Krell's PIE Homeland Thesis
Kathrin Susanne Krell, a graduate student at U. of Ottawa,
wrote a master's thesis in 1994, entitled Modern Indo-European
Homeland Hypotheses: A critical examination of linguistic arguments.
In it, she examines the lists of words used by Gimbutas and others
in formulating the Kurgan hypothesis, which is to say the idea that
the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European lived a pastoral life
on the steppes north of the Black Sea, and imposed their language on
the people of Europe as well as India and the Middle East primarily
by means of invasion. They presumably had domesticated the horse,
which provided them with a military power that few could resist.
Krell suggested that, when Gimbutas and others had selected
reconstructed words in PIE to support their theory, they ignored
other words that contradicted or limited their theory.
In support of the Kurgan steppe hypothesis, there are words for
horse, cow, pig, goat, and sheep, as well as words for piglet, lamb,
and cattle; words for riding, milking, wool, and possibly for
breaking a horse; and words for wheel, hub, axle, and transport by
vehicle. All these would support the idea of a pastoral society.
But there are also words for grain, barley, kernel, broad beans,
axes, milling, grinding, sowing, reaping, gathering, plowing, and
fields for plowing, which suggest an agricultural society.
In addition, missing from Gimbutas' analysis are the words for
ducks, geese, cranes, salmon, and eels, which are not your typical
steppes creatures, words for ships and rowing, likewise not as
likely for a pastoral culture, and words for ore, gold, and silver,
even though Gimbutas insists that the Kurgan people only knew
copper.
The Anatolian hypothesis fits a little better in some ways, But the
big problem for the Anatolian hypothesis is that it is dated as
beginning around 7000 bc, rather than 4000 bc, which is the earliest
likely date for both the domestication of the horse and the
invention of the wheeled chariot.
Krell concludes that, while there is certainly some support in the
vocabulary for the Kurgan theory, Diakonov's Balkan Theory (1985)
fits far better.
Word list (PIE words simplified):
*horse - ekwo-
*cow - gwou-
*cattle - peku
*pig, swine - su-
*young pig, piglet - porko-
*sheep/ewe - owi-
*lamb - agwhno-
*goat - aigi-
*dog - kwon-
*boar - epero-
*deer/elk - elen-
*wolf - ulkwos
*fox - ulp-
*hare - kas-
*bear - rkto-
*beaver - bhibhru
*duck - anətis
*goose - ghans-
*crane - gerənos
*salmon - laks-
*eel/snake - angwi-
*eagle/large bird - or-
*bee - bhei-
*oak - deru-
*acorn - gwel-
*birch - bherəg-
*beech - bhago-
*elm - elm-
*apple - abelo-
*spelt/grass/wheat - puro-
*millet - meli
*ash tree - osno-
*barley 1 - gherzd-
*barley 2 - bhare-
*legume/broad bean - bhabha-
*flax - lino-
*maple tree - akero-
*to break a horse - domə-
*to ride - reidh-
*to milk - melg-
*wool - wlna
*to protect, feed - pa-
*field for cultivation - agro-
*grain - yewo-
*kernel - grno-
*hand mill - gwerna
*to sow, seed - se-
*to mow, to reap - me-
*to gather, to pluck - kerp-
*to grind 1 - mel-
*to grind 2 - ghrendh-
*to plow - ar-
*ax - aksi-
*wheel - kwekwlo-
*to go or transport in a vehicle - wegh-
*wheel hub, navel - nobh-
*yoke - yugom
*axle - aks-
*copper - ayes-
*ore - oro-
*gold - ghel-
*silver - arg-
*ship - nau-
*oar, to row - erə-
*mast - mazdos
© C. George Boeree 2013