European Languages That Aren't European

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[NameExplain]

Do you speak any of these non-European European languages?

[nenenindonu]

Not to forget Kalmyk, a Mongolic language spoken in the Western coast of the Caspian Sea

[craigcook]

Basque is also traditionally spoken in parts of south-western France (not just in Spain as mentioned in the video).

[Ants-edvl]

I literally screamed when you mentioned Sana (Cypriot Arabic), it's crazy to see ppl even be aware of it, let alone mention it

[modmaker]

Indo-European languages aren't natively European. The only single still living native European language is Basque.

[robinharwood]

I’m happy to see so many people saying that it is nonsense to say those European languages are not European just because they aren’t Indo-European.

[jasminekaram]

All those languages developed and are spoken natively in Europe and thus European.

You confuse Indo-European with European and IE languages are spoken natively in Asia as well.

[williamkeitaro]

Basque can technically be called an "Aboriginal language" since it existed for a very long time and long before the Indo-Europeans even made it to Europe.
According to the OED, the word "Aboriginal" means to exist in a land since the earliest times or before the arrival of colonists (in this case the Indo Europeans).

[karelianmghow]

The premise that Indo-European languages are somehow inherently more European than the languages mentioned here is just completely false. They have originated much farther away from Europe than say, Finnish for example. The only reason they are considered more European is that the majority of the continent speaks one of them as their native tongue. And the majority always seems to be right.

[Alias_Anybody]

I think the premise is a bit weird. Indoeuropean most likely originated within what we consider modern Europe (Black Sea steppe), but so did Uralic and, considering there's no evidence against it, Basque. The former is just considered the default due to its huge dominance. So the only ones that are actually "Imports" from further away are Arab/Maltese (Arabia) and any Turkic languages (Central Asia).

[isabellacatolica]

Basque is the only truly european language, it exists and existed way before indo-europeans, uralics and so on

[brillitheworldbuilder]

You forgot to mention that the Caucasus gave origin to not only one, but three completely independent language families: South Caucasian aka Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian aka Abkhazo-Adyghean and Northeast Caucasian aka Nakh-Dagestanian. The latter of the three is by far the largest of them in number of languages and includes for example Chechen. Oh yeah, and then there's Kalmyk, a Mongolic language spoken in European Russian Kalmykia

[IntoTheVoid]

Hungarian, Estonian, Finnish and other Uralic languages are all European languages, as the overwhelming majority of linguists and archeologists place the birthplace of the languages west of the Ural mountains, in Eastern Europe.
That makes these languages technically paleo-european languages just like basque.
But everybody seems to forget about this.
Just sayin.

[Dhi_Bee]

7:50 Basque is also in France, not only in Spain. But I still enjoyed this video

[daverichards]

You forgot the 2 million Hungarian speakers in what today is west central also in S. Slovakia, N. Serbia and W. Ukraine

[geremachek]

I would have liked to hear mention of Kalmyk, a Mongolic language spoken in the Kalmykia republic of Russia, north of the Caucuses.

[jonathanwilliams]

The Sami and Baltic-Finnic branches are the edge of what was once a vast language family
Hungarian on the other hand belongs to an entirely different group that migrated all the way from the Ural Mountains, and were culturally very different from other Finnic-Uralic peoples and followed a form of shamanism similar to Turkic-Mongolian peoples and other horse nomads rather than the Finnish gods

[TheRapist]

How isnt for example finnish "not european" language if it has been in europe before "indo-europeans"

[zephyrna]

Have fun with the research on the "how Uralic Languages Ended up in Europe" video. Im Hungarian myself and not even we can come to an agreement on where we come from and how we got here. Linguistically its very complicated. And it leaves people making wild guesses as to the origins of and migration route of Hungarians.


For example, in the modern standardized Hungarian language, we definitely have "relative" words with Germanic, Slavic, Turkic, Latin, and Persian languages. But in what order we picked them up and when is heavily debated. Some will say we are actually a persian language originally, while others will say we are a long lost Indo European branch. I suggest you do your own research and be weary of people who write about the subject for political reasons.

However, from doing my own research, I have reached my own vague conclusion:
1. The Proto Uralic people who's branch would eventually become the Hungarians lived in central/northern Siberia and are likely the relatives or originators of the Saami, Khanti, Innuit, Native Americans, etc. Possibly the Mongol, Korean, and Turkic people as well but its all very vague and fuzzy that far back in time.
2. Eventually during the Indo European migrations to India, the migrators must have had some form of connection or contact with these "proto uralic" people. As many of the most archaic terms for horse husbandry and nomadic life originate from Eastern Proto Indo European. And it is likely that here some Proto Uralics must have adopted the lifestyle where others didn't. Becoming distinct people over time. Enter the Proto Ugrics.
3. Next in our linguistic history, we have words for numbers (like hundred and thousand) as well as various agricultural terms including beer, being of Persian origin. How these fit into the story is anyone's guess but due to a few myths and legends of Hungarians being connected to Persia, I believe that at some point the Proto Ugrics must have migrated down into Persia. Where they must have stayed for a considerable amount of time.
4. Next we have Turkic and Slavic words appearing in our language. More modern words for more modern items. It is likely that this is when the Proto Ugrics, who may have branched into just the Magyar tribe, appeared in south western Siberia. And mixed heavily with the various Turkic tribes of the area.
5. Finally we reach recorded history and know that a coalition of 7 tribes led by the Magyar chief Almos (and later his son Arpad) migrated into Ukraine and finally into the Carpathian basin where Hungary exists today. What is not for certain is the background of the many tribes. It is likely that they were some mixture of Ugric, Turkic, and possibly Persian or Mongolic tribes. And the impact they had on the modern Hungarian language as a result is hard to quantify as a result.
6. German and Latin words for the most modern terms appear. And there is no question that Catholicism as well as the very close relationship the Kingdom of Hungary had with Austria and the HRE had a large impact on this.

I hope you find this information useful, and I encourage you do a considerable amount of research and be careful of your sources. I wish I could list my own sources but I constructed this theory from years of sporadic research. Though if Im right your own research will confirm my understanding. If not, well then Im sorry for wasting time.

[Lawrence.Laurentius]

Indo-European languages are prevalent in Europe and parts of Asia.
Non indo-european languages spoken in Europe also belong to european continent and culture.
Calling only indo-european languages european is uneducated.
Basque, georgian, estonian, hungarian, maltese, finnish, gagauz, tatar, nenet, sami and others... are not indo-european languages but are languages primarely spoken on european continent and claiming they are not european is downright offensive.
The video is actually about non indo-european languages spoken in Europe but it's done poorly.