speakers
of another language possibly related to Basque, and like Basque, unrelated to any of the
lndo-European group (see Chapter IV). The IndoEuropean family of languages itself
developed from a pool of dialects in use in the central European sphere before 5000 B.C.,
and came to form the main stem of European linguistic culture.
As the glaciers retreated, exposing new
territory in the interior of Europe, the ocean level rose, and certain coastal regions
disappeared beneath the sea. This happened in the case of Great Britain and Ireland, which
were both originally connected to the continent, and hence to each other. The lost lands
are remembered in folk memory, and many of the magical tales of European |
