An account of the development of the Indo-European vowel system in its latest stages.

The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture is a major new reference work that provides full, inclusive coverage of the major Indo-European language stocks, their origins, and the range of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. The Encyclopedia also includes numerous entries on archaeological cultures having some relationship to the origin and dispersal of Indo-European groups -- as well as entries on some of the major issues in Indo-European cultural studies.There are two kinds of entries in the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture: a) those that are devoted to archaeology, culture, or the various Indo -European languages; and b) those that are devoted to the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European words.Entries may be accessed either via the General Index or the List of Topics: Entries by Category where all individual reconstructed head-forms can also be found. Reference may also be made to the Language Indices.In order to make the book as accessible as possible to the non-specialist, the Editors have provided a list of Abbreviations and Definitions, which includes a number of definitions of specialist terms (primarily linguistic) with which readers may not be acquainted. As the writing systems of many Indo-European groups vary considerably in terms of phonological representation, there is also included a list of Phonetic Definitions.With more than 700 entries, written by specialists from around the world, the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture has become an essential reference text in this field.

This study resurrects the genre of Wortstudien contributions or lexilogus treatments, the core of historical lexical semantics. Such studies used to be quite popular, and interest in lexical matters is again rising. The word family around the Indo-European root "*ag?-" drive is placed against its Germanic replacement "drive" as a typological parallel. Many long-standing problems can now be solved, and new hypotheses emerge. Starting with the still important sports and games aspect of social life, new morphology is resurrected ("ag??n" games as an original plural; 2), and a strongly social meaning for good ("agathos"; 3). "Aganos" finds its solution that combines the mild and plant readings in a natural way ( 4). Hunting-and-gathering considerations establish new possibilities or certainties for some wealth words ( 6), and all around religion is involved ( 7). Comparable Baltic Finnic evidence is drawn in ( 8), and such evidence is used to discuss cases on both sides. This way explanations for the Indo-European material are strengthened, or even made possible in the first place, and scores of Baltic Finnic words find attractive (driving) loan hypotheses as their etymologies.

First published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A Grammar of Modern Indo-European is a complete reference guide to a living Indo-European language. It contains a comprehensive description of Proto-Indo-European grammar, and offers an analysis of the complexities of the prehistoric language and its reconstruction from its descendant languages. Written in a fresh and accessible style, and illustrated with maps, figures and tables, this book focusses on the real patterns of use of Late Indo-European. The book is well organised and is filled with full, clear explanations of areas of confusion and difficulty. It also contains an extensive English - Indo-European, Indo-European - English vocabulary, as well as detailed etymological notes, designed to provide readers with an easy access to the information they require.An essential reference source for the student of Indo-European as a learned and living language, this work will appeal to students of languages, classics, and the ancient world, as well as to general readers interested in the history of language, and in speaking the direct ancestor of the world's largest language family.

In this book Colin Renfrew directs remarkable new light on the links between archaeology and language, looking specifically at the puzzling similarities that are apparent across the Indo-European family of ancient languages, from Anatolia and Ancient Persia, across Europe and the Indian subcontinent, to regions as remote as Sinkiang in China. Professor Renfrew initiates an original synthesis between modern historical linguistics and the new archaeology of cultural process, boldly proclaiming that it is time to reconsider questions of language origins and what they imply about ethnic affiliation--issues seriously discredited by the racial theorists of the 1920s and 1930s and, as a result, largely neglected since. Challenging many familiar beliefs, he comes to a new and persuasive conclusion: that primitive forms of the Indo-European language were spoken across Europe some thousands of years earlier than has previously been assumed.

Twenty-two internationally known linguists, anthropologists, and archaeologists discuss such questions as the original home of the Indo-Europeans, their migration, religiomythic beliefs, and legal customs in the most comprehensive treatment of Indo-European culture in recent times.

This comprehensive linguistic survey of the Indo-European groups synthesizes the vast amount of information contained in the spe­cialized handbooks of the individual stocks. The text begins with an introduction to the concept of the Indo-European language family, the history of its discovery, and the techniques of analysis. The introduction also gives a structural sketch of Proto-Indo-European, the parent language from which the others are descended. Baldi then devotes a chapter to each of the 11 major branches of Indo-European (Italic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian, Greek, Armenian, Albanian, Baltic, Slavic, Germanic, Tocharian, and Anatolian). Each chapter provides an outline of the external history of the branch, its people, di­alects, and other relevant history. This out­line is followed by a structural sketch of the most important language or languages of the branch (e.g., Old Irish for Celtic, Sanskrit and Avestan for Indo-Iranian, Latin and Osco-Umbrian for Italic). The sketch also contains the phonology, morphology, and syntax of each language. There is lastly a sample text of each language containing both interlinear and free translation. In those branches where there are special issues (e.g., the relation of Italic to Celtic and Baltic to Slavic, or the problem of archaism in Hittite), additional discussions of these issues are pro­vided. Baldi's final chapter gives a brief out­line of the "minor" Indo-European lan­guages such as Illyrian, Thracian, Raetic, and Phrygian. Adding further to the usefulness of the book are extensive bibliographies, an up-to-date map showing the geographical dis­tribution of the Indo-European languages throughout the world, and a detailed family tree diagram of the members of each sub­group within the Indo-European language family and their interrelationships.

This revised and expanded edition provides a comprehensive overview of comparative Indo-European linguistics and the branches of the Indo-European language family, covering both linguistic and cultural material. Now offering even greater coverage than the first edition, it is the definitive introduction to the field. Updated, corrected, and expanded edition, containing new illustrations of selected texts and inscriptions, and text samples with translations and etymological commentary Extensively covers individual histories of both ancient and modern languages of the Indo-European family Provides an overview of Proto-Indo-European culture, society, and language Designed for use in courses, with exercises and suggestions for further reading included in each chapter Includes maps, a glossary, a bibliography, and comprehensive word and subject indexes