To the Problem of Multi-ethnic composition of the Population of the Ancient Thrace

Abstract

The article is devoted to mainstreaming issues of multi-ethnic composition of the population of the Ancient Thrace. Based on the data of the linguistic paleontology and evidences of antique authors, one can conclude that in antiquity different tribes lived in Thrace. They spoke the Indo-European dialects and languages. These dialects and languages belonged to the “centum” group and to the “satəm” group. Speakers of the Indo-European “satəm” language, close to the proto-Baltic language, were among inhabitants of the Ancient Thrace. This language can be roughly described as “the Scythian” because a large part of the ancient people of Scythia was from Thrace. In addition, the names of Θρᾴκη and the Θρᾷκες are not related to the ethnonym Τραυσοί (’Αγάθυρσοι) and have no relationship to the hypothetical etymon *Τρα₣η-ικες < *Τραυσικες.

Key words: Thrace, the Thracians, Scythia, the Scythians, Thracology, the Indo-European dialects and languages, linguistic paleontology.