The Finno-Ugric language reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
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Finno-Ugric language

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The Finno-Ugric languages are a subfamily of the Uralic languages. It consists of several languages, notably Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian. Unlike most of the languages spoken in Europe, the Finno-Ugric languages are not part of the Indo-European family of languages.

The "Urheimat" of the proto-language of the modern Finno-Ugric languages, the so-called Proto-Finno-Ugric, is believed to be on the western side of the Ural mountains 5000 years ago. There is evidence that before the arrival of Slavonic tribes to their present territory in Russia, a sprinkling of Finno-Ugrians inhabited the whole territory from the Urals to the Baltic Sea.

There have been attempts to relate them to the Indo-European languages, but the about 40 similarities are not enough. Conversely, there have been suggestions (based on archeological evidence) that the Germanic languages evolved from an Indo-European language such as Celtic imposed on a Finnic substrate, but no satisfying proofs yet exist.

The Finno-Ugric subfamily of the Uralic languages has the following members:

See also: