Tracing English as far back as possible

No video

Tracing English as far back as possible

Рет қаралды 468,988

Күн бұрын

Enjoy this exploration to Proto-Indo-European! And start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel 🎉. Get up to 60% OFF your subscription ➡️ Here: go.babbel.com/t?bsc=usa-influ...
In this episode, we'll trace English back to its oldest known ancestor: an ancestor it shares with almost all of Europe's languages, as well as some Asian languages. That ancestor is called Proto-Indo-European.
I also talk about the controversial Nostratic language family and ask whether there could really be a "Proto-Earth" language.
📚LINKS📚
Quellant reading P-I-E: • "The King and the God"...
Britannica on Nostratic: www.britannica.com/topic/Nost...
Proto-Indo-European vocabulary: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Eu...
Simon Pulleyn's "Secret Life of Language" is also an enjoyable read
⭐️PATREON COMMUNITY: patreon.com/robwords
📝FREE NEWSLETTER: www.robwords.com/newsletter
Check me out on the web, on Twitter & TikTok:
robwords.com
x.com/robwordsYT
/ robwords
#English #etymology #linguistics
==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Introduction
0:17 English language family tree
0:57 What is Proto-Indo-European?
1:43 How P-I-E was discovered
5:00 Comparing Indo-European languages
7:20 Babbel
8:47 Tracing words to P-I-E
12:30 Surprisingly related words
15:45 What did P-I-E sound like?
16:55 Nostratic language
19:42 Proto-World

Пікірлер: 2 300

@RobWords 29 күн бұрын

Let me know what you make of P-I-E below. And start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel 🎉. Get up to 60% OFF your subscription ➡ Here: go.babbel.com/t?bsc=usa-influ-eg-dt-1m&btp=default&KZfaq&Influencer..Jul-2024..USA-TATAM..1200m60-yt-robwords-jul-2024

@mizapf 28 күн бұрын

As a suggestion for a future edition, I'd find interesting to compare words (e.g. German/English) that were originally synonyms but which developed in different directions. Those are not really false friends, because they actually started from the same origin. I'd rather call them "estranged partners". Examples: Zaun/town, raten/read, ritzen/write, rechnen/reckon, stürzen/start, zählen/tell, tragen/drag, schlimm/slim, drehen/throw, Haut/hide, Bein/bone Can also be between other languages; I just know those two best.

@CAP198462 28 күн бұрын

Not that I imagine it means anything to you, but I found learning Russian pronunciation useful for understanding and approximating the sounds of many other languages.

@enrott8560 28 күн бұрын

Since ur learning Swedish sometimes the k sound turns into sh sound aswell like köttbular pronounced like shirtboolar(means meatball) this was interesting cuz you were talking about the origins of the word "kmtom" turns into the Sanskrit "shatam". Jag är studier svenska ochså.

@andrethoma5635 28 күн бұрын

You are a genius to call it "Low". Up is not only English.

@KGTiberius 28 күн бұрын

Thank you for picking up this episode. I’ve been asking and commenting on PIE for years on various videos. It is a fun concept.

@athulprakash4447 28 күн бұрын

As someone who lives in India and speaks Hindi/Malayalam, being educated in English and after taking Sanskrit as a subject in school.. it was stunning to know that words like Father (Pitr), Mother (Maatr), Seven(sapta) and so many others were the same for what I thought were totally separate European languages. Gotta love linguistics and the people who put this together!

@anowarjibbali 28 күн бұрын

Malayalam is a Dravidian language, the similar words are mostly just Sanskrit loans. Hindi is definitely related, though.

@qtheplatypus 28 күн бұрын

The words for mother and father are very similar across all languages. They are all things like “mama” and “papa” sounds that babies will babble out.

@b1battledroid882 28 күн бұрын

@@qtheplatypus Interesting tidbit: Some linguists believe the reason for the near universal use of the 'M' sound for mothers and 'F/P/D/T/B' sounds for fathers is due to babies spending more of their very early lives with their mothers, and only being able to vocalize simple mouth movements, like 'A' or 'M', which are then associated with mothers. Fathers spend a little bit less time with children's extremely early stages of development than mothers and are then associated with more complex sounds developed later down the road, like aforementioned 'F', 'P', 'D' or 'T'.

@jyjyjyj3 28 күн бұрын

@@b1battledroid882 in russian we have very similar words "papa", "mama", "sem"

@quiestinliteris 28 күн бұрын

I took Latin in grade school, and part of the justification for it being on offer was ability to work out English words by using the roots, but also to make it easier to learn Romance languages later. And it has been very helpful in learning Spanish and being able to parse signage in France despite not having learned any at all. But I was SHOCKED to find myself recognizing cognates in Hindi. Not enough to help me genuinely communicate, but it was still a heck of a revelation years before I had ever heard of PIE.

@takanobaierun 28 күн бұрын

Indo-Europeans: we are a big family! Finns and Hungarians: Who are you people?

@kcnmsepognln 28 күн бұрын

🤣

@miyojewoltsnasonth2159 28 күн бұрын

*@takanobaierun* Who are you people SURROUNDING US? *Reply to:* _"Finns and Hungarians: Who are you people?"_

@purplemarsmotionpictures 28 күн бұрын

Don't forget Estonians and the Sami! The big Uralic family outside of Russia

@Onionbaron 28 күн бұрын

Perkele!

@zoltanposfai3451 28 күн бұрын

@@purplemarsmotionpictures Our Khanty and Mansi brothers.

@sanebooks 27 күн бұрын

My grandfather (Vittore Pisani, 1899-1990) was a world-renowned glottologist who taught linguistics at the university of Cagliari first and then at the university of Milan. I grew up knowing these notions in part because all of his children (he had 14) had to learn Latin and ancient Greek and so did a lot of his 30 grandchildren (me included) and basic word histories were passed down. I never realized how not normal this was, as a kid. I thought everyone knew these "basic notions" growing up! You can look him up in the Italian Wikipedia. He was a brilliant mind, but a very distant grandfather. He spoke 12 languages, most of them self-taught.

@arrunzo 26 күн бұрын

A lot of "common knowledge" is not as common as one may think; especially when it comes to experts in certain fields overestimating the average person's knowledge. You're lucky to have been born into a family where this knowledge was easily shared and valued! A lot of families don't even truly value education in the first place.

@DS-ll5fn 24 күн бұрын

In my family (8 children) my siblings and I were also used to s father who had lots of books about languages. We always used to look up the etimologic origin of words in different languages. I now do the same with my 7 children 😂. Speak 7 languages and enjoy your videos!❤

@sendmorerum8241 18 күн бұрын

About the whole "not normal" thing... A story comes to my mind, one about a child from an animal trainer family. On his first day of school he asked the other kids: "What kind of bears do you have at home?" 😂

@sanebooks 18 күн бұрын

@@sendmorerum8241 that is hilarious!

@serbonkers4130 17 күн бұрын

No way! We learned about your grandpa at school just a few weeks ago!

@quellant6937 24 күн бұрын

Thanks for the shout-out! PIE is often reconstructed as having a pitch-accent system, contrasting high and low level tones, as well as a falling contour tone from high to low. This is something I didn't account for in my rendition of PIE. Vedic Sanskrit and Ancient Greek retained this ancestral system for a while. Modern Norwegian and Swedish have a their own new pitch-accent systems that evolved independently, as well as a few other Indo-European languages such as Serbo-Croatian and Punjabi. I've always been fascinated by proto-languages and the idea that, collectively, we humans may be more interconnected than we previously thought. Great video as always!

@blazer9547 8 күн бұрын

Proto indo European originated in eastern Europe , pontic steppe to be exact. Something hindu nationalists deny

@economics12 28 күн бұрын

i come from teh remote mountains of northern Pakistan where we speak an old hindi accent and when i listen to the very old people they say words like; Hithar (here) huthar (there) Gars (grass) Madar (mother) Is (this) Nak (nose) bund (behind) ma (I) chan (moon) suraj (sun) darya (river) tu (you) vo (he/they) nasa (nostril) mun (mouth) ladna (loading) marg (death/morgue) khunee (knee) ga (cow) and i could go on forever. i see so many similarities with the European words.

@kcnmsepognln 28 күн бұрын

Amazing! Just reading your list, there is much that is immediately familiar. EG "Hithar (here)": no very long ago "come hither" (come here) was in common usage! And "nasa (nostril)" is clearly related to "nasal".

@julius9055 28 күн бұрын

That's so cool, absolutely crazy

@youknow6968 28 күн бұрын

That's not old hindi, that's urdu. Hindi has no history in any of the northern regions of Pakistan. It's Urdu.

@antonyreyn 28 күн бұрын

@@youknow6968Do you know that, as there was no Pakistan before 1946? Modern borders do not dictate ancient languages

@aLadNamedNathan 28 күн бұрын

@@youknow6968 Hindi and Urdu are dialects of a single language, namely Hindustani.

@purplemarsmotionpictures 28 күн бұрын

Growing up with Norwegian, English, Hindi, and Punjabi THIS has been the most obvious thing my whole life. I also learnt Norse, Latin, and Sanskrit as a teenager, and the words are one thing but the grammar takes this to the next level. Sentences in Latin make more sense translated into Hindi for me. And some Sanskrit idioms make more sense in Norwegian.

@colorswordsandlearning 28 күн бұрын

This is so interesting. I love the interplay of languages and words and the depth all of it will add as you read . So many connections .

@danielzhang1916 28 күн бұрын

the Indo branch kept many of the older sounds, maybe because they migrated earlier than everyone else

@Amos18289 12 күн бұрын

I'm a Sri Lankan who speaks Sinhala ( an Indo European language). Years ago whem I was learning English and German I recognised these similarities and studied about it. That's whem I fell in love with linguistics and became one of my hobbies. Here how we count one to ten if anyone is interested Eka Deka Thuna Hathara Paha Haya Hatha Ata(ahta) Nawaya Dahaya

@user-xb5eo2bm1n 27 күн бұрын

I'm Indian and I have basic knowledge in Sanskrit. I once tried learning Latin and I was amazed to find similarities not just in vocabulary but also structure. It might not seem obvious at first but my knowledge of Sanskrit and my overall interest in languages in general led me to observe those similarities. For example, in Sanskrit the third-person singular and plural verb conjugations are respectively -ti and -nti. In Latin they are -t and -nt. I also tried learning Persian and observed even more similarities there but that was more obvious are Persian is much more closely related to Sanskrit.

@staninjapan07 16 күн бұрын

Thanks.

@charlesp.kalina4162 28 күн бұрын

Law school memory: Professor mentions in class that the word “testimony” comes from Roman men swearing an oath by reference to their testes. So I got to explain that this was a common misconception, that Romans didn’t do that, and that the word actually comes from PIE roots meaning “third person standing” (i.e. a disinterested bystander or witness). The anatomical term for male gonads comes from an unrelated PIE root meaning “dry”, via terms for baked clay containers. (Same root as "thirst", incidentally.) Didn’t do that well in the class, but at least I got to sharpshoot some etymological misconceptions. Good times…

@squirlmy 28 күн бұрын

you not only corrected him but symbolically emasculated him! I'm sure he(assuming a male professor) was happy to have that association of legal-speak and masculinity, and you took it right from him. In his class no less! As someone diagnosed as "on the autism spectrum", this seems to me a very "aspy" faux pas.

@jonesnori 28 күн бұрын

Yes. Well done, though!

@charlesp.kalina4162 28 күн бұрын

@@squirlmy -- Nah, it was all good. Granted, he did retire the next year, but I'm sure that was unrelated... :-)

@mfaizsyahmi 27 күн бұрын

@@charlesp.kalina4162 would be funnier if it _is_ related. Like you shattered his whole world view that he's incapable of continuing on teaching.

@robcat2075 27 күн бұрын

Whenever I hear a teacher spouting something obviously false, I have to wonder, how much of the rest of this class is BS too?

@blueeyedbaer 28 күн бұрын

As a Lithuanian I'm so excited that you've included some examples of our language. We have lots of words that are literally the same or very very similar as in Sanskrit, and lots of our words sound similar to reconstructed PIE words.

@BGM16 27 күн бұрын

Exactly, Lithuanian is the closest living language in Europe to Proto Indoeuropean, cheers for that. 🍻

@ModernDayRenaissanceMan 27 күн бұрын

Lithuanian is considered the closest living language to pie.

@ami443 25 күн бұрын

Lithuanian language is extremely close to pie.... Yes

@CocoSon-we2rg 24 күн бұрын

@@ModernDayRenaissanceMan A linguist who could draw correct conclusions about PIE should know the following languages: Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, Lithuanian, Armenian, Romanian, Albanian and Ossetian.

@samroberts7404 28 күн бұрын

This is one of the most satisfying videos I've seen in a very long time...

@LiquidSolidus9000 28 күн бұрын

To explain more about "hundred", the "red" in hundred apparently comes from a word meaning "row", that was related to "read"

@brookekrovic7739 25 күн бұрын

"Red" still means row or order in Croatian, the language I'm learning. :-)

@trafo60 28 күн бұрын

Small correction, the initial h in Greek 'hekaton' doesn't correspond to the initial k of PIE, but the middle k does. The he- part comes from a root meaning 'one', so the whole thing means 'one hundred', with the 'katon' part being a very close reflex of kmtom.

@davidsturm7706 27 күн бұрын

Yes, the he- part comes from sm°- a root for one. So it's sm°-+km°tom. Greek initial s- becomes h-, m°- becomes a vowel... he+katon. *One* hundred

@ModernDayRenaissanceMan 27 күн бұрын

@@davidsturm7706That's also very similar to the progression of the word for son. Son & one probably were related at one time as 'firstborn." However language was much more simple back then so they probably said one born

@bacicinvatteneaca 23 күн бұрын

It ABSOLUTELY wasn't more simple. It was slower and with less vocabulary, but it had a BUNCH more grammar. Hunter-gatherer societies tend to have a lot more complex grammar because they have more time and less things to talk about.

@trafo60 22 күн бұрын

@@bacicinvatteneaca You're right for pointing that out, but what do you mean when you say that the language was 'slower'? Also, how would having more time and less things to talk about make grammar more complex?

@boggled007 28 күн бұрын

That was insanely interesting and, as always, so clearly explained. Best of all... no background 'music'!

@erichbaumeister4648 28 күн бұрын

*_NO BACKGROUND MUSIC IS WONDERFUL!_*

@colorswordsandlearning 28 күн бұрын

Second this

@notdon245 27 күн бұрын

A quiet background music is better.

@EVPaddy 27 күн бұрын

@@notdon245so add one for yourself

@arrunzo 26 күн бұрын

I 100% agree! I hate so many jump cuts, background music and ads everywhere. I love videos that get right to the point! I find myself always clicking around KZfaq videos because so many of them implement these irritating practices.

@satoru.nakata 17 күн бұрын

PLAT - word family • Platus, an ancient greek word means flat or brode. 1. Platypus- flat footed animal 2. Platinum- flat or inferior silver metal 3. Plate- flat metal disc 4. Plato- nick name for his brode chest 5. Plateau- flat area 6. Platitude- flat or empty saying

@Parso77 23 күн бұрын

Maybe four things to expand on (including one to correct outright) here: 1. “Proto” is not Latin but rather Greek; it remains the Modern Greek for “first”; 2. The Ancient Romans pronounced “pater” roughly to rhyme with “latter” (not “later”), but note it did not rhyme with “mater” as that had a long “a”; 3. English “see” is actually ultimately cognate with Latin “sequor” (meaning “I follow”; hence also “sequence”, “consecutive” etc) and thus “I see” in English really means “I follow” (but often from context this now means specifically with the eyes); 4. “Chief” did not, of course, develop within English but was a borrowing specifically from Norman French (cf. “chef”, a later borrowing from Standard French).

@dbryn2 3 күн бұрын

About #2: it does not matter

@davidfrogley7117 28 күн бұрын

child in Swedish is "barn", and child in Scots is "bairn". Fascinating!

@aLadNamedNathan 28 күн бұрын

And they're both related to English "born." A child is someone who was born only a few years ago.

@alexythemechanic8056 28 күн бұрын

My pet theory is it comes from the Danes/Nords. "Bairn" exists in Scots, and also in dialects from North-East England like Geordie from Newcastle where the Danelaw existed. Another interesting one is "braw" in Scots, meaning "good", which is very similar to the Swedish "brå".

@LoverofHistory3000 28 күн бұрын

@@alexythemechanic8056You’re right. In another of Rob’s videos he says how that these Scots/northern English dialect words come from old Norse, as the Vikings raided then settled these parts the most

@blackshard641 28 күн бұрын

@@alexythemechanic8056 the Danes and the Nords did in fact settle the northern British Isles - quite possibly where my Scottish surname (which just so happens to also feature in Beowulf) comes from.

@user-gd4ku5se8h 28 күн бұрын

Thanks! Now l know why Mr. Scott called the Enterprise's engines his "wee barins" 😂 Have mercy Captain!

@rustyredbeard 28 күн бұрын

Sir, in a platform rapidly filling with artificailly created non-content, your videos are more important than ever. I wish there was a 'real' verification mark that channels like yours could attain.

@shmurt11 28 күн бұрын

I concur

@stephencoles3664 28 күн бұрын

I've been on this platform since early 2007. It's always been filled with garbage. Not to discredit your point, however. I agree that Rob Words is a gem among the rough! I've found that if you're particular about what content you watch and you use the "do not recommend" button, you will eventually not receive trash. (Most of the time 😅)

@LightIceAurora 28 күн бұрын

I feel like this comment is AI

@stephencoles3664 28 күн бұрын

@@LightIceAurora Beep boop!

@LightIceAurora 28 күн бұрын

@@stephencoles3664 oh you.

@AngelaStone5678 26 күн бұрын

This video epitomises everything I love about the internet. Absolutely amazing and free to access. Brilliant!

@malvoliosf 14 күн бұрын

You see the same phenomenon in non-PIE languages. “Medicine” is 藥 (yào) in Chinese, ยา (yaa) in Thai, and 약 (yak) in Korean. “North” and “South” in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese are 北 (běi), 북 (buk), and Bắc; and 南 (nán), 남 (nam), and Nam (Vietnam is the “the land of the Southern Viets”, the Viets being in the dominant ethnic group in the area). Interestingly, Chinese, Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese words for bread - 包 (bāo), ปัง (pang), 빵 (ppang), and bánh - are similar for a different reason: the all come from the Portuguese word pão, I guess because bread came to the East with Portuguese traders.

@p__vids 28 күн бұрын

Here's my favourite example showing how these languages are related: - Hindi/Punjabi: Javaan - Farsi: Javoon - Italian: Giovane - Spanish: Joven - French: Jeune - Dutch: Jong - English: Young They're all basically the same word! Pretty neat!

@aveekbh 27 күн бұрын

Yes, that's one of my favourite things (as an Indian) when learning (non-English) IE languages - how some of the words are basically the same!

@tobiasharstel7941 26 күн бұрын

Persian - Stan (in many countries, like KazakhSTAN) English - stay German - steh So Kazakhstan is the place were Kazakhs stay (live)

@mahatmaniggandhi2898 26 күн бұрын

@@tobiasharstel7941 well we dont use the word "stan" in persian anymore but we do use as a suffix for many places for example bolgharestan: bulgaria engelestan: england lehestan: poland . . .

@shawolzen4893 26 күн бұрын

Juvenis in Latin hence the word juvenile

@mihanich 25 күн бұрын

@@tobiasharstel7941 also "stan" means "camp" and "stature" in Russian, and "yunyi" means "juvenile"

@CarefulWithThatAx 28 күн бұрын

My favourite PIE root is *bhel-, "shine, flash, burn". It's the root of the English word "black", as well as the French word for "white", "blanc", and thus the English "blank". English "white" comes from PIE *kweit-, which also meant "shine". I guess the PIE-speakers liked talking about shiny things a lot.

@SoulDelSol 28 күн бұрын

I saw video about that. Pretty cool

@SchmulKrieger 28 күн бұрын

The French word blanc is exclusively a loan from Common Germanic into Latin because they lacked a word for it. Same as gris fro grey/gray or bleu for blue. Germanic loan words into Latin.

@SupGaillac 28 күн бұрын

Hey! Vsauce! :)

@CarefulWithThatAx 28 күн бұрын

@@SchmulKrieger True! From Frankish (a Germanic language) into French, then into English, near as I could find. I'm just tickled by the fact that words for black and white have the same root.

@squirlmy 28 күн бұрын

I like *lewk- in Old English lēoht , Latin lūceō (lūcēre) "to shine", lūx "light," and in Greek leukós. As in Lucifer; "the light bringer", the god of the evening star, son of Aurora (the Dawn). lol

@sandrafaith 28 күн бұрын

This is _so_ interesting! You really make it so fun, so thank you. Always enjoy the videos and your newsletter.

@ASChambers 27 күн бұрын

Rob, it was wonderful watching you completely nerd out on this one and get soooooo excited. I’m totally with you about how fascinating the whole thing is.

@BarbarosaAlexander 28 күн бұрын

Probably my favorite subject in linguistics, the origin and evolution of language. I can't even explain why I find it so fascinating. It's such a joy to, as I have in this video, learn something new. And, yes, the hundred progression was satisfying.

@danielzhang1916 28 күн бұрын

our minds always look for patterns, it's satisfying that all indo european languages are connected

@angelcollina 28 күн бұрын

When you introduced the word “nostratic” as “countrymen” or “us” I had an AHAH!! moment! In Spanish “nosotros” which has that nos- beginning means “we”!! Which makes a lot of sense because Spanish retains much of its Latin roots. Also! Cheers 🥂 from a fellow linguist nerd!!

@Ellie-wl3rw 28 күн бұрын

My brain leapt in at that moment too, recognising nos-. It's common across the Romantic languages for "we" and to suddenly reinterpret that as "all of us", "a country" and beyond, was a head-exploding moment.

@angelcollina 28 күн бұрын

@@Ellie-wl3rw *high fives*

@JimMonsanto 27 күн бұрын

That's literally where it comes from. The Russian linguists who came up with it just wanted to call it "OUR langauge" (Our referring to all of us humans), hence "Nostra (our)"+tic.

@wraithlord9 27 күн бұрын

Not just the italic branch, in the indic branch it is used as the plural enclitic of the accusative, dative and genetive, its pronounced predictably as nas (all e and o sounds collapse to a), of the pronoun declension of 'I', the declension stem we call asmad, related to English - us.

@glitchy9613 27 күн бұрын

And "nosotros" is related to english "us" as well! "nosotros" < latin "nos" < PIE "nsme" "us" < proto germanic "uns" < PIE "nsme"

@GsGeorg 27 күн бұрын

Rob, it's embarrassing, please fix, this at 4:55, "proto" is a Greek prefix, not a Latin one.

@jonathanbrett-warren2031 11 күн бұрын

Another fascinating video, Rob!

@jasonguzik8660 28 күн бұрын

I have a fascination with languages, all thanks to Mr. JRR Tolkien and his constructed languages.

@colorswordsandlearning 28 күн бұрын

He was very great with words and languages .

@peztopher7297 26 күн бұрын

Me, too! I ended up studying linguistics in college and was gratified to discover that Tolkien was a philologist.

@arrunzo 26 күн бұрын

He was always quite a "celtophile", as evidenced by a certain Celtic influence on the languages of Middle-earth. The funny thing was he actually constructed the world and stories primarily to serve the languages. In other words, his love of languages came first and everything came after.

@mrharvest 28 күн бұрын

As a Finnish speaker, I enjoyed the discussion of Proto-Uralic. I would have also been keen to hear about Proto-Turkic and why seemingly PIE just missed that whole chunk of land.

@jujujuju4435 28 күн бұрын

Actually a branch of the PIE was spoken in what's now modern-day Turkey. It was the Anatolian languages (Hittite, Lydian and others whose names I forgot). They were spoken during Antiquity and ended up extinct. So PIE reached this land but didn't maintain. Concerning Proto-Turkic, it was spoken somewhere in Central Asia (where exactly I have no clue, it's not the language family I'm the most interested in, but I guess hypotheses were made over time). Turkish didn't develop in what's nowadays Turkey. The turk arrived pretty recently (at the historical scale) in this region.

@ryanpangilinan5803 28 күн бұрын

To my understanding, they did there at one point. The Anatolian languages used to be spoken there, such as Hittite!

@gunnasintern 28 күн бұрын

Anatolia had a lot of indo-european speakers like Hittite and Lydian they went extinct over time, would have been cool if they survived to help connect the PIE bridge

@niall_sanderson 28 күн бұрын

@@jujujuju4435Luwian is the third Anatolian language you’re thinking of I believe

@niall_sanderson 28 күн бұрын

@@gunnasinternThose Anatolian speakers got Hellenized after Alexander the Great’s conquest, and the descendants of those Hellenized Anatolian spoke Greek in those regions until the 1920s. Or rather, the ones who stayed Christian kept speaking it, since modern Turks are descended from both the Turkic nomads who arrived in the Middle Ages and the people who were living there beforehand. And since Greek was closely associated with Orthodox Christianity and Turkish was closely associated with Islam, people living there who converted to Islam generally started speaking Turkish and raising their children with Turkish as their first language.

@franciscocarpio256 24 күн бұрын

Congratulations! This vídeo is (like the ones you’ve posted before…) fascinating and inspiring. 👏🏻👏🏻🥰🥰

@Kramfors1 26 күн бұрын

Va härligt att höra dig prata svenska, Rob!

@TheCorgilorian 28 күн бұрын

RobWords has become one of my favorite channels on KZfaq. You make learning about English and language interesting!

@sera_kath 28 күн бұрын

The Sanskrit "ashta" and the German "acht" are astonishingly similar.

@aLadNamedNathan 28 күн бұрын

How about Sanskrit "atman" and German "Atem"?

@thorstenjaspert9394 28 күн бұрын

English night, German Nacht. All nights are starting with n.

@gabor6259 28 күн бұрын

Where English has a silent gh, German has a ch. eight - acht light - Licht daughter - Tochter

@thorstenjaspert9394 28 күн бұрын

@@gabor6259 when was the gh voiced? The gh in Dutch is similar to the German ch attached with a r sound.

@CoolGuy-th7bl 27 күн бұрын

@@thorstenjaspert9394 the 'gh' sound in English words was still spoken recently enough to appear in books made in printing presses, hence why they still appear in written English

@fobobo563 25 күн бұрын

Super video! I've been eagerly awaiting this.

@R0KURU 21 күн бұрын

I have always been so fascinated by this. Thank you for the video, Rob!

@robinm1331 28 күн бұрын

There are some stunning cognates in Sanskrit that surprise English speakers. Matri for mother, Patri for father, datri for daughter.

@stevemayes8799 24 күн бұрын

I like 'meera naama", my name is...

@chanterellecryptid 22 күн бұрын

Matri and patri could have just been coincidental, to be fair. I mean, in this specific case they definitely aren't! But baby language acquisition follows a pretty set pattern no matter where they are, and babbling sounds get incorporated into parent terms all over the world. E.g. English and Arabic are not related, but English's 'mommy' sounds similar to Arabic's 'ummi'.

@andrewtheworldcitizen 18 күн бұрын

It's not matri, patri, and datri... The correct Sanskrit transcription and pronunciation are as follows: मातृ (mātṛ) - mother पितृ (pitṛ) - father दुहितृ (duhitṛ) - daughter भ्रातृ (bhrātṛ) - brother It is amazing to see how an ancient Indo-Aryan language can be so extremely close to even modern English..... Many Indians, unfortunately, are Hindu nationalists, and they confuse the political propaganda and pseudo-history/mythology that they're taught since early childhood for real history and science.... Therefore, they usually deny the fact that the speakers of Proto-Indo-European originally came from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, c. 3,200 BCE, although it has been proven by science, i.e., a combination of archaeological data/physical remains, linguistic data, and genetic data.....

@robinm1331 18 күн бұрын

@@andrewtheworldcitizen thank you! It's been a few years for me, so I appreciate the correction.

@andrewtheworldcitizen 18 күн бұрын

@stevemayes8799 That's Hindi/Urdu, which certainly descends from Sanskrit.... Sanskrit is like Ancient Greek or Latin, albeit even older..... The correct pronunciation is "merā nām" (meh-rah nahm) I'm a fluent speaker of Hindi/Urdu.... I've studied it for over 20 years... Here are a few simple sentences you'll find interesting: यह मेरा भाई है . - This is my brother. (yeh merā bhāī hai.) मेरे तीन भाई हैं . - I have three brothers. (mere tīn bhāī hain) आपका नाम क्या है? - (āpkā nām kyā hai) मेरा नाम अर्जुन है . (merā nām arjun hai)

@MrFearDubh 28 күн бұрын

At 12:15, the Irish "athair" for father is actually pronounced more like ah-her (th and sh are pronounced like an English h) so its pronunciation is even closer to the other words for father.

@authentiekaziatisch5949 27 күн бұрын

If I remember correctly in PIE there were two roots for father: ‘pter’ and ‘atta’. Seems like the Irish took ‘atta’ (compare ‘atetz’ in Russian)

@MrFearDubh 27 күн бұрын

@@authentiekaziatisch5949 I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for that info!

@MrFearDubh 27 күн бұрын

That makes sense since in the Semitic languages, father is based on Aba/Abu so atta is close to those.

@rommelrivera6131 25 күн бұрын

No, actually, in Proto-Celtic, the Proto-Indo-European p sound became somewhat of an f sound, which then disappeared in all daughter languages. Modern f in Celtic languages comes from different sources @@authentiekaziatisch5949

@rommelrivera6131 25 күн бұрын

So *phter > *fater > *ather > athair Keep in mind that that's not the exact way the word evolved, but it's accurate enough to show that it did in fact come from the same word as father and pater

@ggmtv1394 28 күн бұрын

Your best yet! The enthusiasm was clear, and the whole thing flowed.

@ramsn1971 25 күн бұрын

we love your channel! great job explaining historical linguistics. thank you

@amelinix 28 күн бұрын

I'm from Sweden and is learning german and I'm acutally thankfull that I know both Swedish and English cause now I can find a word in either the languages which sounds closest and go of that. Like for example Nervous is German is Nervös which is exacly like swedish Nervös.

@aLadNamedNathan 28 күн бұрын

Watch out for false friends! The German word "Öl" means "oil," not "beer"!

@ControlledChaos-rk5tk 27 күн бұрын

English is much more influenced by latin and French, which is also explained because British people are much more mixed bunch.. native britons, picts, gaels, romans, normans, anglo-saxons, and even some viking influence too.

@tux_duh 27 күн бұрын

I learned a little swedish, I liked how it felt like French and English combined in a way Also Glass and glass are my favorite swedish words haha

@aLadNamedNathan 27 күн бұрын

@@tux_duh I've never studied Swedish, but I was watching some Swedish video once that was tailored for beginning speakers. I was surprised how much of it I could understand without any study whatsoever. One think that threw me off was that the teacher was talking about "glass," while she was showing a video of children eating ice cream out of glass bowls. I wondered why she was focusing so much on the bowls, when I realized that the Swedish word for ice cream is a borrowing of the French word "glace"!

@proosee 26 күн бұрын

They all or Germanic languages, so this is a much tighter connection than one presented in the video.

@gameking501 28 күн бұрын

Great video as always, Rob! Another interesting historical observer on Proto-Indo-European was the Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi (1611 - 1682). He ventured across much of the Mediterranean basin, and his familiarity with Persian allowed him to draw comparisons between German and Persian in the 17th century, suggesting a potential root between them! Alongside this, Evliya Çelebi was something of an amateur linguist and etymologist, and he gave us very detailed notes on the pronunciation of early-modern languages across much of Western Eurasia!

@aLadNamedNathan 28 күн бұрын

There was also a Dutch professor named Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn (1612-1653) who noticed the similarity between many IE languages and proposed a relationship, but his ideas just didn't catch on among the academic community.

@danielzhang1916 28 күн бұрын

@@aLadNamedNathan PIE wasn't really accepted until recently, same thing with plate tectonics that was proven much later on, a lot of people thought it was nonsense

@rexmyers991 27 күн бұрын

As always - SO VERY interesting. Thanks, Rob.

@aleksandrawielka2687 27 күн бұрын

I just found your channel and I LOVE IT! the work you do is incredible! I’m waiting and wishing for an episode with more polish in it! It’s super unique! ❤

@renerpho 28 күн бұрын

One of the best KZfaq channels to follow if you want to stay in the loop about P-I-E is Jackson Crawford. He looks at new discoveries and theories -- from the recent archeological find of a newly attested language that's closely related to Hittite, to attempts to link the Indo-European languages with Basque. Crawford discusses them with colleagues, shares his criticism and questions, etc.

@arrunzo 26 күн бұрын

Thanks for the recommendation! If I'm not mistaken, he was on an Ecolinguist video about Old Norse. I didn't know he talked about Proto-Indo-European.

@EvaldasBuinauskas 28 күн бұрын

No surprise that Lithuanian was mentioned plenty of times. Was really interesting to hear numbers sounding almost native

@stevenjlovelace 28 күн бұрын

I've heard that the Baltic languages are sometimes considered to be closest to PIE.

@ANCalias 27 күн бұрын

@@stevenjlovelace yeah especially old prussian

@msaligned 27 күн бұрын

This was wonderful, and so interesting! Thank you so much for compiling it. It really makes me want to learn more. I like (and "like") all of your videos, but I gave this one a super thanks.

@XL-5117 27 күн бұрын

Absolutely fascinating Rob, I love how you make this channel not just about word meanings but go further and further to explain earlier explanations of language. It’s really interesting that other people from non English speaking countries are finding this fascinating and engaging with their languages. I look forward to seeing a new video release from you, they make my day! 🎉

@Lulugu 28 күн бұрын

10:34 Swedish does this in words like Kök and Keramik (Kitchen and Ceramics) which is prounced more like Shök and Sherameek

@user-fo6oe9ec4j 28 күн бұрын

The 'sh' sound in 'kök'/'keramik' is a modern development. Before 20-30 years ago it was a sound like german 'ch' in 'Mädchen' (but not like in 'ach'). The same 'replacement' has happened in many Norwegian dialects. The younger generations often don't hear the difference.

@cognomen9142 28 күн бұрын

@@user-fo6oe9ec4j And in the 1800's it was typically more like English 'ch' with a "t" sound at the beginning. This is still the standard in Fenno-Swedish.

@bacicinvatteneaca 23 күн бұрын

This is called lenition (in general) and satemisation (when related to K sounds turning soft)

@OlaHime 28 күн бұрын

I honestly didn't expect "Welcome to another RobWords" to be earliest english ancestor! :3

@gingerfreak01 28 күн бұрын

I always love your videos Rob, but this is your best. Utterly fascinating and so well presented as usual. Brilliant.

@michaelmiller641 26 күн бұрын

Absolutely fascinating! Rob. Thanks for that

@toddscott6899 28 күн бұрын

This was the best episode yet! Mind blown!

@kelisurfs247 28 күн бұрын

I love watching your videos because you show how much you love what you know. It’s a pleasure to watch 😊

@Ellie-wl3rw 28 күн бұрын

Rob's delight is infectious, isn't it? 😍

@misterwhyte 24 күн бұрын

Great video as always Rob! I'd love another one exploring the other major historical family groups. That'd be super interesting. :)

@hcolcombet 10 күн бұрын

Wow... probably the most interesting video I have seen in a very loooooong time. Merci!

@marshaprice8226 28 күн бұрын

Fascinating and informative, as always! Thanks!

@jaded_gerManic 28 күн бұрын

Love your content! 🌻

@TioDeive 11 күн бұрын

What an outstanding job! Thank you.

@Zedd7 22 күн бұрын

This was really interesting, Rob, thank you.

@jeffmendolo 28 күн бұрын

I’ve been watching your videos for a couple of years now, this is the best! Wonderful job.

@seajaytea9340 28 күн бұрын

Great video (as always)!! Thank you!

@niros9667 13 күн бұрын

This was so so fascinating. Really enjoyable video, thanks.

@ricksherman34 21 күн бұрын

This was super cool. I had no idea all these languages were related. Very cool. Great video!

@lewisgiles8855 28 күн бұрын

Thanks for your persistence Rob! Your vids are the best

@DavidHamster88 28 күн бұрын

Such a well crafted video!

@Pastor24u 26 күн бұрын

Vad roligt att du lär dig svenska. I have been following you videos for years and being a polyglot I really appriciate them! Hälsningar från Sverige!

@mykonomen 28 күн бұрын

Really good work on the Swedish letter Å! Hard for many English speaking people I’ve noticed. Love you channel! / Håkan.

@andeeanko7079 28 күн бұрын

Fascinating stuff, Rob! ❤

@Looey 28 күн бұрын

Man, this vid is so good !

@prof113 17 күн бұрын

Phenomenal presentations as always!

@dudermcdudeface3674 17 күн бұрын

This video is a lot of fun. Well done!

@robertkimber822 28 күн бұрын

Really fascinating - thank you!

@mizapf 28 күн бұрын

15:04 And the related word to "caput" in German is "Haupt" (c→h), while the German "Kopf" is related to English "cup" (from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz, "round object, bowl").

@ivanskyttejrgensen7464 28 күн бұрын

Thanks for that. I was wondering about the Haupt->Kopf change in German. It's interesting that it means a small container because something similar happened in Italian Capo->Testa (testa roughly means "small jar"). Now I wonder why both languages had such a similar change to the word for head...

@julius9055 28 күн бұрын

@@ivanskyttejrgensen7464 Maybe from people using them like slang? In English too, 'noggin' is a slang word for head that comes from a word meaning a small drinking cup.

@ivanskyttejrgensen7464 28 күн бұрын

@@julius9055 I doubt it. I think the change in Italian and German happened much too early for that, and slang rarely crosses languages.

@julius9055 28 күн бұрын

@@ivanskyttejrgensen7464 I'm saying the fact that it happened in English too, further suggests it's a common transition of meaning.

@foolcat23 28 күн бұрын

The German word for “hood” (that which covers the head) is “Kapuze” [kaˈpuːt͡sə]. And fitting into that as well is the word for “cap” (another head ornament), “Haube” [ˈhaʊ̯bə].

@StrangeHistoricalThings 12 күн бұрын

Very cool. Really enjoyable and education video! Thanks!

@sombrachibi 18 күн бұрын

Rob you are a wonderful teacher, I love watching your videos more than once too :) Thanks for doing all that you do

@InfernalPasquale 28 күн бұрын

Absolutely fascinating and enlightening. I had never truly appreciated the history of language until watching this.

@6099x 28 күн бұрын

Rob, linguistics was my field of interest I never pursued - I did something very unrelated instead in the end. It is so very exciting to be exposed to linguistics through your channel! Thank you very much 🎉

@reriuqne0-ny1er 21 күн бұрын

Brilliant and enlightening.

@Picasso_Picante92 27 күн бұрын

You are truly a super nerd. Great video!

@e.gonnermann4646 28 күн бұрын

On my travels, every nation I came accross sang the song Frere Jacques in their own language. Loved it.

@gaufrid1956 28 күн бұрын

Having studied French, Latin and Sanskrit in my youth, I really appreciate your video about *P-I-E, Rob. On the Asian side of things, I think that there was probably a Proto-Austronesian language, which gave rise to the Taiwanese tribal languages, the many Filipino languages, and Proto-Malay (which was the Lingua Franca of South East Asia for a long time), and Bahasa Indonesia. It's easy to see how many similarities there are between many languages throughout South East Asia.

@aLadNamedNathan 28 күн бұрын

There was a proto language for every language family that exists.

@tragedician 26 күн бұрын

Another great video for language fanatics. Keep up the great content!

@acwatercolors 3 күн бұрын

Very interesting, great content ! Thank you!

@grampa6682 28 күн бұрын

My personal favorite is the word for Mom being the first thing any baby pronounce, just by sticking togheter the lips and then open them quickly. Is very similar in every language because of that. The mother would be the first person that the baby "spoke" that "word" for, so that sound just mean that: mother

@SchmulKrieger 28 күн бұрын

It's actually what a lot of people here when a baby cries, ah, ah, ah, to mah, mah, mah. Like people are laughing like hahaha, or muha, muha muhaha. But that's actually absurd, because pa + -ter (blood relative marker) changes to fa + -ter. So does ma changes sometimes to la or ra.

@runnynose8341 28 күн бұрын

My Daughters first words were Ipad and tiktok.

@siryogiwan 28 күн бұрын

It's a myth that it's the 1st word spoken, it all depends on what you teach them, a lot of kids don't say either mum or dad

@sophiejones3554 28 күн бұрын

That's a myth. Babies make "baba" and "dada" before "mama" and the first sound every baby makes is "gaga" which is not even a word in many languages let alone a term for a parent. It is true though that "mama" is practically universal, but it doesn't have to do with how babies talk. Irish mothers are mamas, and Chinese mothers are mamas, Maori mothers are mamas, and Russian mothers are mamas... but you know who isn't? Chippewa mothers, Maya mothers, Cherokee mothers, etc. everyone south of the Arctic Circle in the Americas. Same for the indigenous people in Papua New Guinea and Australia. The cultures who have been in their current locations for more than 10,000 years, when the Bering land bridge as last exposed.

@user-lm8ou6rw9e 28 күн бұрын

My son's first words were mim mee. I was calling the dog and he joined in. Her name was Minnie.

@EngineerLewis 28 күн бұрын

Thanks for opening my eyes to the history of English and other associated languages! A great and fascinating presentation.👍

@staninjapan07 16 күн бұрын

Nicely done. Some interesting theories there. Thanks a lot.

@aliAhmed-zq1tg 27 күн бұрын

Detailed, simple yet profound and interesting as usual.

@jorgelotr3752 28 күн бұрын

Quite interesting for you to use the word for "hundred", because that's what's commonly used to divide Indo-European (not Proto) into two main families: "satem" and "centum". PS. I believe that, apart from the "reconstruction from reconstructions" issue, the Nostratic hypothesis has to deal with the fact that those peoples lived close to one another and cross-contamination during millenia is bound to happen.

@TheGlebeLaird 28 күн бұрын

As for the odd use of “the” I suspect the author was using “language” as understood, as in “the Celtic (language)”. Thoughts?

@skipmcilvaine 28 күн бұрын

Exactly what I was thinking.

@AAArend 28 күн бұрын

In Dutch (related to English) you can actually use an article before a language name (i.e. "Ik haat (het) Frans" = "I hate French") so maybe English dropped it somewhere between now and when the author used it

@lucaslourenco8918 28 күн бұрын

He didn't use it for the other languages, though. I cam only guess that back then, "Old Persian" was not viewed as one syntactic element, and was more like "the old version of Persian", and maybe he felt that using the article was more natural

@steveandtinejeppesen1625 18 күн бұрын

I've really enjoyed this❤

@heffo67 25 күн бұрын

Excellent stuff Rob, Very interesting. It makes perfect sense that many languages have come from similar roots and roots can go deep!

@Reubentheimitator6572 28 күн бұрын

O Rob, I had learned most of this information already, but I really liked your way of saying it, thank you.

@bobthemagicmoose 28 күн бұрын

I’m really interested in patterns shared between unrelated languages. Like “hi” “nihao” “aloha” “hola” “marhaba “ all have the aspirated “h” sound; perhaps because it’s a word you need to shout a bit more? I’m sure even mentioning this exposes my ignorance… which is exactly why such a video would be awesome!

@bobthemagicmoose 28 күн бұрын

In other words: are sounds arbitrary or do they have meaning?

@vacuumdiagram 28 күн бұрын

@@bobthemagicmoose It was very interesting that "m" was usually the beginning of "me", across so many languages. i assume because its such an easy sound to make - don't even have to open your mouth, hah! Having the same level of knowledge/ignorance, the shouting part seems reasonable - works for Halt! too!

@inyobill 28 күн бұрын

Segue into the final topic of the video ... . I believe you got where he was leading.

@inyobill 28 күн бұрын

@@bobthemagicmoose I would hazard that the sounds are mostly arbitrary, but not all. See "buzz", "hiss", "bellow", the list goes on, even "piss".

@Markone99 28 күн бұрын

Marhaba is a stretch, the h there is a semitic sound found in Arabic and Hebrew and almost no other language (which is why Arabs sometimes put numbers in their words, cuz they resemble the original letter; Marhaba would be written as Mar7aba, and that's cuz 7 resembles ح in مرحبا). A closer word would be Hala or Ahlan, which are Arabic words, and resemble the ones you mentioned much more!

@ChirkunovIvan 10 күн бұрын

My favorite English Russian cognates: 1. Sit - Sidieti 2. Wit - Vidieti and Viedati 3. Nest - Gniezdo 4. Milk - Moloko 5. Stuff - Stiebieli 6. Moon - Miesiats 7. Saddle - Siedlo 8. Stand - Stati 9. Rye - Rozh 10. Leed - Liudi 11. Skul - skuly 12. is - jesti 13. That - Tot 14. Wolf - Volk 15. Folk - Polk 16. Lie 1 - Liezhati 17. Lie 2 - Lgati 18. Tooth - Diesna 19. Stool - Stool (lol) and Stol 20. Murther - Smierti

@enge 27 күн бұрын

I absolutely love your work.

@Jacques.dAnjou 28 күн бұрын

I heart your video’s

@FakeMaker 28 күн бұрын

When elementary school me found out about the Indo-European language family, I was stunned and very excited. Seemingly unrelated languages following very similar patterns and ancestral vocabulary was the coolest thing I've ever heard at that time. I think this single piece of information was what sparked my interest in linguistics as well as learning foreign languages and cultures. Even the controversial Altaic and Nostratic language families are an interesting topic, factual or not. I think a video about the hypothetical Altaic language family would be very cool.

@zarinaromanets7290 28 күн бұрын

Why is Altaic considered controversial? All I know is there are not a lot of speakers left but they're trying to get recognized

@FakeMaker 28 күн бұрын

@@zarinaromanets7290 The Altaic language family doesn't refer to a single specific language or culture, it's a proposed language macro-family that would include Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic and sometimes even Japonic and Koreanic language families. So imagine it like the Indo-European language family, but with very limited evidence in favour of this grouping. This proposed macro-family is controversial because it has been rejected by the vast majority of linguists, though some continue researching it and are in favour of it.

@zarinaromanets7290 28 күн бұрын

@@FakeMaker I'm aware, just didn't write family bc of saving time typing 😅 do it's controversial bc linguists don't agree on it? I'm curious to look into it a bit more now.

@FakeMaker 27 күн бұрын

@@zarinaromanets7290 Oh, I see now, sorry for the misunderstanding. Yeah, the Altaic language family is considered controversial as it's much more likely their similarities don't stem from common ancestry, but as a result of geographical proximity and prolonged contact. Hence, most linguists don't agree with them being closely related enough to be in the same family. There also seems to be quite a bit of confusion between "Altai languages" and the "Altaic language family". Though that isn't surprising, idk who thought it would be a good idea to have the names be so similar lol.

@zarinaromanets7290 27 күн бұрын

@@FakeMaker No worries, the internet comment space is confusing and lacking lol. Oh wow that is interesting. I wonder exactly how they evolved as languages being as most original people from the region were nomadic and following there herds so they could eat and protect them from wolves. I wonder if they've been doing this since the ice age and only spoke when meeting another family unit to trade or intermarry, a couple times a year. Could be they had their own evolution all together.