Ancient Belgian is a hypothetical
extinct Indo-European language, spoken in
Belgica (northern
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
) in late
prehistory. It is often identified with the hypothetical
Nordwestblock.
While it remains a matter of controversy, the linguist
Maurits Gysseling, who attributed the term to SJ De Laet, hypothesised a Belgian that was distinct from the later
Celtic and
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...
.
According to the theory, which was further elaborated by
Hans Kuhn and others, traces of Belgian can be found in certain
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s such as South-East-Flemish
Bevere,
Eine,
Mater and
Melden.
Overview
The borders of the Belgian
Sprachraum are made up by the
Canche and the
Authie in the south-west, the
Weser and the
Aller in the east, and the
Ardennes and the German
Mittelgebirge in the south-east. It has been hypothetically associated with the
Nordwestblock, more specifically with the
Hilversum culture.
The use of the name ''Belgian'' for the language is to some extent supported by
Julius Caesar's ''
De Bello Gallico''. He mentions that the
Belgae and the
Galli spoke different languages. It is furthermore supported by toponyms in present-day
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, which, according to Kuhn, point at the existence of an Indo-European language, distinct from Celtic and Germanic languages.
Hans Kuhn also noted certain connections (
suffixes,
ethnonyms,
toponyms,
anthroponyms) between this language and the
Indo-European languages of
southern Europe, in particular with the
Italic languages. Before their migration to the south, the
Italics must have resided in
central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
, in the vicinity of the
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
and the
Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...
, as shown by the large vocabulary common to these groups. Some of them may have migrated to the northwest, while the others headed for the
Italian peninsula, hence the connection that has been made between the
Umbrians and the
Ambrones of the shores of the North Sea.
[F. Ribezzo, ''Revue Internationale d'Onomastique'', II, 1948 sq. et III 1949, sq., M.Almagro dans ''RSLig'', XVI, 1950, sq, P.Laviosa Zambotti, l.c.]
Proponents of the Belgian language hypothesis also suggest that it was influenced by Germanic languages during a first, early Germanicisation in the 3rd century BC, as distinct from the
Frankish colonization in the 5th to the 8th centuries AD. For example, the
Germanic sound shifts (p → f, t → th, k → h, ŏ → ă) have affected toponyms that supposedly have a Belgian-language origin.
Characteristics of Belgian are said to include the retention of ''p'' after the sound shifts, a trait that it shared with the
Lusitanian language. Names of bodies of water ending in -''ara'', as in the name for the
Dender; -''ănā'' or -''ŏnā'', as in ''Matrŏnā'' (
Marne River and also the current
Mater) and settlement names ending in -''iŏm'' are supposedly typically Belgian as well.
According to Gysseling, traces of Belgian are still visible. The
diminutive suffix -''ika'', the
feminizing suffixes -''agjōn'' and -''astrjō'' and the
collective suffix -''itja'' have been incorporated in
Dutch, sometimes very productively. In toponymy, ''apa'', ''poel'', ''broek'', ''gaver'', ''drecht'', ''laar'' and ''ham'' are retained as Belgian
loanwords.
See also
*
Germanic substrate hypothesis
References
Sources
*
M. Gysseling, "Enkele Belgische leenwoorden in de toponymie", in ''Naamkunde'' 7 (1975), pp. 1–6.
*
J. Molemans, "Profiel van de Kempische toponymie", in ''Naamkunde'' 9 (1977), pp
1–50
{{Germanic languages
Unclassified Indo-European languages
Extinct languages of Europe
Linguistic strata
History of Belgium