Miguel:
>My own views on these issues are not clear. One possible scenario is that
>the steppe was already Indo-Europeanized very early in the
>Bug-Dnestr period (before 6000 BC),[...]
Let's not forget that these cultural areas probably consisted
of more than one language since culture and language do not
necessarily overlap. I think of the Bug-Dniestr culture as people
speaking mostly Middle IndoEuropean exchanging goods and ideas with
the Tyrrhenians to the west (mostly LBK). However, there's nothing
to prevent me from thinking that LBK, while perhaps initially
Tyrrhenian, became a mix of IE and Tyrrhenian over time.
As of now, my current views on languages between 7000 and 4000 BCE
in eastern Europe are as follows. I'm sure yo'll will enjoy this
immensely...
IndoEuropean:
-------------
Old IE (7000-6000)
- southward toward the shores of Lake Euxine
- trade with Caucasians (east) and with the
Semitish (west) develops, changing previous
cultural movements
- words for "cow", "sheep" and "five" borrowed from
early NWC who have contacts with the NEC who have
contacts with the southern Caspian
- other words such as "bull", "six" and "seven"
are adopted from Semitish
Mid IE (6000-5000)
- largely westward (BugDniestr)
- some displacement away from Lake Euxine by 5500
- Semitish influence wanes by 5500 BCE as Tyrrhenians
become dominant by 5500-5000 BCE. Tyrrhenians adopt
IE mythological terms such as
LateMIE *Xest�r (LateIE *xste:r "star") ->
Tyrrhenian *Xast�r.
LateIE (5000-4000)
- breakup of IE by 4000 BCE as Anatolian, Celtic,
Germanic and Italic spread into a soup of para-IE
Tyrrhenian languages
Tyrrhenian languages:
---------------------
7000 to 5500 BCE
- westward movement from an area north of the IEs
to a position NW of Lake Euxine, still far to
the north
- loanwords adopted from both Semitish and
Vinca (ProtoHattic) - words such as *leunu
"lion/bull" (ProtoHattic *Launon "bull")
or *sempi "seven" (Semitish *sab`um)
5500 to 4000 BCE
- southward between 5500 and 5000 as a reaction
to Lake Euxine displacement towards the Mediterranean
where the ailing local economy is taken over and
further developed
- between 5000 and 4000 BCE, Tyrrhenian spreads into
Western Anatolia pushing Proto-Hattic and Semitish
(aka Kaskian) into Northern Anatolia
4000 to 3000 BCE
- Tyrrhenian is finally displaced by IE languages
where two main cultures (one in Greece, and
the other in Asia Minor) develop. These cultures might
be tentatively thought to center themselves around
two old cities, which they called *P�raseta (Parnathos)
and *Tarw�se (Troy). Subsequently then, they identify
themselves as either *P�rasetana "Pelasgians" or
*Tarw�sena. (Hehe, that bombshell will keep yous
thinkin' for a while...)
Semitish:
---------
6500 to 5500 BCE
- spoken by agricultural peoples who adopted their
way of life from those of Eastern Turkey, first
spread into Europe, hugging the western coast of
Lake Euxine (since the Proto-Hattic were to the
west). They stopped at the doorstep of peoples
to the north speaking Early Middle IE
- trading began with the IndoEuropeans causing
early Semitoid loans in IE mostly pertaining to
agriculture but also of mythology as well
5500 to 5000 BCE
- As the Tyrrhenians take over the economy of the
eastern Mediterranean, the Semitish slowly retreat
southward and ultimately, they are shoved back into
Anatolia again like a genie in a bottle by 5000 BCE
with the ProtoHattic peoples close behind
5000 to 4000 BCE
- finally settling in north central Anatolia, the
people may have eventually became the mysterious
Kaskian people which I'm having so much trouble
finding information about!!!
Vinca (Proto-Hattic):
---------------------
7000 to 5500 BCE
- spreads from the north and takes over the Balkan
coastline between 7000 and 6000 BCE as Semitish
agriculturalists come into Europe via the Bosporus
- adopts Semitish words early on, like the word
*Taurum "bull", becoming ProtoHattic *Launon with
initial lateral fricative (*Launon > *Ta:no >
Hattic /taru/ "storm god")
- adopts mythology from the Semitish
5500 to 5000 BCE
- the Lake Euxine Event hampers with the
previous, intricate sea-trading network
and the pressure of intrusion from the Tyrrhenians
increases from the north until eventually the Hattic
are displaced to the east, pushing the Semitish
back into NW Anatolian by 5000 BCE (which in turn,
pushes the Kartvelians eastward into the Caucasus)
- Old European script first developped for the Vinca
language, which lacked voiced or ejective stops but
had labial phonemes (*kW, *tW, *sW, *nW, etc) and
a fricative series (*f, *x, *L), lacked any
"r"-like sound, contained two laterals (*l and *L),
and had eight distinct vowels contrasting plain and
nasal varieties (*a, *e, *i, *o, *u, *an, *en, *on).
Much like Modern Japanese, it was also polysyllabic,
had a tonal accent, and could only tolerate syllables
of the shape (C)V.
5000 to 4000 BCE
- as the Tyrrhenians become more culturally dominant
from the benefits of their sea-trade ventures,
their expansion into Anatolia, eventually drives out
the Hattic completely into Northern Anatolia
- so, by 4000 BCE, they end up being where they are
eventually found in later Hittite records, right
next to the Kaskians
Like that? So basically, I single-handedly solve the Pelasgian/Tyrrhenian
thing, the origin of the Old European script,
who the Kaskian really are AND I explain the entire linguistic soup
of Eastern Europe from 7000 to 4000 BCE so that humankind need
never trouble their little heads about the question of how IE
fits in with archaeology and neighbouring language groups ever
again! :P
-------------------------------------------------
gLeNny gEe
...wEbDeVEr gOne bEsErK!
home:
http://glen_gordon.tripod.com
email:
glengordon01@...
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