from Illyria in the transitional period between the Bronze and Iron ages. As such, Messapic, as a distinct language, is considered to be part of the same Paleo-Balkan grouping as Illyrian. Eric Hamp has grouped them under "Messapo-Illyrian" which is further grouped with Albanian under "Adriatic Indo-European". Other schemes group the three languages under "General Illyrian" and "Western Paleo-Balkan".

In older research under