Editing Thracian language (section)

{{short description|Extinct Indo-European language}}
{{Citation style |reason=article uses full and short citations. Pick one style, and then use it consistently |date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Thracian
| region           = [[Bulgaria]], [[European Turkey]], [[Regions of Serbia|parts of Southern Serbia]], parts of the [[Macedonia (region)|region of Macedonia]] (including [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonia]]), regions in [[Northern Greece]], parts of [[Romania]], parts of [[Bithynia]] in [[Anatolia]]. Probably also spoken in parts of [[Dardani]]a.
| extinct          = 6th century AD
| ref              = linglist
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Daco-Thracian]] (?)
| fam3             = 
| fam4             = 
| iso3             = txh
| linglist         = txh
| glotto           = thra1250
| glottorefname    = Thracian
|script= [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] 
}}
{{Indo-European topics}}

The '''Thracian language''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|θ|r|eɪ|ʃ|ən}}) is an extinct and [[Attested language|poorly attested]] language, spoken in ancient times in [[Southeast Europe]] by the [[Thracians]]. The linguistic affinities of the Thracian language are [[Classification of Thracian|poorly understood]], but it is generally agreed that it was an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language.<ref name="Fortson 2004 404">{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|p=404}}</ref>

The point at which Thracian became extinct is a matter of dispute. However, it is generally accepted that Thracian was still in use in the 6th century AD: [[Antoninus of Piacenza (pilgrim)|Antoninus of Piacenza]] wrote in 570 that there was a monastery in the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]], at which the monks spoke [[Koine Greek|Greek]], [[Latin]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Coptic language|Egyptian]], and [[Bessian]] – a Thracian dialect.<ref>Arnold Joseph Toynbee, Some problems of Greek history, Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 56: In the late sixth century there were still Bessian-speaking monks in the monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai (see P. Geyer Itinera Hierosolymitana, Vienna 1898, Templaky, pp. 184; 213.)</ref><ref>Oliver Nicholson as ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity; Oxford University Press, 2018; {{ISBN|0192562460}}, p. 234:''...''The "Piacenza Pilgrim (56) mentioned Bessian-speaking monks on the Sinai Peninsula. ABA J. J. Wilkes, The Illyrians (1992)''...''</ref><ref>J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams as ed., Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture; Taylor & Francis, 1997; {{ISBN|1884964982}}, p. 576: ''The most recently attested Thracian personal names are found in two monasteries in the Near East (the Bessi of Mt Sinai) dating to the sixth century AD''.</ref><ref>Bessian is the language of the Bessi, one of the most prominent Thracian tribes. The origin of the monasteries is explained in a mediaeval hagiography written by [[Symeon the Metaphrast]] in ''Vita Sancti Theodosii Coenobiarchae'' in which he wrote that [[Theodosius the Cenobiarch|Saint Theodosius]] founded on the shore of the [[Dead Sea]] a monastery with four churches, in each being spoken a different language, among which Bessian was found. The place at which the monasteries were founded was called "Cutila", which may be a Thracian name.</ref>

A classification put forward by [[Harvey Mayer]], suggests that Thracian (and [[Dacian language|Dacian]]) belonged to the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] branch of Indo-European, or at least is closer to Baltic than any other Indo-European branch.<ref>Mayer, Harvey E. "[http://www.lituanus.org/1992_2/92_2_02.htm Dacian and Thracian as Southern Baltoidic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216135638/http://www.lituanus.org/1992_2/92_2_02.htm |date=2017-12-16 }}." In: ''Lituanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences''. Volume 38, No. 2 – Summer 1992.. Editor of this issue: [[Antanas Klimas]], University of Rochester. {{ISSN|0024-5089}}. 1992 Lituanus Foundation, Inc.</ref> However, this theory has not achieved the status of a general consensus among linguists. These are among many competing hypotheses regarding the classification and fate of Thracian.<ref>1994 Gottfried Schramm: ''A New Approach to Albanian History''</ref>