Noun
- A linguistic theory according to which the similarities between Sanskrit, Persian, Greek and Latin justify a shared mother-language of common origin, based on the "Aryan" theory of philologist Sir William Jones; also known as Indo-Germanic under the extensive comparative work of these and other old languages by linguist Franz Bopp.
- A major language family which includes many of the languages between Europe and India, with notable Indic, Iranian and European sub-branches.
- The hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family. Also called Proto-Indo-European and abbreviated PIE.
- A member of the original group hypothesized to have spoken PIE and thus to have been the ancestor for most of Western Eurasia.
For more see (Wikipedia: Indo-European languages)
Adjective
- Of or relating to the languages originally spoken in Europe and Western Asia.
- Of or relating to the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family. Also called Proto-Indo-European and abbreviated PIE.
- Of or relating to the hypothetical group of peoples that spread Indo-European tongues.
Read full definition at wiktionary.org
...The Indo-European languages are a family (or phylum) of several hundred related languages and dialect,It is composed of 449 languages and dialects, according to the 2005 Ethnologue estimate, about half (219) belonging to the Indo-Aryan sub-branch. including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia. Attested since the Bronze Age, in the form of Mycenaean Greek and Anatolian languages, the Indo-European family is significant to the field of historical linguistics as possessing the longest recorded history after the Afroasiatic family. Read full entry
This entry is from Wikipedia,the leading user-contributed encyclopedia.It may not have been reviewed by professional editors(See full disclaimer)
- 1.Indo-European languages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The Indo-European languages are a family (or phylum) of several hundred related ... The languages of the Indo-European group are spoken by approximately three ...
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I
ndo-European_languages
- 2.Proto-Indo-Europeans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Indo-European peoples. Albanians · Armenians. Balts · Celts · Germanic peoples ... Indo-European studies ... Many Indo-European societies know a threefold ...
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I
ndo-European_people
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How did the Indo-European From Sanskrit and Lithuanian
to Latin and Greek...all these
languages supposedly originate
from one single
mother-language, and indeed
share a certain amount of
common cognates. But they are
utterly unintelligible with
one another...Greek won't help
you with Russan for example.
Any ideas on how the
Indo-European families have
become so distinct from one
another?
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The answer is very simple: distance between communities and the pass of time made all this languages find different sounds and signs for different realities. If you notice, Spanish, French, Italian and Rumanian are not that different. But they're difficult to learn because their words were meant to explain realities we never have experienced before. Also, Greek won't help you with Russian because they come from a different root. But don't worry, that's how languages are supposed to be. Just look at Basque. That's a puzzle of a language. Nobody knows where its origins are. Good question! |
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Can someone please explain to So I've seen this term and
read about it, but I haven't
quite understood how Indo
European languages are
connected, and where they all
came from? For example, I
don't understand how the
Armenian and German language
can be in the same family.
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Linguists noticed many similarities between Sanskrit(an ancient Indic language) and European languages (for ex. the sanskrit word RAJA is close to the latin word REX which became the italian RE) and this suggested a common historical parentage.So they proposed that many of the classical languages (latin, greek, sanskrit, gothic, celtic, persian) derive from the same source and they called this parent language Indo-European.All we know about Indo-European is based on conjectures, on common aspects found in modern-day languages and on tracing a hypothetical mother tongue called Proto-Indo European(which may never have existed). Two or more languages are in the same family because they have similar linguistic aspects (words, grammatical costructions, fonethics...) |
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How come Finish and Hungarian Finland and Hungary are
located in Europe and they are
both members of European
Union. Especially, Hungary is
in the very center of Europe.
Plus, the Finnish and
Hungarian people totally look
like Europeans(Caucasians,
White or whatever you want to
call them).
How come their languages are
not even Indo-European
languages?
Either geographically or
ethnically, Finland and
Hungary are closer to Europe
than Persia or India.
How is that possible?
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Europe has not always been exclusively Aryan (or Indo-European ) territory. The Indo-Europeans were relative late commers to Europe, arriving about 4,000 B.C. from the Southeastern Ukraine. The original Ice Age population of Europe seems to have been mostly Finno-Ugrian from Moscow all the way to the British Isles. In other words. Finno-Ugrian hunter-gatherer boat peoples, In much of Southern Europe there were other Non-Indo-European peoples like the Basques, Etruscans and their relatives. Some linguists think that this group may be distantly related to the North Caucasian languages (Not to be confused with "Caucasian race") and to Sino-Tibetan group of languages all the way in China! The Greeks and Armenians seem to have intermarried with the Mongolods a long time ago even though they speak Indo-European languages. In fact, both peoples may have been originally Mongoloid and gradually became a little more Caucasoid like the Finns and the Hungarians. The original homeland of the Finno-Ugric peoples was in the Russian-Siberian border region. Their original language, Proto-Uralic, later split up into separate Finno-Ugrian, Lappic and Samoyedic groups. Some linguists believe that Korean and Japanese may be early offshoots of Proto-Uralic too but their speakers migrated eastward instead of westward. The Celts appear to have been the first Indo- Europeans to develop a close relationship with the Finno-Ugrian peoples. Cavalli-Sforza's genetic research reveals ancient links between the Scots (Celtic speaking) and Poles & Russians (Slavic speaking) and Hungarians (Finno-Ugrian speaking). There also appear to be genetic links between the Irish (Celtic speaking) and Finns (Finno-Ugric speaking) and Bulgarians (Slavic speaking, maybe originally Finnic speaking). So over the centuries, through a series of migrations and intermarriages, genes and languages have been jumbled up in Europe. You may also wish to see this article by Finnish scholar Andres Paabo about the original extent of Finno-Ugrian peoples and languages in ancient Europe before the Indo-European invasians squeezed them into present day Lappland and Finland. So far, it's officially just a theory. However, I believe there is a good deal of truth to it. http://www.paabo.ca/uirala/Fin noUgricbkgd.html There is also some evidence that the Bretons and Picts were originally Ugrian speakers from Russia (see Hungarian) who later became Celtic (Indo-European) speaking through their associations with the Celts. |
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