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Indo-Slavic lexical isoglosses and the prehistoric dispersal of Indo-Iranian

by A.I. Palmér

1 cards · Thesis

PhD thesis — Leiden University, 2024. Full text: https://archive.org/details/indo-slavic-thesis

Card #c410SynthesisThesis

Indo-Slavic lexical isoglosses and the prehistoric dispersal of Indo-Iranian

Shared lexical innovations between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic reveal a period of shared development — the Indo-Slavic linkage — meaning Indo-Iranian did not spread straight eastward from the Core Indo-European homeland; it moved into northeast Europe during the 3rd millennium BCE and only then spread east toward the Urals.

— In our words · Source: Indo-Slavic lexical isoglosses and the prehistoric dispersal of Indo-Iranian (A.I. Palmér)

[Use when]

Shared vocabulary is a migration map — the words two language branches innovated together trace where their speakers once stood.

[Why it matters]

It redraws the migration map — a detour through northeast Europe instead of the long-assumed direct eastward push out of the steppe.

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