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From: agraps@netcom.com (Amara Graps)
Subject: Re: Etymology of Warsaw and Kiev?
Message-ID: <agrapsDww742.Dvz@netcom.com>
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References: <4vorm7$68r@news.inforamp.net> <hubey.841014812@pegasus.montclair.edu> 	<agrapsDwtC5p.M8D@netcom.com> <ALDERSON.96Aug28112143@netcom16.netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 09:16:49 GMT
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Sender: agraps@netcom10.netcom.com

alderson@netcom16.netcom.com (Richard M. Alderson III) writes:

>In article <agrapsDwtC5p.M8D@netcom.com> agraps@netcom.com (Amara Graps)
>writes:

>>Lithuanian, by the way, may be the oldest Indo-European language.

>There is no such thing as "the oldest Indo-European language."  All Indo-Euro-
>pean languages are the "same" age, in relation to being descended from the
>original Indo-European language.

>If instead we define "language age" as earliest attestation, Lithuanian is one
>of the "youngest", as the earliest text dates from c. 1545 CE (a Lutheran
>catechism, and therefore not even an original text).  The "oldest" under this
>definition is Palaic, an Anatolian language attested c. 1900 BCE, i. e. about
>3500 years earlier.


Hmm, I read an article 5 or 6 years ago that made this claim and now,
I can't find the article. Moreover, when I searched on the net about
this, today, I saw your same reference- first Lithuanian book is
thought to be Martinus Mosvidius' Catechismus (1547). Although I also
saw something about some Lithuanian poetry written a little bit
earlier like 1518. In any case, the written language in its current
form is somewhat 'new'.

The Lithuanian Language Institute and reference to Catechismus:
http://www.mch.mii.lt/more/LKI/eng-lki.htm
http://www.mch.mii.lt/more/LKI/pradzia.htm

(The length of time the Lithuanian people have been there is
different- a couple thousand years- there's a reference to Lithuania
in Latin form in the 2nd millenuium and the spoken language was
perhaps formed around that time.)

So I'll retract what I said, and instead say that the Lithuanian
language may be the _least changed_ out of all the Indo-Europian
languages and a reason why linguists seem to find it
interesting. Here's a quote from _The Mother Tongue_ by Bill Bryson:

"Of all the Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is the one that has
changed the least- so much so that it is sometimes said a Lithuanian
can understand simple phrases in Sanskrit. At the very least,
Lithuanian has preserved many more of the inflected complexities of
the original Indo-European language than others of the family."


By the way, I'm (obviously) not a linguist. I just find the etymology
of words interesting.

Amara

-- 

*************************************************************************
Amara Graps                         email: agraps@netcom.com
Computational Physics               vita:  finger agraps@best.com
Multiplex Answers                   URL:   http://www.amara.com/
*************************************************************************
