[LostTribe]

>Meantime, their language had changed from Semitic in family to Indoeuropean, which is difficult enough to understand given that their Assyrian captors were themselves Semitic.

Thank You. Language is the poorest of all "indicators" of who when where and when. Think about it, how long does it take a European family which moved to America before it loses all touch with European language and cultural roots. 3 generations? 2 generations? And this with modern day transportation and communication. While language links are taught in school as being important, no real archeologist relies on them as other than an afterthefact curiosity.

That being said, there are numerous links between the Hebrew of that day and modern European languages.

[VadeRetro]

No really. A Semitic people is conquered by another Semitic people. The conquerees, by the time they free themselves, have adopted a language from God-Knows-Where unrelated to others in the area at the time and call themselves by another name. It's almost as if they are somebody else.

[A.J.Armitage]

Language is the poorest of all "indicators" of who when where and when. Think about it, how long does it take a European family which moved to America before it loses all touch with European language and cultural roots. 3 generations? 2 generations? And this with modern day transportation and communication.

That's because they're surrounded by another culture they adopt. They don't suddenly start speaking an Asian language. Languages have continuity, they come from somewhere.

That being said, there are numerous links between the Hebrew of that day and modern European languages.

Prove it.

Borrowings through the Old Testament don't count.