Dating the final IE unity

[Richard M. Alderson III]

On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, Steve Long (X99Lynx at aol.com) wrote:

> (We have full texts by the way in Thracian, but nothing "leaps off the page"
> to say the least.)

Full bibliographical citation, s'il vous plai^t.  Only Thracian data I know of
is some small inscriptions (personal names and the like) and glosses in Greek
texts.

Full texts in Thracian would excite entire generations of Indo-Europeanists.
So please, where are these to be found?

> JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:
>>> the word for "fire" in Sanskrit and Latin:
>>> Nom. sing.      agnis           ignis
>>> acc. sing.      agnim           ignem
>>> dative          agnibhyas       ignibus

> I replied:
>> ...do all these languages decline <fire> with only a change in the initial
>> vowel... thus justifying a 2000 year separation between all of them.

> Let's get back to this proof you offered.  Does Mycenaean decline 'fire' the
> same similar way as Latin and Sanskrit?  Does Hittite?

I just had a tacky thought:  The answer to the question *as posed* is "Within
the bounds of phonological change in the individual languages, yes, Mycenaean
and Hittite decline their words for 'fire' similarly to Latin and Sanskrit.
That is one of the defining characteristics of the IE family, after all."

But that's not what you meant to ask, is it?

>JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:
>> It's 'tatis tiwaz' and 'tiyaz papaz' in Anatolian (Luvian and Palaic,
>> specifically); same meaning -- "Sky Father" or "Father Sky".

> Well, it seems that Anatolian is in the picture when the evidence helps, but
> not when it doesn't.

But that's the way of *all* evidence in *every* discipline:  If there's nothing
to be said by a particular witness, you don't bother to call her to the stand.

								Rich Alderson