Nordic peoples: Difference between revisions
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===Venetian=== | ===Venetian=== | ||
===Northian=== | ===Northian=== | ||
[[File:Nord langs.png|thumb|Phylogeny of Nordic-Northian languages]] | [[File:Nord langs.png|thumb|Phylogeny of Nordic-Northian languages, according to Stanton ''et al.'' (2002)]] | ||
[[Northian language|Northian]], an [[Erani-Eracurans|Erani-Eracuran]] language, has been argued to be a Nordic language, and their hypothesized, albeit disputed, common ancestor is Proto-Nordic-Northian (PNN). Where this language was spoken is hard to define, though most authorities that support its existence place it in the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BCE, in or near [[Acrea]]. According to Stanton ''et al.'', around 3,500 years ago, dialects of PNN separated into two groups, the Nordic languages identified with the Nordic Iron Age and the [[Northian language|Northian languages]] identified with the Register Pottery Culture in [[Silua]] and [[Shalum]]. Not all scholars accept Stanton's theory, on the grounds that PNN as reconstructed is too similar to PEE to be considered the product of shared innovations. | |||
If Nordic and Northian are connected via {{wp|Cowgill's law}}, it seems some laryngeals, when flanked by a sonorant and *w, become /k/ in both families. While /k/ remained ''in situ'' in Elder Nordic, it would have become /s/ in Galic Northian by regular sound change. Though the correspondence is not exceptionless, examples in agreement between the two branches outnumber those in variance considerably, leading some authorities to identify a relation between the two language families. On the other hand, the two languages share no identifiable grammatical innovations or other phonetic ones, and this contrast has led others scholars to consign the apparent reflexes of Cowgill's law as an aerial effect or an unrelated reflex of Erani-Eracuran laryngeals. | |||
The early history of the Northian languages is murky as the language did not enter the historical record until the 2nd century BCE. Northian developed from Proto-Nordic-Northian migrants who eventually settled in parts of Shalum and Silua. In the course of the Acrean Empire's expansion, Northian-speaking communities either assimilated to Acrean language and culture or migrated further north and west into the current territories of the [[Northern States]] by the 4th century BCE. Some Gales (hymns) have been dated to around 1500 BCE or, by some authorities, to earlier based on astronomical, geographic, and archaeological inferences, and they are noted by Acreas as "ancient songs that modern [Northian] tribesmen do not understand" even in the 2nd century BCE. Due to Acrean domination, Northian is attested through little more than its poetic and liturgical traditions, though scattered prose texts like contracts and testaments also exist. Though Old Nordic never fully displaced Northian as the mother tongue of provinces, its influence on Northian was enormous, and only in the 1200s did Northian replace Old Nordic as the language of politics. | The oldest attested Northian texts are a scattered body of hymns, known as Gales, that are at the fundament of the [[Fonδaiš Wīštā̊]] religion. The language of the Gales is called Galic Northian. Gales are mainly found in the Didaskalic material, words attributed to wise men living in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, in Epic poetry from the 7th to 2nd century BCE, and later, in more compendious ritual texts that describe the exact context in which Gales were used. Though most Gales are found in ritualistic prose, they also show the most evidence of later editing. It is evident that the Gales were not well understood by the priests that chanted it, though this probably had the effect of preserving the archaic text against later emendations. | ||
The ''communis opinio'' is that the oldest Gales (Period I) must have been given a thorough redaction ''circa'' 1500 BCE, while the time of their original composition cannot be known certainly. Some authorities, on the basis of such archaic word-forms like accusative singular ''θxā̊'' "into the Earth", whose perfect congnates could be found in branches as distant as Anatolian, posit a date of composition of 3000 – 2500 BCE. However, as Cramer points out, Northian is very good at the conservation of allomorphs, so the presence of a few that escaped analogical replacement does not require an excessively early date of composition, which cannot be supported by history. Period II and III Gales have been dated to around 1350 BCE and 1200 BCE; after this period, it seems the Gales were canonized, and new compositions thence were no longer added to the canon. | |||
<!--The earliest attested form of the Nordic branch is Old Nordic, which is the common ancestor of all Nordic languages. Old Nordic became the official language of the [[Acrean Empire]] that arose in the 5th century BCE and came to spread its language to much of northern Eracura. During the Empire's domination, the Goths migrated from Acrea to [[Akashi]], where their dialect became a separate language around the start of the Common Era. An evolved form, commonly called Late Old Nordic, continued to be spoken across the late Acrean Empire, though at that point dialectal differences had developed from the emergence of regional cultures. Proto-Shalumite was probably the first to split from Old Nordic, fostered by the Shalumite migration to the west of the continent. After the Shalumite split, other dialects of Old Nordic also became separate languages in the Acrean Empire, now conventionally called North Nordic, West Nordic, and East Nordic. Some speakers of these languages then migrated to [[Æþurheim]], [[Nordkrussen]], and [[Delkora]], respectively, though others remained in Acrea. A petrified form of Old Nordic remains in ceremonial and liturgical use in modern Acrea. | |||
The early history of the Northian languages is murky as the language did not enter the historical record until the 2nd century BCE. Northian developed from Proto-Nordic-Northian migrants who eventually settled in parts of Shalum and Silua. In the course of the Acrean Empire's expansion, Northian-speaking communities either assimilated to Acrean language and culture or migrated further north and west into the current territories of the [[Northern States]] by the 4th century BCE. Some Gales (hymns) have been dated to around 1500 BCE or, by some authorities, to earlier based on astronomical, geographic, and archaeological inferences, and they are noted by Acreas as "ancient songs that modern [Northian] tribesmen do not understand" even in the 2nd century BCE. Due to Acrean domination, Northian is attested through little more than its poetic and liturgical traditions, though scattered prose texts like contracts and testaments also exist. Though Old Nordic never fully displaced Northian as the mother tongue of provinces, its influence on Northian was enormous, and only in the 1200s did Northian replace Old Nordic as the language of politics.--> | |||
==Religion== | ==Religion== | ||
Revision as of 15:33, 2 November 2022
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 545 million (2020) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Acrea 189,900,000  Æþurheim 129,700,000  Shalum 100,000,000  Delkora 73,900,000  Northern States 15,760,000 Cacerta 13,100,000  Ossoria 9,000,000 | |
| Languages | |
| Nordic Gothic Venetian Northian | |
| Religion | |
| Valstígr Vallyar Pontōis Wītōs |
The Nordic peoples are a group of ethnicities in Tyran who trace their lineage back to the Nordic-speaking regions of Eracura. The wide array of different national ethnic groups within this label have caused some anthropologists to refer to the Nordic peoples as a "super-ethnic group". Although Nordic and its national and regional dialects are the predominant language for the greater majority of Nordic peoples, the group encompasses a variety of languages spoken including Nordic, Gothic, Venetian, and Northian and is not considered an ethnolinguistic group.
Modern Nordic peoples are descended from populations who originated in northeastern Eracura, in what is now modern-day Acrea and Nordkrusen, with the largest being the Acrean-Nordlander subgroup which spread to assimilate practically all other Nordic groups in the area, eventually spreading into Delkora. Various Nordic peoples practice a variety of religions, though almost all are formed from Old Nordic religion, with the largest being Valstígr and Vallyar.
Etymology
The term "Nordic" originates from the Old Nordic term Norður, simply meaning north, and was used in different forms meaning Northmen by other ethnolinguistic groups in Eracura to describe the peoples of North Acrea and Nordkrusen. This description was eventually co-opted by Nordic groups themselves, who adopted the label Norðmenn.
History
Origins
The Nordic peoples have a largely agreed-upon single ethnogenesis, in a region spanning across Northeastern Eracura around the Gulf of Åland. The proto-Nordic peoples are considered to be descendants of the Erani-Eracurans diffused amongst local populations.
Classification
Ussterians
Languages
Nordic
Gothic
Venetian
Northian
Northian, an Erani-Eracuran language, has been argued to be a Nordic language, and their hypothesized, albeit disputed, common ancestor is Proto-Nordic-Northian (PNN). Where this language was spoken is hard to define, though most authorities that support its existence place it in the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BCE, in or near Acrea. According to Stanton et al., around 3,500 years ago, dialects of PNN separated into two groups, the Nordic languages identified with the Nordic Iron Age and the Northian languages identified with the Register Pottery Culture in Silua and Shalum. Not all scholars accept Stanton's theory, on the grounds that PNN as reconstructed is too similar to PEE to be considered the product of shared innovations.
If Nordic and Northian are connected via Cowgill's law, it seems some laryngeals, when flanked by a sonorant and *w, become /k/ in both families. While /k/ remained in situ in Elder Nordic, it would have become /s/ in Galic Northian by regular sound change. Though the correspondence is not exceptionless, examples in agreement between the two branches outnumber those in variance considerably, leading some authorities to identify a relation between the two language families. On the other hand, the two languages share no identifiable grammatical innovations or other phonetic ones, and this contrast has led others scholars to consign the apparent reflexes of Cowgill's law as an aerial effect or an unrelated reflex of Erani-Eracuran laryngeals.
The oldest attested Northian texts are a scattered body of hymns, known as Gales, that are at the fundament of the Fonδaiš Wīštā̊ religion. The language of the Gales is called Galic Northian. Gales are mainly found in the Didaskalic material, words attributed to wise men living in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, in Epic poetry from the 7th to 2nd century BCE, and later, in more compendious ritual texts that describe the exact context in which Gales were used. Though most Gales are found in ritualistic prose, they also show the most evidence of later editing. It is evident that the Gales were not well understood by the priests that chanted it, though this probably had the effect of preserving the archaic text against later emendations.
The communis opinio is that the oldest Gales (Period I) must have been given a thorough redaction circa 1500 BCE, while the time of their original composition cannot be known certainly. Some authorities, on the basis of such archaic word-forms like accusative singular θxā̊ "into the Earth", whose perfect congnates could be found in branches as distant as Anatolian, posit a date of composition of 3000 – 2500 BCE. However, as Cramer points out, Northian is very good at the conservation of allomorphs, so the presence of a few that escaped analogical replacement does not require an excessively early date of composition, which cannot be supported by history. Period II and III Gales have been dated to around 1350 BCE and 1200 BCE; after this period, it seems the Gales were canonized, and new compositions thence were no longer added to the canon.