Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ancient DNA solves mystery of Hungarian, Finnish language family's origins
Harvard Gazette ^ | July 16, 2025 | Christy DeSmith

Posted on 07/19/2025 9:46:08 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Where did... Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian -- come from? ...

The analysis, led by a pair of recent graduates with oversight from ancient DNA expert David Reich, integrated genetic data on 180 newly sequenced Siberians with more than 1,000 existing samples covering many continents and about 11,000 years of human history. The results, published this month in the journal Nature, identify the prehistoric progenitors of two important language families, including Uralic, spoken today by more than 25 million people.

The study finds the ancestors of present-day Uralic speakers living about 4,500 years ago in northeastern Siberia, within an area now known as Yakutia...

Uralic-speaking cultures vary in how much Yakutia ancestry they carry.

Estonians retain about 2 percent, Finns about 10. At the eastern end of the distribution, the Nganasan people -- clustered at the northernmost tip of Russia -- have close to 100 percent Yakutia ancestry. At the other extreme, modern-day Hungarians have lost nearly all of theirs...

A separate finding concerns another group of Siberian-spawned languages, once widely spoken across the region. The Yeniseian language family may be contracting today, with the last survivor being central Siberia's critically endangered Ket, now spoken by just a handful of the culture's elders. But Yeniseian's influence was long evident to linguists and archaeologists alike...

The study locates the first speakers of the Yeniseian family some 5,400 years ago near the deep waters of Lake Baikal, its southern shores just a few hours by car from the current border with Mongolia.

The genetic findings also provide the first genetic signal -- albeit a tentative one -- for Western Washington University linguist Edward Vajda's Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis, which proposed genealogical connections between Yeniseian and the Na-Dene family of North American Indigenous languages.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.harvard.edu ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; estonian; finnish; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; hungarian; saami; uraliclanguages

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-27 last
To: Cronos

It could be that Dravidian is the greatly evolved modern descendant of Harappan, that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Of course, until Harappan can be read...


21 posted on 07/20/2025 2:59:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

I think there isn’t enough evidence to draw a definitive conclusion, but I’m convinced


22 posted on 07/21/2025 3:50:21 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: frank ballenger

Good dad joke.


23 posted on 07/21/2025 3:55:04 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: FLT-bird

Most of the Hungarians I know and work with are Slavic but with some non Slavic features like lower cheekbones.


24 posted on 07/21/2025 4:03:08 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
There are those who lump Finland into Scandinavia based solely on geography. But culturally and linguistically Finns are not Scandinavians.

FWIW, my dad's best friend while serving in the US army in the SPT was a Finnish immigrant, my dad a Norwegian immigrant.

Both came to America as young children, but both could speak some of their native tongues, but neither could understand each other's. My dad could understand some German and of course Danish though as there were enough similarities.

25 posted on 07/21/2025 4:10:49 AM PDT by MD Expat in PA (No. I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV. The MD in my screen name stands for Maryland)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Cronos
Most of the Hungarians I know and work with are Slavic but with some non Slavic features like lower cheekbones.

I don't know if its the mixing or what, but HOLY CRAP are Hungarian girls hot. My god! I'd rate them as THE hottest I've seen with Brazilian girls coming in second. When I'd meet up with other expats while living in Budapest we used to jokingly ask if it was bad for your health to walk around with a permanent erection.

26 posted on 07/21/2025 5:39:38 AM PDT by FLT-bird
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: FLT-bird

Hmm.. I prefer Polski or Ukrainian chicks. Hungarian women are hot too, but the ones in smaller cities like Szeged have a nicer attitudes


27 posted on 07/21/2025 7:24:46 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-27 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson