Primorskian

Primorskian
jãrúmkai lazbu йãру́мкаи лазбу ᛃᚨᚱᚢᛗᚲᚨᛁ ᛚᚨᛉᛒᚢ
Created by	–
Native to	Primorskia Kalingrad Oblast, Russia Latvia
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Baltic Southern Baltic Primorskian
Early form	Proto-Balto-Slavic Proto-Baltic Old Primorskain Middle Primorskian

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Introduction

Primorskian is an Balto-Slavic langauge and part of the Indo-European language family. It is the oldest known Baltic language ever known due to attestations from the 10 century on Viking runes. It is also a bit more conservative than Lithuanian. It had some surviving words and grammar from Proto-Balto-Slavic. It is also the only surviving Southern Baltic language.

Background

Family

Balto-Slavic	Baltic Primorskian Latvian Lithuanian Prussian † Slavic Eastern Slavic Belarussian Russian Ukrainian Western Slavic Polish Czech Slovak Kashubian Upper Sorbian Lower Sorbian

Histroy

The origin of the language being with the splitting of the Proto-Balto-Slavic languages that then branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic which the other branched into Proto-West Baltic, Proto-East Baltic and Proto-South Baltic. Like Lithuanian it is highly conservative but a little bit more than the other, retaning many archaic features only found in classical languages like Sanskrit. It also shares with Lithuanian the most conservative phonology and morpohlogy in Indo-European languages. However, unlike it's forefathers, Primorskian was actually the first Baltic language to be ever attested, with it's earliest writings go back as far as the mid-10th century, where it was inscribed on Viking runes. The earliest documentation is an manuscript in Old Norse, honoring the peace between Viking lord Arni and Primorskian cheiftain Usarada.

The last two lines of this manuscript, however, is in Early Primorskian: ᛬ᚺᚫᛊ᛫ᚢᛉáᚱᚫᛞᚫ᛫ᚲᛟᚱ᛫ᛗᛁᛊᚺ᛫ᚷᛁᛞᚫᚱᚾᚫᚲᛁ "Has Uzārada kor mish gidarnaki" which translates to "For Usarada whom we worship!" and ᛬ᚹᚢᚲ᛫ᚾᛃᚫ᛫ᛁᚹᚫᛊᛏᚫ᛫ᛈᛚᚫᚲᚫᛊᚫ᛫ᛖ᛫ᛗᛖᚱᚫᛞᚫ᛬ "Vuk nja iwasta plakasa e merada" which translates to "May he bring order and peace!" In modern spelling both are: "Hás Uzárada kor miš gídarnaki, Vuk ña iwasta plakasa e měrada!".

In the Middle Ages, it was influenced by Middle Low German, the lingua franca of the Hanseatic Leauge at that time, and by such many loanwords from MLG were common such as "atal" (from MLG adel), "amej" (MLG amme) & "farštu" (MLG vorste) .

Some Finnic influence is present like in the other Baltic languages, both in phonology and grammar. Here is an comparison of the Baltic words for "this","that", "what" and "why" showing that the Finno-Estonians were significant in the development of the Primorskian language.

This

• Lit. tai
• Lat. tas
• Pri. ti

That

• Lit. kad
• Lat. ka
• Pri. kej

What

• Lit. ką
• Lat. ko
• Pri. ku

Why

• Lit. kodėl
• Lat. kādēļ
• Pri. tojka

Vocabulary

Indo-European vocabulary

Primorskian, like Lithuanian, retains many loanwords found only in classical languages like Sanskrit and Latin. These words are descended from Proto-Indo-European.

• Pri. súña, Lith. and Skt. sūnus (son)
• Pri. ave, Lith. and Skt. avis and Latin ovis (sheep)
• Pri. túme, Lith. dūmas, Skt. dhūmas and Lat. fumus (fumes, smoke)
• Pri wilga, Lith. vilkas and Skt. vṛkas (wolf)
• Pri. nokta, Lith. naktis, Lat. noctes and Skt. naktis (night)
• Pri. egnu, Lith. ugnis, Lat. ignis and Skt. agni (fire)
• Pri. věri, Lith. vyras, Lat. vir (a man) and Skt. vīras (man)