The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European WorldThis book introduces Proto-Indo-European and explores what the language reveals about the people who spoke it. The Proto-Indo-Europeans lived somewhere in Europe or Asia between 5,500 and 8,000 years ago, and no text of their language survives. J. P. Mallory and Douglas Adams show how over thelast two centuries scholars have reconstructed it from its descendant languages, the surviving examples of which comprise the world's largest language family. After a concise account of Proto-Indo-European grammar and a consideration of its discovery, they use the reconstructed language and relatedevidence from archaeology and natural history to examine the lives, thoughts, passions, culture, society, economy, history, and environment of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. Our distant ancestors had used the wheel, were settled arable farmers, kept sheep and cattle, brewed beer, got married, madeweapons, and had 27 verbs for the expression of strife. The subjects to which the authors devote chapters include fauna, flora, family and kinship, clothing and textiles, food and drink, space and time, emotions, mythology, religion, and the continuing quest to discover the Proto-Indo-Europeanhomeland.Proto-Indo-European-English and English-Proto-Indo-European vocabularies and full indexes conclude the book. Written in a clear, readable style and illustrated with maps, figures, and tables, this book is on a subject of great and enduring fascination. It will appeal to students of languages,classics, and the ancient world, as well as to general readers interested in the history of language and of early human societies. |
Contents
Discovery | 1 |
Europe and western Asia | 10 |
The Elements | 12 |
Copyright | |
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Albanian Anatolian Anatolian languages animal Armenian associated Avestan Baltic e.g. Lith Baltic Lith basic bher borrowed Celtic e.g. OIr Celtic languages Celtic OIr cognate concept deities derived forms dialectal Grk e.g. Grk e.g. Hit e.g. Lat e.g. NWels e.g. OHG e.g. OIr e.g. Rus earliest English European evidence Germanic e.g. OE gives Goth Greek groups e.g. hair Hamp Hittite horse Indic Skt Indo Indo-Aryan Indo-European groups Indo-European languages Indo-European Studies Indo-Iranian Iranian language isogloss Italic languages Italic Lat language groups Latin Latv lexical linguistic loanword meaning names nominal derivatives North-West noun NPers Old Church Slavonic OPrus original plough possible pronouns Proto Proto-Indo proto-language reconstructed lexicon Sanskrit seen sheep shine Slavic e.g. OCS Slavic OCS suffix suggests Table Tocharian Tocharian e.g. Toch Tocharian Toch underlying verb verbal root vocabulary vowel West Central region widely attested yields