This map made by European Origins aims to showcase the diverse origin of the modern French nation. Although France takes its name from the Germanic Franks, the area now occupied by France was originally predominantly a Celtic region, as is attested most prominently in Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. The inhabitants of most of … Continue reading The Ethno-Cultural Heritage of Modern France
Blog
Short “Documentary” about the Indo-European Language Family
Hello! It's been a while since the last post on the website but I'm happy to inform you that I've been busy working on other platforms. First of all I'd like to introduce yourself to European Origins on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/europeanorigins/ We are close to 18,000 followers and the page has been growing rapidly. Secondly, I've … Continue reading Short “Documentary” about the Indo-European Language Family
Continental West Germanic Dialect Continuum
The Continental West Germanic Dialect Continuum. Today Dutch and German are thought of as distinct languages and justly so. But in actuality there was a fluent transition between what is considered Dutch and what is considered German today for most of history and in some places in the border area this still holds true today. … Continue reading Continental West Germanic Dialect Continuum
A Neanderthal in Suite and Tie
What if Neanderthals hadn't become extinct? This is a question the curators of a Museum in Germany must have asked themselves when they created this exhibit: A Neanderthal in a suit and tie. As many of you may know, research in Archaeogenetics has relatively recently revealed that all human beings north of the Sahara Desert carry a few percent of Neanderthal DNA in us. So strictly speaking, Neanderthals have never gone extinct but are a part of many of us today. But what do you think modern life would be like if other human species were still around, not just as fragments in our genetic code?
Y-DNA Haplogroups in the German Empire
The Haplogroup distribution across the German Empire prior to WW1 according to FTDNA and Robert Gabel. Haplogroup I is the oldest of them and probably resembles remnants of Hunter-Gatherer lineages whilst R1b and R1a are connected to Celto-Germanic and Slavic peoples.
The Etruscans
The Etruscans were one of the many historic peoples inhabiting the Italian Peninsula before the Rise of Rome and influencing the Empire from within after their subjugation. It is thought that the Romans incorporated some of the Etruscan deities in their own pantheon and that even the Latin language underwent some phonetical changes as a consequence. Some words in modern English ultimately come from the Etruscans via Latin, such as 'person'.
The Migration of the Cimbri and Teutons
The migration of the Cimbri and the Teutons from Jutland across Central and Western Europe and into Northern Italy. The Cimbri and Teutons were the first Germanic people mentioned in history, although the term Teuton itself may in fact be of Celtic origin.
Fenrir and Tyr
Fenrir bites off Tyr's hand. Illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript.Tyr is the god of war and justice in Norse mythology, and the etymology of his name suggests that he once was at the top of the Germanic pantheon, although he had been replaced by Odin/Wodan relatively early.Fenrir is one of the children of … Continue reading Fenrir and Tyr
The German Eastward Expansion
Map showing the German Eastward Expansion, starting in the early Middle Ages at the zenith of Charlemagne's Frankish Empire. Although first German settlements east of the river Elbe in modern Eastern Germany started relatively early, it wasn't until the 10th and 11th centuries, that larger amounts of Germans moved eastward and assimilated most of the … Continue reading The German Eastward Expansion
The Loulan Beauty – A Tarim Mummy
One of the Tarim mummies from the Tarim basin in northwestern China in the province of Xinjiang, dated to 1800 BC. These mummies are frequently associated with speakers of the Indo-European Tocharian language which since has gone extinct due to assimilation into the Uyghur population at the end of the first millennium AD. It took another millennium to rediscover this lost Indo-European language at the beginning of the 20th century.
On Consciousness, Perspective, Constructivism and Morality
One of the fundamental issues within philosophy is that of human consciousness. What is consciousness, what does it mean to be aware of oneself? In the past it has been identified as a defining trait of humanity to be able to reflect on one’s own thoughts and actions, on that which we call “I” or … Continue reading On Consciousness, Perspective, Constructivism and Morality
The Ancient Samnites
The Samnites were an Italic civilisation who lived in Samnium, a region of Southern Italy that includes the present-day Abruzzo, Molise and Campania.
Who or what is a Barbarian?
'Barbarian' and 'barbaric' are nowadays commonly used to describe somebody or something behaving in a particularly uncivilized or - to the observer - foreign way, and in this regards differs surprisingly little from it's ancient counterpart. This article seeks to examine the meaning and history of the term in short.
Thank You!
This is just a little update on the blog and what's been happening with it over the last few weeks. After running European Origins for almost a year and having had a blog prior to this I decided to dedicate to this website, more so than I have done in the past. I purchased the … Continue reading Thank You!
Volunteering at the Smithsonian Transcription Center
A report about my personal experience working remotely for the Smithsonian Transcription center.
Living DNA German Ancestry Review
How useful is Living DNA to determine your ancestry? This review deals with German autosomal admixture in particular, featuring Baltic, Tuscan and Germanic components.
Are Ancestry DNA Tests accurate?
Many people are understandably intrigued by the relatively new service of personal ancestry tests to determine their own origins. But how reliable are they really?
2020 Update
Just a quick update in regards to the promised post about the origin of the Elder Futhark. Work on this project has finished last month and I'm currently waiting for the permission to publish it here. The essay will most likely be posted in three chunks due to the amount of content. In the meantime … Continue reading 2020 Update
European Origins 