Western Baltic languages

The Western Baltic languages are a group of extinct Baltic languages that were spoken by Western Baltic peoples. Western Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with Eastern Baltic. It includes Old Prussian, Sudovian, Western Galindian, possibly Skalvian and Old Curonian.[4]: 33 [5]

Western Baltic
Geographic
distribution		In the northeast of Central Europe, western parts of Baltic region
Linguistic classificationIndo-European
Subdivisions
ISO 639-5bat
Linguasphere54=
Former extent of Western Baltic languages (including disputed ones) in 12th century Europe

Western Baltic languages

  Old Curonian †
  Old Prussian
  Sudovian †
  Skalvian †
  Western Galindian †

Attestation

The only properly attested Western Baltic language of which texts are known is Old Prussian, although there are a few short remnants of Old Curonian and Sudovian in the form of isolated words and short phrases.[6]: 290  Many Western Baltic languages went extinct in the 16th century while Old Prussian ceased to be spoken in the early 18th century.[7]

Classification

The only languages securely classified as Western Baltic are Old Prussian and West Galindian, which could also be a dialect of Old Prussian.[8]

Most scholars consider Skalvian to be a Western Baltic language or dialect.[5] Another possible classification is a transitional language between Western and Eastern Baltic.[9]: 16 

Sudovian is either classified as an Old Prussian dialect,[10][11] a Western Baltic language[12][13] or a transitional language between Western and Eastern Baltic.[14] The former two options would leave Sudovian in the Western Baltic phylum.

Old Curonian is the least securely classified language. It is argued to be either Western Baltic with significant Eastern Baltic influence,[6]: 295 [15] or Eastern Baltic.[16]

History

Western Baltic was presumably native to the north of Central Europe, especially modern Poland, and the western Baltic region, which includes parts of modern Latvia and Lithuania. The Western Baltic branch probably fully separated from Eastern Baltic around the 4th–3rd century BCE, although their differences go as far as the middle of the last millennium BC.[9]: 13–14 

Linguistic features

The Western Baltic languages were more archaic. Unlike their Eastern counterparts, Western Balts retained the diphthong *ei (e. g., deiws 'god', acc. deinan 'day'), palatalized consonants /kʲ/, /gʲ/ (they are preserved also in the Lithuanian language), and compounds /tl/, and /dl/. They also preserved three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.[17] Sudovian and Old Curonian shared the suffix -ng-, which can be observed in various hydronyms and oeconyms (e. g., Apsingė, Nedzingė, Pilvingis, Suvingis, Palanga, Alsunga) found in southern Lithuania, western Lithuania and Latvia. Western Balts possessed double-stemmed personal names with distinct compounds (e. g., Net(i)-, Sebei-), which are unusual to the anthroponymy of the Eastern Balts.[18]

References
  1. https://klc.vdu.lt/prussian/lang.htm
  2. https://culture.pl/en/article/little-prince-published-in-prussian
  3. http://prusaspira.org/?bila=eng
  4. Gimbutas, Marija (1963). The Balts. Ancient peoples and places. Vol. 33. London: Thames and Hudson.
  5. Zinkevičius, Zigmas (1996). The History of the Lithuanian Language. Translated by Plioplys, Ramutė. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla. p. 51. ISBN 9785420013632.
  6. Dini, Pietro U. (2014). Foundations of Baltic languages. Translated by Richardson, Milda B.; Richardson, Robert E. Vilnius: Vilniaus universitetas. ISBN 978-609-437-263-6.
  7. Young, Steven (2008). "Baltic". In Kapović, Mate (ed.). The Indo-European Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 486–518. ISBN 978-03-6786-902-1.
  8. Tarasov, Iliya (January 2017). "The Balts in the migration period". Istoričeskij Format Исторический Формат (in Russian). 3–4: 95–124.
  9. Rinkevičius, Vytautas (2015). Prūsistikos pagrindai [Fundamentals of Prussian linguistics] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Vilniaus universitetas. ISBN 978-609-417-101-7.
  10. Būga, Kazimieras (1922). Kalba ir senovė [Language and the Antiquity] (in Lithuanian). Vol. 1. Vilnius: Švietimo Ministerijos leidinys. pp. 78–83.
  11. Gerullis, Georg (1921). "Zur Sprache der Sudauer-Jatwinger" [About the Language of the Sudovians-Yatwingians]. Festschrift Bezzenberger (in German). Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht. pp. 44–51.
  12. Mažiulis, Vytautas (1966). "Jotvingiai" [The Jatvingians]. Mokslas ir gyvenimas (in Lithuanian). Vilnius. 11: 32–33.
  13. Zinkevičius, Zigmas (1984). Lietuvių kalbos kilmė [The origin of the Lithuanian language]. Lietuvių kalbos istorija. Vol. 1. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 267. ISBN 978-54-2000-102-8.
  14. Otrębski, Jan Szczepan (1963). "Namen von zwei Jatwingerstämmen" [The names of two Yatwingian tribes]. Slawische Namenforschung, Vorträge auf der II. Arbeitskonferenz. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. pp. 204–209.
  15. Mažiulis, Vytautas (1981). "Apie senovės vakarų baltus bei jų santykius su slavais, ilirais ir germanais". Iš lietuvių etnogenezės (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Mokslas.
  16. Dahl, Östen; Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria, eds. (2001). The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact. Vol. 1: Past and Present. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 9789027230577.
  17. Rytų ir vakarų baltai. Du baltų tarimų junginiai [Eastern and Western Balts. Two Compounds of Baltic Spelling] (in Lithuanian), Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas
  18. Zinkevičius, Zigmas. "Lietuviai ir krikščionybė [Lithuanians and Christianity]" (in Lithuanian). XXI amžius. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
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