Chelsea Cresswell - London
Many languages have words that seem familiar to us because they are related to words in languages we know. For example, the word “brother” in English sounds like the Greek “phrater,” Latin “brater,” Sanskrit “Bhrater,” and Old Irish “brathir.” For the past three centuries historical linguists have been studying the similarities between words belonging to the so-called Indo-European languages. There are more than seven hundred of these languages in regional dialects are included. Spanning the entire world, they are spoken by more than half of the global population. The consensus among linguists is that these languages can be traced back to one ancient ancestor: Proto-Indo-European. However, they cannot agree when Proto-Indo-European originated (estimates vary between 9,800 and 5,000 years ago), where it originated (the Steppes area of eastern Europe or the Anatolian region of western Asia), how it spread (through conquest or agriculture), and how it split up into the ten key branches that exist today.
When Indo-Europeans migrated many centuries ago, native speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language became separated from each other. As they did so, the regional dialects spoken by the various groups diverged, each undergoing changes in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Over time, these dialects evolved into the ancient Indo-European languages, and then again into the modern Indo-European languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Russian, Albanian, Armenian, Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, and Persian.
Although there are no written records of Proto-Indo-European, linguists have managed to recreate a number of words from these modern-day descendants using “cognates”, or words that have the same meaning and sound similar in different languages. Like brother, the English word “father” is cognate with “padre” in Italian, “père” in French, “pater” in Latin, and “pitar” in Sanskrit.
So where did the Proto-Indo-European language originate from and when? While there are many schools of thought, the two commonly accepted
theories are the Steppe theory and the Anatolian theory:
Steppe Theory
By recreating this ancient language, linguists have found several words which suggest that the native Proto-Indo-European speakers were farmers who kept sheep and horses and made use of primitive wheeled vehicles. For example, linguists believe that the word for “wheel” in Proto-Indo-European was likely “kwekwlos”. This became “kuklos” in Ancient Greek and “kakra” in Old Indic. It then transformed into “hweohl” in Old English (the letter K became the letter H in Germanic languages) and finally “wheel” in modern English. According to archaeologists, wheeled vehicles were discovered circa 4000 B.C. This implies that speakers of Proto-Indo-European lived approximately 6,500 years ago in eastern Europe, on the Steppe grasslands north of the Caspian and Black Seas. Over time, they spread their language to Europe, India and western China, either through conquest or through their agricultural economy. Steppe theorists believe that the first branch to break away from the Proto-Indo-European language tree was Hittite, the language of Anatolia, now Turkey. Second was Tocharian, a language group spoken in western China, and third were the Italic and Celtic language groups of Europe. Studies by archaeologists show that migration out of the Steppe region in these directions occurred in the right order, giving credence to this theory.
Anatolian theory
Other linguists argue that Proto-Indo-European originated in Anatolia. While they agree that the native speakers were farmers, they believe that these farmers started migrating to Europe much earlier, between 8,000 and 9,500 years ago, spreading the Indo-European languages as they went. Anatolian theorists concur that the first language to separate from Proto-Indo-European was Hittite, but believe that this was followed by Celtic, ancestor of Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton, and Italic, ancestor of Latin and the Romance languages. Next to diverge were Armenian and Greek, and finally, the Indic and Iranian languages. Anatolian theory is highly credible because the migration of agricultural populations is an acknowledged means by which language spreads, as evidenced by the migration of New Stone Age farmers to Europe which has been meticulously documented by archaeologists.
So which of these two theories will prevail? Proponents of Steppe theory dismiss Anatolian theory on the basis that the wheel had not been invented 8,000 to 9,500 years ago, and so the Proto-Indo-European langue tree could not have split at that time. Proponents of Anatolian theory counter this argument by claiming that many Indo-European languages have similar words for wheel which must have originated from the same ancestor. It is quite feasible that these languages could all have adopted the word for “wheel,” as well as the actual wheel itself, many years after the migration of Proto-Indo-European speakers to Europe.
In recent years, researchers have turned to mathematics and science to try and solve this puzzle. Evidence from statistical methods used by biologists to track the evolution of genes and proteins and the geographical spread of viruses support the Anatolian theory. However, evidence from computer science methods used to study language ancestries show that the Proto-Indo-European language tree declined in age to 6,500 years old, which supports the Steppe theory. Further support was given to the Steppe theory when scientists undertook an extensive DNA study of people who lived in Europe between 3,000 and 8,000 years ago. This showed that the Yamnaya people, who had been living in the Steppes, migrated to Germany about 4,500 years ago. These people were the first to develop an agricultural economy using sheep, horses and wheeled vehicles. So widespread was the migration that 75% of the people examined in Germany carried Yamnaya DNA. It is therefore quite likely that the migrant language became dominant and that the migration represents an expansion of Indo-European speakers from the Steppes.
So will we ever know which theory is correct for sure? Given that there are no direct records of proto-Indo-European in existence, it is likely that the debate will continue for many years to come.
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