Балты или не балты? Ранние славянские миграции и «балтоидная» топонимия
The Balts or not the Balts? Early Slavic Migrations and “Baltic” Toponymy

Summary/Abstract: The article puts the question: was the “Baltic” toponymy of the eastern and north-eastern parts of the (future) Old Russian area really left by the Balts or not? Considering the archaeological context of the issue, the author draw attention that the supposed archaeological “bearers” of “Baltic” toponymy for mentioned regions were constituted following some impulses and migrations from the area of the Kiev culture (which is strongly identified with the Slavs), or from the area of the Zarubinetskaya culture (on the basis of which the Kiev culture appeared). Basing on these facts, and taking into account the (emphasized by linguists) fundamental difficulty of differentiation between baltisms and for-Slavic dialectal archaic, the author suggests that we have to identify the “Baltic” toponymy of the eastern and north-eastern parts of the (future) Old Russian area with the Early Slavic migrations to the regions.

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