Silence of the lambs

[freebird at sci.fi]

>a newcomer on the list just sent me a somewhat baffled query: is it really
>so that nothing has happened on this list for at least a week?

Thanks fellow newcomer! I was about to ask the same question, too...

Since I ended into this list by a recommendation in another list, I'd
like to know if this list has a Web page somewhere. And if not, is there
somebody who keeps an archive of the past messages?

Also, I'd like to know what's the list policy considering topics. Can
we discuss here for example archeologic and genetic issues, if they are
related to Finno-Ugric peoples? Because if not, I've joined another wrong
list...

But then, I have actual questions of The Field, too! Undoutebly silly ones,
since I'm not a pro, just a commoner interested of my roots (I'm a Finn).
And definately a newbie, so please don't ask if I have read this book or that.
I haven't. Maybe I will.

Questions I have at this time, are about Indo-European loan words in Finnish.
(No, I'm not a spy from some Indo-European mailing list...)

I understand there are but Indo-European, also Indo-Iranian loan words in
Finnish. Why is it that they are separated this way? Are these Indo-European
loan words from the centum (or western-group) while Indo-Iranian are from
the satem-group? Or does "Indo-European" here stand for PIE-language?

Are these loan words only found among Baltic-Finnic languages, and did they
get the words by direct touch to these fore mentioned groups? And if it was
a direct touch, when did Baltic-Finns have this touch to the Indo-Iranian
peoples?

Then the Indo-European people who settled southern Finland. Is it known
what loan words did they pass into Finnish? The Indo-European, Indo-Iranian
or maybe the baltic loan words?

Is there any idea how old PIE-language might be? Is there common (P)IE
loan words in all the Finno-Ugric languages?

Finally, I've noticed how it's always addressed as a "problem" how Finns
speak eastern Finno-Ugric languages, yet they are genetic-wise more western
type. For an amateur like me, this seems not a too huge problem. I figured
the comb ceramic culture was Finnish speaking people and they were more
numerous than the indo-european settlers. Then, during Kiukainen-culture
the Indo-European settlers started to accept Finnish language and ways.
BUT, while comb-ceramic people still kept their hunting-gathering-culture,
Indo-Europeans gradually grew bigger due their agricultural livelyhood.
Is there a reason why this is so wrong?


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Mika Riikonen