Indo-Aryan invasion

[Erik Seldeslachts]

Dominique.Thillaud wrote:
>
>         There are many ways for an "invasion" and History gives us many
> various examples of moving populations, peaceful or violent. About the
> linguistical problem there is an useful question: who comes? just few
> warriors (eventually first used as mercenaries)? or whole families?
>         In the first case, they find wifes in situ and the babies, breeded
> by the women, learn the mother language. A good example is the coming of
> Norsemen in the part of France still called Normandie: in very few
> generations they completely loose Norse and all speak French.
>         But, in the other case, even in a "culturally superior
> environment", the political power is able to give a preference to the
> newcomers language: an example is found in France where the Gallic is fully
> replaced by the Latin. And the religion can be an other powerful vector: in
> the Mediterranean aera, the islamization gives the way to the arabization.

In Normandie a number of Norse place names have been conserved and even some
personal names are continued in last names such as Anquetil P Anskjetill (or
something similar). In the reverse situation we get a similar effect: onomastic
studies easily reveal the Gallic components in the place names of France and the
Greco-Roman component in the place names of the Arab speaking parts of the
Mediterranean.So we have here perfect counterexamples of the situation in Northern
India were we do not find a Dravidian layer in the names of places and persons.

>         In my opinion, it's highly probable that Aryans were coming IN,
> even if we don't know today how, when and why.

No doubt they were coming IN, but they were also going OUT and the questions are
then when and whence did they come in and when did some go out and to what places
did they go.

> Other points of view are nothing but nationalist ones, respectable only in a > > > political scope.

This is itself a political statement and I am not the least interested in that.
>
Erik Seldeslachts
Universiteit Gent
Gent    belgium