Galindian language

Galindian
Galindan
Region	Northeastern Poland
Ethnicity	Galindians
Extinct	14th century AD[1]
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Baltic West Baltic Galindian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xgl
Linguist List	xgl
Glottolog	west3001
Distribution of the Baltic tribes, circa 1200 CE, which includes the areas where Galindian was spoken (boundaries are approximate).

The term Galindian is sometimes ascribed to two separate Baltic languages, both of which were peripheral dialects:

• a West Baltic language referred to as West Galindian;
• a Baltic language previously spoken in Mozhaysk region (present day Russia), referred to as East Galindian or Golyad[2]

Name

There are three proposed etymologies for the denomination Galindian:[3]: 308–309 

• Proto-Baltic *Galind- meaning 'outsider' (Lithuanian: gãlas 'wall; border').[4] This is supported by the etymology of the common Old Russian term for the Galindians Голядь Goljad' > *golędь > Baltic *Galind-);
• It is derived from the root *gal-/*gil found in Baltic hydronyms;[5][6] and
• The name means 'the powerful ones' (Lithuanian: galià 'power, strength') and also Celtic languages (Irish: gal 'strength', Welsh: gallus 'power', Galli, Gallia).[7]

Proposed relation

Based on the common name used for the two peoples by ancient authors, some scientists propose a common origin of the two peoples and languages.[3]: 309 [8] In order to prove this hypothesis, they investigate common features between Old Prussian/West Galindian and East Galindian.[3]: 309–310 

West Galindian

West Galindian is the poorly attested extinct Baltic language of the Galindians previously spoken in what is today northeastern Poland and thought to have been a dialect of Old Prussian,[3]: 290  or a Western Baltic language similar to Old Prussian.[9] There are no extant writings in Galindian.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Velar
			plain	pal.
Nasal		m	n	nʲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	tʲ		k
	voiced	b	d	dʲ	dʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		ʃ
	voiced		z		ʒ
Trill			r	rʲ
Approximant			l	lʲ	j

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	i	iː			u	uː
Mid		eː				oː
Mid-low					ɔ
Low			a	aː

East Galindian

Main article: Golyad language

References

1. "Galindan". Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2024. Until 14th century.
2. "galindai" [The Galindians]. Visuotinę lietuvių enciklopediją (in Lithuanian). Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
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. Būga, Kazimieras (1924). Lietuvių tauta ir kalba bei jos artimieji giminaičiai [The language and nation of the Lithuanians and its close relatives] (in Lithuanian). Kaunas.
5. Nalepa, Jerzy (1971). "Próba nowej etymologii nazwy Galindia czyli Golędź" [Proposal of a new etymology of the name Galindia or Golędź]. Opuscula slavica 1. Slaviska och baltiska studier (in Polish). Vol. 9. Lund: Slaviska institutionen vid Lunds universitet. pp. 93–115.
6. Mažiulis, Vytautas (1981). Prūsų kalbos paminklai [Monuments of the Prussian language] (in Lithuanian). Vol. II. Vilnius: Mokslas. pp. 318–319.
7. Schmid, Wolfgang P. (1998). "Galinder" [Galindians]. In Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.). Reallexikon der germanischen Alterskunde [Dictionary of Germanic antiquities] (in German). Vol. 10 (2nd revised and enlarged ed.). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 325–327. ISBN 978-3-11-015102-2.
8. Otrębski, Jan Szczepan (1958). "Zagadnienie Galindów" [The Galindian question]. In Gieysztor, Aleksander (ed.). Studia Historica. W 35-lecia pracy naukowej Henryka Łowmiańskiego [Studia Historica. On the 35th jubilee of Henryk Łowmiański's scientific work] (in Polish). Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawn. Naukowe. pp. 37–41.
9. Tarasov, Iliya (January 2017). "The Balts in the migration period". Istoričeskij Format Исторический Формат (in Russian). 3–4: 95–124.