EUROPEAN HISTORY Return
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HISTORY INDEX
The aboriginal peoples of Europe appear to be the Pict (Caledonian), Basque (Iberian) and Celt speaking peoples who provide the cultural underpinning of the more recent Indo-European language families. The Pict and Basque cultural origin is unknown but likely dates to antiquity. The Celt, late comers to Europe are also called Galatia and came from the East (probably Mongolian) into Asia Minor around the Black Sea, then covering Europe to the British Islands. They formed a strong cultural basis for the people of Ireland, Scotland, England, Spain, France and Germany. The Germanic peoples of Scandinavia to the north absorbed the older battle-axe culture that is probably not Indo-European in nature. To the East are the Balto-Slavic peoples. The true aboriginal people of Europe are likely the Proto-Australoids and Proto-Mongoloids who evolved into the Caucasoid with a dash of Negroid.
NOSTRATICS SUPER-FAMILIES OF LANGUAGES
Some linguists contend that a few Nostratic Super-family of language include Korean, Altaic, Indo-European, Kartvelian, Elamo-Dravidian and Afro-Asiatic evolved about 12,000 B.C. Others contend this is an over simplification of a much more dynamic process.
PROTO-LANGUAGE OF EUROPE
The majority of Europe speaks an Indo-European language that appears to have its roots in a Proto-Language that is believed to have originated between the Caucasus Mountains and ancient Mesopotamia. Caucasian "race of people" is an invention in 1795 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German, who based his conclusion on the beauty of a Georgian female skull found near Mount Caucasus. These people believe the Caucasian people began to fracture about 5,000 B.C. into the Indo-European set of Languages. Linguistic groups may not relate to ethnic and genetic differences. As an example, sickle cell gene is prominent in the Yemenites, Greeks, New Guineans, Thai and Pinkas. Science however suggests there is only one race of people, the 'Human Race'.
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
The Indo-European family of languages began fracturing into nine major groups about 5,000-4,000 B.C. as follows:
ALBANIAN: Thrice-Illyrian,
ARMENIAN: Greek,
BALTO-SLAVIC: includes Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Czech, Slovakian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Sorbian (Wendic) and Lithuanian,
CELTIC: Include Irish, Briton, Gaelic, and Welsh (Cymric),
GERMANIC: includes German, Anglo, Saxon, Dutch, Yiddish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faeroese, Frisian, and Flemish,
HELLENIC: Greek,
IRANIAN: Iran, Ossetic, Kurdic and Yezidic,
LATIN: Include French, Rhaeto-Romanic, Ladinic, Friulian, Sardinian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Gallegan, Rumanian and Vlach,
SANSKRIT: Include Indian, Hindustani, and Bengali.
Slavic is from Slovo meaning 'the word' and they originally lived in the Pripet Marches (Poland) on elevated houses and likely originated from Mongolian sources.
Some suggest the Aryan peoples include the Slavic, Armenian, Hellenic, Germanic, and Iranian speaking peoples. The erroneous definition of an Aryan people is not very helpful in understanding culture.
Germanic peoples differentiated towards the end of the Neolithic period in Southern Scandinavia, Denmark and Schleswig (probably Mongolian in origin) living in long houses. Some suggest there is no early German culture but rather it represents a political entity.
URAL-ALTAIC LANGUAGES
The next largest linguistic group is the Ural-Altaic speaking people that include:
FINNO-UGRIAN: includes the Finnish (Suomi), Estonian, Livonian, Lappish, Karelian, Cheremission, Votiak, Mordvinian, and Magyar,
TURKISH-TATARIC: includes Turkish (Osmanli), Kirghizic, Bashkirian, Tataric, Kumykian, Chuvashian, Karachaic, Nogaic, Karapapakian, Kizilbashian and Tahtatajic,
MONGOLIAN: Kalmuckian.
It should be noted that the Ural-Altaic peoples freely mixed with the Balto-Slavic peoples over the centuries.
OTHER LANGUAGES
The other unique languages that do not fit within the majority are:
BASQUE: located on the Bay of Biscay and are remnants of a much older Iberian culture,
CAUCASIC: Caucasian located between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea,
HAMITIC: Berber located mostly in North Africa, they are very closely related to the Semitic language
PICT: (Picture People) located in the highlands of Scotland and are a remnant of a very old civilization and,
SEMITIC: Arabic, Maltese and Syrian.
Semite is closely related to Sumerian language, religion and culture. Some contend it is not a different linguistic group. Others argue that Sumerian is neither Semitic nor Indo-European. Semite means Shem, son of Noah alias Ut-Napishtim the Sumarian, father of Ashur, Aram and Heber and alleged ancestor of the Assyrian, Aramaean. The Sumerian language evolved to Akkadian and then Arabic. The other is an offshoot of these three. Heber is from whom the Jews are called Hebrew. Heber is the son of Sala who is the son of Arphaxad (Chaldeans), son Shem, son Noah according to Flavious Josephus (37-100) the historian.
Semite as a language includes:
Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian), dead languages
Arabic, Aramaean, Nabatean and Moslem Arabs,
Armaic (Syriac).
Ethiopic,
Canaanite (Cananeo-Phoenician, Eblaites, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites and Amorites) now a dead language,
Hebrew, some contend Hebrew is a sub-language of Canaanite and
is a dead language by the beginning of the Christian era.
GENETIC DISTINCTIONS OF MAN
Genetic studies suggest that man can be grouped as follows: Africans, Europeans, Asians west of the Himalayas, Asians east of the Himalayas, New Guinea, Malenasia and native American
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