Origins of the Indo- Europeans Ancient Greece Spring 2011
Jan 15, 2016
Origins of the Indo-Europeans
Ancient GreeceSpring 2011
Discover of the Indo-European Language Family
• Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm– German Grammar (1819)– History of the German Language (1848)– German Dictionary (1854)
• Rasmus Rask (1787-1832)– Comparisons between German, Slavonic, Persian and
Indian languages– Rask’s -- Grimm’s Law
• Franz Bopp (1791-1867)– Comparative Grammar (1833/52)
• August Schleicher (1821-1868)– First Divisions of the Indo-European Peoples (1853)– Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the
Indo-European Languages (1861/62)
Comparative VocabularyEnglish German Greek Latin Irish French
Russian BengaliOne eins hen unus aon un odin ekTwo zwei duo duo do deux dva dviThree drei treis tres tri trois tri trifour vier tettares quattuor ceathair
quatre chetyre carFive funf pente quinque cuig cinq pyat
pacsix sechs hex sex se six shesht
chaySeven sieben hepta septem seacht sept sem satEight acht okto octo ocht huit vosem atNine neun ennea novem naoi neuf devyat nayten zehn deka decem deich dix desyat
das
Rask’s- Grimm’s Law
bh > b > p > fdh > d > t > thgh > g > k > x(ch, h)ghw > gw > kw > x(ch,h)w
Bhratr > brother > bratr> fraterPada > pous > pes/pedis > fuss > foot
Gelandros > gelumas > gelu > kalt > cold
Quos- > quos > que > cso > hvat > what
Indo-European Language Family
according to August Schleicher (1861)
Proto-Indo-European
Aryan
Indic
Italo-Celtic
Italic
Celtic
Germano-Balto-Slavic
Germanic
Slavic
Baltic
Indo-Aryan
Problems
• Time and Place – “homeland” and divisions
• Relationship to other language families– Uralic, Altaic, Kartvelian, Semitic (Afro-
Asiatic)• Hittite Problem• Tocharian Problem• Relation of Greek to other Languages• Mechanics of dissemination• Was there an Ursprache at all?
Indo-European Language Family according to Francesco Adranos
(1982)Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Anatolian
Archaic Proto Indo-European
Western PIE
Southern PIE
Tocharian
Germano-Balto-Slavic
Celtic Italic
Indo-Aryan
Greek and Armenian Indo-Aryan
Uralic (Finno-Ugric)
Afro-Asiatic (Semitic)
Renfrew
GamkrelidzeIvanov
Kartvelian
Gimbutas
GreekHittite
Mitanni(Indo –Aryan)
Foragers
Steppe
Forest
Spread of Agriculture
6500-5500 BC
“Old
Eur
ope”
Sredny Stog
Forag
ers
The Growth of Old Europe and
the Steppe Cultures
5500-3800 BC
Trip
olye
Yamnaya Horizon
“Old Europe”
Old Europe and the Steppe Cultures
3600-3000 BC
Climate Change and the End of Old Europe
Tripol
ye Yamnaya H
orizon
Ustavo Culture
Hittite
Luwian The Coming of the Indo-
Europeans3000-2500 BC