Archive for langcafe2.myfreeforum.org Come in and have your daily cup of languages!
 


       langcafe2.myfreeforum.org Forum Index -> Language-related topics
Porthos

Non-Indo European substratum in Germanic languages

I've read that 1/3 of Germanic lexicon is of non - Indo-European origin. It is conjectured that the Germanic languages were adopted by Balitc speaking peoples, who left a strong impact on the language, with as much as 1/3 of their vocabulary surviving in their newly adopted language. But what words are not of Indo-European origin? If as much as 1/3 of the Germanic lexicon is not of IE origin, then surely there should be an abundance of everyday words which we use that are not IE words. What are some examples?
Irrintzi

Re: Non-Indo European substratum in Germanic languages

Porthos wrote:
I've read that 1/3 of Germanic lexicon is of non - Indo-European origin. It is conjectured that the Germanic languages were adopted by Balitc speaking peoples, who left a strong impact on the language, with as much as 1/3 of their vocabulary surviving in their newly adopted language. But what words are not of Indo-European origin? If as much as 1/3 of the Germanic lexicon is not of IE origin, then surely there should be an abundance of everyday words which we use that are not IE words. What are some examples?


1/3 of the Germanic lexicon? Really, I doubt of that, Basque has 30% of its vocabulary of "non-IE related words" (others 60-65% are words of Latin, Gaulish, Wisigoth, Iberian, French, Spanish, Gascon, English... origins) but the IE-related words are generally unused and technical words. Then, the Basque gramatical structure didn't changed, so German has more IE unrelated words? A germanic language? I don't believe of that.
Andlit

Re: Non-Indo European substratum in Germanic languages

Porthos wrote:
I've read that 1/3 of Germanic lexicon is of non - Indo-European origin. It is conjectured that the Germanic languages were adopted by Balitc speaking peoples, who left a strong impact on the language, with as much as 1/3 of their vocabulary surviving in their newly adopted language. But what words are not of Indo-European origin? If as much as 1/3 of the Germanic lexicon is not of IE origin, then surely there should be an abundance of everyday words which we use that are not IE words. What are some examples?


This site has some examples of vocabulary. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_substrate_hypothesis

But I think the whole theory is flawed. As the article also states possible Indo-European roots for the quoted words.

Another word which doesn't appear in that article but I think is quite interesting is the word 'shoe'. Apparently it has no cognates outside the Germanic languages but as with the words above if one looked hard enough you could find an Indo-European root. It is said that 'Shoe' could be from Proto Indo-European *skeu- meaning 'cover' which I don't think sounds too implausible. Isn't a shoe a foot cover?

       langcafe2.myfreeforum.org Forum Index -> Language-related topics
Page 1 of 1
Create your own free forum | Buy a domain to use with your forum