Dating the final IE unity

[Stanley Friesen]

At 04:37 AM 1/27/00 -0500, X99Lynx at aol.com wrote:
>I've looked through Renfrew and I do not find any reference to either
>"Celtic" or "pre-Celtic" reaching these areas at that time.  I do find him
>saying the precise same thing about "an early Indoeuropean language."  I
>suspect the difference is critical.

Actually, that is *worse*, since it requires that the various dispersed
dialects that became the various Celtic languages develop the
characteristic Celtic phonetic changes *in* *parallel* while spread over
several thousand square miles.  In other words it effectively denies the
very *existence* of Celtic as a branch of IE, and requires the similarities
be late.  Yuck!

><<Yet when the Celts are first observed, in the last couple of centuries BCE,
>their languages are quite strikingly uniform, all the way from Ireland to the
>Danube Valley.>>

>I can only ask here what these Celtic language sources from BCE are.  Once
>again I mean what specifically?

Greek colonies in southern Gaul make contact with the Celtic tribes, and
indeed existed mainly in order to trade with the Celts.  There is also the
pre-Roman incursion of Celts into Asia Minor, where they established an
important kingdom (which became the Roman province of Galatia).

Now it is true there are few extended texts, but there are plenty of word
and name citations.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com