On the Trail of the Indo-Europeans: From Neolithic Steppe Nomads to Early Civilisations

by Harald Haarmann

For more than 3000 years, Indo-European languages have been spoken from India through Persia and into Europe. Where are the origins of this language family? How and when did its different linguistic branches emerge? The renowned historical linguist Harald Haarmann provides a graphic account of what we know today about the origins of Indo-European languages and cultures and how they came to be so widely disseminated. In this impressive study, he succeeds in drawing connections between linguistic findings, archaeological discoveries and the latest research into human genetics and climate history. In addition to linguistic affinities, he shows the economic, social and religious concepts that the early speakers of Indo-European languages had in common all the way from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Indus. Particular attention is devoted to the processes of assimilation with pre-Indo-European languages and civilisations. The result is a fascinating panorama of early "Indo-European globalisation" from the end of the last ice age to the early civilisations in Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, Persia and India.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Language, Ancient History

491 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Harald Haarmann (born 1946) is a German linguist and cultural scientist who lives and works in Finland. Haarmann studied general linguistics, various philological disciplines and prehistory at the universities of Hamburg, Bonn, Coimbra and Bangor.
Haarmann is the author of more than 40 books in German, English, Spanish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and nearly 200 articles and essays in ten languages.

Reviews

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lettura ricca e informativa, sorprendentemente scorrevole per essere un testo di taglio accademico (ancorché introduttivo). I capitoli sono ricchi di esempi e puntuali riferimenti bibliografici; particolarmente apprezzabili, in particolare, le frequenti connessioni fra espressioni e tradizioni correnti e loro origini remote. Fra i limiti, tuttavia, ho notato un ricorso alle evidenze talvolta parco e, in alcune occasioni, una certa ritrosia nel riconoscere il carattere controverso di ricostruzioni particolarmente ambiziose (es. la parentela fra il ceppo indoeuropeo e quello uralico). L'abbondanza di stimoli proposti, la chiarezza dell'esposizione e l'attenzione nel confutare alcuni luoghi comuni storici sono in ogni caso tali da rendere il saggio assolutamente consigliato a chi sia interessato alle radici delle lingue e delle culture europee.

[Anna Catharina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eines der herausragendsten Sachbücher, das ich in den letzten Jahren gelesen habe. Unter zuhilfenahme sprachwissenschaftlicher, archäologischer, geschichtswissenschaftlicher und ethnologischer Forschungen vermittelt Haarmann ein komplexes Bild der indoeuropäischen Sprachen (und ich schreibe hier ganz bewusst nicht "der Indoeuropäer", aber lest das Buch lieber selbst) und Kulturen. Für mich überraschend widerlegt er dabei so manche Allgemeinplätze unseres kulturellen europäischen Selbstbildes und das immer auf sehr hohen wissenschaftlichen Niveau. Das mag sich nicht immer einfach und flüssig lesen lassen, ich habe meine Zeit gebraucht, weil einfach so viel Wissen vermittelt wird, dass ich nur mit viel Ruhe und Konzentration den Ausführungen folgen konnte - aber die Lektüre lohnt sich!
(Achtung: Dieses Buch baut in großen Teilen auf sprachwissenschaftliche Forschungen auf, wenn man der vergleichenden Sprachwissenschaft nichts abgewinnen kann und sich nicht für Linguistik interessiert, dem würde ich das Buch nicht empfehlen.)

[Davide Orsato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bibbia

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The integration of language with history and its progression is beautifully shown as if multiple brush strokes were layered from Europe to Vietnam. Each page brought new discoveries and as I (we) integrate our own knowledge of history, the book created a safe basis from which to understand our changing world.

There was so much to share and yet the author often just touched briefly on politics and religion so as to avoid losing focus. I do wish there was an overlay with the Aramaic languages so as to get a better sense of history and development of civilizations.

Very highly recommended tour of the history of language and human progression!

[Francesca Paleari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saggio molto interessante che indaga il popolo degli indoeuropei (e le loro migrazioni) che diedero luogo alla maggior parte delle lingue parlate nel Vecchio Continente.
Se la parte sulle singole lingue prodottesi una volta che l'antico indoeuropeo si divise in vari rami può risultare un pochino noiosa, la parte introduttiva e finale sono davvero illuminanti!

[Renée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good but very meagre on some large language groups such as Celtic languages in contrast to for example the Indo-Iranian or Greek languages. Sometimes I get the feeling that the author over-idealizes the Old Europe civilization. Very knowledgeable though and worth the read

[Massimiliano Sarigu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saggio interessantissimo e molto aggiornato. Assolutamente da leggere.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful up-to-date account of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and their migrations but incredibly dry

[Gabriele Lo Sicco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buon libro introduttivo al tema degli indoeuropei