" Now if the Pelasgians were Asiatics, they must have
been Turanians, Semites or Aryans. That they could not have been either
of the two first, and must have been the last named, is shown on
Herodotus' testimony, who declared them the forefathers of the Greeks--
though they spoke, as he says, "a most barbarous language." Further,
unerring philology shows that the vast number of roots common both to
Greek and Latin, are easily explained by the assumption of a common
Pelasgic linguistic and ethnical stock in both nationalities. But then
how about the Sanskrit roots traced in the Greek and Latin languages?
The same roots must have been present in the Pelasgian tongues? We who
place the origin of the Pelasgian far beyond the Biblical ditch of
historic chronology, have reasons to believe that the "barbarous
language" mentioned by Herodotus was simply "the primitive and now
extinct Aryan tongue" that preceded the Vedic Sanskrit. Who could they
be, these Pelasgians? They are described generally on the meagre data
in hand as a highly intellectual, receptive, active and simple people,
chiefly occupied with agriculture; warlike when necessary, though
preferring peace.
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