ITT: We discuss the history, learning, and everything related to ancient languages. Ask, answer, share, discuss.
Anything Latin, Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, etc. is welcome here.
>>307571
shit map
>>307587
Why? Looks good to me.
>>307618
It's not a shit map, it just has one shitty mistake: grouping armenian into the family of caucasian languages.
>>307632
why isn't it?
I really know nothing about the subject.
Where are you from lad?
WTF
why isn't the water blue?
You can barely understand this map, at first I thought it was just a white smear.
There you go Borat
Are there any more ancient languages like Avestan that was purely created and used for the purpose of religious scriptures or spoken only by religious clerics?
>>307665
>why isn't it?
Armenian is indo-european, not caucasian.
>>307738
avestan was not created for religious purposes faggot.
ya need to include the iranic languages of anatolia OP
>>307957
name them
>>307938
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avestan
>Avestan /əˈvɛstən/,[2] formerly also known as "Zend", is an Iranian language of the Eastern Iranian division, known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name.
>Avestan's status as a sacred language has ensured its continuing use for new compositions long after the language had ceased to be a living language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_language
>A sacred language, "holy language" (in religious context) or liturgical language is a language that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life.
Why Latin ever spoken by large numbers of "natives" in the Middle East?
>>307971
you fucking retard
avestan was a language spoken in eastern iran, the native language of many amongst them zoroaster
hence his sayings were written in avestan
later on the avestan language disappeared but the texts remain, therefore it became a holy language
that doesnt mean that it was an artificial language like you claimed here
>like Avestan that was purely created
to call avestan artificial is to call latin artificial
>>307985
*was
>>307985
What is hellenization?
>>307986
>later on the avestan language disappeared but the texts remain, therefore it became a holy language
Which made it artificial for the Sassanids/Parthians whom spoke middle persian/aramic while only the holy scriptures contained a form of Avestan called Younger Avestan vaguely related to the language the Eastern iranians spoke before them which as you said was a all-day use language but again, it had little to no relation to old Avestan.
I guess I should have been more clear so you would get less asspained by technicalities.
>>307571
sorry but we Sardinians spoke punic
>>308043
again its as absurd as to claim sanskrit or latin artificial, you need to be more clear nigga.
>>307988
Which implies adopting Greek culture and speaking the Greek language, not Latin.
I was also asking a question you cock.
>>308058
>Sardinians
>speaking an ancient Jew Hebrew dialect at one point
nope, not buying into that
>>308101
Sadly there are more tophets in Sardinia than in the rest of the mediterranean...
>>308077
Not him, but Classical Latin and Classical Sanskrit actually are somewhat artificial
>>308135
It was only made even more smug because the elite didn't want to speak like plebs, but it's as artificial as modern british english.
Probably the only book on Oscan and Umbrian languages (use latin script but is different)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grammar-Oscan-Umbrian-Collection-Inscriptions/dp/B008ND96EC/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1448575715&sr=8-9&keywords=forgotten+books+grammar
Planning to buy it but not sure if it's actually interesting.
> tfw my university had courses on old italic languages but it got removed for some more mainstream shit.
>>308170
Arguably more artificial than that, since they actively tried to mimic Old Latin forms and shoehorn them into the language – like if RP dialect had "ye" instead of "the" even though it never existed and was a misreading of the letter thorn.
>>307985
>>308098
Not really. In centers like Antioch and Alexandria and Memphis maybe. Other cities I'm sure have Latin names I can't remember now.
But it'd have been all military and administrative. The Eastern part of the Empire always used Greek more than Latin for commerce and stuff.
This tradition would last until like the 8th century and then it was al Greek I think. Latin would have been forgotten pretty quick I don't think it left much impact on Assyrian or Persian but maybe Armenian if you count them?
Didn't they speak Greek in Southern Italy?
>>307986
Technically, modern latin is mostly artificial, just as any centralized language with a long history of dialects.
