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