Classification of Thracian
A Daco-Thracian (or Thraco-Dacian) grouping with Dacian as either the same language or different from Thracian was widely held until the 1950s, but is untenable (according to J. P. Mallory) in light of toponymic evidence: only a percent of place names north of the Danube betray "pan-Thracian" roots.
[3] The hypothesis of a Thraco-Dacian or Daco-Thracian branch of IE, indicating a close link between the Thracian and Dacian languages, has numerous adherents, including Russu 1967, Georg Solta 1980, Vraciu 1980, Crossland, Trask (2000), McHenry (1993), Mihailov (2008).
In the 1950s, the Bulgarian linguist Vladimir I. Georgiev published his work which argued that Dacian and Albanian should be assigned to a language branch termed Daco-Mysian, Mysian (the term Mysian derives from the Daco-Thracian tribe known as the Moesi)[5] being thought of as a transitional language between Dacian and Thracian.
[7] The Baltic classification of Dacian and Thracian was proposed by the Lithuanian polymath Jonas Basanavičius, referred to as "Patriarch of Lithuania", who insisted this is the most important work of his life and listed 600 identical words of Balts and Thracians[8][9][10] and was the first to investigate similarities in vocal traditions between Lithuanians and Bulgarians.
"[12] Of about 200 reconstructed Thracian words[15] by Duridanov, most cognates (138) appear in the Baltic languages, mostly in Lithuanian, followed by Germanic (61), Indo-Aryan (41), Greek (36), Bulgarian (23), Latin (10) and Albanian (8).
[12][17] According to Duridanov, "the similarity of these parallels stretching frequently on the main element and the suffix simultaneously, which makes a strong impression".
South Baltic because, like Old Prussian, they keep unchanged the diphthongs ei, ai, en, an (north Baltic Lithuanian and Latvian show varying percentages of ei, ai to ie, and en, an to ę, ą (to ē, ā) in Lithuanian, to ie, uo in Latvian).
"Thraco-Illyrian" is also used as a term merely implying a Thracian-Illyrian interference, mixture or sprachbund, or as a shorthand way of saying that it is not determined whether a subject is to be considered as pertaining to Thracian or Illyrian.
The rivers Vardar and Morava are generally taken as the rough line of demarcation between the Illyrian sphere on the west and Thracian on the east,[24] which overlapped in the eastern strip of Dardania.
However, Sorin Paliga states:[28] "According to the available data, we may surmise that Thracian and Illyrian were mutually understandable, e.g. like Czech and Slovak, in one extreme, or like Spanish and Portuguese, at the other."
[33] On the basis of shared features and innovations, Albanian is grouped together with Messapic in the same branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family.
[34] On the other hand, historical linguistic evidence shows that the individual phonetic history of Albanian and Thracian clearly indicates a very different sound development that cannot be considered as the result of the same language.
[39][36] For a long time a Thraco-Phrygian hypothesis grouping Thracian with the extinct Phrygian language was considered, largely based on Greek historians like Herodotus and Strabo.
[40] However, Frederik Kortlandt has argued, on linguistic grounds, such as a common treatment of Proto-Indo-European glottal stops, that Thracian can be considered a Proto-Armenian dialect, thus, the two languages forming a Thraco-Armenian branch of Indo-European.
This mistake was corrected in the 80’s of the last century, but the ambiguities still persisted: the Thracian was combined in one group with the Phrygian (P. Kretschmer), and later – with the Illyrian (the language, spoken in the modern Dalmatia and Albania)."
[46] According to archaeologists Ioannis Liritzis and Gregory N. Tsokas, the Thracians spoke the Greek language with particular idioms, solecisms and barbarisms.
