The Migration of Indo-European Languages

In this episode the History of the World Podcast leads us through a heavily complex and complicated subject involving the Indo-European origin of many of the languages that we have today and the migrations that occurred early in our human history as humans and their evolving languages spread out across the globe, in many ways connected and in many ways different. Enjoy!

7000 BCE onwards - Proto-Indo-Europeans are believed to have spoken a language ancestral to over four hundred languages of the modern world. Why do we believe this when there is no firm evidence of a Proto-Indo-European language though?

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[studyofantiquityandthemidd]

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[Survivethejive]

Anatolian theory is not "on the table" since the guy who invented it, Renfrew, has admitted he was wrong. the debate is over - the steppe was the homeland.

[joshuamartins]

This is quite possibly my favorite episode that you have produced. I am in etymology addict! I fully have conversations with my high school students about understanding this exact concept, of understanding the origin of language but more greatly in the understanding of societies and if you will expressions and culture that comes down in mythology theology spirituality in our art in our musics in our ceremonies and customs. Thank you so much this was a great episode and thank you as well for the recommendation for the history of English podcast I’ve already signed up for that one as well. I’ve been subscribed for at least two if not three years to this group and all it produces. Thank you so much for another fantastic presentation for us to enjoy.

[tristramshorter]

I have always found the evolution of languages a fascinating subject, words being the living relics of our history, often without our knowing it. For instance, Chilean Spanish contains many native American words, but not, as you'd expect, Mapuche words, Mapuches being the dominant native nation here. Rather, they are Quechua words, from Peru, and this is linked to the way Chile was colonised, by Spaniards based in Peru, bringing with them many native helpers with them. Interestingly, these words are often related to babies (the word most often used here for "baby" is "guagua", traceable to Quechua) and food: the words for most foods of south American origin in Chile are from Quechua. For example the word for "avocado" here is not "aguacate" ( from the aztec language) but "palta", from Quechua. I imagine how this happened: native female helpers were obliged to help raising the children and making the food, and many of their words were incorporated into Chilean Spanish that way.

[pabslondon]

You said "the Indo-Europeans are a concept and not based on archeological discoveries". I think most people now consider the Yamnaya to be the Proto-Indo-Europeans and there are plenty of archeological records for those

[vinrusso]

The Tocharians in China were Proto-European settlers. That is not a theory, mummies are strown throughout Tarim basin China of european mummies from 4000 years ago.They were also the first horse riders.

[gigasigma]

28:42 slight mistake.
Kosovo does not speak a south Slavic language.
It speaks the Geg Dialect of Albanian.

[DinaricUbermensch]

Albanian language isn't slavic, it's a direct descendant of Illyrian as mentioned by Ptolemy in 150AD he talked about a Illyrian tribe called "Albanoi" in today's albania

[WondrousEarth]

The narrator's voice reminds me of the voice of Michael Caine, with a bit heavier accent

[elgranlugus]

Indo-Europeans: It's free real state

[starprince]

I'm from Northern Part of India. I speak Hindi an Indo-European language. I have personally found so many cognates of Hindi in English. First i thought this was coincidence but when i learnt how languages and people have evolved and migrated throughout the world i became so curious about our ancestors and their culture. Our ancestors migrated from steppes towards India and they got mixed with autochthonous people that resulted into present population. By the way, Great Video. But at the end of the day... We all are Africans.

[GGora]

I speak Persian which is the main language within Iranian languages and I definitely can see the similarities. Fascinating

[amrev.]

absolutely fantastic. How can one hear these great swaths of history without being blown away by the immensity of wisdom won and lost, the billions of souls who experienced the unfolding these manifold cultural nuancesand our present place in this panorama? An immensely powerful presentation. Thank you.

[lummx]

Not even 5 minutes in, surprisingly pleased with the lack of background music it helps to focus on what your saying and really absorb it imo

[deborahminess]

This is great! I appreciate how a relatively slow delivery aids comprehension with a complex subject. The presentation would benefit greatly by addition of text overlays to show of significant syllable or spelling similarities, or a closed caption not automatically generated.

[jamesosullivan]

R.I.P Nick, thx for all the superb content.Your contribution to historical discourse will be your enduring legacy

[stephenclark]

10:37 - Cimmerians appear. The age of Conan begins.

[lopamudraray]

I am an Indian. I read Sanskrit in school. We were taught ...Aryans who migrated to Indus Valley came from Middle Europe. But earliest civilzation dates back to Harappa and Mohenjodaro Civilization, before the migration of Aryans. Dravidian language flourished parallel to Sanskrit in the Southern Part of Indian Subcontinent. I will be delighted if you discuss Sankrit, its origin .

[tajtajdar]

The spread of Indo-European languages, especially Indo-Iranian in this video, is not true, because if you look at the BMAC culture, which was Indo-Iranian in origin and with widespread Indo-Iranian languages in Central Asia, it took place almost 4000 BC, based on an archaeological findings and artifacts that were discovered at the archaeological sites of Margiana-Bactria, but here it shows that in 1825 BC. Indo-Iranian languages have not reached the BMAC area.

[sunnydime]

This was terrific and eye opening. Thank you so much for making these videos. I have subscribed to your channel, keep up the good work. Btw out of all the narrators you’re by far the best!