The Neolithic Hypothesis

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:

>>mcv at wxs.nl writes:

>>So how does tis contradict my initial statement that Vedic and Avestan
>>"feel" somewhere in the 500-1500 year range? >>

>-- well, if proto-Indo-Iranian unity is around 2000 BCE, and our attested
>Vedic and Avestan (the Gathas, the oldest layer) are somewhat prior to 1000
>BCE, then the range would be 400-800, not 500-1500.

Close enough, considering.

>That fits with the archaeological data, too.

I guess that depends on whether one thinks Andronovo was
Indo-Iranian or already exclusively Iranian.

>One would like to know how peculiarly Indo-Aryan the words in Mitannian are;
>but there we have the problem that they're loanwords in another language and
>written in an awkward syllabic script that blurs details.

The only firm datum is the numeral <aika> "1" (Skt. e:ka- vs. Av.
aeva-).  For all we know, it may have been a fourth branch of
Indo-Iranian, which happened to have *aika- for "1", just like
Indo-Aryan.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam