The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics

Introduction: The Archaeology of Language

• the discovery of the Indo-Europeans is

one 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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Introduction: The Archaeology of Language

• Indo-European historical linguistics

• various Eurasian languages
cf. “threes” in derive originally
from a singlenon-IE
“mother tongue”
languages:
Hebrew
• languages found shelosh
from India to Iceland
Turkish uc
• root vocabulary demonstrates
Chinese san this well
Malay tiga
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Introduction: 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.
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Introduction: 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”
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Introduction: 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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Introduction: 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.
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Introduction: 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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-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)
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-Europeans

WEST GERMANS
Elbe
River

Oder
River
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-Europeans

EAST GERMANS
Elbe
River

Oder
River
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
History of the Indo-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!
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Great Consonant Shift
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > P
DENTALS: T > TH (F) > D >0 T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C

• unvoiced: p/t/k(c)
• aspirate: ph/th/kh(ch)
• voiced: b/d/g
• Great Consonant Shift:
• FIRST STAGE: UNVOICED > ASPIRATE
• SECOND STAGE: ASPIRATE > VOICED
• FINAL STAGE: VOICED > UNVOICED
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > P
DENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > 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 (p > f, t > th)
• cf. paternal, paternity, patter
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law

• thus, the relationship between many

Germanic and non-Germanic IE words
can be reconstructed by reversing the
Great Consonant Shift
• to demonstrate this, I’ll use Latin/Greek
words because they have often produced
recognizable English derivatives
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

GEN (US): genus, genesis, genetic

“race, family”

K_N
KIN
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

GEL(I)D(US): gelid, congeal, Jell-O

“frozen”

COLD
C_LD
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

CHOL(OS): cholera, melancholy

“bile”

GALL
G_L
G_LL
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

HOST(IS): host, hostile, hotel/hostel

“stranger”

GUEST
GU_ST
G_ST
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

DA(CTYLOS): dactylic, pterodactyl

“digit, finger, extremity”

TOE
T_
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

DUO: dual, duo, duplicate

“pair, both”

TW_
TWO
TU_
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

THE(MA): theme, synthesis, antithesis

“act”

D_
DO
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

POL(Y): polygon, polygamy

“many, much”

F_L
F_LL
FILL
FULL
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

FER(O): fertile, transfer, refer

“carry”

BEAR
B_R
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

FRAG(ILIS): fragile, fragment, fracture

“crush, destroy”

BREAK
BR_K
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

PISC(IS): Pisces, piscary

“sea creature”

F_SH
FISH
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

DOM(US): domestic, domicile, dome

“house”

TIMBER
T_M
TAME (wood?)
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

FER(VO): fervid, effervescent

“become hot”

B_R(N)
BURN
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

GRAN(US): granary, granola

“grain”

CORN
C_RN
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

CORN(U): unicorn, cornet

“antler”

HORN
H_RN
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

DE(N)T(ES): dentist, dentition, indent

“molar, incisor”

TOOTH
T_TH
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

AG(E)R: agriculture, agronomy

“field”

ACRE
_CR_
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

TON(ITUS): intone, astonish, detonate

“loud noise”

THUNDER
TH_N_
TH_NDER
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

FLO(RA): florid, florist, flourescent

“flower”

BLOOM
BL_
BL_M
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

AP(O)-: apostate, apostrophe, apostle

“away from”

OFF
OF
_F
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Grimm’s Law
unvoiced aspirate voiced unvoiced

P > PH (F) > B > P

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

PR(O)-: progress, proceed, pro

“in place of, on behalf of”

FOR
F_R
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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
of things and ideas that existed in early IE
society (before the migrations that
separated IE peoples)
• still, there’s much we don’t know
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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?
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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!
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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!”
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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!
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
The Indo-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
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Conclusion: Who Were the Indo-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”
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Conclusion: Who Were the Indo-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!
The Indo-Europeans and Historical Linguistics
Conclusion: Who Were the Indo-Europeans?

Latin and Greek Elements in English

(CLAS 1100)

offered each Spring