Gustave Deville: Etude sur le Dialecte Tzaconien.Paris 1866 First and only edition.Large in 8vo, contemporary publishers paper covers with light wear, text clean and bright, completec140p.,a folding map of Tzakonia (Τσακωνιά ),most probably the very first ever printed,overall in very good condition A work that remains a cornerstone for the study of the most enigmatic language in the Greek world, the Tsakonian. Deville went to the rugged, isolated eastern coast of the Peloponnese, the Kynouria region, to document Tsakonian. Deville was among the first to scientifically argue that Tsakonian was not a corrupted modern Greek, but a direct descendant of the ancient Doric dialect of the Spartans. He explained how the Parnon mountain range acted as a natural barrier, allowing the dialect to survive for 2,000 years while the rest of the Greek world moved toward the Koine and then modern Greek. Deville meticulously recorded the unique sounds of Tsakonian, such as the retention of the digamma sound and the use of the "a" instead of the "e",typical of Doric. The work includes a comprehensive grammar and a comparative glossary, contrasting Tsakonian words with their ancient Doric roots and modern Greek equivalents.