Re: [tied] Re: Non-IE elements in Scandinavian

From: Christopher Gwinn
Message: 3813
Date: 2000-09-18

>Vennemann identifies the Picts (who survived in Scotland until the mid-9th
century) >as the last Atlantic speakers. I'm not sure what his exact dates
for Norway would be, >but his articles seem to suggest that Atlantic
speakers were an adstrate to >Germanic-speaking Scandinavians almost down to
historical times.
>


I really don't understand why people insist that Pictish was pre-Indo
European. There is absolutely nothing that I have seen in the pitifully few
Pictish words that we have (such as Pictish maphan "boy" = Old Welsh map) to
suggest that the language was anything other than a P-Celtic Brythonic
language with an odd orthography.

Why does Venemann believe Pictish is Pre-PIE - what is his actual evidence?

-C. Gwinn