Indo-Europeans

See also: Indo-European

The Indo-Europeans are a whole of people of Europe and Asia speaking about the related Langue S.

Definition

In Europe, it is:

In Asia, it is:

Subfamilies can be distinguished. The Iranian languages and the Indian languages are thus very close; they constitute the Indo-Iranian subfamily. It is known that the Indo-Iraniens were called themselves Arya, term which was francized in Aryens. In the same way, the Slavic one is close to the Baltic one. One thus speaks about the balto-Slavic group.

  • Armenian . Their localization in Asia depends on the traditional definition of the Europe, which makes the Caucasus one of its southernmost borders.

  • Indo-Aryan . A multitude of dialects are spoken in India about North, but all derive from the Sanskrit. An antiquated form of the Sanskrit is the Védique, the language of the Vedas, the oldest known Indian texts. In the north of the Pakistan, are spoken about the languages known as dardic, like the Cachemiri or the Khowar. They are Indo-Aryan but do not derive from the Sanskrit.

History

The situation of the Indo-European people developed much during their history.

  • In Antiquity, the Celtes occupied most of the Europe. Their hearth is in Central Europe, around the Suisse and of the Austria. Their expansion started as from fourth century BC. The Celtic people of the Boïens moved towards the east and gave his name to the Bohemia. The Belgian Helvètes and the were Celts, the seconds living originally in the south of the Germany. Other Celts conquered the territory of the France (except the Provence, which was left with the Ligures), the North-West of the Iberian peninsula (occupied in south-east by the Ibères, nonIndo-European) and British Isles. They also migrated towards the Balkans and reached the Anatolia into -278. The Celtic people installed on this last territory were called the Galates. The Celtic warriors carried out a raid with Rome into -386 and Delphes into -279. It is especially the expansion of Rome which reduced the territory of the Celts, by eliminating their language from the Italy of North, of the Gaulle and of the Iberian peninsula. On their side, the Germains migrated towards the Germany of the South, the Suisse and the Central Europe, (Germans of the Volga for example or those of Carpathes - practically completely all expelled in 1945-6 is roughly min. 5 million). They conquered the England shortly after the departure of the Romains.

  • In the beginning, the Latin language was spoken only on one very reduced territory around Rome, called Latium. Languages connected with Latin were however spoken elsewhere in Italy, like the sabellic languages (sabin, samnite, osque…) or the Ombrien (known thanks to seven bronze tables gone back to 1444). These languages are qualified italics. They were close to the Celtic languages. The two groups constituted the italo-Celtic subfamily.

  • the hearth of Slavic is localized in the east of the Carpates and on high the the Vistula. Their expansion was started at the 5th century by the Great invasions and was done in all the directions. In the south, the Slavic ones became close to the Greek and they even reached the Crete. In the west, they made move back the Germains and reached the Elba. To north, they came into contact with the Baltes, which occupied a territory vaster a long time than now. The Prussia was a Baltic State. At the 14th century, the Lithuanians have even founded with the Polish the vastest State of the Europe, going to the Black Sea.

  • the most spectacular expansion was that of the Indo-Iranian ones. The Indo-Aryan ones entered in India starting from the Central Asia towards -1700, but they migrated only towards this territory. They played a part in the foundation of the kingdom of the Mitanni into high Mésopotamie, towards -1500. The shelves mitanniennes indeed delivered a great quantity of proper names vedic, and in particular of names of gods quoted in the Rig-Veda: Varuna, Mitra, Indra, the Nāsatya, Yama or Yamī. This shows that the vedic time started before -1500, apart from India. The Indo-Aryan ones contributed to the development of a civilization known as bactro-margienne, or Oxus, gone back to -2200 to -1700. It was located in current the Ouzbékistan and southernmost Turkménistan (cf Théorie of the Aryan invasion). More in north, during most of III, a culture known as of Andronovo developed on all the Kazakhstan and part of the plain of central Siberia. It was undoubtedly certainly Indo-Iranian, Iranian. The Scythes were its heirs and the Ossètes of the the Caucasus are a small residue. In the west, the Iranians strongly influenced the Slavic ones (of the Iranian vocabulary is recognizable in the Slavic languages and the Slavic god Sventovit was not other than the Iranian Mithra), and in the east, close to the Mongolian border , they left names of rivers. It is the expansion of the Peuples Turkish, with, which reduced the field of the Iranians. In the south, the presence of the Perses on the Iranian plate is attested as of the IX E, thanks to the sources Assyrie. They lived close to other Iranian people, the Mèdes.

Certain Indo-European people disappeared:

  • the Hittites founded an empire in Anatolia during III, which lasted until towards -1200. While advancing with the the Middle East, they ran up against the Égyptiens. They briefly appear in the Bible, where they are called Hittim. Their capital, Hattusa, were close to current Kültepe. Other languages connected with the hittite were spoken in Anatolia, the louwite and palaite. They are known thanks to inscriptions in writing Cunéiforme. To II, the Lycie, in the south-west of Anatolia, spoke a language resulting from the louwite. Lyciens used the Greek alphabet. These languages, most antiquated of all the known Indo-European languages, formed a qualified group of Anatolian. The language of the Lydie, in the west of Anatolia, was Anatolian, but of statute difficult to determine (resulting from the hittite?). Its king, before the conquest of Persians in -546, was Crésus.

  • the Tokhariens lived until the end of in the current Chinese province of the Xinjiang. They were Eastern of all the Indo-Europeans, but their two languages, the tokharien itself and the koutchéen, presented particular affinities with theCeltic one. They also divided much vocabulary with the Germanic one and the Greek. The Indo-European language dissimilar of the tokharien was geographically its close relation neighbor: Iranian. With, Koutchéens were very powerful people which left a strong print on Chinese civilization. They were known Chinese under the name of Quanrong. To II, the Yuezhi founded the first known empire of the Central Asia, starting from the Gansu. They were overcome at second century BC by people of Siberian origin, the Xiongnu. While being installed on the territory of Tokhariens at the 9th century, the Ouïgours caused the extinction of these languages.

One can quote other missing people, sometimes which one does not know large thing: the Daces or Gète S lived in the north of the the Danube, the Thrace S left their name to the oriental party of the Balkan S, the Illyriens lived in the North-West of the Greece and the Phrygien S founded a powerful kingdom in Anatolia after the obliteration of the Hittites.

Of course, the history of the Indo-Europeans does not stop at the end of Antiquity. The conquest of the Americas or the Australia in fact also part. The family of the Indo-European languages is that which currently includes/understands the most speakers. The expansion of pleasing to reflect on the concept of Indo-European. A Sioux which is integrated into the american company and does not speak any more that the English Indo-European or indo-is Europeanized? Weren't the people previously quoted indo-Europeanized? Their genetic diversity brings to think it. There are few common points between an Irishman and an Indian.

The process of diffusion

The existence of this family of languages being recognized, it should be explained how she was formed. Two type of linguistic families exist: the genetic families , from which the elements go down by differentiation from a common ancestor, and the families Aréale S , which were constituted by exchanges between several nonrelated people. The resemblance of the Indo-European languages is such as few specialists doubt of their genetic nature: they have at the same time a vocabulary and a common grammar. The mother language, the common Indo-European, could be partially reconstituted. The observation according to which the Iranians and Tokhariens were geographically close, to, but that their languages were so to speak diametrically opposite, returns the assumption of a practically incredible aréale family. It is obvious that the Iranian languages and tokhariennes lengthily evolved/moved by differentiation, after the separation of their speakers, then that their migrations ended up giving them in contact. Aréales families are known. The altaïques Langues are one of them. Grammars of these languages present many similarities, but they have little joint vocabulary.

It should be added that the similarities between the Indo-Europeans are not only linguistic. Their companies also have many common points, such as their patriarchal and warlike character. Various Indo-European mythologies also present resemblances very striking. Their study is the subject of the compared Mythologie, discipline initiated by researchers such as Georges Dumézil. The myths are a factor of cultural identity as sure as the languages: the people without writing preserve their myths with much care because they constitute to know to them. The myths give the significance of the natural phenomena indeed (succession of the seasons, it to raise and the sunset, the thunder, etc). It is known that they can cross the millenia without deterioration.

If it is linguistic and cultural, the Indo-European phenomenon is not racial. The Indo-Europeans are certainly not the descendants of a single “race” which would have extended by pushing back other people. The phenomenon of diffusion of the languages and the cultures can be observed at the time history, and it is generally not as it is held. Generally, of the invaders having established their capacity on a foreign nation, the autochtones are not really constrained to learn their language, but they may find it very beneficial to make it if they want to occupy a place in their company. Thus Latin diffused itself or that the Germanic one settled in England. The Indo-Europeans having a warlike temperament, this mode of diffusion of their languages had to be largely prevalent. One moreover observed than they had an “aristocratic” temperament. They behaved like lords. Even their languages were of aristocratic nature, as the linguist Antoine Meillet noticed it. They liked guerroyer, to make raids, to raise their animals, but they scorned the culture of the ground and all manual work. It was to the women, to the old men or with any person dominated to cultivate their fields. It is probable that low the Caste S of the India, in particular the Untouchable ones, originally consisted of autochtones to which manual work was entrusted (but the system of the castes is clean in India). To invade a country and to use its inhabitants as a servile labor were to be common in the Indo-Europeans. If dominated had the possibility, even weak, “to climb in the hierarchy” by adopting the languages and the habits of their lords, it was a very powerful means of indo-Europeanization.

The diffusion of the Indo-European languages was done “by stages”. The people speaking the mother language, which one calls the Proto-indo-Europeans, communicated his language with his neighbors. After indo-Europeanizebeing Europeanized, those have in their turn transmitted this language to their neighbors. These is a process which proceeded on thousands of years. This observation calls into question an explanation sometimes advanced to the Indo-European expansion: it would have been started by climatic variations in the country of Proto-Indo-Europeans. In a way much more probable, the latter caught a contagious disease: the allied thirst for capacity to the thirst for richnesses. Their military power gave them the means of achieving their goals. In their principle, the conquests which they carried out do not differ of anything colonization from the world by Europeans, with. One colonizes a country to exploit his population and his natural wealths.

The theory of Marija Gimbutas, elaborate as from the years 1950, locates the country of Proto-Indo-Europeans at the north of the Black Sea. Their civilization, called the culture of the Kourganes, was constituted towards 5000 av. J. - C. They maintained the relationships to a civilization technologically much more advanced than theirs, known as of Cucuteni-Tripolye, located in Romania. These people had true cities made up of hundreds of dwellings. They manufactured beautiful potteries, sometimes covered with gold or graphite powder, thanks to temperatures of cooking reaching the 1200 °C. These potteries were exported in the north of the Black Sea. It must be quite simply the covetousness which pushed certain Proto-Indo-Europeans to be migrated towards Romania. The first migration occurred between -4400 and -4200, according to Mr. Gimbutas. It was the beginning of the indo-Europeanization of Europe.

The spirit of adventure was not to be foreign to Proto-Indo-Europeans. One does not explain the fact differently that at the end of, a part of them left their territory to be installed on the higher course of the Ienisseï, 4000 km more in the east. All indicates that this migration was, not slow and progressive, but rather fast. These migrants founded a culture known as of Afanasievo which seems a genuine antenna of that of the Kourganes, in a cultural medium very different from their. One sees in them the ancestors of the Tokhariens. They evoke the Malayo-Polynésiens, which left to the conquest the oceans with their small boats and diffused their languages of Madagascar to the Easter Island.

See too

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