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Questions tagged [proto-indo-european]

Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the reconstructed proto-language for the Indo-European language family

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the common ancestor of the languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-European people roughly 5700 years ago. It is not attested, but rather has been reconstructed in substantial detail using the .

Use this tag for questions specifically about the PIE language itself and its reconstruction. For questions about the history of its descendants, use .

308 questions
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What are known PIE stock phrases?

In the wikipedia page for Proto-Indo-European, it said that Proto-Indo-Europeans had "oral heroic poetry or song lyrics that used stock phrases such as imperishable fame and wine-dark sea". What are stock phrases that were very likely used by the…
Number File
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Statistical tests of PIE laryngeal theory

The fashionable theory of PIE laryngeals offers plausible explanations for many phenomena, but plausibility is not proof. Are any implications of the postulated laryngeals amenable to statistical test? This would be the standard of proof in hard…
Bert Barrois
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PIE -enk reflexes in Modern English

I recently found out the origin of the verb 'bring' as being derived from bher- (carry) and enk- (to go to) and how they fused together and came into Germanic as *bhrengk- then coming down into English as 'bring'. I was wondering if anyone knew if…
Alxmrphi
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Why does Proto-Balto-Slavic have form *aśís?

Why does Proto-Balto-Slavic have form *aśís (with one s in the stem)? despite of the fact that Old Prussian has word assis (compare PIE *h₂eḱs-i-s)?
user44264
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Is there a prohibition on stems starting with /g/ in PIE?

Is there a law that prohibits PIE stems starting with what traditionally reconstructed as non-palatal /g/? So far I encountered with only one stem that the sources consistently reconstruct with this phoneme: gloiu̯os "clay". Is this stem…
Anixx
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Why does Proto-Slavic first-person singular present form have nasalized o-sound?

Why does Proto-Slavic first-person singular present form have nasalized o-sound (ǫ) while PIE have longed o-sound?
John
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Welcome and bienvenidos

In English and Spanish, the words for “welcome” have an uncanny relation: the translation (so to speak) is almost (if not completely) literal. Bien means ‘well’ and venidos means ‘come/came’ in the plural or something along those lines. I looked up…
Flash Allen
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Proto-Indo-European phonetic and pronunciation

They say nobody exactly knows how Indo-European words were actually pronounced since obviously there was no Sony sound recorder back then. So, what are these phonetic symbols that they use to represent Proto-Indo-European words? If they don't know…
Joseph_Marzbani
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h₂ou̯is or h₃eu̯is

I wonder which variant of reconstruction of this word, meaning "sheep" in PIE is the correct. Beekes gives *h₃eu̯is, Fortson gives *h₂ou̯is. Both are respected scholars, Fortson's source is the later. Who is correct?
Anixx
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When did PIE people split into subject-verb-object -- SVO and SOV peoples?

Given that PIE people have present-day descendants in India to Europe, they have divided so starkly: in the given map, most languages from India to middle east upto east Europe are SOV, whereas most in west Europe are SVO. How did this parent…
Jesvin Jose
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what evidence suggests that PIE was a tone language?

I have heard this claim stated with confidence, but it's difficult to see how it could be deduced from traditional reconstruction. Same question for ancient Greek.
hunter
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List of PIE words for occupations

What are the known reconstructions of PIE words for occupations? I composed some, but want a greater list: *h₃rḗǵ-s - king *dúk-s - military leader, commander *u̯iḱ-pót-i-s - village leader *pr̥h₂-wó-s - elder, judge *mén-tōr - advisor,…
Anixx
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Have there been attempts in making artificial alphabets for the Indo-European languages?

As far as I know linguists came to conclusion that most of the modern alphabets initially derived from the Phoenician Alphabet, which belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family of languages. Phoenician basically invented the idea of the…
Ilya Lakhin
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Why are Proto-Germanic *taikijaną and Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- cognate?

Why are Proto-Germanic *taikijaną and Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- cognate? I don't understand why are PGmc k and Proto-Indo-European ḱ cognate?
newbie
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Why does PIE have form *dʰwey- / *dʰew- / dʰeubʰ- without initial (s)?

Why does Proto-Indo-European have form *dʰwey- / *dʰew- / dʰeubʰ- (I don't know which is correct) despite of the fact that Proto-Germanic has "s mobile" (compare English steam)? Is it OK that Proto-Germanic "t" matches Proto-Indo-European…
user44264
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