the text I quoted comes from
http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/indoeuropean.html
If one compare Indo-Avestan with BaltoSlavic one has to agree that the
IndoAvestan is "more" satem as the BaltoSlavic. The conclusion from this
article should be grosso-modo that the centum speakers splited early up
and the remained IE people undergone to the satem shift. Since
BaltoSlavic is not as satem as IndoIranian one could think about the
posibility of an another group, the satem one who splited after/before
the centum group and undergone to the satem shift.
Questions:
- which are the evidence of the splitting groups in the timeline?
- what did happen whith the "people which reamined" ? Did their speach
undergone to the satem shift too or they didin't ( if yes which is the
evidence; I am thinking here at the Doric invasion for instance,
speakers of a centum dialect, but people who seems to left later as
BaltoSlavic and IndoAvestans the Valey of Danube; more, the Greek itself
as centum language has some curiosities where it handles the words as a
satem language).
Alex
[Quoted text]
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cca. 2000 bc.
The horse-drawn, two-wheeled chariot, with spoked wheels, is developed
in the western steppes, and spreads quickly to the Balkans as well as
the Middle East.
A branch of the southern Satem dialect -- Proto-Indo-Iranian -- expands
from Ukraine and the steppes into Afghanistan, Iran, and northwestern
India. One tribe -- the Mittani -- goes as far west as northern
Mesopotamia.
The main body of the southern Satem dialect expands into the Ukraine to
become the Cimmerians, leaving the Dacians in the original homeland. I
suspect that the Dacians were a southern (Cimmerian-like) dialect. The
people of Thrace were probably closely related to the Cimmerians, with a
southern Satem dialect.
The main body of the northern Satem dialect -- Proto-Balto-Slavic --
expands north from Poland into Belarus and the Baltic coast.
The Celts expand into France and, in a retrograde move, back into
Hungary. A powerful society, they pressure the original peoples of
western Europe, as well as their own relations to the east.
Anatolians (most notably the Hittites) establish themselves in Asia
Minor, where they become a major power. Their languages are profoundly
affected by neighboring non-IE languages.
A second wave of Hellenics (Doric Greeks) moves into Greece from
Macedonia.
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