Thracian language

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{{Infobox language

| name = Thracian

| region = Bulgaria, European Turkey, parts of Southern Serbia, parts of the region of Macedonia (including Paeonia), regions in Northern Greece, parts of Romania, parts of Bithynia in Anatolia. Probably also spoken in parts of Dardania.

| extinct = 6th century AD

| ref = linglist

| familycolor = Indo-European

| fam2 = Daco-Thracian (?)

| fam3 =

| fam4 =

| iso3 = txh

| linglist = txh

| glotto = thra1250

| glottorefname = Thracian

|script= Greek

}}

The Thracian language ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|θ|r|eɪ|ʃ|ən}}) is an extinct and poorly attested language, spoken in ancient times in Southeast Europe by the Thracians. The linguistic affinities of the Thracian language are poorly understood, but it is generally agreed that it was an Indo-European language.{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|p=404}}

The point at which Thracian became extinct is a matter of dispute. However, it is generally accepted that Thracian was still in use in the 6th century AD: Antoninus of Piacenza wrote in 570 that there was a monastery in the Sinai, at which the monks spoke Greek, Latin, Syriac, Egyptian, and Bessian – a Thracian dialect.Arnold Joseph Toynbee, Some problems of Greek history, Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 56: In the late sixth century there were still Bessian-speaking monks in the monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai (see P. Geyer Itinera Hierosolymitana, Vienna 1898, Templaky, pp. 184; 213.)Oliver Nicholson as ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity; Oxford University Press, 2018; {{ISBN|0192562460}}, p. 234:...The "Piacenza Pilgrim (56) mentioned Bessian-speaking monks on the Sinai Peninsula. ABA J. J. Wilkes, The Illyrians (1992)...J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams as ed., Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture; Taylor & Francis, 1997; {{ISBN|1884964982}}, p. 576: The most recently attested Thracian personal names are found in two monasteries in the Near East (the Bessi of Mt Sinai) dating to the sixth century AD.Bessian is the language of the Bessi, one of the most prominent Thracian tribes. The origin of the monasteries is explained in a mediaeval hagiography written by Symeon the Metaphrast in Vita Sancti Theodosii Coenobiarchae in which he wrote that Saint Theodosius founded on the shore of the Dead Sea a monastery with four churches, in each being spoken a different language, among which Bessian was found. The place at which the monasteries were founded was called "Cutila", which may be a Thracian name.

A classification put forward by Harvey Mayer, suggests that Thracian (and Dacian) belonged to the Baltic branch of Indo-European, or at least is closer to Baltic than any other Indo-European branch.Mayer, Harvey E. "[http://www.lituanus.org/1992_2/92_2_02.htm Dacian and Thracian as Southern Baltoidic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216135638/http://www.lituanus.org/1992_2/92_2_02.htm |date=2017-12-16 }}." In: Lituanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences. Volume 38, No. 2 – Summer 1992.. Editor of this issue: Antanas Klimas, University of Rochester. {{ISSN|0024-5089}}. 1992 Lituanus Foundation, Inc. However, this theory has not achieved the status of a general consensus among linguists. These are among many competing hypotheses regarding the classification and fate of Thracian.1994 Gottfried Schramm: A New Approach to Albanian History

Geographic distribution

The Thracian language or languages were spoken in what is now Bulgaria,[https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC&pg=PA205 Encyclopedia of European peoples], Carl Waldman, Catherine Mason, Infobase Publishing, 2006, {{ISBN|0-8160-4964-5}}, p. 205.[https://books.google.com/books?id=R645AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 Archaeology and language: the puzzle of Indo-European origins], Colin Renfrew, CUP Archive, 1990, {{ISBN|0-521-38675-6}}, p. 71. Romania, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, European Turkey and in parts of Bithynia (North-Western Asiatic Turkey).

Remnants of the Thracian language

File:ThracianLanguageMap.jpg

Little is known for certain about the Thracian language, since no text has been satisfactorily deciphered. Some of the longer inscriptions may be Thracian in origin but they may simply reflect jumbles of names or magical formulas.Olteanu et al.

Enough Thracian lexical items have survived to show that Thracian was a member of the Indo-European language family.

Besides the aforementioned inscriptions, Thracian may be attested through personal names, toponyms, hydronyms, phytonyms, divine names, etc. and by a small number of words cited in Ancient Greek texts as being specifically Thracian.{{cite web |url=http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/thrac/thrac_3.html |title=The Language of the Thracians |access-date=2007-01-14 |last=Duridanov |first=Ivan}}{{unreliable source?|date=September 2021}}

There are 23 words mentioned by ancient sources considered explicitly of Thracian origin and known meaning.{{cite book |last=Duridanov |first=I. |year=1976 |url=http://www.kroraina.com/thrac_lang |title=The Language of the Thracians (An abridged translation of Ezikyt na trakite, Ivan Duridanov, Nauka i izkustvo, Sofia, 1976. (c) Ivan Duridanov)}}Georgiev, Vladimir I.. "Thrakisch und Dakisch". Band 29/2. Teilband Sprache und Literatur (Sprachen und Schriften [Forts.]), edited by Wolfgang Haase, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 1983. pp. 1151–1153. {{doi|10.1515/9783110847031-015}} Of the words that are preserved in ancient glossaries, in particular by Hesychius, only three dozen can be considered "Thracian". However, Indo-European scholars have pointed out that "even the notion that what the ancients called "Thracian" was a single entity is unproven."{{cite book |last=Fortson |first=B. |year=2004 |title=Indo-European Language and Culture: an Introduction |page=404}} The table below lists potential cognates from Indo-European languages, but most of them have not found general acceptance within Indo-European scholarship. Not all lexical items in Thracian are assumed to be from the Proto-Indo-European language, some non-IE lexical items in Thracian are to be expected.

class = wikitable

! Word !! Meaning!! Attested by !! Cognates !! Notes

ἄσα (asa)

|colt's foot (Bessi)

|Dioskurides

|Lit. dial. asỹs 'horse-tail, Equisetum', Latv. aši, ašas 'horse-tail, sedge, rush'

| The etymology of both Baltic words is unclear and extra-Baltic cognates have yet to be established.{{cite book |last=Fraenkel |first=Ernst |year=1962 |title=Litauisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch |page=124}}

βόλινθος (bólinthos)

|aurochs, European bison

|Aristotle

|Proto-Slavic *volъ ("ox"). Per Beekes, Pre-Greek.{{harvnb|Beekes|2009|p=225}}

|See also Gk. βοῦς 'cow', but Latv. govs ' id ' both < PIE *g^wṓws. Proto-Slavic *vòlъ has no extra-Slavic cognates.

βρία (bría)

|unfortified village

|Hesychius, compare the Toponyms Πολτυμβρία, Σηλυ(μ)μβρία, and Βρέα in Thrace.

|Compared to Greek ῥίον (ríon; "peak, foothills") and Tocharian A ri, B riye ("town") as if < *urih₁-. Alternatively, compare Proto-Celtic *brix- ("hill").

|Gk ῥίον has no clear etymology.{{harvnb|Beekes|2009|p=1287}} The Toch lemmata may be related.{{cite book |last=Adams |first=D. |year=2013 |title=A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Enlarged and Greatly Revised |page=582}}

βρίζα (bríza)

|rye

|Galen

|Perhaps of Eastern origin, compare Greek ὄρυζα, Sanskrit vrīhí- ("rice").

|The 'rice' words in Gk and IIr are wanderworts. The Gk word may be borrowed from an Eastern Iranian language.{{harvnb|Beekes|2009|pp=1112–1113}}

βρυνχός (brynkhós)

|kitharaGeorgiev, Vladimir I.. "Thrakisch und Dakisch". Band 29/2. Teilband Sprache und Literatur (Sprachen und Schriften [Forts.]), edited by Wolfgang Haase, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 1983. p. 1152. {{doi|10.1515/9783110847031-015}}

|Compared with Slavic *bręčati "to ring".

|The Proto-Slavic lemma is reconstructed based exclusively on Serbo-Croatian brecati 'twang, be insolent' and consequently may not even be reconstructable to its own proto-language as there are no external or internal comparanda. It may be onomatopoetic in nature. Furthermore, there is a grave issue with the inscription, as Gk /ŋ/ is written with a gamma before a velar, i.e., this word should be written βρυγχός, which it is not.

βρῦτος (brŷtos)

|beer of barley

|many

|Slavic "vriti" (to boil), Germanic *bruþa- ("broth"), Old Irish bruth ("glow"), Latin dē-frŭtum ("must boiled down").{{efn|Valdés (2017) cites other cognates to the root: Celtic deity Borvo and Latin ferveo "I boil" (from e-grade).Valdés, Marcos Obaya. "Averamientu al astúricu. Vocalización de les nasales del grau-cero indo-européu: *mo > am / *no > an, y delles propuestes etimolóxiques". In: Lletres asturianes: Boletín Oficial de l'Academia de la Llingua Asturiana Nº. 117, 2017, p. 64. {{ISSN|2174-9612}}}}

dinupula, si/nupyla

|wild melon

|Pseudoapuleus

|Lithuanian šùnobuolas, lit. ("dog's apple"), or with Slavic *dynja ("melon"). Per Vladimir Georgiev, derived from *kun-ābōlo- or *kun-ābulo- 'hound's apple'.

| Proto-Slavic *dyña (from earlier *kъdyña is most likely borrowed from Gk. κῠδώνῐον via Lat. cydōnia.{{cite book |last=Vasmer |first=M. |year=1973 |title=Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), ed. Oleg Trubačev}}

γέντον (génton)

|meat

|Herodian., Suid., Hesych

|Possibly descended from IE *gʷʰn̥tó- 'strike, kill', cf. Sanskrit hatá- 'hit, killed'

|The adjective *gʷʰn̥tós in the zero-grade has an *-s in the nom.sg., whereas in Thracian the word ends in a nasal, which is a serious issue that requires morphological remodelling in Thracian for it to be posited as the starting point for Thracian γέντον. Furthermore, the e-grade vowel of the Thracian potential avatar remains to be explained as well if from an original PIE *gʷʰn̥tós.

καλαμίνδαρ (kalamíndar)

|plane-tree (Edoni)

|Hesych.

κη̃μος (kêmos)

|a kind of fruit with follicle

|Phot. Lex.

κτίσται (ktístai)

|Ctistae

|Strabo

midne (in a Latin inscription, thus not written with Gk alphabet)

|village

|inscription from Rome

|Latvian mītne 'a place of stay', Avestan {{lang|ae|maēϑana-}} 'dwelling'

Πολτυμ(βρία) (poltym-bría)

|board fence, a board tower

|Old English speld 'wood, log'

|The OE lemma is poorly understood and extra-Germanic cognates are few and far between. OE speld may have descended from a PIE root *(s)pley- which is poorly attested and does not seem to be a formal match to the Thracian term.

ῥομφαία (rhomphaía)

|broadsword

|Compared with Latin rumpō ("to rupture"), Slavic: Russian разрубать, Polish rąbać ("to hack", "to chop", "to slash"), Polish rębajło ("eager swordsman"), Serbo-Croatian rmpalija ("bruiser")

|The Slavic terms here must come from a medial *-b^h-, whereas Lat. rumpō 'I break' must descend from a medial *-p-{{cite book |last=Rix |display-authors=et al. |first=H. |year=2001 |title=Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German)}} and therefore those words aren't even cognate with each other, let alone with the Thracian term.

σκάλμη (skálmē)

|knife, sword

|Soph. y Pollux, Marcus Anton., Hesych., Phot. L

|Albanian shkallmë ("sword"), Old Norse skolmr 'cleft'

|The Albanian term is likely a secondary innovation. ON skolmr is unclear and has no extra-Germanic cognates;{{cite book |last=de Vries |first=J. |year=1977 |title=Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Etymological Dictionary of Old Norse] (in German) |page=498}} it is unlikely to be related to the Thracian term.

σκάρκη (skárkē)

|a silver coin

|Hesych., Phot. Lex.

σπίνος (spínos)

|'a kind of stone, which blazes when water touches it' (i.e. 'lime')

|Arist.

| PIE *k̑witn̥os 'white, whitish', Greek τίτανος (Attic) and κίττανος (Doric) 'gypsum, chalk, lime'.
Although from the same PIE root, Albanian shpâ(ni) 'lime, tartar' and Greek σπίνος 'lime' derive from a secondary origin as they were probably borrowed from Thracian due to phonetic reasons{{cite journal|last=Witczak|first=Krzysztof Tomasz|title=Studies in Thracian vocabulary (I–VII)|journal=Studia Indogermanica Lodziensia|volume=VII|year=2012|pages=153–168}} pp. 159–161.

τορέλλη (toréllē)

|a refrain of lament mourn song

|Hesych.

ζαλμός (zalmós)

|animal hide

|Porphyr.

|Per Georgiev, derived from *kolmo-s. Related to Gothic hilms, German Helm and Old Iranian sárman 'protection'.

|Thracian initial ζ- can either be related to PIE *ḱ (as in these 'cognates' and several below) or to *ǵ^h-/*g^h- as in the following entry, but not both. There does not exist an OIr word sárman,{{cite book |last=Bartholomae |first=C. |year=1961 |title=Altiranisches Wörterbuch [Old Iranian Dictionary] (in German) |pages=1564–1567}} but a word śárman does exist in Sanskrit. However, Sanskrit ś- must go back to a PIE *ḱ-, not *k- as Georgiev states.

ζειρά (zeira)

|long robe worn by Arabs and Thracians

|Hdt., Xen., Hesych.

|Per Georgiev, related to Greek χείρ (kheir) and Phrygian ζειρ (zeir) 'hand'.

|See above. The meaning of Phrygian ζειρα(ι) is unknown, not 'hand' as Georgiev believes.Klein et al., edd. (2018) HCHL:1820, chapter XVI.101 'Phrygian' by Ligorio and Lubotsky.

ζελᾶ (zelâ), also ζῆλα (zêla), ζηλᾱς (zelās)

|wine

|many

|Compared with Greek χάλις (khális; "unblended wine") and κάλιθος (kálithos; "wine")

|See above.

ζετραία (zetraía)

|pot

|Pollux

|Per Georgiev, related to Greek χύτρα (khútra) 'pot'.

|See above.

zibythides

|the noble, most holy one

|Hesych.

|Lith. žibùtė ("shining")

Inscriptions

The following are the longest inscriptions preserved. The remaining ones are mostly single words or names on vessels and other artifacts. No translation has been accepted by the larger Indo-European community of scholars.{{cite book|first=Jared|last=Klein et al. edd. | title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics| chapter=XVI Languages of fragmentary attestation, section 104 by Claude Brixhe | publisher=De Gruyter | year=2018 |quote="There are as many interpretations of these as there are investigators; and as a result these monuments have not contributed anything to our knowledge of the language" |page=1851}}

= Ezerovo inscription =

File:Golden_ring_Ezerovo_mound_BG_Ancient_Thrace_period.jpg

Only four Thracian inscriptions of any length have been found. The first is a gold ring found in 1912 in the village of Ezerovo (Plovdiv Province of Bulgaria); the ring was dated to the 5th century BC.{{cite web| title=Golden ring with Thracian inscription. NAIM-Sofia exhibition |url=http://naim.bg/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=217 | publisher = National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Sofia }} The ring features an inscription in a Greek script consisting of 8 lines, the eighth of which is located on the rim of the rotating disk; it reads without any spaces between:

{{lang|txh|ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕΑΣΝ / ΕΡΕΝΕΑΤΙΛ / ΤΕΑΝΗΣΚΟΑ / ΡΑΖΕΑΔΟΜ / ΕΑΝΤΙΛΕΖΥ / ΠΤΑΜΙΗΕ / ΡΑΖ // ΗΛΤΑ|italics=none}}

Dimitar Dechev (Germanised as D. Detschew) separates the words as follows:{{cite book|first=Ivan|last=Duridanov | title=Die Sprache der Thraker | series=Bulgarische Sammlung | volume= 5 | publisher=Hieronymus Verlag | year=1985 | isbn=3-88893-031-6 | language= de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ra3iAAAAMAAJ&q=Rolisteneas|quote=Ich bin Rolisteneas, Sprößling des Nereneas; Tilezypta, Arazerin nach ihrer Heimat, hat mich der Erde übergeben (d.h. begraben).}}{{cite book|title=Die Sprache der Thrako-Daker|first=Ion I.|last=Russu|publisher=Ed. Ştiinţificā|year=1969|language=de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IgUQAQAAIAAJ&q=Rolisteneas}}

{{fs interlinear |lang=txh |indent=2

|ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕΑΣ ΝΕΡΕΝΕΑ ΤΙΛΤΕΑΝ ΗΣΚΟ ΑΡΑΖΕΑ ΔΟΜΕΑΝ ΤΙΛΕΖΥΠΤΑ ΜΙΗ ΕΡΑ ΖΗΛΤΑ

|Rolisteneas Nerenea tiltean ēsko Arazea domean Tilezypta miē era zēlta

|I am Rolisteneas, a descendant of Nereneas; Tilezypta, an Arazian woman, delivered me to the ground.

}}

= Kyolmen inscription =

A second inscription, hitherto undeciphered, was found in 1965 near the village of {{ill|Kyolmen|bg|Кьолмен}}, Varbitsa Municipality, dating to the sixth century BC. Written in a Greek alphabet variant, it is possibly a tomb stele inscription similar to the Phrygian ones; Peter A. Dimitrov's transcription thereof is:{{cite book|title=Thracian Language and Greek and Thracian Epigraphy|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4438-1325-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8gkaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|first=Peter A.|last=Dimitrov|chapter=The Kyolmen Stone Inscription|page=5}}

:ΙΛΑΣΝΛΕΤΕΔΝΛΕΔΝΕΝΙΔΑΚΑΤΡΟΣΟWritten from right to left.

:ΕΒΑ·ΡΟΖΕΣΑΣΝΗΝΕΤΕΣΑΙΓΕΚΟΑWritten from left to right.

:ΝΒΛΑΒΑΗΓΝ

i.e.

:ilasnletednlednenidakatroso

:eba·rozesasnēnetesaigekoa

:nblabaēgn

= Duvanlii inscription =

A third inscription is again on a ring, found in {{ill|Duvanlii|bg|Дуванлии}}, Kaloyanovo Municipality, next to the left hand of a skeleton. It dates to the 5th century BC. The ring has the image of a horsemanPleket, H.W., and R.S. Stroud, eds. 1994. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. 41–584. Amsterdam. {{doi|10.1163/1874-6772_seg_a41_584}} with the inscription surrounding the image.{{cite journal |last=Orel |first=Vladimir E. |author-link=Vladimir Orel |title=On Two Minor Thracian Inscriptions |journal=Glotta |volume=64 |issue=1/2 |date=1986 |pages=48–49 |jstor=40266737}} Accessed 22 July 2024. It is only partly legible (16 out of the initial 21):

{{fs interlinear |lang=txh |indent=2

|ΗΥΖΙΗ ..... ΔΕΛΕ / ΜΕΖΗΝΑΙ

|ēuziē ..... dele / mezēnai

|}}

The word mezenai is interpreted to mean 'Horseman', and a cognate to Illyrian Menzanas (as in "Juppiter/Jove Menzanas" 'Juppiter of the foals' or 'Juppiter on a horse');{{cite book |last=Georgiev |first=Vladimir I. |author-link=Vladimir I. Georgiev |title=Introduction to the History of the Indo-European Languages |edition=3rd |location=Sofia |publisher=Bulgarian Academy of Sciences |date=1981 |page=116 |quote=Μεζην = nom.-voc., which is under the figure of the horseman, is the name of the Thracian god-horseman; it corresponds to the name (epithet) of the Messapian god Menzana (Iupiter), to whom horses were offered as a sacrifice. Both names are derived from *mendy-ān 'horseman', a derivative of *mendi(o)- 'horse'; they are related to Alb. mëz- 'stallion' and Rum. (Dac.) mînz 'stallion'.}}{{cite journal |last=Orel |first=Vladimir E. |author-link=Vladimir Orel |title=On Two Minor Thracian Inscriptions |journal=Glotta |volume=64 |issue=1/2 |date=1986 |page=49 |jstor=40266737 |quote=Georgiev (1977, 112) suggested to connect MEZHNAI with Iuppiter Menzana, which seems more plausible, if one remembers of the mounted figure on the ring, Menzana being a deity connected with the horse-cult. (...) The second word mezēnai could be identified with Menzana and treated as a name of a deity.}} Accessed 22 July 2024.{{cite journal |last=Meudler |first=Marcel |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_2003_num_105_1_5647 |title=Mézence, un théonyme messapien? |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |volume=105 |date=2003 |issue=1 |pages=5–6 |language=FR |doi=10.3406/rea.2003.5647}} Albanian mëz 'foal'; Romanian mînz 'colt, foal';{{cite journal |last=Oreshko |first=Rostislav |title=The onager kings of Anatolia: Hartapus, Gordis, Muška and the steppe strand in early Phrygian culture |journal=Kadmos |volume=59 |issue=1–2 |date=2020 |page=118= |doi=10.1515/kadmos-2020-0005|url=https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03880045/file/Oreshko%20The%20onager%20kings%20of%20Anatolia%20-%20final.pdf }}{{cite journal |last=Pax Leonard |first=Stephen |title=Hipponyms in Indo-European: using register to disentangle the etyma |journal=Journal of Language Relationship |volume=19 |issue=1–2 |date=2021 |page=4 |doi=10.1515/jlr-2021-191-206|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }} Latin mannus 'small horse, pony';Kaluzkaja, Irina. "Thracian-Illyrian language parallels: Thrac. MEZENAI – Illyr. Menzanas". In: Thracian World at Crossroad of Civilizations – Proceedings of 7th International Congress of Thracology. Bucharest: 1996. pp. 372–373.Francisco Marcos-Marin. "Etymology and Semantics: Theoretical Considerations apropos of an Analysis of the Etymological Problem of Spanish mañero, mañeria." In: Historical Semantics—Historical Word-Formation. de Gruyter, 1985. p. 381. Gaulish manduos 'pony' (as in tribe name ViromanduiBalmori, C. Hernando. "[https://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_1941_num_4_1_1177 Notes on the etymology of sp. 'perro']". In: Etudes Celtiques, vol. 4, fascicule 1, 1941. p. 49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.1941.1177 'men who own ponies').Georgiev, Vladimir I.. "Thrakisch und Dakisch". Band 29/2. Teilband Sprache und Literatur (Sprachen und Schriften [Forts.]), edited by Wolfgang Haase, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 1983. p. 1161. {{doi|10.1515/9783110847031-015}}{{cite journal |last=Cazacu |first=Boris |author-link=:ro:Boris Cazacu |title=Einige Fragen zur Ausarbeitung eines neuenetymologischen Wörterbuchs der rumänischen Sprache [DISKUSSION AKTUELLER PROBLEME] |journal=Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie |volume=96 |issue=5–6 |date=1980 |pages=509–510 |doi=10.1515/zrph.1980.96.5-6.489 |quote=Vl. Georgiev zeigte, daß es dieses Wort auch im Thrakischen gab, wo die Form Mezenai unter dem Bild des thrakischen Ritters auftaucht. |trans-quote=Vl. Georgiev demonstrated that the word existed in Thracian, with the form Mezenai, under the depiction of the Thracian Horseman.}}{{efn|A similarly looking word Mandicae 'to Mandica' is attested in an inscription from Asturia. It has been suggested to mean the name of a goddess related to foals.Valdés, Marcos Obaya. "Averamientu al astúricu. Vocalización de les nasales del grau-cero indo-européu: *mo > am / *no > an, y delles propuestes etimolóxiques". In: Lletres asturianes: Boletín Oficial de l'Academia de la Llingua Asturiana Nº. 117, 2017, p. 67. {{ISSN|2174-9612}}}}

Classification

Due to a paucity of evidence required to establish a linguistic connection, the Thracian language, in modern linguistic textbooks, is usually treated either as its own branch of Indo-European, or is grouped with Dacian, together forming a Daco-Thracian branch of IE. Older textbooks often grouped it also with Illyrian or Phrygian. The belief that Thracian was close to Phrygian is no longer popular and has mostly been discarded.See C. Brixhe – Ancient languages of Asia Minor, Cambridge University Press, 2008
We will dismiss, at least temporarily, the idea of a Thraco-Phrygian unity. Thraco-Dacian (or Thracian and Daco-Mysian) seems to belong to the eastern (satem) group of Indo-European languages and its (their) phonetic system is far less conservative than that of Phrygian (see Brixhe and Panayotou 1994, §§ 3ff.)

There is a fringe belief{{cite book |last=Klein et al. edd. |first=J. |year=2018 |title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Linguistics |chapter=81 'The Phonology of Slavic' by Daniel Petit |page=1966}}{{cite book |last=Arumaa |first=P. |year=1966 |title=Urslavische Grammatik: Einführung in Das Vergleichende Studium Der Slavischen Sprachen, Band I: Einleitung • Lautlehre |pages=18–23}} that Thraco-Dacian forms a branch of Indo-European along with Baltic,Holst (2009):66. but a Balto-Slavic linguistic unity is so overwhelmingly accepted by the Indo-European linguistic community that this hypothesis does not pass muster.

Fate of the Thracians and their language

According to the 19th-century Greek educator Vlasios Skordelis, when Thracians were subjugated by Alexander the Great they finally assimilated to Greek culture and became as Greek as Spartans and Athenians, although he considered the Thracian language as a form of Greek.{{cite book|last1=Daskalov|first1=Roumen|last2=Vezenkov|first2=Alexander|title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans – Volume Three: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies|date=13 March 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004290365|page=51}} According to Crampton (1997) most Thracians were eventually Hellenized or Romanized, with the last remnants surviving in remote areas until the 5th century.{{cite book|author=R.J. Crampton|title=A Concise History of Bulgaria|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|pages=4|isbn=0-521-56719-X}} According to Marinov (2015) the Thracians were likely completely Romanized and Hellenized after the last contemporary references to them of the 6th century.{{cite book|last1=Daskalov|first1=Roumen|last2=Vezenkov|first2=Alexander|title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans – Volume Three: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies|date=13 March 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004290365|page=10}}

Another author believes that the interior of Thrace was never Romanized or Hellenized (Trever, 1939).Trever, Albert Augustus. History of Ancient Civilization. Harcourt, Brace. p. 571 This was followed also by Slavonization. According to Weithmann (1978) when the Slavs migrated, they encountered only a very superficially Romanized Thracian and Dacian population, which had not strongly identified itself with Imperial Rome, while Greek and Roman populations (mostly soldiers, officials, merchants) abandoned the land or were killed.Michael W. Weithmann, Die slawische Bevölkerung auf der griechischen Halbinsel (Munich 1978) Because Pulpudeva survived as Plovdiv in Slavic languages, not under Philippopolis, some authors suggest that Thracian was not completely obliterated in the 7th century.{{cite book|last1=Mallory|first1=J. P.|last2=Adams|first2=Douglas Q.|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|year=1997|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-98-5|page=576|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA576|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Katičić|first=Radoslav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a29JAAAAYAAJ|title=Ancient Languages of the Balkans|date=1976|publisher=Mouton|pages=136|language=en}}

Footnotes

References

General references

{{cite book |last=Beekes |first=Robert S. P. |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |year=2009 |isbn=978-90-04-17418-4}}

= Inscriptions =

{{cite journal |author-link=Paul Kretschmer |last=Kretschmer |first=Paul |title=Die Erste Thrakische Inschrift |journal=Glotta |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=1914 |pages=74–79 |language=German |jstor=40264867}} Accessed July 7, 2021.
{{cite journal |last1=Orel |first1=Vladimir E. |title=The Inscription from Kjolmen |journal=Mediterranean Language Review |date=1997 |volume=9 |pages=77–82 |jstor=10.13173/medilangrevi.9.1997.0077 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/medilangrevi.9.1997.0077 |access-date= |issn=0724-7567}}
"II. Thracian Inscriptions". In: Sears, Matthew, et al. Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece. First Edition ed., Getty Publications, 2025. pp. 129–132. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/124308.

= Onomastics =

{{cite journal |last1=Dana |first1=Dan |title=Sur quelques noms fantômes thraces et daces |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |date=2005 |volume=154 |pages=293–298 |jstor=20191011 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20191011 |access-date= |issn=0084-5388 |language=fr}}
{{cite journal |last1=Dana |first1=Dan |title=Un lexique des noms thraces: prolégomènes critiques |journal=Revue de philologie, de littérature et d'histoire anciennes |date=2012 |volume=LXXXVI |issue=1 |pages= 17–42 |doi=10.3917/phil.861.0017 |url=https://doi.org/10.3917/phil.861.0017 |access-date= |language=fr |issn=0035-1652}}
{{cite journal |last1=Dana |first1=Dan |title=Onomasticon Thracicum (Onom Thrac). Répertoire des noms indigènes de Thrace, Macédoine Orientale, Mésies, Dacie et Bithynie |journal=Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia |date=2011-01-01 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=25–45 |doi=10.1163/092907711X575313 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/092907711X575313 |access-date= |language=fr |issn=0929-077X}}
{{cite journal |title=Die thrakischen Frauennamen aus Bulgarien. Nachträge und Berichtigungen |trans-title=The Thracian women's names from Bulgaria. Supplements and Corrections |first=Mirena |last=Slavova |publisher=Институт за балканистика с Център по тракология - Българска академия на науките |journal=Orpheus: Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |date=1995 |issue=5 |pages=39–43 |language=DE}}

= Lexicon =

{{cite journal |first1=Svetlana |last1=Janakieva |first2=Peter A. |last2=Dimitrov |title=Thesaurus Linguae Thracicae 1. Herodotus and the Logographs |journal=Orpheus: Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |date=1996 |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=89–106 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=760713}}
Mihaylova, Bilyana; Mircheva, Albena. "The Thracian Glosses Revisited". In: [https://unipress.bg/image/catalog/1pdf/Ancient%20Thrace_Chast%202.pdf Ancient Thrace: Myth and Reality: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Thracology, September 3–7, 2017]. Volume 2. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2022. pp. 209–218. {{isbn|978-954-07-5624-0}}.
{{cite journal |last1=Paliga |first1=Sorin |author1-link= Sorin Paliga|title=Thracian Terms for 'Township' and 'Fortress', and Related Place-Names |journal=World Archaeology |date=1987 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages= 23–29 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1987.9980021 |jstor=124496 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/124496 |access-date= October 16, 2020|issn=0043-8243}}
{{cite journal |last1=Sotiroff |first1=George |author1-link= George Sotiroff|title=A tentative glossary of Thracian words |journal=Canadian Journal of Linguistics |date=1963 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=97–110 |doi=10.1017/S000841310000520X |s2cid=148625633 |issn=}}
{{cite journal |last1=Witczak |first1=Krzysztof |title=Studies in Thracian vocabulary (I-VII) |journal= Studia Indogermanica Lodziensia |date= 2012 |volume= VII |pages= 153–168 |url= https://www.academia.edu/25248385 |access-date=31 May 2021 |language=en |issn=1506-7254}}

= Toponymy and hydronymy =

{{cite journal |first=Svetlana |last=Janakieva |title=Lexikalische Identität zwischen thrakischen Hydronymen und Ethnonymen |journal=Orpheus: Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |date=2006 |volume=16 |issue=16 |pages=43–53 |language=DE |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=736516}}
{{cite journal |first=Albena |last=Mircheva |title=Thracian Тoponyms in Inscriptions of Late Antiquity |journal=Orpheus: Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |date=2012 |volume=19 |issue=19 |pages=53–56 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=417838}}
{{cite journal |first=Svetlana |last=Yanakieva |title=Die thrakische Hydronymie in Kleinasien |journal=Orpheus: Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |date=2011 |volume=18 |issue=18 |pages=25–32 |language=DE |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=75448}}
{{cite journal |first=Svetlana |last=Yanakieva |title=Thracian Toponymy until the End of the First Millennium BC |journal=Orpheus: Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |date=2015 |volume=22 |issue=22 |pages=5–28 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=752470}}

External links

[http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/thrac/index.html The Language of the Thracians], an English translation of Ivan Duridanov's 1975 essay Ezikyt na trakite
[http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/thra.htm Thracian glossary]
[http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ Palaeolexicon – Word study tool of ancient languages (including Thracian dictionary)]

Category:Thracian language

Category:Paleo-Balkan languages

Category:Extinct languages of Europe

Category:Languages of ancient Macedonia

Category:Languages of ancient Thrace

Category:Languages of ancient Anatolia

Category:Languages extinct in the 5th century

Category:Unclassified Indo-European languages