Proto-Indo-European homeland
prehistoric urheimat of the Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European homeland (or Indo-European homeland) was the prehistoric linguistic homeland of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). From this region, its speakers migrated east and west, and went on to form the proto-communities of the different branches of the Indo-European language family.
Quotes
edit- We have seen that one primarily places the IE's in the north if one is German, ... in the east if one is Russian, and in the middle if, being Italian or Spanish, one has no chance of competing for the privilege.
- Jean-Paul Demoule, "Les Indo-Europeens: Ont-ils existe?", L'Histoire, 28 (1980), p. 120; quoted in translation by E. F. Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture (Oxford University Press, 2001), Ch. 1
- The cynical have been tempted to describe it as the phlogiston of prehistoric research.
- J. P. Mallory, "A History of the Indo-European Problem", Journal of Indo-European Studies, 1 (1973), pp. 21-66; quoted by E. F. Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture (Oxford University Press, 2001), Ch. 1
