> Pre-Germanic may have broken up any number of times before the
breakup
> we're discussing. To my knowledge, nobody claims that the ancestors
of
> the Germani spent all the time between PIE and the breakup of PGmc.
just
> sitting there and waiting for the right moment to split. It's quite
> possible that earlier splits had produced languages that did not
survive
> to be documented, related more closely to Germanic than to any
other
> extant branch -- I call such hypothetical groups "para-Germanic".
And Bastarnian would be a hypothetical member of such a group, I
would suggest.
>The
> historically known expansion of the Germani was like the earlier
> expansion of the Celts or the later expansion of the Slavs. It was
> perhaps made possible by a combination of external opportunities
(the
> weakening of the Celtic domination of Central Europe?) and the
> development of efficient socio-political structures among the
Germani
> themselves.
Yes, but hold on here. The expansion of the Germani and their
language in the standard model, as far as I know, took place in
historical times in Britain, Iceland and Germany south of the
Weisswurstäquator (or the Benrath line?). Northern (Jastorf) Germany
and Southern Scandinavia by definition would then according to the
standard model before that time have spoken a homogenous language.
And the development of "efficient socio-political structures" in
general leads to less diversity, not more (cf. the connection between
Celtic factionalism and the diversity of Celtic languages), or the
multitude of languages on the Balkan and the Balkanic politics (no
value judgement intended) of that area.
One might of course maintain that the three known branches spread
from separate "distillation points" or whatever one might choose to
call them, in a previously linguistically diverse Germanic-speaking
area, with the spread of the "new organisation". In Germany, it would
perhaps be fair to point to the Hermunduri; the archaeologists are
puzzled at the great number of standard-issue Roman weapons (whether
imported or copied) that are found from that time on in the Germanic
area in spite of Roman bans on the export of weapons; Tacitus
mentions that the Hermunduri were the only ones allowed on the Roman
side of the Limes, and even into Roman homes; it seems likely they
were the culprits in the Great Arms Smuggle?
Torsten