Classification of Thracian
The linguistic classification of the ancient
Hypothesized links
Hypothetical Indo-European phylogenetic clades |
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Balkan |
Other |
Daco-Thracian
A Daco-Thracian (or Thraco-Dacian) grouping with
In the 1950s, the Bulgarian linguist Vladimir I. Georgiev published his work which argued that Dacian and Albanian should be assigned to a language branch termed Daco-Mysian, Mysian (the term Mysian derives from the Daco-Thracian tribe known as the Moesi)[5] being thought of as a transitional language between Dacian and Thracian. Georgiev argued that Dacian and Thracian are different languages, with different phonetic systems, his idea being supported by the placenames, which end in -dava in Dacian and Mysian, as opposed to -para, in Thracian placenames.[6] Georgiev argues that the distance between Dacian and Thracian was approximately the same as that between the Armenian and Persian languages. The claim of Georgiev that Albanian is a direct recent descendant of 'Daco-Moesian' is highly based on speculations that have been thoroughly dismantled by other scholars.[7]
Balto-Slavic
The Baltic classification of Dacian and Thracian was proposed by the Lithuanian polymath Jonas Basanavičius, referred to as "Patriarch of Lithuania", who insisted this is the most important work of his life and listed 600 identical words of Balts and Thracians[8][9][10] and was the first to investigate similarities in vocal traditions between Lithuanians and Bulgarians.[11] He also theoretically included Dacian and Phrygian in the related group, but a part of this inclusion was unsupported by other authors, such as the linguistic analysis of Ivan Duridanov, which found Phrygian completely lacking parallels in either Thracian or Baltic languages.[12]
The Bulgarian linguist Ivan Duridanov, in his first publication claimed that Thracian and Dacian are genetically linked to the Baltic languages
After creating a list of names of rivers and personal names with a high number of parallels, the Romanian linguist Mircea M. Radulescu classified the
The Venezuelan-Lithuanian historian Jurate Rosales classifies Dacian and Thracian as Baltic languages.[20]
The American linguist Harvey Mayer refers to both Dacian and Thracian as Baltic languages and refers to them as Southern or Eastern Baltic. He claims to have sufficient evidence for classifying them as Baltoidic or at least "Baltic-like", if not exactly, Baltic dialects or languages[21][22] and classifies Dacians and Thracians as "Balts by extension".[23] Mayer claims that he extracted an unambiguous evidence for regarding Dacian and Thracian as more tied to Lithuanian than to Latvian.[22][24]
Finally, I label Thracian and Dacian as East Baltic ... The fitting of special Dacian and Thracian features (which I identified from Duridanov's listings) into Baltic isogloss patterns so that I identified Dacian and Thracian as southeast Baltic. South Baltic because, like Old Prussian, they keep unchanged the diphthongs ei, ai, en, an (north Baltic Lithuanian and Latvian show varying percentages of ei, ai to ie, and en, an to ę, ą (to ē, ā) in Lithuanian, to ie, uo in Latvian). East Baltic because the Dacian word žuvete (now in Rumanian spelled juvete) has ž, not z as in west Baltic, and the Thracian word pušis (the Latin-Greek transcription shows pousis which, I believe, reflects -š-.) with zero grade puš- as in Lithuanian pušìs rather than with e-grade *peuš- as in Prussian peusē. Zero grade in this word is east Baltic, e-grade here is west Baltic, while the other word for "pine, evergreen", preidē (Prussian and Dacian), priede (Latvian), is marginal in Lithuanian matched by no *peus- in Latvian.
Thraco-Illyrian
"
The rivers
I.I. Russu argue that there should have been major similarities between Illyrian and Thracian, and a common linguistic branch (not merely a Sprachbund) is probable. Among the Thraco-Illyrian correspondences Russu considers are the following:
Illyrian | Daco-Thracian | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Abroi | Abre- | Abre- is an element taken from certain Thracian anthroponyms
|
Aploi, Aplus, Apulia | Apuli, Appulus, Apulum | |
Bilia, Bilios | Bila | |
Dardi, Dardani | Dardanos, Darda-para | |
Saprinus | Sapri-sara | |
Separi | Sapaioi | |
Sita | Sita, Seita | |
Tribulium | Triballi, Tribanta | |
Zorada | Zar-, Zur- |
Not many Thraco-Illyrian correspondences are definite, and a number may be incorrect, even from the list above. However,
The linguistic hypothesis of a Thraco-Illyrian branch was seriously called into question in the 1960s. New publications argued that no strong evidence for Thraco-Illyrian exists, and that the two language-areas show more differences than correspondences.
In 1977 Georgiev claimed that "Daco-Mysian" was closely related to the Thracian branch of Indo-European and that Illyrian was different from Thracian "as much as Iranian from Latin" for example.[32]
Albanian
There are a number of close cognates between Thracian and Albanian, but this may indicate only that Thracian and Albanian are two Palaeo-Balkan languages related but not very closely related, belonging to their own branches of Indo-European, analogous to the situation between Albanian and the Baltic languages: Albanian and Baltic share many close cognates,[33] while according to Mayer, Albanian is a descendant of Illyrian and escaped any heavy Baltic influence of Daco-Thracian.[23]
The view of a close link between Albanian and Thracian has not gained wide acceptance among scholars and is rejected by most linguists, including Albanian ones, who mainly consider that Albanian belongs to the Illyrian branch of IE.
Thraco-Phrygian or Thraco-Armenian hypothesis
For a long time a Thraco-Phrygian hypothesis grouping Thracian with the extinct Phrygian language was considered, largely based on Greek historians like Herodotus and Strabo. By extension of identifying Phrygians with Proto-Armenians, a Thraco-Phrygian branch of Indo-European was postulated with Thracian, Phrygian and Armenian and constituent languages. The evidence for this seems to have been mostly based on interpretations of history and identifying the eastern Mushki with Armenians and assuming they had branched off from western Mushki (whom have been conclusively identified as Phrygians).[41] However, Frederik Kortlandt has argued, on linguistic grounds, such as a common treatment of Proto-Indo-European glottal stops, that Thracian can be considered a Proto-Armenian dialect, thus, the two languages forming a Thraco-Armenian branch of Indo-European. Kortlandt has also postulated a link between Thraco-Armenian and the hypothetical Graeco-Phrygian language family. Despite Thracian and Armenian being Satem languages and Greek and Phrygian being Centum languages, Kortlandt identifies sound correspondences and grammatical similarities, postulating a relationship between his Thraco-Armenian family and the more established Graeco-Phrygian family. Graeco-Armenian is by itself a common hypothesized subgrouping of Indo-European languages. Kortlandt groups Albanian with Dacian, considering Daco-Albanian as belonging to a separate language complex than Thraco-Armenian.[42]
Older textbooks grouped Phrygian and Armenian with Thracian, but the belief is no longer popular and is mostly discarded.[43] Today, Phrygian is not widely seen as linked to Thracian.[44] Georgiev claimed that Thracian is different from Phrygian "as much as Greek from Albanian", comparing 150 Phrygian inscriptions.[32] Duridanov found in 1976 Phrygian completely lacking parallels in Thracian and concluded that the Thraco-Phrygian theory is debunked. Duridanov argued that the Thraco-Illyrian theory is a mistake of the past: "In the past it was regarded that Thracian together with the Phrygian and other vanished languages belonged to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. This mistake was corrected in the 80’s of the last century, but the ambiguities still persisted: the Thracian was combined in one group with the Phrygian (P. Kretschmer), and later – with the Illyrian (the language, spoken in the modern Dalmatia and Albania)."
Ancient Greek
Scholars have pointed out that the suffixes of the few surviving Thracian words betray Greek linguistic features.[45] Indeed, nearly all known Thracian personal names and toponyms are Greek.[45][46] There are also many close cognates between Thracian and ancient Greek.[47]
Historian
John Wilkes, too, wrote of Thracian as a dialect of Greek.[49] Samuel Taylor Coleridge considered a "necessary inference" that the Thracian language was a Greek dialect.[50]
According to archaeologists Ioannis Liritzis and Gregory N. Tsokas, the Thracians spoke the Greek language with particular idioms, solecisms and barbarisms.[51] Linguist Nikolaos P. Andriotes considered Thracian to be a sister language to ancient Greek.[52] Historian Anna Avramea considered that the Thracian language was related to Greek as well, but that it was later alienated.[53]
Sorin Mihai Olteanu, a
See also
- Balkan sprachbund
- Romanian words of possible Dacian origin(and comparison with Albanian words)
- Venetic language
References
- ^ This is confirmed among others by Benjamin W. Fortson in his Indo-European Language and Culture, when he states that "all attempts to relate Thracian to Phrygian, Illyrian, or Dacian...are...purely speculative." (p. 90).
- Burushaski language, a language isolate spoken in northern Pakistan.
- ^ Mallory, J. P. (1997). "Thracian language". In Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 576.
- ^ Crossland & Boardman 1982, p. 838.
- ^ The Moesi of Moesia are not to be confused with the Mysoi (Mysians) of Mysia in ancient Anatolia, though some[who?] hypothesize that the Mysians are directly descended from the Balkan Moesi. Georgiev claimed that Thracian is related to Daco-Moesian but distinct from Illyrian. This is hypothesized mostly on the basis of Strabo's claim that some Moesians had migrated to Mysia, becoming the Mysians of Anatolia. Also in some classical sources the Moesi of Moesia are called Μυσοί; Thracologists often see this as a corruption. Thracologists have noted a Thracian element in Mysia, but the Mysians are more often [citation needed] viewed as a non-Thraco-Dacic people akin to the Phrygians, not the Thracians.
- ^ Vladimir Georgiev (Gheorghiev), Raporturile dintre limbile dacă, tracă şi frigiană, "Studii Clasice" Journal, II, 1960, 39–58.
- ISBN 978-0-333-66612-8.
- ^ Dras. J. Basanavičius. Apie trakų prygų tautystę ir jų atsikėlimą Lietuvon
- ^ Balts and Goths: the missing link in European history. Vydūnas Youth Fund. 2004.
- ISBN 9789004290365.
- ^ Vyčinienė, Daiva. Relationships between Lithuanian and Balkan Schwebungs-Diaphonie: interdisciplinary search key.
- ^ a b c d Duridanov 1976.
- ^ Duridanov, Ivan (1969). Балканско езикознание [Balkan linguistics] (in Bulgarian). Vol. XIII. Sofia. p. 2.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Dėl žynio Žalmokšio vardo kilmės | Vydos Vartai Yogi.lt". www.yogi.lt (in Lithuanian). 3 April 2012.
- ^ "Thracian vocabulary: Thracian-English Dictionary". lexicons.ru. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ Duridanov, Ivan. "The Language of the Thracians". kroraina.com. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ a b Duridanov 1985.
- ^ Oleg N. Trubachev, "Linguistics and ethnogenesis of the Slavs: the ancient Slavs as evidenced by etymology and onomastics", Journal of Indo-European Studies 13 (1985), pp. 203–256, here p. 215. On the other hand, certain isoglosses, particularly lexical ones, in Balkan Slavic languages have cognates in Baltic, but not in East Slavic languages. See D. Brozovic, "Doseljenje slavena i njihovi dodiri sa starosjediocima u svjetlu lingvistickih istraiivanja" [The settlement of the Slavs and their contacts with the native population in the light of linguistic studies], in Simpozijum "Treaslavenski etnit‘lei elemenii na Balkanu u etnogenezi juinih Slovena" [Symposium on Pre-Slavic ethnic elements on the Balkans and the ethnognesis of Southern Slavs], 24–26 October 1968, Mostar, ed. A. Benac (Sarajevo: Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1969), 1313: 129–140, here pp. 151–152
- ^ M. Radulescu, "The Indo-European position of lllirian, Daco-Mysian and Thracian: a historic Methodological Approach", Journal of Indo-European Studies 15 (3–4), 239–271, 1987
- ^ de Rosales, Jūratė. Europos šaknys ir mes, Lietuviai [Roots of Europe and us, Lithuanians] (PDF) (in Lithuanian). pp. 43–70.
- ISSN 0024-5089. Archived from the originalon 2017-12-16. Retrieved 2017-06-04.
- ^ a b Mayer, H.E. (1996). "SOUTH BALTIC". Lituanus. 42 (2). Archived from the original on 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2017-06-04.
- ^ a b Mayer, H.E. (1997). "BALTS AND CARPATHIANS". Lituanus. 43 (2). Archived from the original on 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
- ^ Mayer, H.E. (1999). "Dr. Harvey E. Mayer, February 1999".
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica – Balkans.
- ^ Malcolm 1998, p. 363: "There were Thracian names in the eastern strip of Dardania, but Illyrian names dominated the rest; Katicic has shown that these belong with two other Illyrian “‘onomastic provinces’ (see his summary in Ancient Languages, pp. 179-81, and the evidence in Papazoglu, ‘Dardanska onomastika’).'"
- ^ Russu (1969).
- ^ Hemp, Georgiev, et al.
- ^ Paliga, S. (2001–2002). "Pre-Slavic and Pre-Romance Place-Names in Southeast Europe". Orpheus (Sofia) 11–12: 85–132.
- ^ The satem nature of proto-Thracian is disputed (Olteanu 2002).
- Eric Hamp.
- ^ a b Траките и техният език (1977 В Георгиев), p. 132, 183, 192, 204
- ^ Vladimir Orel, A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian language; et al.
- ^ Lloshi, 1999, p283
- ^ Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 235; Friedman 2020, p. 388; Majer 2019, p. 258; Trumper 2018, p. 385; Yntema 2017, p. 337; Mërkuri 2015, pp. 65–67; Ismajli 2015, p. 45; Hamp & Adams 2013, p. 8.
- ^ Ismajli 2015, p. 113.
- ^ a b Matzinger 2012, pp. 643–644.
- ^ Kortlandt 2003, p. 86.
- ^ Hamp 1980, p. 60.
- ^ Hamp 1980, pp. 59–60.
- ^ I. M. Diakonoff ”The Pre-History of the Armenian People” Erevan, 1968, English Translation by Lori Jennings (Delmar, New York, 1984) http://www.attalus.org/armenian/diakph10.htm
- ^ Frederik Kortlandt ”Phrygian Between Greek and Armenian” Academie Bulgare des Sciences Linguistique Balkanique LV (2016), 2–3
- ^ See C. Brixhe – Ancient languages of Asia Minor, Cambridge University Press, 2008 We will dismiss, at least temporarily, the idea of a Thraco-Phrygian unity. Thraco-Dacian (or Thracian and Daco-Mysian) seems to belong to the eastern (satem) group of Indo-European languages and its (their) phonetic system is far less conservative than that of Phrygian (see Brixhe and Panayotou 1994, §§3ff.
- ^ Polomé 1982, pp. 887–888.
- ^ a b Αρχείον Θράκης [Thracian archive] (in Greek). Vol. 32–33. Εταιρέια Θρακικών Μελετών – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. 1966. pp. 275–276.
Συνεχῆ λόγο δυστυχῶς στὴ Θρακικὴ γλῶσσα δὲν ἔχουμε, λέγει ὁ Μ. ̓Αποστολίδης, γιὰ νὰ γνωρίσουμε καὶ τὸ τυπικὸ καὶ τὴν σύνταξή της, τὰ δὲ καταληκτικὰ φαινόμενα καὶ στὶς λέξεις καὶ στὰ κύρια ὀνόματα καὶ τὰ τοπωνύμια, εἶναι ὅλα σχεδὸν Ἑλληνικά.
- ^ Mediterranean Archaeology. Vol. 7–8. Department of Archeology, University of Sydney. 1994. p. 20.
Thracian personal and place names are inscribed in Greek...
- ^ a b c Sorin Mihai Olteanu – The Thracian Palatal Archived 2009-04-15 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed: February 26, 2009).
- ^ Buchanan, George (1799). George Buchanan's Dialogue concerning the Rights of the Crown of Scotland translated into English; with two dissertations prefixed; one archeological, inquiring into the pretended identity of the Getes and Scythians, of the Getes and Goths, and of the Goths and Scots; and the other historical, vindicating the character of Buchanan as an historian and containing some specimens of his poetry in English verse. T. Cadell, Jun. & W. Davies. p. 20.
- ^ Wilkes, John (1814). Encyclopaedia Londinensis. p. 907.
- ISBN 978-0-691-65599-4.
- ^ Liritzis, Ioannis; Tsokas, Gregory N. (1995). Archaeometry in South Eastern Europe: Second Conference in Delphi, 19–21st April 1991. Council of Europe.
As an effect of the aforementioned association, Thracians used to speak the Greek language with particular idioms, barbarisms and solecisms.
- ^ Andriōtēs, Nikolaos P. (1976). Anticharisma ston Kathēgētē Nikolao P. Andriōtē: anatypōsē 88 ergasiōn toy me tē phrontida epitropēs (in Greek). Altintzēs. p. 213.
Η γλώσσα που μιλούσαν οι αρχαίοι Θράκες ήταν, όπως είπαμε, ένδοευρωπαϊκή, αδελφή της Ελληνικής, όχι όμως ελληνική.
- ISBN 978-960-85609-1-8.
The Thracian language is a branch of the Indo-European linguistic trunk... It was related to the Greek language but was later alienated
Works cited
- Duridanov, I. (1976). Ezikyt na Trakite.
- Friedman, Victor A. (2020). "The Balkans". In ISBN 9781351109147.
- Duridanov, Ivan (1985). Die Sprache der Thraker. Bulgarische Sammlung (in German). Vol. 5. Hieronymus Verlag. ISBN 3-88893-031-6.
- Trumper, John (2018). "Some Celto-Albanian isoglosses and their implications". In Grimaldi, Mirko; Lai, Rosangela; Franco, Ludovico; Baldi, Benedetta (eds.). Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond: In Honour of Leonardo M. Savoia. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027263179.
Bibliography
- Crossland, R.A.; Boardman, John (1982). "Linguistic problems of the Balkan area in the late prehistoric and early Classical period". The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 3, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22496-3.
- Hamp, Eric P. (1980). "Thracian, Dacian and Albanian–Romanian Correspondences". Actes du IIe Congrès international de thracologie: Linguistique, ethnologie (ethnographie, folkloristique et art populaire), anthropologie. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. pp. 57–60.
- Hamp, Eric; Adams, Douglas (August 2013). "The Expansion of the Indo-European Languages: An Indo-Europeanist's Evolving View" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. 239.
- Hyllested, Adam; Joseph, Brian D. (2022). "Albanian". The Indo-European Language Family. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108499798.
- Ismajli, Rexhep (2015). Eqrem Basha (ed.). Studime për historinë e shqipes në kontekst ballkanik [Studies on the History of Albanian in the Balkan context] (in Albanian). Prishtinë: Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts, special editions CLII, Section of Linguistics and Literature.
- Kortlandt, Frederik (2003). "The Thraco-Armenian consonant shift". In ISBN 9780882061061.
- Majer, Marek (2019). "Parahistoria indoevropiane e fjalës shqipe për 'motrën'" [Indo-European Prehistory of the Albanian Word for 'Sister']. Seminari Ndërkombëtar për Gjuhën, Letërsinë dhe Kulturën Shqiptare [International Seminar for Albanian Language, Literature and Culture] (in Albanian). 1 (38). ISSN 2521-3687.
- Matzinger, Joachim (2012). "Herkunft des Albanischen: Argumente gegen die thrakische Hypothese" [Origin of Albanian: Arguments Against the Thracian Hypothesis]. In Rugova, Bardh (ed.). Studime për nder të Rexhep Ismajlit: me rastin e 65vjetorit të lindjes. Koha. pp. 635–649. ISBN 9789951417761.
- Mërkuri, Nexhip (2015). "Gjuhësia e përgjithshme dhe këndvështrimet bashkëkohore për Epirin dhe mesapët" [General Linguistics and Contemporary Perspectives on Epirus and the Messapians]. In Ibrahimi, Zeqirija (ed.). Shaban Demiraj – figurë e shquar e albanologjisë dhe ballkanologjisë [Shaban Demiraj – prominent figure of Albanianology and Balkanology] (in Albanian). Instituti i Trashëgimisë Shpirtërore e Kulturore të Shqiptarëve – Shkup. p. 57. ISBN 9786084653240.
- Polomé, Edgar Charles (1982). "Balkan Languages (Illyrian, Thracian and Daco-Moesian)". Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. III.1. pp. 866–888.
- Yntema, Douwe (2017). "The Pre-Roman Peoples of Apulia (1000-100 BC)". In Gary D. Farney, Guy Bradley (ed.). The Peoples of Ancient Italy. De Gruyter Reference. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 337–. ISBN 9781614513001.
Further reading
- Duridanov, Ivan (1969). Die Thrakisch- und Dakisch-Baltischen Sprachbeziehungen [Thracian and Dacian Baltic Language Contacts]. Other. Verlag der Bulgarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sofia.