Re: Pre-IE languages in Europe

Hawksinger wrote:

> There is also Etruscan and a scattering of inscriptions across the
> Balkans, Asia Minor, and Mediterranean Islands in a variety of lgs.
Well, I left Etruscan off my first list on purpose, because I think I read
something somewhere which seemed to indicate a possible noneuropean
origin for them, most likely in North Africa.  Of course, this could very
well be one of those crackpot theories to which you made reference;  I
wouldn't be surprised.

Oh, one other I left off the first list was Linear A, depending on whether
you can call Crete European (I guess it's safe to assume this).  Much
has been done to decipher Linear B, but that work was much easier
because it was early on shown to be just a very early dialect of Ancient
Greek, and Linear A certainly was not.

I believe there may have been some late Roman Empire inscriptions
to Isis in Iberian languages, but AFAIK the data on those languages
is so scanty that just about any analysis is as good as any other.

Any others?

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Tom Wier <twier@...>
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