Indo-Aryan invasion

[Dominique.Thillaud]

>Erik Seldeslachts wrote:

>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.

        I agree with the facts, but don't believe that's a counterexample,
just an other case. And an other problem is open:
        If the onomastic of Northern India gives us only an IA layer, it
seems there are just three explanations:
        - autochthony, the habitants are born from the Earth.
        - when they come, the land is free of people, uninhabited.
        - at some time, a strong (administrative?) power cause a whole
renaming of places. For peoples, religious causes can be evoked (see
Cassius Clay), many anthroponyms containing a God's name.
        Do you have some preference? or knowledge of a fourth way?

        Regards,
Dominique

Dominique THILLAUD
Universite' de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France