Indo-European language

Examples of Indo-European language in the following topics:

• Sanskrit

  • One of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial documentation exists, Sanskrit is believed to have been the general language of the greater Indian Subcontinent in ancient times.
  • Sanskrit traces its linguistic ancestry to Proto-Indo-Iranian and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European languages, meaning that it can be traced historically back to the people who spoke Indo-Iranian, also called the Aryan languages, and the Indo-European languages, a family of several hundred related languages and dialects.
  • Today, an estimated 46% of humans speak some form of Indo-European language.
  • Sanskrit is a major feature of the academic linguistic field of Indo-European studies, which focuses on both extinct and current Indo-European languages and can be studied in major universities around the world.
  • Sanskrit evolved from Proto-Indo-European languages and was used to write the Vedas, the Hindu religious texts compiled between 1500-500 BCE.

• The Indo-Aryan Migration and the Vedic Period

  • Many have rejected the claim of Indo-Aryan origin outside of India entirely, claiming the Indo-Aryan people and languages originated in India.
  • The most prominent of these groups spoke Indo-European languages and were called Aryans, or "noble people" in the Sanskrit language.
  • Wheeler, who was Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1944 to 1948, suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the Aryans suddenly overwhelmed and conquered the Indus River Valley.
  • The Kurgan Hypothesis is the most widely accepted scenario of Indo-European origins.
  • It postulates that people of a so-called Kurgan Culture, a grouping of the Yamna or Pit Grave culture and its predecessors, of the Pontic Steppe were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language.

• Expansion and Decline of the Kushan Empire

  • The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people.
  • The Yuezhi lived in the grasslands of eastern Central Asia's Tarim Basin, in modern-day Xinjiang, China, possibly speaking varieties of Indo-European languages, until they were driven west by the Xiongnu in 176–160 BCE (Before Common Era).
  • Although philosophy, art and science developed within its borders, the only textual record we have of the Kushan Empire's history comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese.
  • In 248 CE they were defeated again by Persians, who deposed the western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals – cities or kingdoms that forfeited foreign policy independence in exchange for full autonomy and in some cases formal tribute – known as the Indo-Sassanids, or Kushanshas.
  • The last of the Kushan and Sassanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by the Hepthalites, another Indo-European people from the north.

• The Hittites

  • The Hittite language was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family.
  • Despite the use of Hatti as the core of their territory, the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region (until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE), and spoke a different language, possibly in the Northwest Caucasian language group known as Hattic.
  • In earlier times, Indo-European elements may still be clearly discerned.

• The Origins of Etruria

  • Ruling over this pantheon of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess.
  • Knowledge of the Etruscan language is still far from complete.
  • It is believed that the Etruscans spoke a non-Indo-European language, probably related to what is called the Tyrsenian language family, which is itself an isolate family, or in other words, unrelated directly to other known language groups.

• The Germanic Tribes

  • The Germanic peoples (also called Teutonic, Suebian, or Gothic in older literature) are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin.
  • They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
  • The Germanic tribes were chronicled by Rome's historians as having had a critical impact on the course of European history during the Roman-Germanic wars, particularly at the historic Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, where the vanquishment of three Roman legions at the hands of Germanic tribal warriors precipitated the Roman Empire's strategic withdrawal from Magna Germania.
  • As a linguistic group, modern Germanic peoples include the Afrikaners, Austrians, Danes, Dutch, English, Flemish, Frisians, Germans, Icelanders, Lowland Scots, Norwegians, Swedes and others (including diaspora populations, such as some groups of European Americans).
  • In Northernmost Europe in what now constitutes the European plains of Denmark and southern Scandinavia is where the Germanic peoples most likely originated; a region that remained "remarkably stable" as far back as the Neolithic Age, when humans first began controlling their environment through the use of agriculture and the domestication of animals.

• The Caste System

  • A caste system developed among Indo-Aryans of the Vedic Period, splitting society into four major groups.
  • The caste system in India may have several origins, possibly starting with the well-defined social orders of the Indo-Aryans in the Vedic Period, ca. 1750-500 BCE (Before Common Era).
  • The Vedas were ancient scriptures, written in the Sanskrit language, which contained hymns, philosophies and rituals handed down to the priests of the Vedic religion.
  • By around 1000 BCE, the Indo-Aryans developed four main caste distinctions: Brahamin, consisting of priests, scholars and teachers; Kshatriyas, the kings, governors and warriors; Vaishyas, comprising agriculturists, artisans, and merchants; and Sudras, the service providers and artisans who were originally non-Aryans but admitted to Vedic society.

• Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization

  • According to one theory by British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, a nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the Aryans suddenly overwhelmed and conquered the Indus River Valley.
  • Many scholars came to believe in an Indo-Aryan Migration theory that states the Harappan culture was assimilated during a migration of the Aryan people into northwest India.

• Etruscan Religion

  • Ruling over this pantheon of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess.

• The Bantu Migration

  • The linguistic core of the Bantu family of languages, a branch of the Niger–Congo language family, was located in the adjoining region of Cameroon and Nigeria.
  • Other factors include increased trade among African communities and with European, and Arab traders on the coasts; technological developments in economic activity, and new techniques in the political-spiritual ritualization of royalty as the source of national strength and health.
  • It is not known how many Bantu language exist today but Ethnologue counts 535 languages.
  • Parts of the Bantu area include languages from other language families.
  • The Bantu expansion according to Derek Nurse and Gérard Philippson: The Bantu Languages.