The Horse, the Wheel, and Language

Posted on 09 December 2017 by David W. Anthony

Roughly half the world s population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto Indo European But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race The Horse, the Wheel, and Language lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo European speakers, and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia s steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto Indo European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior s chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries the source of the Indo European languages and English and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past. Free Read [ The Horse, the Wheel, and Language ] Author [ David W. Anthony ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr One of the things I did in grad school was to become a Proto Indo European otaku, a long, lonely voyage into the dark and uncharted seas of PIE myth and mythology I did this because I was amused by facts such as the following a the English word sweat and its Sanskrit cognate, svet are practically homophonic b Erin, the ancient name for Ireland, is a cognate of the Persian word Iran and of the Vedic Sanskrit word Aryan the race that inspired Hitler Why should cultures at such dist One of the things I did in grad school was to become a Proto Indo European otaku, a long, lonely voyage into the dark and uncharted seas of PIE myth and mythology I did this because I was amused by facts such as the following a the English word sweat and its Sanskrit cognate, svet are practically homophonic b Erin, the ancient name for Ireland, is a cognate of the Persian word Iran and of the Vedic Sanskrit word Aryan the race that inspired Hitler Why should cultures at such distances speak languages in the same family Why do blonde, blue eyed Lithuanians speak a language that is closer to India s primordial tongue than is any other European language Example ...The Horse, the Wheel and Language How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony 2016 1395 530 9789643214357 21 The Horse, the Wheel and Language How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World,...I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book Admittedly it does get bogged down describing archeological sites but you can skim through those sections without missing anything.Anthony combines linguistics and archeology to localize the origins of the Indo European language family and plot its spread across Eurasia, similar to Spencer Wells efforts to combine genetics and archeology to trace the spread of humans from Africa.The author marshalls the evidence to argue that Proto Indo European PIE eme I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book Admittedly it does get bogged down describing archeological sites but you can skim through those sections without missing anything.Anthony combines linguistics and archeology to localize the origins of the Indo European language family and plot its spread across Eurasia, similar to Spencer Wells efforts to combine genetics and archeology to trace the spread of humans from Africa.The author marshalls the evidence to argue that Proto Indo European PIE emerged in the Pontic Caspian steppe between 4500 and 2500 BC, and that it got its greatest impetus to expansion with the introduction of wheeled transpo...Indo European languages are now some of the most widely spoken languages in the world The Indo European languages and the cultures and traditions associated with them which have influenced most of the world have come from a shared source known as proto Indo European language.The main purpose of the book is to trace the proto Indo European and its evolution through a study of philological and archaeological sources The author here makes the case for the Pontic Caspian steppes as the homeland of Indo European languages are now some of the most widely spoken languages in the world The Indo European languages and the cultures and traditions associated with them which have influenced most of...David W Anthony s The Horse, The Wheel and Language How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World HWL , is a worthy addition to Indo European scholarship Using a synthesis of linguistics and many recent additions to the archaeological record from Russia and other Central Asian countries, Anthony attempts to answer the lingering questions of the Proto Indo European languages namely, who spoke it, where was it spoken and when The focus here is on science and reaso David W Anthony s The Horse, The Wheel and Language How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World HWL , is a worthy addition to Indo European scholarship Using a synthesis of linguistics and many recent additions to the archaeological record from Russia and other Central Asian countries, Anthony attempts to answer the lingering questions of the Proto Indo European languages na...I feel a little bad rating The Horse, the Wheel, and Language at all, because it s primarily advancing an argument that I simply do not have the qualifications to evaluate I have no background in archeology at all, and my background in linguistics is a single survey level course in university and an amateur interest thereafter, so the hundreds of pages of descriptions of grave sites and red ochre placement and pottery sherds made my eyes glaze over and are part of why it took me so long to fini I feel a little bad rating The Horse, the Wheel, and Language at all, because it s primarily advancing an argument that I simply do not have the qualifications to evaluate I have no background in archeology at all, and my background in linguistics is a single survey level course in university and an amateur interest thereafter, so the hundreds of pages of descriptions of grave sites and red ochre placement and pottery sherds made my eyes glaze over and are part of why it took me so long to finish the book Simply because of that, I can t give it too many stars, but I did find a lot of interesting tidbits inside mixed among the archeological descriptions.The basic thesis of the book is that it s possible to use linguistic reconstruction married to archeological evidence to determine where the speakers of Proto Indo European originated, and the answer is in the Russian steppes, near the Urals I thought this was a set...Educated in an era when the Tigris Euphrates Fertile Crescent region was credited with the invention of the chariot, this work s most fascinating contribution to our understanding of world history to me was the identification of the Pontic Caspian steppes as the origin of horse riding about 4200 4000 BCE, and the invention of wheeled vehicles around 3300 BCE Chariots used in warfare utterly changed world history, so dating their appearance is important because it helps us understand so many Educated in an era when the Tigris Euphrates Fertile Crescent region was credited with the invention of the chariot, this work s most fascinating contribution to our understanding of world history to me was the i...This rather technical overview of recent archaeological and linguistic scholarship sheds important light on the mysterious Proto Indo European speaking Bronze Age cultures and offers a tentative picture of their development and spread across the Steppes until they impacted an area stretching between Western China and Atlantic Ocean The author pays special attention to evidence for the domestication of the horse around 4000 BCE and draws attention to his original work analyzing bit wear patterns This rather technical overview of recent archaeological and linguistic scholarship sheds important light on the mysterious Proto Indo European speaking Bronze Age cultures and offers a tentative picture of their development and spread across the Steppes until they impacted an area stretching between Western China and Atlantic Ocean The author pays special attention to evidence for the domesticati...I d like to start my review of the book with part of the last sentence of the last chapter of the book in the invisible and fleeting sound of our speech we preserve for a future generation of linguists many details of our present world p.466 The main ideas of this book are a reconstruction of a dead language and how that is possible in this case Proto Indo European and dating it The reconstruction of the lives and migrations of the Proto Indo Europeans including their possible homeland I d like to start my review of the book with part of the last sentence of the last chapter of the book in the invisible and fleeting sound of our speech we preserve for a future generation of linguists many details of our present world p.466 The main ideas of this book are a reconstruction of a dead language and how that is possible in this case Proto Indo European and dating it The reconstruction of the lives and migrations of the Proto Indo Europeans including their possible homeland.The author takes you on a ride through so many different cultures related to the Proto Indo Europeans and the branches related to them, and it was a surprise to me how man there are The author uses words from the reconstructed languages, adds them to the archeology to give you a look into ...I haven t felt equipped to review this at least until I get to that 2nd reading A shame not to say that I thought it fantastic, though A couple of notes I am a non linguist severely, I think and can find language discussion in Indo European books scary Here I didn t, and besides there isn t over much of it Its section on frontiers frontier theory and how frontiers work was enlightening for me, even outside the scope of this book I think I met Frontier Studies here.If I was bored I haven t felt equipped ...

English
09 December 2017

David W. Anthony