Pre-Indo-European Languages

The term pre-Indo-European languages relates to several (not necessarily related) non-classified languages that existed in prehistoric Europe and South Asia before the arrival of speakers of Indo-European languages. The oldest Indo-European language texts date from 19th century BC in Kültepe in modern-day Turkey, and while estimates vary widely spoken Indo-European languages are believed to have developed at the latest by the third millennium BC (see Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses).

Some of the pre-Indo-European languages are attested only as linguistic substrates in Indo-European languages; however, some others (like Etruscan, Minoan, Iberian etc.) are also attested with inscriptions, most of them dating back to the Bronze Age.

Surviving pre-Indo-European languages include the Basque language, Nihali, and Burushaski.

Examples of suggested substrate influences on Indo-European languages:

• suggested substrate influence on (undifferentiated) Proto-Indo-European itself

  • "Urbian", proposed by Sorin Paliga (1989), arguing that PIE "ought not to include" a root corresponding to Latin urbs, as the Proto-IE were nomadic or semi-nomadic wherefore the reconstructed *OR/UR- or *OL/UL-, "huge, big, elevated", used also to refer to an urban settlement, may well be the root of a cross-cultural repertory of words (Latin urbs, "city", Thracian Az-oros, Uri (Swiss location), seen in non-IE Basque uri, hiri "township", Pre-Greek (Minoan) lab-yr-inthos and Sumerian Urbillum).

• substrate to Anatolian: Hurro-Urartian languages and Hattic language

• Substrate in Vedic Sanskrit
  • Harappan language
  • Vedda language (a dialect of Sinhalese containing pre-Sinhalese substrate lexicon)
  • Elamite language
  • Dravidian languages

• substrates to early (undifferantiated or partly differentiated) Indo-European in the Centum areal
  • Old European hydronymy
  • Vasconic substratum hypothesis
  • Atlantic (Semitic) languages

• Pre-Greek substrate
  • Pelasgian
  • Eteocretan (see also Minoan language, Linear A, Cretan hieroglyphs)
  • Eteocypriot (see also Cypro-Minoan script)

• Pre-Germanic: see Germanic substrate hypothesis

• Pre-Celtic of the British Isles, see Celtic settlement of Great Britain and Ireland
  • Insular Celtic
    • Goidelic substrate hypothesis
    • Pictish language (sometimes classified as Celtic)
  • Continental Celtic
  • Paleohispanic languages
    • Iberian language
    • Tartessian language: classification as Celtic has been proposed)

• Italic:
  • Tyrrhenian languages including at least:
    • Lemnian language
    • Etruscan language
    • Raetic language
  • Camunic language (probably Raetic)
  • Elymian language (probably Indo-European)
  • North Picene language
  • Paleosardic language (aka Paleosardinian, Protosardic, Nuraghic language)
  • Sicanian language
  • Sicel language (probably Indo-European)