Genetic Descent

[petegray]

> I'm not sure we need to invoke substrate for the feminine suffix -issa. It
> can plausibly be regarded as an extraction from feminine ethnonyms like
> <Phoi'nissa> and <Ki'lissa> in which the final [-k-] of the ethnic stem was
> palatalized by the feminine suffix [-ya].

There should be evidence of timing available here.   The change -ky- to -ss-
occurs after Attic speakers are out of immediate touch with Ionic speakers,
and in immediate touch with Boeotia (since Attic shares the Boeotian reflex
as -tt-, not -ss- as Ionic). That's relatively late.  So are there feminine
words in -issa attested significantly earlier than this, such as in
Mycenaean?

Peter