Category: Places

Turcic Languages Next to the Black Sea

Oguri, Kutriguri, Utriguri, and Saraguri were all Turcic tribes speaking Turkic languages.

Agathias — the principal historian of part of the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I between 552 and 558 — wrote: “…all of them are called in general Scythians and Huns in particular according to their nation. Thus, some are Koutrigours or Outigours and yet others are Oultizurs and Bourougounds… the Oultizurs and Bourougounds were known up to the time of the Emperor Leo (457–474) and the Romans of that time and appeared to have been strong. We, however, in this day, neither know them, nor, I think, will we. Perhaps, they have perished or perhaps they have moved off to very far place.”

Click on the link below to see, where the cited tribes lived, whether they had “perished or moved off to very far place“.

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Thraco-Phrygian Languages?

I had to check twice when I saw the word “thraco-phrygian”. Where are they supposed to live in Europe?

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines Thraco-Phrygian as an adjective “of, relating to, or constituting a tentative branch of the Indo-European language family to which are sometimes assigned various languages of the Balkans and Asia Minor not otherwise assignable”

So they were living on the Balkans, and browsing on the Ethnohistory map found them there 1500BC.

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So I Read 1500 Year Old Scandinavian Language

The oldest runestones in Sweden are written in a language that was called Old Scandinavian (or Proto Norse). In that time the language was understtod throughout Scandinavia.

Järsberg runestone, 1400 years after it was written.

I visited one of the runestones in Järsberg, Sweden, in the summer. And I encountered a verbform that is still easily read today: ᚹᚫᚱᛁᛏᚢ writu (write). So despite the almost 1500 years there is still something very common with the language.

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Semitic Languages in Europe 500BC

We know that the Arabs and Jews speak Semitic languages. And the Arabic speaking tribes conquered much of the Iberian peninsula around AD700.

But there were Semitic speaking tribes in Europe much before, the Carthaginians. They establised colonies around the Mediterranean and were finally crushed by the ancient Romans much later. Anyway around 500BC the Semitic tribes — represented by the Carthaginians — had a strong presence on the shores of the Mediterranean, as shown on the map.

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Illyrians Still on the Map

The Illyrians were a group of Indo-European tribes, who once inhabited western Balkans.

Starting from the 2nd century AD the Illyrians were gradually wiped off from the map;  and The Illyrians were mentioned for the last time in the 7th century. With the disintegration of the Roman Empire, Gothic and Hunnic tribes raided the Balkan peninsula, forcing many Illyrians to seek refuge in the highlands. With the arrival of the Slavs in the 6th century, most Illyrians were Slavicized.

Follow the link to see where the Illyrians once lived.

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Germanic Tribes Allover

Today Germanic languages are spoken allover the world, mainly because the English language belongs to Germanic languages. In Europe, however, Germanic languages are spoken in Central and Northern Europe only.

But around AD 400 the Germanic tribes were on the move allover Europe, as can be seen in the map behind the link below.

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Celtic Languages in Ancient Europe

Celtic languages are those ancients with long history. They are nowadays spoken principally in Wales and on the countryside in Western Ireland.

Not so long ago (~ 2600 years ago) Celtic languages were spoken on a vast area of Central Europe, however. Follow the link to see where.

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Anatolian Languages 1500 BC

The most ancient Indo-European texts were written in Anatolian languages in the 18th century BC. This branch of the Indo-European family spread over the territory of modern Turkey and northern Syria.

The Anatolian languages were spoken 3½ millenia ago, and the following link show some migrations of the tribes.

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Ugric Peoples AD 1500

The Ugric or Ugrian languages belong to the Uralic language family. There are three subgroups in the language family: Hungarian, Khanty, and Mansi. AD 1500 the Hungarian languages was already spoken in today’s Hungary. But guess what? The language was spoken on other locations, too. Follow the link to see where.

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