Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy Italy (pronounced /ˈɪtəli/ ; Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine during the sixth century BC. (Note: most of these are not Italic languages.)
|
Indo-European topics
|
| Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and Southern Asia, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia. With written attestations appearing since the Bronze Age, in the form of the Anatolian languages and Mycenaean (list The Indo-European languages include some 443 languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. Each subfamily in this list contains many subgroups and individual languages) |
| Albanian Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, Montenegro, southern Serbia and north-western Greece. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves in Greece, along the eastern coast · Armenian The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora. It has its own script, the Armenian alphabet · Baltic The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. The language group is sometimes divided into two sub-groups: Western Baltic, containing only extinct languages, and Eastern Baltic, containing both
Celtic The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, having much earlier been used by Greek and Roman writers to describe tribes in central Gaul. During the 1st · Germanic The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe. Proto-Germanic, along with all of its descendants, is characterized by a · Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of
Indo-Iranian The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani. The term Aryan languages is occasionally still used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages. The speakers of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language, the (Indo-Aryan Geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages, Iranian The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Old Persian and Avestan are the oldest recorded Iranian languages)
Italic · Slavic The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia
extinct: Anatolian The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages, which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language · Paleo-Balkans The Paleo-Balkan languages is a geolinguistic concept referring to the Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans in ancient times. Except for Greek and the language that gave rise to Albanian , they are all extinct, due to Hellenization (in the south), Romanization (in the north), and Slavicisation due to the later Slavic migrations (Dacian The Dacian language was spoken by the ancient inhabitants of Dacia. It belongs to the Indo-European language family,
Phrygian The Phrygian language was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, spoken in Asia Minor during Classical Antiquity, Thracian The Thracian language was the Indo-European language spoken in ancient times by the Thracians in South-Eastern Europe) · Tocharian Tocharian or Tokharian is an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family. The name is taken from people known to the Greeks as the Tocharians (Ancient Greek: Τόχαροι, "Tokharoi"). These are sometimes identified with the Yuezhi and the Kushans, while the term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria. A Turkic
|
| Indo-European peoples The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , an unattested but now reconstructed prehistoric language |
| Europe: Balts The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number · Slavs The Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in central and eastern Europe. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of the Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Many settled later in Siberia and Central Asia or emigrated to other parts of the world. Over half of Europe's · Albanians Albanians are a people from southeast Europe who live in Albania, Kosovo and neighboring countries. They speak the Albanian language. Roughly half of Albanians live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo[a], the Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro. There are Albanian communities in a number of other countries, including Turkey, · Italics Ancient peoples of Italy are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. Not all of these various peoples are linguistically or ethnically closely related. Some of them spoke Italic languages, others spoke Greek because of the arrival of Hellenic colonists, while others belonged to another Indo-European branch or were non- · Celts The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages · Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples are a historical ethno-linguistic group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages, which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The descendants of these peoples became, and in many areas contributed to, the ethnic groups of North · Greeks The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world · Paleo-Balkans (Illyrians The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited the Western Balkans since the 2nd millennium BC, while they were last mentioned in the 7th century AD. The territory the Illyrians covered came to be known as Illyria to Greek and Roman authors, corresponding roughly to the area of the former Yugoslavia and Albania, between the Adriatic sea in the · Thracians The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family. The study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology · Dacians The Dacians were an Indo-European people, the ancient inhabitants of Dacia (located in the area in and around the Carpathian mountains and east of there to the Black Sea), present-day Romania and Moldova, parts of Sarmatia (mostly in eastern Ukraine) and Scythia Minor in southeastern Europe (Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria). They spoke the Dacian) ·
Asia: Anatolians Anatolian peoples were a group of distinct ethnic groups which spoke related languages. They shared cultural traits and traditional religion. The Anatolian languages were one branch of the larger Indo-European language family (Hittites The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia (on the Central Anatolian plateau) ca. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height ca. the 14th century BC, encompassing a large part, Luwians Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian is closely related to Hittite, and was among the languages spoken during the second and first millennia BC by population groups in central Anatolia, to the west or southwest of the core Hittite area . In the oldest texts, eg. the Hittite Code, the) · Armenians The Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are from 8 to 11 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in Georgia, Iran, Russia, and Ukraine. As a · Indo-Iranians Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family (Iranians Indigenous ethnicities and emigrant communities living in: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Oman, China , Hungary, United Kingdom, Germany and United States · Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic[citation needed] term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages. Today, there are over one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, most of them native to South Asia, where they form the majority. It) · Tocharians Other Indo-European peoples, other Indo-Iranian peoples, Yuezhi, Kushans, genes found in Tarim mummies supports evidence of relations between the DNA found in western Eurasia , South Asians(desi) and East Asians
|
| Proto-Indo-Europeans The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , an unattested but now reconstructed prehistoric language |
| Language The Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for over a century, and reconstruction is far advanced and quite detailed · Society The society of the Proto-Indo-Europeans existed during the Bronze Age (roughly fifth to fourth millennium BC), and has been reconstructed through analyses of modern Indo-European societies as well as archaeological evidence. PIE society was most likely patrilineal, and probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry · Religion The existence of similarities among the deities and religious practices of the Indo-European peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) religion and mythology
|
| Urheimat hypotheses The Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses are designed to explain the origins of the Proto-Indo-European language and the people. The identity of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has been a recurring topic in Indo-European studies since the 19th century. Many hypotheses for an Urheimat have been proposed, but none of them has gained general acceptance |
| Kurgan hypothesis The Kurgan hypothesis is one of the proposals about early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the people of an archaeological "Kurgan culture" (a term grouping the Pit Grave culture and its predecessors) in the Pontic steppe were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language. The term is derived from kurgan (кур
Anatolia The Anatolian hypothesis is also called Renfrew's Neolithic Discontinuity Theory ; it proposes that the dispersal (discontinuity) of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic Anatolia. The hypothesis suggests that the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) lived in Anatolia during the Neolithic era, and associates the distribution · Armenia The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat, based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto-Indo-European language was spoken during the 4th millennium BC in the Armenian Highland. It is an Indo-Hittite model and does not include the Anatolian languages in its scenario. The phonological peculiarities proposed in the · India The Out of India theory is the proposition that the Indo-European language family originated in the Indian subcontinent and spread to the remainder of the Indo-European region through a series of migrations. A notable proponent was Friedrich Schlegel · PCT The Paleolithic Continuity Theory is a hypothesis suggesting that the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European language can be traced back to the Paleolithic era, tens of millennia earlier than the Chalcolithic or at the most Neolithic estimates in other scenarios of Proto-Indo-European origins. Its main proponent is Mario Alinei, who advanced the theory
|
| Indo-European studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. Its goal is to amass information about the hypothetical proto-language from which all of these languages are descended, a language dubbed Proto-Indo-European , and its speakers, the Proto-Indo-Europeans, including their society and |
The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and Southern Asia, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia. With written attestations appearing since the Bronze Age, in the form of the Anatolian languages and Mycenaean language family. It includes the Romance languages derived from Latin (Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Romanian, etc.), and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Umbrian, Oscan, Faliscan, and Latin itself.
In the past various definitions of "Italic" have prevailed. This article uses the classification presented by the Linguist List:[1] Italic includes the Latin subgroup (Latin and the Romance languages) as well as the ancient Italic languages (Faliscan, Osco-Umbrian and two unclassified Italic languages, Aequian and Vestinian). Venetic (the language of the ancient Veneti), as revealed by its inscriptions, was also closely related to the Italic languages and is sometimes classified as Italic. However, since it also shares similarities with other Western Indo-European branches (particularly Germanic), some linguists prefer to consider it an independent Indo-European language, despite its influence on the modern Italian of the region.
In the extreme view, Italic did not exist, but the different groups descended directly from Indo-European and converged because of geographic contiguity. This view stems in part from the difficulty in identifying a common Italic homeland in prehistory.[2]
In the intermediate view, the Italic languages are one of the ten or eleven major subgroups of the Indo-European language family and might therefore have had an ancestor, common Italic or proto-Italic, from which its daughter languages descend. Moreover, there are similarities between major groups, although how these similarities are to be interpreted is one of the major debatable issues in the historical linguistics of Indo-European. The linguist Calvert Watkins went so far as to suggest, among ten major groups, a four-way division of East, West, North and South Indo-European. These he considered "dialectical divisions within Proto-Indo-European which go back to a period long before the speakers arrived in their historical areas of attestation."[3] This is not to be considered a nodular grouping; in other words, there was not necessarily any common west Indo-European serving as a node from which the subgroups branched. The West Indo-European dialects are Celtic, Italic and Tocharian. By the time of any written language, Tocharian was geographically remote from the other two.
Origins
The main debate concerning the origin of the Italic languages is the same as that which preoccupied Greek studies for the last half of the 20th century. The Indo-Europeanists for Greek had hypothesized (see Dorian invasion, Proto-Greek language) that Greek originated outside of Greece and was brought in by invaders. Analysis of the lexical items of Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek, raised the issue of whether Greek had been formed in Greece from Indo-European elements brought in by migrants or invaders, mixed with elements of indigenous languages. The issue was settled in favor of an origin of Greek in Greece.
A proto-Italic homeland outside of Italy is equally as elusive as the home of the hypothetical Greek-speaking invaders. No early form of Italic is available to match Mycenaean Greek. The Italic languages are first attested in writing from Umbrian and Faliscan inscriptions dating to the 7th century BC. The alphabets used are based on the Old Italic alphabet, which is itself based on the Greek alphabet. The Italic languages themselves show minor influence from the Etruscan and somewhat more from the Ancient Greek languages. The intermediate phases between Italic and Indo-European are still in deficit, with no guarantee that they ever will be found. The question of whether Italic originated outside of Italy or developed by assimilation of Indo-European and other elements inside of Italy, approximately on or within its current range there, remains. Sylvestri says:[4]
"...Common Italic ... is certainly not to be seen as a prehistoric language that can largely be reconstructed, but rather as a set of prehistoric and proto-historic processes of convergence."
Bakkum defines Proto-Italic as a "chronological stage" without an independent development of its own, but extending over late PIE and the initial stages of Proto-Latin and Proto-Sabellic. Meiser's dates of 4000 BC to 1800 BC (well before Mycenaean Greek) he describes as "as good a guess as anyone's."[5]
Branches
The Italic family has two known branches and two further unclassified languages:
As Rome extended its political dominion over the whole of the Italian Peninsula, Latin became dominant over the other Italic languages, which ceased to be spoken perhaps sometime in the 1st century AD. From Vulgar Latin the Romance languages emerged.
Proto-Italic language features
In the comparative method of historical linguistics language families descended from proto-languages.
Show All>>
