The
Thracian language was the
Indo-European language spoken in ancient times in
Southeastern Europe by the
Thracians, the northern neighbors of the Ancient Macedonians. The Thracian language exhibits
satemization: it either belonged to the satem group of Indo-European languages or it was strongly influenced by satem languages. The language was still in use at least till the 6th century AD. In 570, Antoninus Placentius said that in the valleys of Mount Sinai there was a monastery in which the monks spoke Greek, Latin, Syriac, Egyptian and Bessian. The origin of the monasteries is explained in a mediaeval hagiography written by Simeon Metaphrastes, in Vita Sancti Theodosii Coenobiarchae, in which he wrote that Saint Theodosius founded on the shore of the Dead Sea a monastery with four churches, in each being spoken a different language, among which Bessian was found. The place where the monasteries were founded was called "Cutila", which may be a Thracian name. The Bessi were one of the most prominent Thracian tribes. The further fate of the Thracian language is a matter of dispute. Some authors like Schramm derived the Albanians from the Christian Bessi, or Bessians, an early Thracian people who were pushed westwards into Albania, thus making
Albanian language descendant from Thracian.