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Indo-European studies | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · Naming And Nomenclature History —
Indo-European studies.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
In 1813, British scholar Sir Thomas Young coined the term Indo-European to describe a newly discovered family of languages. He used it as a geographical label for tongues spanning from the Indian subcontinent to Europe. Before this moment, scholars proposed various alternative names without reaching consensus. Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn had written about Scythian in 1647. Rasmus Christian Rask introduced japetisk or Japhetic languages in 1815. This name derived from Japheth, son of the Biblical Noah. The parallel terms Semitic and Hamitic came from Noah's other sons. Both Japhetic and Hamitic are now obsolete terms. In French, A. Pictet established Indo-Germanique in 1836. Julius von Klapproth introduced Germanisch in 1823 to encompass both northern and southern branches. Franz Bopp used Germanisch from 1835 onward. August Friedrich Pott later popularized Indo-Germanisch. Wilhelm von Humboldt suggested Indogermanische Sprache in 1827. Christian Lassen wrote about Indogermanische Sprachen in 1830. G. I. Ascoli published his work on Indoeuropea in 1854. F. M. Müller favored aryan in 1861. H. Chavée proposed Indogermanisch in 1867. Modern usage sees Indo-European and Indogermanisch dominate English and French academic writing. German scholarship primarily uses Indogermanisch though this is gaining prominence. Dutch academic writing has largely transitioned from Indogermaans to Indo-Europees. Some scholars use Indo-Hittite for the wider family including Anatolian.
Early Comparative Linguistics Development
The ancient Greeks were aware that their language had changed since the time of Homer around 730 BC. Aristotle identified four types of linguistic change: insertion, deletion, transposition and substitution. In the first century BC, Romans noticed similarities between Greek and Latin. Saint Augustine attempted to derive all languages from Hebrew during the post-classical West period. Joseph Scaliger challenged the idea of a Hebrew root to European languages between 1540 and 1609. He identified Greek, Germanic, Romance and Slavic language groups by comparing the word for God. Gottfried Leibniz applied ideas of gradualism and uniformitarianism to linguistics in 1710. He rejected both a Hebrew root and unrelated language groups. Around the twelfth century, scholars noted resemblances between Icelandic and English. Gerald of Wales claimed Welsh, Cornish, and Breton descended from a common source. George Buchanan carried out a study of Insular Celtic languages in the sixteenth century. Edward Lhuyd conducted the first field study around 1700. He published his work in 1707 shortly after translating Paul-Yves Pezron on Breton. Filippo Sassetti reported striking resemblances between Sanskrit and Italian in the sixteenth century. Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn proposed Scythian as a primitive common language in 1647. His posthumously published Originum Gallicarum liber added Slavic, Celtic and Baltic in 1654. Johann Elichmann used ex eadem origine in a study published posthumously in 1640. Mikhail Lomonosov compared numbers and linguistic features in different languages including Slavic, Baltic, Iranian, Finnish, Chinese, Khoekhoe and others. Gaston-Laurent Coeurdoux sent a Mémoire to the French Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1767.
Who coined the term Indo-European and when was it introduced?
Sir Thomas Young coined the term Indo-European in 1813 to describe a family of languages spanning from the Indian subcontinent to Europe. Before this moment, scholars proposed various alternative names without reaching consensus.
What were the early alternative names for the language family before modern usage?
Early alternative names included Scythian proposed by Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn in 1647 and Japhetic introduced by Rasmus Christian Rask in 1815. Other terms such as Indo-Germanique established by A. Pictet in 1836 and Germanisch introduced by Julius von Klapproth in 1823 also appeared in historical scholarship.
When did Sir William Jones deliver his pivotal lecture on Sanskrit and what conclusion did he reach?
Sir William Jones delivered a lecture in India in 1786 which was published in 1788. He postulated that Sanskrit bore a stronger affinity to Greek and Latin than could have been produced by accident and identified six branches including Persian, Germanic and Celtic.
Which hypothesis links Proto-Indo-European culture to archaeology and when was it developed?
The Kurgan hypothesis links language history to archaeology through work by J. P. Mallory who published In Search of the Indo-Europeans in 1989. Marija Gimbutas contributed archaeological work while Colin Renfrew also studied the field alongside genetic evidence from Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza.
Where are major research centers for Indo-European studies located today and which universities host them?
Major research centers exist across Europe and North America with Innsbruck hosting Hannes A. Fellner and Ivo Hajnal and Vienna including Melanie Malzahn and Laura Grestenberger. Institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge host James Clackson and Andreas Willi while Cornell Harvard UCLA and Texas feature scholars like Benjamin W. Fortson IV and Hans Heinrich Hock.
Sir William Jones delivered a lecture in India in 1786 which was published in 1788. He remarked that Sanskrit bore a stronger affinity to Greek and Latin than could have been produced by accident. In his 1786 The Sanskrit Language, Jones postulated a proto-language uniting six branches: Sanskrit, Persian, Greek, Latin, Germanic and Celtic. Rasmus Christian Rask submitted an entry to an essay contest on Icelandic history in 1814. He concluded that Germanic languages belonged with Greek, Latin, Slavic, and Lithuanian. August Schleicher became the first scholar to compose a tentative reconstructed text known as Schleicher's fable. Franz Bopp published Comparative Grammar of Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic and German from 1833 to 1852. The classical phase leads from Bopp to August Schleicher's Compendium of 1861. Karl Brugmann published Grundriss of Indo-European Languages from 1886 to 1893. Ferdinand de Saussure proposed consonantal schwa in 1879 which later evolved into laryngeal theory. Jerzy Kuryłowicz discovered survival of hypothetical phonemes in Anatolian in 1927. Julius Pokorny published Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch in 1959. Oswald Szemerényi, Calvert Watkins, Warren Cowgill, Jochem Schindler, and Helmut Rix developed better understanding of morphology in the last third of the twentieth century. Rix's Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben appeared in 1997. Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon addressed nouns in 2008. Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme covered pronouns and particles in 2014. Current efforts focus on relative chronology within proto-language distinguishing early middle and late dialects.
Integration With Archaeology And Genetics
Efforts at recovering historical depth in Proto-Indo-European combined with linking language history to archaeology notably through the Kurgan hypothesis. J. P. Mallory published In Search of the Indo-Europeans in 1989 and Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture in 1997. Georges Dumézil reconstructed culture and mythology of Proto-Indo-Europeans. Marija Gimbutas contributed archaeological work while Colin Renfrew also studied the field. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza brought genetic evidence to bear on homeland theories. Speculations about realia of Proto-Indo-European culture are not part of comparative linguistics but rather a sister-discipline. The existence of Proto-Indo-Europeans had been inferred by comparative linguistics as early as 1640. Attempts at reconstruction date back as far as 1713. By the nineteenth century no consensus existed about internal groups of the family. Knowledge of Anatolian reached certainty sufficient stage from the 1960s allowing influence on proto-language image. Purely linguistic research was bolstered by attempts to reconstruct culture and mythology alongside archaeology and genetics. These interdisciplinary models shape current homeland theories regarding where speakers originally lived.
Modern Institutional Frameworks
Dedicated programs, research centers, journals, and book series sustain Indo-European studies across Europe and North America today. Innsbruck hosts Hannes A. Fellner and Ivo Hajnal. Vienna includes Melanie Malzahn and Laura Grestenberger. Charles University in Prague employs Václav Blažek and Dita Frantíková. Copenhagen has Birgit Anette Olsen and Thomas Olander. Paris features Daniel Petit, Agnes Korn, David Sasseville, and Carlotta Viti. Nancy includes Agnes Korn and Carlotta Viti. Marburg houses Ilya Yakubovich and Elisabeth Rieken. Cologne has Eugen Hill. Berlin includes Theresa Roth. Göttingen employs Götz Keydana. Halle has Sabine Häusler. Erlangen includes Stefan Schaffner. Frankfurt has Gerd Carling. Cyprus features Alexander Nikolaev. Leiden includes Leonid Kulikov, Alexander Lubotsky, Alwin Kloekhorst, and Michaël Peyrot. Jagiellonian University has Ronald Kim. Ljubljana includes Varja Cvetko Oresnik. Madrid and Salamanca feature Francisco Rodríguez Adrados and Blanca María Prósper. Uppsala and Stockholm have Christiane Schaefer, Jenny Larsson, and Axel Palmér. Basel and Zürich include Paul Widmer and Michiel de Vaan. Oxford and Cambridge host James Clackson and Andreas Willi. Cornell, Harvard, UCLA, and Texas feature Benjamin W. Fortson IV, Hans Heinrich Hock, Jay Jasanoff, Anthony D. Yates, Andrew Sihler, Winfred P. Lehmann, Hrach Martirosyan, Craig Melchert, Alan Nussbaum, Eric P. Hamp, and Jaan Puhvel. Kuhn's Zeitschrift began in 1852 and renamed to HS in 1988. IF started in 1892. Glotta began in 1909. BSL started in 1869. Journal of Indo-European Studies launched in 1973. Tocharian and Indo-European Studies began in 1987. Studia indo-europaea started in 2001. International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction appeared in 2004. Indo-European Linguistics launched in 2012. Leiden Studies in Indo-European founded 1991. Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European founded 1999. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series began 2005.