Vinko Vodopivec

Pot na Drenikov vrh, Ljubljana, Slovenija

Ključne besede: arheologija, genetika, sociologija, religija, zgodovina, jezikoslovje, teorija kontinuitete, Etruščani, Veneti, Wendi, slovenščina, sanskrt, Vede.

Key words: archaeology, genetics, sociology, religion, history, linguistics, continuity theory, Etruscans, Venets, Wends, Slovenian, Sanskrit, Vedic.

Abstract

Comparison of Modern European, Indo-European, and Some Ancient Languages lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

The motivation for my work in this field came from the research of Indo-European languages as presented by a computer system on developmental biology, which included 87 languages with 2,449 words. The researchers have tried to answer the question regarding the origins of present-day Indo-European languages. Presented are the main language groups: Slavic with 16 languages, Germanic with 15 languages, and Latin with 16 languages. There is also the Irish-Welsh-Breton group; the Greek group includes the classical Greek, and the Albanian group is connected to the Indo-Iranian group. Some results in this study are not entirely convincing, especially in regard to Slavic languages. Particularly noticeable are the dates of their formation: they are considerably later than those for the rest of the languages. Also puzzling in this research of Indo-European languages is that the oldest two languages of the old world are not included; that is, the Sanskrit and the older Vedic Sanskrit could have clarified the early linguistic developments. Also missing is the comparison of the ancient Egyptian language, which must have had considerable influence on the development of ancient cultures and their languages, including the Latin, which has had a far greater influence on the changes of languages of the time than the ancient Greek.

The basis for my comparative study of different languages is the Slavic consonantal roots from the Ateste tablets, which show a clear separation between Slavic and other languages. The Ateste tablets are Venetic inscriptions of northern Italy from the 5th century BC. They can be read with the help of Slavic languages. From each root I utilized the first two letters and then selected Slovenian words with the largest number of derivatives; for this reason the choices are well represented in the Slovenian literary language. The chosen words were then translated into other languages and compared with one another. Comparisons and analyses of the results show good homogeneity of Slavic languages and their connection with languages of the ancient world. In this research the Slovenian language proved exceptional, with the best connections to the Vedic Sanskrit, and the most uniform connections with all Slavic languages. These results put Slavic languages farther back in time, and equalize them with other languages; in some examples a strong connection to the most ancient languages is evident. The Latin languages represent a fairly homogeneous group, but with less harmony between languages. While the Germanic group has the least homogeneity, its languages deviate from each other considerably. Especially noticeable is the deviation of the English, which could be classed as a Germano-Latin language. The Swedish deviates considerably as it has borrowed many words from the French, and a sizeable part of Slavic vocabulary. Ugro-Finnic and some ancient European languages represent a large group of European languages, which have no connection with the three main groups, and also don't have connections among themselves. These are: Finnish, Irish, Basque, Hungarian, Albanian and Romany languages.