Pre-Greek languages

[Stanley Friesen]

At 09:52 AM 10/19/99 +0200, Eduard Selleslagh wrote:

>3. The presence of Elamite (in Antiquity) and Brahwi (Dravidian) in Iran
>strongly suggests that the Dravidian territory stretched far more westward
>than at present. It seems - but I have no documentation at hand - that the
>old Indus valley culture is now recognized as having been Dravidian, which
>reinforces the hypothesis.

While this seems *likely* to me, I know of no substantial evidence
supporting this conclusion. Only decipherment of the Indus Valley script
would really establish the relationships of the Harappan language.

>Personally, I even suspect that a lot of what you might call 'Sanskrit
>culture' actually owes most of its original content to the conquered
>Dravidians since these already had a well established rich culture (like
>Mohendjo-Daro) when the IE warriors(?) invaded their countries.

This, however, is somewhat more secure. Several of the mythic and artistic
elements later so characteristic of Sanskrit culture appear to be present
in Indus Valley artwork. So substantial borrowing in the areas of
religion, myth and art, at least, seems well supported.
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May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com