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the discovery of the Indo-Europeans is one of the most fascinating - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Aug 04, 2023 112 likes •654 views

The Indo- -Europeans and Historical Linguistics Europeans and Historical Linguistics The Indo Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language Introduction the discovery of the Indo-Europeans is one of the most

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SLIDE 1

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • the discovery of the Indo-Europeans is
  • ne of the most fascinating and important

stories in all of modern historical studies

  • starts with a suggestion made by

William Jones in 1786, a British judge in India, that Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek share a common language of origin

  • Sanskrit: The Vedas
slide-2
SLIDE 2

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • Indo-European historical linguistics
  • various Eurasian languages derive originally

from a single “mother tongue”

  • languages found from India to Iceland
  • root vocabulary demonstrates this well
slide-3
SLIDE 3

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • words which are related in this way are

called cognates

  • Jones’ conclusion (1786 Meeting of the

Asiatick Society of Calcutta):

. . . no philologer could examine all three languages [Sanskrit, Latin and Greek] without believing them to have sprung from some common source which, perhaps, no longer exists.

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SLIDE 4

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • the “mother tongue” was eventually

named Proto-Indo-European

  • we don’t know what the original speakers

called their own language — or themselves!

  • produced many “daughter languages”
slide-5
SLIDE 5

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • ramifications of the discovery of IE

civilization were earth-shattering!

  • there was once a common culture
  • a common language presupposes a common

religion, family and government structures

  • not well-received among the generally white-

supremacist, Eurocentric colonial powers in the day

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SLIDE 6

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • ramifications of the discovery of IE

civilization were earth-shattering!

  • IE culture conquered much of the world
  • IE cultures include Persians, Greeks,

Romans, Slavs, Philistines, Vikings, etc.

  • also their modern counterparts: Spanish

conquistadors, Crusaders, European colonists, etc.

  • not IE: Sumerians, Egyptians, Hebrews,

Etruscans, Assyrians, etc.

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SLIDE 7

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction Introduction: The Archaeology of Language : The Archaeology of Language

  • today more than half the world’s

population speaks at least one language derived from IE

  • and for most of those it’s their native

tongue or the official language of their nation

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SLIDE 8

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

History of the Indo History of the Indo-

  • Europeans

Europeans

  • ca.5000-2000 BCE: Indo-Europeans

began expanding across Eurasia

  • displaced indigenous peoples and

exterminated native cultures

  • Greeks (Greece), Romans (Italy), Slavs

(Central Europe), Philistines (Canaan)

  • also displaced earlier IE invaders
  • e.g. Dorian Invasion into Greece, which

caused a Dark Age (1100-800 BCE)

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SLIDE 9

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

History of the Indo History of the Indo-

  • Europeans

Europeans

  • Indo-Europeans in Northern Europe
  • Common Germanic broke up into:
  • Germanic: German, English, Dutch, Yiddish
  • Scandinavian: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
  • also, Celtic: Welsh, Scots Gaelic
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SLIDE 10

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

History of the Indo History of the Indo-

  • Europeans

Europeans

  • date of this break-up is unknown
  • but it must have begun ca. 100 BCE
  • the subdivision of Common Germanic

followed natural (geographical) contours

  • Scandinavian: around the Baltic Sea
  • West Germanic: west of the Oder River
  • East Germanic: east of the Oder River
slide-11
SLIDE 11

Elbe River Oder River

WEST GERMANS

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

History of the Indo History of the Indo-

  • Europeans

Europeans

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SLIDE 12

Elbe River Oder River

EAST GERMANS

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

History of the Indo History of the Indo-

  • Europeans

Europeans

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SLIDE 13

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

History of the Indo History of the Indo-

  • Europeans

Europeans

  • date of this break-up is unknown
  • but it must have begun ca. 100 BCE
  • the subdivision of Common Germanic

followed natural (geographical) contours

  • Scandinavian: around the Baltic Sea
  • West Germanic: west of the Oder River
  • East Germanic: east of the Oder River
  • all East German languages are now extinct!
slide-14
SLIDE 14

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Great Consonant Shift The Great Consonant Shift

  • it was just before this time that Common

Germanic underwent the Great Consonant Shift

It is often assumed that the change was due to contact with a non-German population. The contact could have resulted from the migration of the Germanic tribes or from the penetration of a foreign population into Germanic territory.

A.C. Baugh, The History of the English Language [1993] 20

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SLIDE 15

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Great Consonant Shift The Great Consonant Shift

  • consonants: formed by stopping or

restricting the flow of air through the mouth

  • stopping the flow of air:
  • labials (lips): p/b
  • dentals (teeth): t/d
  • gutturals (roof of mouth): g/k(c)
  • restricting the flow of air: f/v/th/ch/j
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SLIDE 16

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Great Consonant Shift The Great Consonant Shift

UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED LABIALS:

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P

DENTALS:

T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T

GUTTURALS:

K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

  • unvoiced: p/t/k(c)
  • aspirate: ph/th/kh(ch)
  • voiced: b/d/g
  • Great Consonant Shift:
  • FIRST STAGE: UNVOICED

UNVOICED > ASPIRATE ASPIRATE

  • SECOND STAGE: ASPIRATE

ASPIRATE > VOICED VOICED

  • FINAL STAGE: VOICED

VOICED > UNVOICED UNVOICED

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SLIDE 17

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

  • Grimm’s Law: Jacob Grimm (1785-

1863)

  • one of the Brothers Grimm
  • wrote Grimm’s Fairy Tales
  • the gruesome stories reflect the grim reality of

non-urban life in early Western Civilization

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SLIDE 18

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

UNVOICED UNVOICED ASPIRATE ASPIRATE VOICED VOICED UNVOICED UNVOICED LABIALS LABIALS: :

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P

DENTALS DENTALS: :

T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T

GUTTURALS GUTTURALS: :

K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

  • by comparing Germanic and other IE

words, Jacob Grimm was the first to recognize the Great Consonant Shift

  • e.g. IE *patêr- = what English word?
  • father!
  • cf. paternal, paternity, patter
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SLIDE 19

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

  • thus, the relationship between many

Germanic and non-Germanic IE words can be reconstructed by reversing the Great Consonant Shift

  • we’ll use Latin/Greek words because they

have often produced recognizable English derivatives

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SLIDE 20

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

  • but remember the following rules:
  • change only the voiced, unvoiced and

aspirate consonants

  • all other consonants (m, n, s/st, w) are not

affected by Grimm’s Law and remain the same

  • vowels can change easily, e.g. patêr-/father
  • we’ll leave a blank when reconstructing them
  • liquids (l/r) can shift position
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SLIDE 21

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

G GEN (US): EN (US):

genus, genesis, genetic genus, genesis, genetic “ “race, family race, family” ”

K KIN IN

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-22
SLIDE 22

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

G GEL(I)D(US): EL(I)D(US):

gelid, congeal, Jell gelid, congeal, Jell-

  • O

O “ “frozen frozen” ”

C COLD OLD

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-23
SLIDE 23

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

CH CHOL(OS): OL(OS):

cholera, melancholy cholera, melancholy “ “bile bile” ”

G G_L _L G GALL ALL

slide-24
SLIDE 24

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

H HOST(IS): OST(IS):

host, hostile, hotel/hostel host, hostile, hotel/hostel “ “stranger stranger” ”

G GUEST UEST

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-25
SLIDE 25

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

D DA(CTYLOS): A(CTYLOS):

dactylic, pterodactyl dactylic, pterodactyl “ “digit, finger, extremity digit, finger, extremity” ”

T TOE OE

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-26
SLIDE 26

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

D DUO: UO:

dual, duo, duplicate dual, duo, duplicate “ “pair, both pair, both” ”

T TWO WO

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-27
SLIDE 27

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

TH THE(MA): E(MA):

theme, synthesis, antithesis theme, synthesis, antithesis “ “act act” ”

D DO O

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-28
SLIDE 28

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

P POL(Y): OL(Y):

polygon, polygamy polygon, polygamy “ “many, much many, much” ”

F FULL ULL F FILL ILL

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-29
SLIDE 29

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

F FER(O): ER(O):

fertile, transfer, refer fertile, transfer, refer “ “carry carry” ”

B BEAR EAR

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-30
SLIDE 30

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

B BREA REAK K

F FRAG(ILIS): RAG(ILIS):

fragile, fragment, fracture fragile, fragment, fracture “ “crush, destroy crush, destroy” ”

F FRA RAG G(ILIS): (ILIS):

fragile, fragment, fracture fragile, fragment, fracture “ “crush, destroy crush, destroy” ”

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-31
SLIDE 31

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

F FIS ISH H

P PISC(IS): ISC(IS):

Pisces, Pisces, piscary piscary “ “sea creature sea creature” ”

P PIS ISC C(IS): (IS):

Pisces, Pisces, piscary piscary “ “sea creature sea creature” ”

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-32
SLIDE 32

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

D DOM(US): OM(US):

domestic, domicile, dome domestic, domicile, dome “ “house house” ”

T TAME AME T TIMBER IMBER

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-33
SLIDE 33

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

F FER(VO): ER(VO):

fervid, effervescent fervid, effervescent “ “become hot become hot” ”

B BURN URN

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-34
SLIDE 34

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

G GRAN(US): RAN(US):

granary, granola granary, granola “ “grain grain” ”

C CORN ORN

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-35
SLIDE 35

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

C CORN(U): ORN(U):

unicorn, cornet unicorn, cornet “ “antler antler” ”

H HORN ORN

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-36
SLIDE 36

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

D DE(N)T(ES): E(N)T(ES):

dentist, dentition, indent dentist, dentition, indent “ “molar, incisor molar, incisor” ”

T TOO OOTH TH

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

D DE(N) E(N)T T(ES): (ES):

dentist, dentition, indent dentist, dentition, indent “ “molar, incisor molar, incisor” ”

slide-37
SLIDE 37

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

A AG G(E)R: (E)R:

agriculture, agronomy agriculture, agronomy “ “field field” ”

A AC CRE RE

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-38
SLIDE 38

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

T TON(ITUS): ON(ITUS):

intone, astonish, detonate intone, astonish, detonate “ “loud noise loud noise” ”

TH THUNDER UNDER

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-39
SLIDE 39

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

F FLO(RA): LO(RA):

florid, florist, florid, florist, flourescent flourescent “ “flower flower” ”

B BLOOM LOOM

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-40
SLIDE 40

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

A AP P(O) (O)-

  • :

:

apostate, apostrophe, apostle apostate, apostrophe, apostle “ “away from away from” ”

O OF F O OFF FF

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-41
SLIDE 41

unvoiced unvoiced aspirate aspirate voiced voiced unvoiced unvoiced

P P > > PH (F) PH (F) > > B B > > P P T T > > TH (F) TH (F) > > D D > > T T K/C K/C > > KH/CH (H) KH/CH (H) > > G G > > K/C K/C

P PR(O) R(O)-

  • :

:

progress, proceed, pro progress, proceed, pro “ “in place of, on behalf of in place of, on behalf of” ”

F FOR OR

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Grimm Grimm’ ’s Law s Law

slide-42
SLIDE 42

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

  • not only is IE language reconstructable,

but so is IE culture

  • because we can reconstruct words from

Proto-Indo-European, we can see the sorts

  • f things and ideas that existed in early IE

society (before the migrations that separated IE peoples)

  • still, there’s much we don’t know
slide-43
SLIDE 43

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Don’t Know About IE Culture

  • no known archaeological site can be

definitively linked to the Indo-Europeans

  • thus, no clear type of technology
  • horseback riding?
  • no form of writing
  • no historical events
  • the Agricultural Revolution?
slide-44
SLIDE 44

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Don’t Know About IE Culture

  • no clear dating of IE history
  • glossochronology?
  • unreliable because rates of language change

vary greatly and are unpredictable

  • break-up of common IE culture happened ca.

5000-2000 BCE

  • not very precise!
slide-45
SLIDE 45

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Don’t Know About IE Culture

  • no clear indication of where the Indo-

Europeans lived

  • homeland problem
  • best guess: the steppes of central Russia
  • the Indo-Europeans were probably nomadic
  • that, at least, would explain the absence of

physical evidence

slide-46
SLIDE 46

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Know About the Indo-Europeans

  • the Indo-Europeans conquered many lands

and suppressed or exterminated many native peoples

  • e.g. in India, they created the caste system
slide-47
SLIDE 47

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Know About the Indo-Europeans

  • their religion was polytheistic
  • their chief god was “Sky-Father,” cf.

Jupiter

  • IE *deiw-: “shining”; cf. Zeus, Tiw (Tuesday)
  • also cf. divine, deity, day
slide-48
SLIDE 48

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Know About the Indo-Europeans

  • favored tripartition
  • the tendency to form or envision groups of

threes

  • social classes: kings/warriors, priests, workers
  • universe: earth, sky, water/sea
  • Christian trinity: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
  • arguments/stories: beginning, middle, end
  • beginning of a race: “Ready, Get Set, Go!”
slide-49
SLIDE 49

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Know About the Indo-Europeans

  • family structures:

. . . many family words (such as ‘mother', ‘husband', ‘brother') can be reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European. These include several words for ‘in-laws', which seem to have been used solely with reference to the bride. Evidence of this kind suggests that it was the wife who was given a position within the husband's family, rather than the other way round, and that the society must therefore have been patriarchal in character.

David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1987) 296

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SLIDE 50

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Know About the Indo-Europeans

  • government: kings (*reg-, cf. regal)
  • animals: cows (*gwous)
  • also sheep, pigs, dogs
  • technology: ships (*nau-), horses (*ekwo-)
  • also bows/arrows
  • but no IE words for “bronze” or “gold”
  • nor “ocean”: IE’s were not a coastal people!
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SLIDE 51

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans: History and Culture

Europeans: History and Culture

What We Know About the Indo-Europeans

There are no anciently common Indo-European words for elephant, rhinoceros, camel, lion, tiger, monkey, crocodile, parrot, rice, banyan, bamboo, palm, but there are common words, more or less widely spread over Indo-European territory, for snow and freezing cold, for oak, beech, pine, birch, willow, bear, wolf, otter, beaver, polecat, marten, weasel, deer, rabbit, mouse, horse, ox, sheep, goat, pig, dog, eagle, hawk, owl, jay, wild goose, wild duck, partridge or pheasant, snake, tortoise, crab, ant, bee, etc.

Harold H. Bender, The Home of the Indo-Europeans

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The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Conclusion Conclusion: Who Were the Indo : Who Were the Indo-

  • Europeans?

Europeans?

  • Who were the Indo-Europeans?
  • Unknown! but linguistic evidence leaves no

question they once existed

  • Who are the Indo-Europeans?
  • all people who are born of IE stock or speak

in IE language ― or even anyone who is predisposed to think in “threes”

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SLIDE 53

The Indo The Indo-

  • Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Conclusion Conclusion: Who Were the Indo : Who Were the Indo-

  • Europeans?

Europeans?

  • the Indo-Europeans were and still are the

most formidable conquerors ever!

  • they imposed their culture and values across

the entire globe

  • the colonization of America was an IE invasion
  • and their descendants continue to do so
  • the first man to walk on the moon was IE
  • so maybe the reason we haven’t returned is we

found no natives there to displace!