and on their identification with the suffixes -σσ- and -νδ-, which are well known in Lycia, as well as in other districts of Asia Minor, and are derived from the native Lycian language.