Rövid leírás:
Language, written or spoken, encodes the values and practices of its speakers. This book utilizes the rigorously reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language to examine the relationship those speakers had with the horse. Examination of the entire range of terms relating not only to horses but other domesticated animals, means of transport, and rituals provides strong evidence that the Proto-Indo-Europeans were among the earliest people to use wheeled transport and to ride horses. However, the notion that the horse was primarily used as a weapon of war finds little support in the linguistic evidence, and the idea that Proto-Indo-European society was primarily focused on warfare and aggression is discounted.
Több
Hosszú leírás:
In Naming the Horse, author Martin E. Huld explains the basis of linguistic palaeontology, the reconstruction and analysis of past cultures through the words such cultures used to describe and define the elements of their culture and their practices. He refutes a number of misconceptions and distortions about the practice and results of linguistic palaeontology by explaining how historical linguistics is actually practiced and examining the entire range of terms relating to horses along with those of other domesticated animals, the means of transport, and rituals. He surveys previous accounts of the origins of the Proto-Indo-European word for ‘horse’, *E, and ultimately offers an explanation of PIE *Eas ‘the unruly beast’, a conclusion that provides strong evidence along with ritual prohibitions that the horse was a member of the domesticated animals known to those people and that the Proto-Indo-Europeans were among the earliest people to develop wheeled transport and to ride horses. The speed and agility of the horse enabled them to increase the size of their herds and set off an economic revolution. However, the notion that the horse was primarily used as a weapon of war finds little support in the linguistic evidence. There were certainly no chariots, and the idea that Proto-Indo-European society was primarily focused on warfare and aggression is shown to be untenable.
Több
Tartalomjegyzék:
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Tables
Preface
Abbreviations Used in This Work xvi
1. Introductory Remarks 1
2. The Quick and the Dead
3. Digging into the Past
4. The Problem of the Horse
5. The Ancestry of the Horse
6. Archaeological Evidence
7. Horse Rituals among the Indo-Europeans
8. Equipping the Horse
9. Hybrids and Wild Horses
10. Breeding Horses
11. The Principal Term
12. Previous Etymologies
13. New Etymology
14. Conclusions
Appendix I The System of Reconstruction
Appendix II The Classification of Indo-European Languages
Appendix III The Laws of Indo-European
Appendix IV Glossary
Bibliography
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