One matter of clarification... I use "Semitoid" to refer to both
Semitish AND Semitic languages. Whereas "Semitish" is under the
Semitoid umbrella, refering to a hypothetical language affecting
IE, related to Semitic. Just in case people are confused of my
terminology.
Piotr:
>Could I hear your opinion on what's wrong with the view that the >Linear
>Ware people (that is, the first agriculturalists north of the Danube basin)
>were IE-speaking?
I didn't say anything was wrong with this view. I simply said that
Tyrrhenian would have been _one_ of the LBK languages :) This might
explain the origin of Rhaetic in Northern Italy, afterall.
>That option, I believe, is less troublesome than having to posit a
>"virtually undetectable" Tyrrhenian substrate.
My reasons for this positioning of Tyrrhenian in the Balkans isn't
in order to posit an arcane substrate. The reasons are based on the
fact that Lemnian thrived in the area, then there's the Tyrrhenian
sounding cityname of Yttenia (Tetrapolis) in the area, as well as
the likelihood that Tyrrhenian languages are closely related to
IndoEuropean just to the north/northeast of the area.
>If the most ancient determinable "homeland" of the IEs was in the Middle
>Danubian area, on the fringe of the Balkan "melting pot" of cultures and a
>stone's throw from the land bridge connecting Anatolia with Europe, that
>should be very convenient for your "Semitoid influence" theory.
Hmm, but I have trouble accepting that IE was "a stone's throw"
away from Anatolia and yet it failed to cross over until after
4000 BCE. Usually, people don't view the IE population as makers
of wine and yet we have *woinos... so... someone had to have made
that wine! It wasn't the Semitic afaik.
>Recent archaeological datings (I can provide reference, if needed, >and
>give you the calibrated calendar dates) have considerably >rejuvenated the
>"kurgan" cultures of the Steppe. I don't see any >serious evidence of
>significant "Steppe incursions" a la Gimbutas [...]
Neither do I. Gimbutas' account is certainly melodramatic. I fully
accept that the steppe was influenced by the west. This isn't
surprising to me given the "cultural power" it obviously enjoyed.
- gLeN
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