DOCSLIB.ORG

15. Languages in Prehistoric Europe North of the Alps*

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
15. Languages in Prehistoric Europe North of the Alps* 15. Languages in prehistoric Europe north of the Alps* Abstract The chapter surveys the theory that languages of three families were spoken in Europe after the last ice age: Old European, which is identified as Vasconic, the language family of which Basque is the sole survivor; Atlantic. which is under­ stood to be Semitidic, i.e. related to the Mediterranean Hamito-Semitic languages. possibly simply Semitic; and West Indo-European languages. The stratal relation­ ships among these three prehistoric language families, as well as the nature and direction of contact influences among them, are sketched. with references to the literature where the points made are treated in greater detail. These stratal relation­ ships, and in addition the superstratal relation of Norman French to Anglo-Saxon, are summarized in a graphic Stammbaum for English. I would like to give a brief survey of my views of the linguistic pre­ history of Europe north of the Alps, by which I mean, more generally, Europe north of the main divide which extends from the Pyrenees in the southwest to the northern Balkans in the east, or north-east, relatively speaking. I will say nothing about the Uralic languages, and I will also remain silent about possible further languages that may have extended to the area north of the divide but that we really think of as belonging to the south. I After a very brief synopsis of the scope and contents of the theory, I would like to formulate a number of theses, or propositions, with explanations and with references. I begin with a brief sketch (from Vennemann 1998c) which may be viewed as an illustration of thesis G 1 (G for general background). G 1. Languages of three genetic groups were spoken in prehistoric Europe north of the Alps: 1. Old European 2. Atlantic 3. West Indo-European 258 Languages in prehistoric Europe To understand the prehistoric linguistic development of Europe, one has to keep in mind that the relevant time to consider is relatively short. There naturally will have been languages in Europe north of the Alps for tens of thousands of years, but in a very precise sense they do not matter. During the last ice age the region between the polar ice which reached south into Great Britain and Northern Germany on one hand and the Alpine ice which reached north into regions which are now densely populated, this region between two formidable ice sheets were inhospitable to human beings. Human beings surviving there as hunters, fishers, and gatherers numbered very few, and f320 experience shows that when people with more advanced economic systems, such as herdsmen and agriculturalists, enter such a region, the languages of the earlier populations vanish, and usually without leaving many if any traces in the languages of the newcomers. The point of this consideration is that the climate in Europe north of the Alps only improved to support large populations about ten thousand years ago, but then rather rapidly, crea­ ting nearly subtropical weather conditions until about six thousand years ago. G 2. The three genetic groups of prehistoric Europe north of the Alps had the following filiations: l. Old European: Vasconic 2. Atlantic: Semitidic 3. West Indo-European: Indo-European Vasconic Semitidic Basque Old Semitic Atlantic --------European -------- Point 1. The Old European languages I consider Vasconic, i.e. rela­ ted to contemporary Basque, the only survivor of the Vasconic family of languages. Point 2. The Atlantic languages I consider Hamito-Semitic. There exist two views of Semitic, a wider one which includes Egyptian and Libyco-Berber, the latter with Guanche, the extinct pre-Spanish lan­ guage of the Canary Islands, and a narrower one which excludes them. For want of a better term, and a bit on the model of Basque and Vasco­ nic, I call this group Semitidic. But since the languages that left their influence at least in the lexicon of the West Indo-European languages Languages in prehistoric Europe 259 seem to have been most similar to Semitic in the narrower sense, so that the impression often is that they were Semitic languages, I will often simply say "Semitic". Whatever their exact filiation, the Atlantic lan­ guages themselves died out in prehistoric times or, perhaps, in early historic times, namely in the middle ages, if my view is correct that Pic­ tish was the last survivor of the Atlantic languages. Point 3. The Indo-European languages are those which ousted most of the other languages from the continent. Whether they have relatives outside the Indogermania, as is assumed within the so-called Nostratic theory, is of no significance to my theory. I assume the following movements of the speakers of the languages of the f32i three posited families." When the Continent was becoming warmer about ten thousand years ago and the ice sheet was beginning to withdraw from large parts of Europe, both in a northerly direction to­ ward the pole and in a southerly direction into the Alps, the Vasconic Old Europeans moved forward in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe starting from Southern France, so that nearly the entire Continent be­ came Vasconic.3 If I were permitted to venture a guess on their main economy, which as a linguist I am probably not, I would surmise that gradually it came to be the raising of goats and sheep, supplemented by a primitive form of agriculture, while, needless to say, hunting, fishing, and gathering did not cease, having indeed continued to the present day. Why is it plausible to assume that those Old Europeans beginning their gradual expansion spoke Vasconic languages? At the beginning of history, when the first reliable information about languages in Southern France becomes available, the only clearly recognizable non-Indo-Eu­ ropean language of that region, Aquitanian, was Vasconic (Michelena 1954, Gorrochategui 1984, 1987, Trask 1997: 398-402). Therefore it appears to be a reasonable assumption that Southern France was Vasco­ nic before the arrival of Gaulish, Greek, and Latin. There was also Ligu­ rian, but too little material has survived for a genetic identification. Since the Vasconicity at least of a large part of prehistoric Southern France is certain, it appears to me the most reasonable assumption that the first major post-glaciation languages of Europe north of the Alps were in­ deed Vasconic. The system of Old European river names supports this assumption (Vennemann 1994b). Next I turn to the Atlantic peoples. From the fifth millennium on­ ward, Semitidic peoples, bearers of the megalithic culture, moved north along the Atlantic coast to all the islands and up the navigable rivers as seafaring colonizers, until they reached Southern Sweden in the middle of the third millennium. Their main economy, if I may guess again, I 260 Languages in prehistoric Europe suppose to have been an advanced form of cattle breeding as well as agriculture including fruit-culture, also increasingly mining and trading. Why is it plausible to assume that those Atlantic colonists and mega­ lithic builders of the Atlantic Seaboard spoke Semitidic languages? At the dawn of history we find the Western Mediterranean dominated by Phoenicians, a Semitic people; the wars between the Romans and the Carthaginians were the 1322 last chapters in the story of this dominance, essentially describing its decline. The megalithic culture is by many specialists, though not by all, considered of Mediterranean origin. If this view is accepted, a Semitic filiation of prehistoric seafaring colonizers emanating from the Mediterranean and carrying this culture is in my view the default assumption. And since for one of the most intensely megalithicized prehistoric areas, Ireland, a Hamito-Semitic pre-Celtic substratum had been suspected and demonstrated by Morris Jones (1900), ascertained by Pokorny (1927-30), and - in my view - estab­ lished once and for all by Gensler (1993), there exists more to go by than the default assumption. My own view, as is easy to see, is merely a generalization from Ireland, or the British Isles, with their well-known megalithic monuments, to the entire Atlantic Littoral, the megalithicized coastal regions stretching from North Africa and Spain to Southern Sweden. As for the spread of the Indo-Europeans into the region I am consi­ dering, I take a rather conservative view. I assume them to have moved, beginning in the sixth millennium, from the Pannonian Basin (the fertile region surrounded by the Carpathian mountains) into the area north of the Alps in all directions, reaching the basin of Paris in the middle of the fifth millennium and Scandinavia about the beginning of the fourth millennium. Their main economy I suppose to have been an advanced form of farming including both agriCUlture and cattle-breeding.4 The theory that the Indo-Europeans brought farming to Europe north of the Alps has independently been developed, and elaborated much further, by Renfrew (1987). But I think Renfrew then caused more harm than good for it by assuming that those farmers directly spread into the areas where we find them at the dawn of history. This is untenable because the southern and eastern Indo-European areas were only Indo-Europeanized much later, essentially between the fourth and the first millennia B.C., and by military bands not by farmers. In my view these later great Indo-European migrations or Volkerwanderungen are a result of the militarization of Europe north of the Alps as a conse­ quence of over-population in the fourth millennium, which was itself caused by three factors: a deterioration of the climate, loss of land around the North Sea, and advances of the Atlantic peoples in the West. Languages in prehistoric Europe 261 From this theory of the expansion of the three posited linguistic groups, I derive the stratal relationships for the languages of the three families formulated in thesis G 3 1323 G 3.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Germanic Origins from the Perspective of the Y-Chromosome
    Germanic Origins from the Perspective of the Y-Chromosome By Michael Robert St. Clair A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in German in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Irmengard Rauch, Chair Thomas F. Shannon Montgomery Slatkin Spring 2012 Abstract Germanic Origins from the Perspective of the Y-Chromosome by Michael Robert St. Clair Doctor of Philosophy in German University of California, Berkeley Irmengard Rauch, Chair This dissertation holds that genetic data are a useful tool for evaluating contemporary models of Germanic origins. The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and include among their major contemporary representatives English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic. Historically, the search for Germanic origins has sought to determine where the Germanic languages evolved, and why the Germanic languages are similar to and different from other European languages. Both archaeological and linguist approaches have been employed in this research direction. The linguistic approach to Germanic origins is split among those who favor the Stammbaum theory and those favoring language contact theory. Stammbaum theory posits that Proto-Germanic separated from an ancestral Indo-European parent language. This theoretical approach accounts for similarities between Germanic and other Indo- European languages by posting a period of mutual development. Germanic innovations, on the other hand, occurred in isolation after separation from the parent language. Language contact theory posits that Proto-Germanic was the product of language convergence and this convergence explains features that Germanic shares with other Indo-European languages.
    [Show full text]
  • Estimations of Population Density for Selected Periods Between the Neolithic and AD 1800 Andreas Zimmermann University of Cologne, [email protected]
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Commons@Wayne State University Human Biology Volume 81 Issue 2 Special Issue on Demography and Cultural Article 13 Macroevolution 2009 Estimations of Population Density for Selected Periods Between the Neolithic and AD 1800 Andreas Zimmermann University of Cologne, [email protected] Johanna Hilpert University of Cologne Karl Peter Wendt University of Cologne Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol Recommended Citation Zimmermann, Andreas; Hilpert, Johanna; and Wendt, Karl Peter (2009) "Estimations of Population Density for Selected Periods Between the Neolithic and AD 1800," Human Biology: Vol. 81: Iss. 2-3, Article 13. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/ humbiol/vol81/iss2/13 Estimations of Population Density for Selected Periods Between the Neolithic and AD 1800 Abstract We describe a combination of methods applied to obtain reliable estimations of population density using archaeological data. The ombc ination is based on a hierarchical model of scale levels. The necessary data and methods used to obtain the results are chosen so as to define transfer functions from one scale level to another. We apply our method to data sets from western Germany that cover early Neolithic, Iron Age, Roman, and Merovingian times as well as historical data from AD 1800. Error margins and natural and historical variability are discussed. Our results for nonstate societies are always lower than conventional estimations compiled from the literature, and we discuss the reasons for this finding. At the end, we compare the calculated local and global population densities with other estimations from different parts of the world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Significance of the Ancient Standing Stones, Villages, Tombs on Orkney Island
    The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism Volume 5 Print Reference: Pages 561-572 Article 43 2003 The Significance of the Ancient Standing Stones, Villages, Tombs on Orkney Island Lawson L. Schroeder Philip L. Schroeder Bryan College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/icc_proceedings DigitalCommons@Cedarville provides a publication platform for fully open access journals, which means that all articles are available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. However, the opinions and sentiments expressed by the authors of articles published in our journals do not necessarily indicate the endorsement or reflect the views of DigitalCommons@Cedarville, the Centennial Library, or Cedarville University and its employees. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their work. Please address questions to [email protected]. Browse the contents of this volume of The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism. Recommended Citation Schroeder, Lawson L. and Schroeder, Philip L. (2003) "The Significance of the Ancient Standing Stones, Villages, Tombs on Orkney Island," The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism: Vol. 5 , Article 43. Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/icc_proceedings/vol5/iss1/43 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ANCIENT STANDING STONES, VILLAGES AND TOMBS FOUND ON THE ORKNEY ISLANDS LAWSON L. SCHROEDER, D.D.S. PHILIP L. SCHROEDER 5889 MILLSTONE RUN BRYAN COLLEGE STONE MOUNTAIN, GA 30087 P. O. BOX 7484 DAYTON, TN 37321-7000 KEYWORDS: Orkney Islands, ancient stone structures, Skara Brae, Maes Howe, broch, Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones of Stenness, dispersion, Babel, famine, Ice Age ABSTRACT The Orkney Islands make up an archipelago north of Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • A Near Eastern Ethnic Element Among the Etruscan Elite? Jodi Magness University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Etruscan Studies Journal of the Etruscan Foundation Volume 8 Article 4 2001 A Near Eastern Ethnic Element Among the Etruscan Elite? Jodi Magness University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies Recommended Citation Magness, Jodi (2001) "A Near Eastern Ethnic Element Among the Etruscan Elite?," Etruscan Studies: Vol. 8 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies/vol8/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Etruscan Studies by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Near EasTern EThnic ElemenT Among The ETruscan EliTe? by Jodi Magness INTRODUCTION:THEPROBLEMOFETRUSCANORIGINS 1 “Virtually all archaeologists now agree that the evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of the “indigenous” theory of Etruscan origins: the development of Etruscan culture has to be understood within an evolutionary sequence of social elaboration in Etruria.” 2 “The archaeological evidence now available shows no sign of any invasion, migra- Tion, or colonisaTion in The eighTh cenTury... The formaTion of ETruscan civilisaTion occurred in ITaly by a gradual process, The final sTages of which can be documenTed in The archaeo- logical record from The ninTh To The sevenTh cenTuries BC... For This reason The problem of ETruscan origins is nowadays (righTly) relegaTed To a fooTnoTe in scholarly accounTs.” 3 he origins of the Etruscans have been the subject of debate since classical antiqui- Tty. There have traditionally been three schools of thought (or “models” or “the- ories”) regarding Etruscan origins, based on a combination of textual, archaeo- logical, and linguistic evidence.4 According to the first school of thought, the Etruscans (or Tyrrhenians = Tyrsenoi, Tyrrhenoi) originated in the eastern Mediterranean.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo
    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo-European and Germanic Background Indo-European Background It has already been mentioned in this course that German and English are related languages. Two languages can be related to each other in much the same way that two people can be related to each other. If two people share a common ancestor, say their mother or their great-grandfather, then they are genetically related. Similarly, German and English are genetically related because they share a common ancestor, a language which was spoken in what is now northern Germany sometime before the Angles and the Saxons migrated to England. We do not have written records of this language, unfortunately, but we have a good idea of what it must have looked and sounded like. We have arrived at our conclusions as to what it looked and sounded like by comparing the sounds of words and morphemes in earlier written stages of English and German (and Dutch) and in modern-day English and German dialects. As a result of the comparisons we are able to reconstruct what the original language, called a proto-language, must have been like. This particular proto-language is usually referred to as Proto-West Germanic. The method of reconstruction based on comparison is called the comparative method. If faced with two languages the comparative method can tell us one of three things: 1) the two languages are related in that both are descended from a common ancestor, e.g. German and English, 2) the two are related in that one is the ancestor of the other, e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Review of “The Mesolithic” in Relation to Siberian Archaeology ALEXANDER B
    ARCTIC VOL. 38, NO. 3 (SEPTEMBER 1985) P. 178-187 A Critical Review of “the Mesolithic” in Relation to Siberian Archaeology ALEXANDER B. DOLITSKY’ ABSTRACT. This paperexplores the potentialof the economic-ecqlogical method basedon the exploitation of fishresources for Mesolithic site iden- tification, as compared to the recently popular yet indecisive technological-typologicalmethod, to predict the existence of “Mesolithic-like” sub- sistence activities in Siberia during the Sartan-Holocene“transition” period. The article is an attempt toestablish, or at least topropose, new criteria that can lead toa higher level of understandingof Mesolithic economies insubarctic and arctic regions. Also, decision-making processes that operate to achieve behavioralgoals based on efficiency of human beingsare suggested. The model, designed with respectto geographical regions identified as interbiotic zones, has the advantage of offering specific alternative hypotheses enabling the definition of both environmental properties and predicted human behavior. Key words: Mesolithic, Siberia, interbiotic zone RÉSUMÉ. L’article &die le potentiel de la méthode économique-écologique fondte sur l’exploitation de poissons en guise de ressources pour l’identification desites mtsolithiques, en comparison avecla mdthode technologique-typologique populaire maisindécise, afin de prddire l’existence d’activitds de subsistencede genre mésolithique en Sibdrie durant la périodede transition Sartan-Holoctne. On tente d’établir ou au moins de pro- poser de nouveaux crittres qui pourraient permettre une meilleure comprdhension des économies mdsolithiques dans les rdgions arctiques et sub- arctiques. De plus, on suggkre des processus de prise de ddcisions qui visent21 établir des buts de comportement fondéssur l’efficacité de I’être hu- main.Conçu par rapport 21 des rdgionsgéographiques nommées zones interbiotiques, le modele a l’avantage d’offrir des choix particuliers d’hypothtses permettant la ddfinition des propridtés environnementales et du comportement humain prévu.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Paper
    Bell Beaker resilience? The 4.2ka BP event and its implications for environments and societies in Northwest Europe Jos Kleijne, Mara Weinelt, Johannes Müller Abstract This paper deals with the Bell Beaker phenomenon in Northwest Europe, and the question of its development around 2200 BC, in relation to the well-known 4.2ka climatic event. The duration of settlement occupation and the subsistence economy are the variables used in this study to address this resilience on a regional scale. Concluding, we state that regional variability exists in the ways in which communities were impacted by the 4.2ka event. In addition to agricultural intensification, the flexibility of subsistence strategies seems to have played an important role. Keywords Resilience; Bell Beaker; Northwest Europe; Settlement; Subsistence Introduction From 2600 BC onwards, Western and Central Europe are characterised by what archaeologists have historically labelled as “the Bell Beaker phenomenon” (e.g. Vander Linden 2013). In various parts of Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula, the end of this phenomenon is often considered to date around 2200 BC, with the rise of the El Argar civilisation in the Southeast of the Peninsula, associated with significant changes in social organisation, settlement structure and food economy (Lull et al 2015). The role of climate in the demise of the Bell Beaker phenomenon, and the resilience and vulnerability of prehistoric communities, is currently being debated (e.g. Blanco-Gonzalez et al 2018; Hinz et al in press). Specifically, an abrupt climatic event around 2200 BC, commonly known as ‘the 4.2ka event’, has a well attested influence on human society in other parts of the world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Genomic Ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture People and Their Relation to the Broader Corded Ware Horizon
    Malmström, H., Günther, T., Svensson, E. M., Juras, A., Fraser, M., Munters, A. R., Pospieszny, Ł., Tõrv, M., Lindström, J., Götherström, A., Storå, J., & Jakobsson, M. (2019). The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1912), [20191528]. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1528 Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record License (if available): CC BY Link to published version (if available): 10.1098/rspb.2019.1528 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via The Royal Society at https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1528 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon Research Helena Malmström1,2,†, Torsten Günther1,†, Emma M. Svensson1, Anna Juras3, Cite this article: Malmström H et al. 2019 Magdalena Fraser1,4, Arielle R. Munters1, Łukasz Pospieszny5,6, Mari Tõrv7, The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian 8 9 10 Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to Jonathan Lindström , Anders Götherström , Jan Storå the broader Corded Ware horizon.
    [Show full text]
  • Multilingualism As a Cohesion Factor in the European Culture
    MULTILINGUALISM AS A COHESION FACTOR IN THE EUROPEAN CULTURE 1. EUROPEAN LANGUAGES Many European languages have their origins in three Indo-European language groups: the Romance languages from the Latin of the Roman Empire; the Germanic languages, whose original language was spoken in Southern Scandinavia, and the Slavic languages, derived from the Protoslav branch, which existed for over 3000 years before evolving into a variety of other languages during the period between the VI-IX centuries AD1. In general, all the current languages in Europe settled during the Middle Ages. Until then, the various languages had evolved rapidly because there was only a small percentage of people who could read and write. With so few people being able to read, it was normal for languages to be passed from generation to generation orally, making its evolutional process more expedient than what it currently is today. Romance languages were, and still to this day are spoken mainly in Southwestern Europe and in Romania and Moldova (Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian are Romance languages, as well as other languages that are not so widespread as Catalan or Sardinian). Germanic languages have their roots in Northern and Northwestern Europe, and in some areas of Central Europe; to this group belong German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic, as well as Frisian, which is considered a minority language. Slavic languages are spoken in Central Europe, the Balkans, Russia and West of Russia. Because the area suffered numerous invasions over several centuries, languages were strongly differentiated from each other, which is the reason for the current division into three distinct groups: Western, Eastern and Southern.
    [Show full text]
  • Etruscan Winged “Demons”
    First in Flight: Etruscan Winged “Demons” Marvin Morris University of California, Berkeley Classical Civilizations Class of 2016 Abstract: Etruscan winged Underworld figures (commonly referred to as winged “demons”) represent one of the most fascinating and least understood aspects of funerary iconography in ancient Etruria. Their function, along with their origin, has long been the subject of scholarly debates. However, over the last two decades, scholars have begun to take a closer look at these chthonic figures. Recent scholarship has begun to provide answers to many of the most fundamental questions concerning their role, even if disagreements remain over their murky origins. Expanding on interpretations that have cast new light on how these winged (and non winged) Underworld figures functioned, questions concerning Etruscan religious beliefs and funerary ideology can now be reconsidered. Introduction: Iconography and Ideology Etruscan winged Underworld figures (commonly referred to as winged “demons”) represent one of the most fascinating and least understood aspects of funerary iconography in ancient Etruria. Their function, along with their origin, has long been the subject of scholarly debates. However, over the last two decades, scholars1 have begun to take a closer look at these chthonic figures. Recent scholarship has begun to provide answers to many of the most fundamental questions concerning their role, even if disagreements remain over their murky origins2. Expanding on interpretations that have cast new light on how these winged (and non winged) Underworld figures functioned, questions concerning Etruscan religious beliefs and funerary ideology can now be reconsidered. One such question concerns the sudden increase in the appearance of winged “demons” that begins to occur around the end of the fifth century BCE.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ancient People of Italy Before the Rise of Rome, Italy Was a Patchwork
    The Ancient People of Italy Before the rise of Rome, Italy was a patchwork of different cultures. Eventually they were all subsumed into Roman culture, but the cultural uniformity of Roman Italy erased what had once been a vast array of different peoples, cultures, languages, and civilizations. All these cultures existed before the Roman conquest of the Italian Peninsula, and unfortunately we know little about any of them before they caught the attention of Greek and Roman historians. Aside from a few inscriptions, most of what we know about the native people of Italy comes from Greek and Roman sources. Still, this information, combined with archaeological and linguistic information, gives us some idea about the peoples that once populated the Italian Peninsula. Italy was not isolated from the outside world, and neighboring people had much impact on its population. There were several foreign invasions of Italy during the period leading up to the Roman conquest that had important effects on the people of Italy. First there was the invasion of Alexander I of Epirus in 334 BC, which was followed by that of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 280 BC. Hannibal of Carthage invaded Italy during the Second Punic War (218–203 BC) with the express purpose of convincing Rome’s allies to abandon her. After the war, Rome rearranged its relations with many of the native people of Italy, much influenced by which peoples had remained loyal and which had supported their Carthaginian enemies. The sides different peoples took in these wars had major impacts on their destinies. In 91 BC, many of the peoples of Italy rebelled against Rome in the Social War.
    [Show full text]
  • Europaio: a Brief Grammar of the European Language Reconstruct Than the Individual Groupings
    1. Introduction 1.1. The Indo-European 1. The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred languages and dialects, including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many in South Asia. Contemporary languages in this family include English, German, French, Spanish, Countries with IE languages majority in orange. In Portuguese, Hindustani (i.e., mainly yellow, countries in which have official status. [© gfdl] Hindi and Urdu) and Russian. It is the largest family of languages in the world today, being spoken by approximately half the world's population as their mother tongue, while most of the other half speak at least one of them. 2. The classification of modern IE dialects into languages and dialects is controversial, as it depends on many factors, such as the pure linguistic ones (most of the times being the least important of them), the social, economic, political and historical ones. However, there are certain common ancestors, some of them old, well-attested languages (or language systems), as Classic Latin for Romance languages (such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Rumanian or Catalan), Classic Sanskrit for the Indo-Aryan languages or Classic Greek for present-day Greek. Furthermore, there are other, still older -some of them well known- dialects from which these old language systems were derived and later systematized, which are, following the above examples, Archaic Latin, Archaic Sanskrit and Archaic Greek, also attested in older compositions and inscriptions. And there are, finally, old related dialects which help develop a Proto-Language, as the Faliscan (and Osco-Umbrian for many scholars) for Latino-Faliscan (Italic for many), the Avestan for Indo-Iranian or the Mycenaean for Proto-Greek.
    [Show full text]