%0 Journal Article %T SCYTHAE: un problema linguistico, etnografico e culturale dell etš€ moderna %A Francesco Villani %J Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online %D 2003 %I %X In the history of linguistics the theory according to which the European Languages have an eastern origin (the Scythian Theory) has played an important role in developing the Indo-european Theory. I would like to demonstrate that the 15th and 16th century are the crucial point for the linguistic aspect of this theory: some authors, called the polyglotti , like Gessner, Bibliander and Megiser are the starting point from which stems the epistemological paradigm of the modern Indo-european historical linguistics. Other languages and their mythical origin in the East, like Uralic and Semitic languages, are to be seen as the starting point for the Scythian Theory. A special concern of the author is the give a glimpse of the contest in which such theory has been created. %U http://www.humnet.unipi.it/slifo/articolovillani.pdf