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From: petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich)
Subject: Re: What are Scythians?
Message-ID: <petrichCzo0Fv.Esr@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <rsavageCyt0CM.5L7@netcom.com> <hubey.784662659@pegasus.montclair.edu> <sarimaCzE1yE.2w7@netcom.com> <3aen6l$g6b@pilot.njin.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 10:43:06 GMT
Lines: 41

In article <3aen6l$g6b@pilot.njin.net>, Hubey <hubey@pilot.njin.net> wrote:
>sarima@netcom.com (Stanley Friesen) writes:

>>In article <hubey.784662659@pegasus.montclair.edu>,
>>H. M. Hubey <hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu> wrote:
>>>sarima@netcom.com (Stanley Friesen) writes:

>>Oh, it could be.  But the recent identification of the
>>Hurrian-Urartian languages as Caucasian tends to put the
>>homeland of the Caucasian languages in Anatolia, not in
>>the Ukraine. 

	That's I.M. Diakonov and S.A. Starostin's _Hurro-Urartian as an 
East Caucasian Language_. They propose to identify about 1/3 of the 
identifiable vocabulary, and also some of the grammar.

>Does this have anything to do with Gamkrelidze's theories
>about the IE folks coming into contact with Kartvelian
>in Anatolia before moving around the Caspian to their
>alleged Black Sea haunts?

	His claim is based on some vocabulary similarities which he 
attributes to IE -> Kartvelian vocabulary. Some Nostraticists, however, 
have pointed out that the vocabulary includes words like the one for 
"navel", which are not usually borrowed, but are most likely inherited 
from a common ancestor -- Nostratic.

	So an Armenia -> Caucasus -> Black Sea journey is rather unlikely.

	[Scythians, Sarmatians, etc.]

	These could simply be the stay-at-home descendants of the original
Indo-European speakers. No "invasions" necessary. Going nowhere does not
stop linguistic change; the present-day language of Rome has some
significant differences from that of 2000 years ago, for example. 

-- 
Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster
petrich@netcom.com                   Happiness is a fast Macintosh
lip@s1.gov                           And a fast train

