Dacian language: Encyclopedia II - Dacian language - Affiliation

Dacian language - Affiliation

In the 1950s, the Bulgarian linguist Vladimir Georgiev published his work which demonstrated that the phonology of the Dacian language is close to the phonology of Albanian, further supporting the theory that Dacian was on the same language branch as the Albanian language, a language branch termed Daco-Moesian (or Daco-Mysian), Moesian (or Mysian) being thought of as a transitional dialect between Dacian and Thracian. There are cognates between Daco-Thracian and Albanian which may be evidence of the Daco-Thracian-Albanian language affinity, and many substratum words in Romanian have Albanian cognates.

The linguist Harvey E. Mayer hypothesized that Dacian was a type of southern Baltic language. There are some correspondances between Dacian and Baltic, including the Dacian name for a wild pumpkin or a white grape, recorded by Dioscorides as kinuboila. This has a direct correspondance to Lithuanian šunobuolas, a word for the wild pumpkin, which literally means "dog-apple" (e.g., "wild apple").

Baltic, Slavic, and Albanian may all descend from a common branch that split off from Proto-Indo-European, and Dacian and Thracian may also have been part of this group. The Thracologist Sorin Olteanu however hypothesizes that Daco-Thracian was originally a Centum language, part of a Greco-Macedonian branch; but Daco-Thracian later came under Balto-Slavic influence, causing it to shift from Centum to Satem over time.

Dacian and Thracian are so poorly attested, that widely differing theories on the affinity of these languages are still being considered.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Affiliation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki