The Baltic languages are a group of genetically-related languages spoken in the Northern Europe and belonging to the Indo-European language family. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Anatolian languages are a group of languages, either Indo-European or (in some classifications) closely related to Indo-European, which were spoken in Asia Minor, including Hittite. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Balto-Slavic languages are an Indo-European language family, consisting of the (possibly genetically related) Baltic languages and Slavic languages. ... Celtic languages are the languages spoken by the ancient Celts and their modern descendants, the Gaels, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. ... Indo-Iranian languages (also called Aryan languages) are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. ... The Italic subfamily is a member of the Centum branch of the Indo-European language family. ... Tocharian is one of the most obscure branches of the Indo-European language group. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) were a patrilineal society of the Bronze Age (roughly 5th or 4th millennium BC), probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry. ... This article is about Bronze Age burial mounds and the Kurgan culture. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Yamna (from Russian яма pit) or pit grave culture is a prehistoric culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region, dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few hillforts. ... The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (or BMAC, also known as the Oxus civilization) is a modern archaeologists designation for a Bronze Age culture of the early second millennium BCE, located in present day northern Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. ... Aryan is an English word derived from the Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan term arya, meaning noble or lord. In the 19th century, the term was often used to refer to what we now call the Proto-Indo-Europeans, and, by extension, to Indo-European speaking peoples as a whole. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics, dealing with the Indo-European languages. ... Northern Europe (marked in purple) Northern Europe is a name of the northern part of the European continent. ... The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ...

Division and member languages

The Baltic language group is divided into two genetic sub-groups: Western Baltic, which now contains only extinct languages, and Eastern Baltic, which contains the living languages in the group. While related, the Lithuanian, the Latvian and particularly the Old Prussian vocabularies vary greatly from each other and are not mutually intelligible. The now extinct Old Prussian language is the most archaic.

Western Baltic languages

• Galindan language †
• Old Prussian language O.Pr. † (see Prussians, Prussia)
• Sudovian (Yotvingian) language † (see Yotvingians, Sudovia)

Galindan is a poorly attested extinct language, generally considered to be part of the Baltic language family. ... Old Prussian is an extinct Baltic language spoken by the inhabitants of the area that later became East Prussia (now in north-eastern Poland, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia) prior to Polish and German colonization of the area beginning in the 13th century. ... The Prussian people, or (old) Prussians, were Indo-European Balts inhabiting the area around the Curonian and Vistula Lagoons (i. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen or Preussen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of... Sudovian (otherwise known as Jatvingian or Yotvingian) is an extinct western Baltic language of north-eastern Europe. ... Categories: Baltic peoples | Stub ... Sudovia, or Suvalkija (pronouncing soo-vul-kee-uh), is the name of a historical region inhabited by Sudovians. ...

Eastern Baltic languages

• Curonian language † (see Curonians, Courland) — sometimes considered to be West Baltic.
• Latvian language (1.5 million speakers) (see Latvians, Latvia)
• Lithuanian language (4 million speakers) (see Lithuanians, Lithuania)
• Samogitian language (see Samogitia) — usually considered a dialect of Lithuanian
• Selonian language † (see Selonians)
• Semigallian language † (see Semigallians, Semigallia)

(†—Extinct language) The Curonian language was spoken mainly in Courland peninsula, Western Latvia. ... The Curonians is one of the extinct Baltic tribes that later formed the Latvian nation. ... Map Kurland, Courland, Couronia, Curonia, Kurzeme a former Baltic province of the Teutonic Order state in Livonia (ca. ... The Latvian language (latviešu valoda), sometimes also referred to as Lettish, is the official state language of the Republic of Latvia. ... Lithuanian is the official language of Lithuania, spoken by about 4 million native speakers. ... The Samogitian language (Žemaičių kalba) is a language spoken in the Samogitia (Žemaitija) region of Lithuania. ... Duchy of Samogitia was the western part of Lithuania Artistic picture of Zemaitija Duchy in 18th century. ... Selonian was a language appertaining to the Baltic languages group of the Indo-European languages family. ... Selonians were a tribe of Baltic peoples that are now extinct. ... Semigallian is an extinct language appertaining to the Baltic languages sub-family of Indo-European languages. ... The Semigallians (Semigalls) are one of the Baltic tribes that lived in the southern middle part of Latvia. ... Zemgale (also historically known as Semigallia or Semigalia) is a historical region of Latvia and sometimes a part of Lithuania is also included. ...

Geographic distribution

Note that although the term Baltic states is commonly used to refer collectively to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Estonian language is a Uralic language, not shown to be related to Lithuanian, Latvian or any of the Indo-European languages. Baltic states and the Baltic Sea The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a term which nowadays refers to three countries in Northern Europe: Estonia Latvia Lithuania Prior to World War II, Finland was sometimes considered, particularly by the Soviet Union, a fourth Baltic state. ... The Estonian language (eesti keel) is spoken by about 1. ... Geographical distribution of Finnic, Ugric, Samoyed and Yukaghir languages The Uralic languages form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ...

Distribution of the Baltic languages (11th - 12th century)

Speakers of modern Baltic languages are generally concentrated within the borders of Lithuania and Latvia, and in emigrant communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and former Soviet states. Historically the languages were spoken over a larger area: West to the mouth of the Vistula river in present-day Poland, at least as far East as the Dniepr river in present-day Belarus, perhaps even to Moscow, perhaps as far South as Kiev. Key evidence of Baltic language presence in these regions is found in Hydronyms (names of bodies of water) in the regions that are characteristically Baltic. Use of hydronyms is generally accepted to determine the extent of these cultures' influence, but not the date of such influence. Expansion of Slavic peoples in the South and East, and Germanic peoples in the West reduced the Baltic territory to a fraction of their former area. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Vistula river basin Vistula ( Polish Wisła, German Weichsel) is the longest river in Poland. ... The Dnieper River (Belarusian: Дняпро/Dnyapro; Russian: Днепр/Dnepr; Ukrainian: Днiпро/Dnipro; Polish: Dniepr; Latin: Borysthenes, Danaper) is a river (2290 km length) which flows from Russia through Belarus and then Ukraine. ... Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, IPA:   listen?) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... Motto: Oblast Municipality Municipal government City council (Київська Міська рада) Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko Area 800 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 2,642,486 100% 3,299/km² Founded City rights around 5th century 1487 Latitude Longitude 50°27′ N 30°30′ E Area code +380 44 Car plates  ? Twin towns Athenes, Brussels, Budapest... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ...

History

The Indo-European tribes speaking the dialects that would become the Baltic languages probably settled in the area South of the Baltic coast in about the 13th Century B.C.E. and later migrated towards the coast where they met an indigenous population of subsistence fishermen and farmers speaking a Uralic language. This indigenous population was assimilated to varying degrees with the Baltic peoples. Divergence of the dialects into distinct languages probably occurred in the 1st millennium C.E. Geographical distribution of Finnic, Ugric, Samoyed and Yukaghir languages The Uralic languages form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... The Baltic Sea The Balts or Baltic peoples have lived around the eastern coast of Mare Suebicum, or Baltic Sea (Tacitus, AD 98) since ancient times. ...

Although the various Baltic tribes were mentioned by ancient historians as early as 98 B.C.E, The first attestation of a Baltic language was in about 1350, with the creation of the Elbing Prussian Vocabulary, a German to Prussian translation dictionary. Lithuanian was first attested in a hymnal translation in 1545; the first printed book in Lithuanian, a Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas was published in 1547. Latvian appeared in a hymnal in 1530 and in a printed Catechism in 1585. One reason for the late attestation is that the Baltic peoples resisted Christianization longer than any other Europeans, which delayed the introduction of writing and isolated their languages from outside influence. Events February 27 - Battle of Ancrum Moor - Scots victory over superior English forces December 13 - Official opening of the Council of Trent (closed 1563) Births April 2 - Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Philip II of Spain (d. ... Catechism Lesson, by Jules-Alexis Meunier, 1890 A catechism is a summary of Christian religious doctrine. ... Martynas Mažvydas was the author and the editor of the first printed book in the Lithuanian language. ... Events January 16 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia. ... Events June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... Events January 12 - The Netherlands adopts the Gregorian calendar Beginning of the Eighth War of Religion in France (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) August 8 - John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in quest for the North West Passage. ... St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once (a political shift as much as a spontaneous mass shift in individual consciences), also includes the practice...

With the establishment of a German state in Prussia, and the relocation of much of the Baltic Prussian population in the 13th century, Prussians began to be assimilated, and by the end of the 17th century, the Prussian language had become extinct.

During the years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795), official documents were written in Polish, Ruthenian and Latin, with Lithuanian being mostly an oral language of commoners. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Events January 11 - First recorded lottery in England. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The name Old Ruthenian language has been applied to different things. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

After the Partitions of Poland, much of the Baltic lands were under the rule of the Russian Empire, where the native languages were sometimes prohibited from being written down, or used publicly. The Partitions of Poland (Polish Rozbiór or Rozbiory Polski) happened in the 18th century and ended the existence of a sovereign state of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start...

Relationship with other Indo-European languages

The Baltic languages are of particular interest to linguists because they retain many archaic features, which are believed to have been present in the early stages of the Proto-Indo-European language. See Pie (disambiguation) for other uses of PIE. The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ...

Linguists disagree regarding the relationship of the Baltic languages to other languages in the Indo-European family. Such relationships are discerned primarily by the Comparative method, which seeks to reconstruct the chronology of the languages' divergence from each other in phonology and lexicon. Language kinship is generally determined by the identification of linguistic innovations that are held in common by two languages or groups. The comparative method (in linguistics) is a method used to detect genetic relationships between languages and to establish a consistent relationship hypothesis by reconstructing: the common ancestor of the languages in question, a plausible sequence of regular changes by which the historically known languages can be derived from that common... Chronology is the science of locating events in time. ... Phonology (Greek phone = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), or phonemics, is a subfield of linguistics closely associated with phonetics. ... A lexicon is a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i. ...

Several of the extinct Baltic languages have a limited or nonexistent written record, their existence being known only from the records of ancient historians and personal or place names; all of the languages in the Baltic group (including the living ones) were first written down relatively late in their probable existence as distinct languages. These two factors combined with others have obscured the history of the Baltic languages, leading to a number of theories regarding their position in the Indo-European family.

While some linguists believe that the Baltic languages diverged from Proto-Indo-European separately from other language groups, others feel that the Baltic languages share a common ancestor tongue with either the Slavic languages or the Germanic languages, and should be classified as Balto-Slavic or Balto-Germanic respectively. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia. ... The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ...

Close relationships have also been posited between the Baltic languages and geographically-distant Indo-European languages and groups such as Albanian, Dacian, and Thracian. The Dacian language was an Indo-European language spoken by the ancient people of Dacia. ... The Thracian language was the Indo-European language spoken in ancient times by the Thracians. ...

More recently, it has been suggested that the Baltic language group is itself an inappropriate grouping and that the West Baltic and East Baltic groups have differing lineages that converged later in their existences.

Samples of Baltic: Old Prussian, Latvian, Lithuanian compared to Slavic: Polish Language

See also

• Historical linguistics
• Language families and languages
• Baltic peoples
• Lithuanian language Wikipedia article lt:Baltų kalbos

Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time, by means of examining languages which are recognizably related through similarities such as vocabulary, word formation, and syntax, as well as the surviving records of ancient languages. ... Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ... The Baltic Sea The Balts or Baltic peoples have lived around the eastern coast of Mare Suebicum, or Baltic Sea (Tacitus, AD 98) since ancient times. ...

External links

Ethnologue Report on Baltic languages

References

• Joseph Pashka, Proto Baltic and Baltic languages (1994)
• Lituanus Linguistics Index (1955-2004) provides a number of articles on modern and archaic Baltic languages.
• Mallory, J.P. (1991). In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth. New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd. ISBN 0-500-27616-1