--- In cybalist@..., "wtsdv" <liberty@...> wrote:
> Thank you, and how disturbing! Nowhere on the site can I find
> a disclaimer. I guess this is another one to add to the list
> of looney sites. You know they say they're a member of the I.E.
> database.
> ...
> So then I guess that this "dictionary" is someone's attempted
> reconstruction of Yatvingian.
Yes, exactly. It's a fiction, but indeed a _science_ one -- the
reconstruction is not unprofessional, but it's still a
reconstruction, mostly based on a slightly transformed Old Prussian
grammar (or, more precisely, one of the versions of this grammar's
reconstruction), plus Old Prussian, Lithuanian (and probably Latvian,
AFAI can see) lexical material. I guess it was made in wake of Letas
Palmaitis' _A New Prussian Grammar_, which was written as a handbook
for those enthusiasts who would like to speak in New (Old) Prussian
to each other.
> It also says at the site "Sudovian
> is the language of immense forests, long rivers, and the friendly
> people of Sûdavâ. It is living. It is, here." I was all ready
> to pack and book my flight! :-(
>
> David
It would take a time machine, not just a conventional plane, as
Yatvingian is supposed to die out ca. 1600, but a lingvo-sentimental
journey to Lithuania is worth it, anyway -- as Meillet said, 'if you
want to know how our ancestors spoke, come to Lithuania and listen to
local peasants'. Lithuanian peasants are up and living, and the
historical areas of Dainava and partly Su:dava are in southern
Lithuania (though Yatvingians also used to live in what is now
northern Belarussia and south-western Poland).
Sergei