West Baltic languages

The West Baltic languages are a group of extinct Baltic languages that were spoken by West Baltic peoples. West Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with East Baltic. It includes Old Prussian, Sudovian, West Galindian, possibly Skalvian and Old Curonian.^{[1]: 33 [2]}

West Baltic
Geographic distribution	In the northeast of Central Europe, western parts of Baltic region
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Baltic West Baltic
Subdivisions	Prussian † Old Curonian † Sudovian † Pomeranian Baltic † (?) Skalvian † (?) West Galindian † (?)
ISO 639-5	bat
Linguasphere	54=
Former extent of West Baltic languages (including disputed ones) in 12th century Europe West Baltic languages   Old Curonian †   Old Prussian   Sudovian †   Skalvian †   West Galindian †

Attestation

The only properly attested West 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.^[3]: 290 Many West Baltic languages went extinct in the 16th century while Old Prussian ceased to be spoken in the early 18th century.^[4]

Classification

The only languages securely classified as West Baltic are Old Prussian and West Galindian, which could also be a dialect of Old Prussian.^[5]

Most scholars consider Skalvian to be a West Baltic language or dialect.^[2] Another possible classification is a transitional language between West and East Baltic.^[6]: 16

Sudovian is either classified as an Old Prussian dialect,^[7][8] a West Baltic language^[9][10] or a transitional language between West and East Baltic.^[11] The former two options would leave Sudovian in the West Baltic phylum.

Old Curonian is the least securely classified language. It is argued to be either West Baltic with significant East Baltic influence,^{[3]: 295 [12]} or East Baltic.^[13]

History

West 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 West Baltic branch probably fully separated from East Baltic around the 4th–3rd century BCE, although their differences go as far as the middle of the last millennium BC.^{[6]: 13–14}

Linguistic features

The West Baltic languages were more archaic. Unlike their Eastern counterparts, West 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.^[14] 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. West Balts possessed double-stemmed personal names with distinct compounds (e. g., Net(i)-, Sebei-), which are unusual to the anthroponymy of the East Balts.^[15]

References

1. Gimbutas, Marija (1963). The Balts. Ancient peoples and places. Vol. 33. London: Thames and Hudson.
2. Zinkevičius, Zigmas (1996). The History of the Lithuanian Language. Translated by Plioplys, Ramutė. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla. p. 51. ISBN 9785420013632.
3. 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.
4. Young, Steven (2008). "Baltic". In Kapović, Mate (ed.). The Indo-European Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 486–518. ISBN 978-03-6786-902-1.
5. Tarasov, Iliya (January 2017). "The Balts in the migration period". Istoričeskij Format Исторический Формат (in Russian). 3–4: 95–124.
6. Rinkevičius, Vytautas (2015). Prūsistikos pagrindai [Fundamentals of Prussian linguistics] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Vilniaus universitetas. ISBN 978-609-417-101-7.
7. Būga, Kazimieras (1922). Kalba ir senovė [Language and the Antiquity] (in Lithuanian). Vol. 1. Vilnius: Švietimo Ministerijos leidinys. pp. 78–83.
8. 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.
9. Mažiulis, Vytautas (1966). "Jotvingiai" [The Jatvingians]. Mokslas ir gyvenimas (in Lithuanian). 11. Vilnius: 32–33.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Mažiulis, Vytautas (1981). "Apie senovės vakarų baltus bei jų santykius su slavais, ilirais ir germanais". Iš lietuvių etnogenezės (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Mokslas.
13. 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.
14. Rytų ir vakarų baltai. Du baltų tarimų junginiai [East and West Balts. Two Compounds of Baltic Spelling] (in Lithuanian), Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas
15. Zinkevičius, Zigmas. "Lietuviai ir krikščionybė" [Lithuanians and Christianity] (in Lithuanian). XXI amžius. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2023.