Illyrian

Illyrian was an Old Balkan language which belonged to the Indo-European homolingualism. It was spoken in the western Balkans by Illyrian tribes in a geographical area extending from the north of the Adriatic to Epirus and Macedonia.

The data we have on the language are scarce and therefore it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about its characteristics and its relationship with other languages.

characteristics of the language

To date no text has been found in Illyrian and our knowledge of the language consists of short inscriptions, only four words mentioned as Illyrian in various Greek and Roman sources, and a number of toponyms, personal names, ethnonyms and hydronyms. A very well known place name of Illyrian origin is 'Bosnia' which takes its name from the homonymous river Bosna (hydronym).In Illyrian Bosona means running water.

Linguistics has not yet come to a conclusion whether it is a Kendum or Satomic language.There is evidence in favour of one or the other category.

One feature of the phonology of the language that is accepted is the modification of Indo-European *bh to b and *dh to d. The same feature is recognized in the lexicological evidence we have for the ancient Macedonian language where b,d,c are found instead of f,i,h in most Greek dialects (Vereniki instead of Fereniki).

relationship with other languages

Its relationship with other ancient languages has not yet been proven.The claim that Albanian is a descendant of Illyrian is based on very inconclusive evidence and remains a theory promoted mainly by Albanian scholars.

The theory that Albanian originated from Dacian , a region of the central Balkans seems more likely.

 Nevertheless, in Albanian and Illyrian there are homonyms,such as mal (il,alb)=mountain,ren (il),re (alb)=cloud.

The naval vocabulary of Albanian is borrowed from other languages, mainly Latin,which supports the theory that Albanian originated from the mainland.

Illyrian seems to have many homonyms with Slavic languages as well.

Some scholars classify Illyrian languages and Messapian among the Illyrian languages, but such a categorization is not accepted by everyone today and there is a great deal of disagreement on this issue.

Albanian and Romanian

Romanian has a substrate vocabulary of a previously spoken language of about 100 words. Almost all of these words are also found in Albanian.

This means that the ancestors of Albanians and Romanians originally lived in the same place and either borrowed words from each other or spoke the same language.

The Roman administration of Dacia in the central Balkans.

Thraco-Illyrian

The theory that Illyrian might be connected to Thracian has been proposed,too. Whether it was a dialect or a closely related language it is debated. It has also been categorised as part of a Thraco-Illyrian dialect continuum with Thracian in one side of the continuum and Illyrian on the other.

There is now strong linguistic evidence that the original cradle of the Albanians and Romanians was the Dacia administration in the central Balkans.

These conclusions of the linguists do not, of course, coincide with the national myth of the Albanians.

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Dacian

Dacian was an Early Balkan language spoken north of the Danube by the Dacian people.It was apparently one of the major languages in the northern and central Balkan region of the period.The hypothesis that Dacian was a dialect of Thracian is disputed.

 

Geographical spread

Geographically it stretched over a large area from eastern Hungary to Moldavia ,present-day southern Serbia,Romania on both sides of Transylvania,and northern Bulgaria.

Roman and free Dacia

knowledge about the language

Our knowledge of the language is scarce to minimal and comes mainly from a few short inscriptions, a list of Dacian plants by Dioscorides and Dacian place names, hydronyms and human names mentioned in classical sources.

The names of Dacian cities are usually suffixed with deva, dava or deba; whereas, on the contrary, Thracian cities usually take the suffix -bara and more rarely -bria, diza.

Strabo mentions that Dacians migrated to Asia Minor and that Dacian and Asia Minor mystic are the same language.

Georgiev

After an extensive study of the available data on Dacian,mainly place names and using the methods of comparative linguistics, the Bulgarian scholar and historian Georgiyev concluded that Dacian was sufficiently different from Thracian to constitute a separate language.However, because of the rarity of the elements, the possibility that the languages were simply two versions, two dialects of the same language, the so-called Thracian-Dacian, cannot be excluded.

The ancient Dacian city of Axiopa or Axioupolis in Greek is now called Chernavoda,black water in Slavic.Georiev, using comparative linguistics, hypothesized that αξιόpa in Dacian means black water.So axi would mean black and opa or oupa or apa would mean water (apa in Romanian and Vlach).In the same way he etymologized Axios Pontus as the Black Sea was originally called.Some other scholars, however, do not accept these etymologies.

Romanian and Albanian.

Romanian and Albanian share a common substrate of about 200 words from an old language which is presumed to be Dacian.Based on the above evidence, Georgiev argued that Albanian is a descendant language of Dacian and that Albanians settled in their present-day homelands from the central Balkans where they inhabited.

The scientific community today accepts that Dacian was an Indo-European language, a relative of Thracian, but this relationship between the two languages cannot yet be shown and our knowledge of them is very limited due to the scarcity of finds.

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Paleo-Balkan languages

Paleo-Balkan are called the Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkan peninsula during ancient times.

All these languages have disappeared without leaving any descendants with the exception of Ancient Greek and the language from which Albanian came from (it is still unknown what it was, only assumptions are made)  due to Hellenization, Latinization  and Slavisization.

Most of these languages are very poorly attested to allow safe conclusions about their affiliation with each other.

Ancient Greek and Roman writers mention that the following languages were spoken in the Balkans: 

Ancient Greek, Venetian, Dacian, Thracian, Illyrian,Liburnian, Paeonian, Phrygian (Brygian) and Celtic. 

Ancient Macedonian

A language that was spoken in the Ancient kingdom of Macedon now considered to be a dialect of northwest Greek with Doric traits or a sister language to Greek proper that form a Greco-Macedonian branch (Hellenic).

Macedonian may had been influenced more or less by Illyrian and Thracian.

Only one long text has been found thought to be in Ancient Macedonian, the Pella curse tablet written in a distinct northwest Greek dialect,found in the Macedonian capital of Pella.

Illyrian

Little is known about the Illyrian language. There are no inscriptions found in Illyrian. Only names of rivers,people and places considered to be Illyrian. Some reconstructed Illyrian words exist that are debatable.

It is divided in south Illyrian (Illyrian proper) and Dalmatian-Pannonian.

The Illyrian language.

Illyrian is considered by some the anscestor of Albanian. The fact is that we know so little about Illyrian that it cannot be safely connected to Albanian at the moment. 

The Messapian language in Apulia, southern Italy is considered by some to be a dialect of Illyrian but nowadays the mainstream view is that is was related to Illyrian but it was a distinct language.

Thracian

Thracian is known by a few inscriptions written in the Greek alphabet. It may have been related to Illyrian but its connection to it is unclear.

It is considered,though a dialect of the same language along with Dacian forming the Daco-Thracian branch.

The Ezerovo ring with an inscription in the Thracian language written in Greek letters.

Dacian 

It came in two varieties ,Dacian proper that was spoken north of the Danube River and Daco-Moesian south of the Danube in modern day Northern Bulgaria.

Dacian is known by some place names, names of people and a list of plants found in Dacia written by Dioscorides.

Thracian and Dacian are considered two versions of the same language.

It has been proposed by linguists that a dialect continuum existed in the Balkans with Illyrian in one side and Daco-Thracian in the other.

Paeonian 

Even less is known about the Paeonian language that was spoken north of Macedon. Some Paeonian kings had Greek names and later Paeonians became Hellenized.

Some linguists have proposed a Paeonian-Macedonian-Greek language branch within Indo-European.

Phrygian

Phrygians lived in the Balkans before settling in Asia Minor after the Bronze Age Collapse that saw the Hittite Empire disappear in the area.

Phrygian was spoken in the Balkans initially by the Phrygians who were then called Brygians according to the Ancient Macedonians.

Phrygian is well attested in Asia minor with many inscriptions in the Phrygian and then the Greek alphabet. 

The inscriptions are classified in two categories- Old Phrygian written in a variant of the Phoenician alphabet and New Phrygian written in Greek.

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