Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!udel!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!EU.net!sun4nl!mcv
From: mcv@inter.NL.net (Miguel Carrasquer)
Subject: Re: What are Scythians?
Message-ID: <Cz68pw.Jsw@inter.NL.net>
Organization: NLnet
References: <rsavageCyt0CM.5L7@netcom.com> <rsavageCyyxpB.7n9@netcom.com> <boyleCyz2oz.BF@netcom.com> <sarimaCz53AA.1ss@netcom.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 1994 20:25:08 GMT
Lines: 25

In article <sarimaCz53AA.1ss@netcom.com>,
Stanley Friesen <sarima@netcom.com> wrote:
>In article <boyleCyz2oz.BF@netcom.com>, Joseph Boyle <boyle@netcom.com> wrote:
>>[much good stuff about the Scythians].
>>Their advance brought the Scythians into fierce conflict with the 
>>Cimmerians who had for centuries enjoyed possession of the Caucasus and 
>>the plain lying to the north of the Black Sea. ...
>
>This brings up a question that has been bugging me for some time.
>
>What were the linguistic affinities of the *Cimmerian* language?
>
>I suspect it was probably Indo-European, but what branch?
>

I don't think anything at all is known about Cimmerian (or Tauric).
The most likely candidates are of course Iranian and Daco-Thracian 
(or is it Daco-Phrygian ?).  Another possibility is a separate
Cimmerian branch of Indo-European (intermediate between Indo-Iranian
and the Graeco-Balkan groups ?) 

-- 
Miguel Carrasquer         ____________________  ~~~
Amsterdam                [                  ||]~  
mcv@inter.NL.net         ce .sig n'est pas une .cig 
