Paleo-Balkan languages

As Balkanindogermanisch is in the indogermanistischen Research - suspected - called common precursor of Greek, Phrygian and Armenian; usually also the Albanian is attributed to this branch of the Indo-European languages ​​.

In a broader sense, all in the Balkans today or earlier spoken languages ​​of Indo-European origin called " Balkanindogermanisch ", regardless of the exact origin of each -. Often only fragmentary surviving - Languages In this broader sense, also once spoken in what is now Bulgaria Thracian, once spoken in what is now Romania Dacian ( a dialect of the latter ) and the Illyrian to Balkanindogermanischen. In the English literature, the Balkanindogermanische is usually referred to as the " Balkan Indo-European ".

History of Research

The assumption of a common origin of Greek and Armenian was first formulated in 1924 by the Danish linguist Holger Pedersen, who had demonstrated in previous years, that the number of Greek- Armenian etymological equations is greater than the similarities between the Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet examined a little later (1925, 1927) morphological and phonological similarities and postulated that the precursor languages ​​of Greek and Armenian dialects were spoken in the immediate vicinity of the common ancestor language. Meillet's hypothesis won with his demolition ( Esquisse ) from 19361 to consent.

Georg Solta, however, did not accept the Greek- Armenian proto-language, but looked also in view of the parallels in vocabulary and morphology Greek as clearly with the Armenian closest related language ( 1960). Hamp (1976 ), in turn, supported the hypothesis of a balkanindogermanischen proto-language with the formulation, there was a time "when we speak of shoulderstand Helleno - Armenian ". A breakthrough for the recognition of a proto-language balkanindogermanischen brought the work of tungsten Euler - Greek Indo-Iranian similarities between the nominal formation and their Indo-European foundations (1979). An intermediate position represented last Clackson (1994 ), although it holds a Greek- Armenian subgroup of Indo-European not been established, but imputes the Armenian language of an extended Greek- Indo-Aryan language family.

Implications and problems

The adoption of a proto-language balkanindogermanischen raises dating and localization issues. After the Copper Age propagation model of the Indo-European languages ​​from the North Pontic steppes, the Balkanindogermanische could have emerged in the first half of the 3rd millennium; after neolithic propagation model from Anatolia, however, depending on the source of two to three millennia earlier.

In general, the study of Balkanindogermanischen related issues raises as that of the Italo - Celtic: Again, two adjacent families of Indo-European -specific similarities, which can be explained satisfactorily by Lehnbeziehungen. Here is why a common period is adopted by a majority also limited duration.

One difficulty with the hardening of the balkanindogermanischen hypothesis was the late start of the delivery of the - also heavily modified by the neighboring Iranian languages ​​- Armenian from the 5th century AD, and especially the very fragmentary tradition of other Paläosprachen the Balkans, namely the Phrygian and the Macedonian.

Migration of the Armenians

Herodotus reported that the Armenians were originally Phrygian colonists. If so, they would be migrated into the space of the later to become Armenia (including the present-day eastern Turkey) around 700 BC through Asia Minor (now Turkey). The Armenian language would be a descendant of the Phrygian with subsequent Satemisierung, similar to the development in French and sometimes Spanish and Italian. Notwithstanding these phonological question there are several undeniable lexical peculiarities which Greek, Phrygian, Armenian and Albanian connect with each other and which are now mostly not or not only on language contact, but (also) attributed to common origin.

The east-west division of the early Indo-European

Within the Indo-European languages ​​that belongs to the Indo-Iranian Balkanindogermanische to the eastern branch of the Indo-European language family. Still very speculative, the first breakdown of the Indo-European into an eastern and a western group is assumed in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, the separation of the Indo-Iranian from Balkanindogermanischen to the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, whose breakdown into individual languages ​​in the middle or in the late 3rd millennium BC

The classification of Albanian

See all Albanologist Albanian as the Balkan group of the Indo-European languages ​​belonging. However, the exact relationships both to little-known Illyrian and Thracian to remain a subject of research.