Re: [tied] Linear A as an early form of Indo-European

"Alwin K." <alwinmail@...> wrote:
<<Both forms are Hittitizations of Hattic Estan-, Astan- 'sun'. Not Luwian.
My point therefore was: if the writer of the article not only randomly picks
words from languages, but also mixes these languages up, we should perhaps
spend our time reading more interesting things.>>

Perhaps the use of god names is a problem in itself, given our modern
experience with religious names crossing borders. And perhaps mixing
languages up is what the problem is with Linear A.

Less ambiguous, more practical words than godnames may go much farther in
making sense out of Linear A. The fact that, for example, the Myceneneans
retained the sound of the Linear A fig symbol (NU, I believe) -- sometimes --
even though they had their own sound-for the fig, indicates that Linear A was
not ALWAYS pictographic (sound-free).

But the fact that sometimes the Myceneneans DID use their own syllable/sounds
for the fig symbol may mean that the symbols were not quite standardized as
to sound. This might suggest that Linear A (in which there are no texts of
any real length) may have been used by speakers of more than one language.
(Think of Homer's description of Crete in his time, where he names at least
six or seven possibly different linguistic groups living on the island.)

Imagine trying to decipher the language behind the roman alphabet from mere
snippets of Latin, Phoenician, Hungarian and Basque.

Regards,
Steve Long