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Who were the Proto-Indo-Europeans and what did they speak?
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a hypothetical prehistoric population of Eurasia who spoke Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the ancestor of the Indo-European languages according to linguistic reconstruction. Knowledge of them comes chiefly from that linguistic reconstruction, along with material evidence from archaeology and archaeogenetics.
What is the best Indo-European Etymological Dictionary?
Julius Pokorny ‘s Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (‘Indo-European Etymological Dictionary’, 1959) gave a detailed, though conservative, overview of the lexical knowledge accumulated by 1959. Jerzy Kuryłowicz ‘s 1956 Apophonie gave a better understanding of Indo-European ablaut.
Are the Indo-Europeans our ancestors?
If our language is a descendant of theirs, that does not make them ‘our ancestors’, any more than the ancient Romans are the ancestors of the French, the Romanians, and the Brazilians. The Indo-Europeans were a people in the sense of a linguistic community.
What are the subgroups of Indo-European languages?
Commonly proposed subgroups of Indo-European languages include Italo-Celtic, Graeco-Aryan, Graeco-Armenian, Graeco-Phrygian, Daco-Thracian, and Thraco-Illyrian.
How did the Indo-European languages diverge?
As Proto-Indo-Europeans became isolated from each other through the Indo-European migrations, the dialects of PIE spoken by the various groups diverged by undergoing certain sound laws and shifts in morphology to transform into the known ancient and modern Indo-European languages.
Can We reconstruct Proto-Indo-European religion?
If we are to reconstruct Proto-Indo-European Religion, we are more likely to encounter a complex system of myths and legends, gods, and goddesses, with varying degrees of importance depending on location, time, necessity and the social standing of the worshipers, as is the case in Hinduism.