Cultural lexical borrowings in Proto-Slavic from a local variety of the West European Substrate [preprint 2026]
Abstract
Preprint, to appear mid-2026.
Previously Georg Holzer offered several dozen Proto-Slavic and Proto-Baltic words that exhibit irregular reverse correspondences for Indo-European obstruents (IE *p *t *k > Balto-Slav. *b *d *g, IE *bh *dh *gh > Balto-Slav. *p *t *k). Holzer proposed the existence of a hypothetical Temematic language, an extinct Indo-European language that underwent a distinctive consonant shift. According to him, the speakers of Temematic were in close contact with the Proto-Slavs and Proto-Balts, which resulted in numerous lexical borrowings. The study demonstrates, however, that only 17 cases of “Temematic” borrowing are reliable. These loanwords are almost exclusively restricted to Slavic, indicating that the contact between Temematic and Proto-Slavic likely occurred after the Baltic-Slavic break-up, that is, in the 1st millennium BC (or later). These loanwords are related to agriculture, the household and autochthonous species. Their cognates in other Indo-European languages are not native Indo-European forms, but must be attributed to the so-called West (or North) European substrate. This suggests that the Temematic language was a close relative of the West European substrate.
https://www.academia.edu/164796800/Cultural_lexical_borrowings_in_Proto_Slavic_from_a_local_variety_of_the_West_European_Substrate_preprint_2026_
