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Paleo-Balkan languages

“Paleo-Balkan” is the name given to the collection of Indo-European languages spoken on the Balkan Peninsula in antiquity. Most of them are not very well-attested, with the major exception of Ancient Greek, and the lesser exceptions of Phrygian and Messapic. Because they’re not that well-attested, they’re difficult to classify beyond just “Indo-European” (except Phrygian, which seems to have formed a sub-group with Greek). Since the Hel­len­is­a­tion, Romanisation and then Slavicisation of the Balkans, the only Paleo-Balkan languages with descendants still spoken today are Greek and the ancestor of Albanian.

According to Wikipedia, the Paleo-Balkan languages can be grouped as follows:

  • Unclassified
    • Illyrian languages
      • Illyrian proper
      • Central Dalmatian
      • Liburnian
    • Messapic
    • (?) Daco-Thracian
      • Thracian
      • (?) Daco-Moesian
        • Dacian, Moesian and Getaean
    • Mysian
    • Paeonian
  • (?) Graeco-Phrygian
    • Hellenic
      • (?) Ancient Macedonian
      • Proto-Greek
        • Ancient Greek
    • Phrygian or maybe Armeno-Phrygian (i.e. maybe Armenian is related to Phrygian)