Notes on J. P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth

Chapter 4: Proto-Indo-European Culture (pp 110-127)

• p. 110
  • Mary Haas (1910-1996): Historical linguist who taught at the University of California at Berkeley; she was a student of Edward Sapir. Her research included work on Thai and on native American languages.
  • M”nnerbunde: German for 'bands of men'.
  • sodalities: "sodality: Association or confederation with others; brotherhood, companionship, fellowship." (Oxford English Dictionary)
  • berserker-like behaviour: The Oxford English Dictionary defines "berserk" as follows: "A wild Norse warrior of great strength and ferocious courage, who fought on the battle-field with a frenzied fury known as the `berserker rage'; often a lawless bravo or freebooter. ... "
• p. 111
  • Late Bronze Age: In Europe, about 1600-1100 BC. See the "Bronze Age" section of Encyclopaedia Britannica's article on the history of Europe.
  • the Indic war-god Indra: "chief of the Vedic gods of India. A warlike, typically Aryan god, he conquered innumerable human and demon enemies, vanquished the sun, and killed the dragon Vrtra, who had prevented the monsoon from breaking. " (from Encyclopaedia Britannica article)
  • hell-raising Maruts: "[Indra's] weapons are lightning and the thunderbolt, and he is strengthened for these feats by drinks of the elixir soma, the offering of the sacrifice. Among his allies are the Rudras (or Maruts), who ride the clouds and direct storms; the Ashvins, twin horsemen; and Vishnu, who later evolved into one of the three principal gods of Hinduism. In later Hinduism, Indra plays little part except in his role as god of rain, regent of the heavens, and guardian of the east." (ibid.)
  • Rig Veda: "Veda" refers to a "sacred hymn or verse composed in archaic Sanskrit and current among the Indo-European-speaking peoples who entered India from the Iranian regions. No definite date can be ascribed to the composition of the Vedas, some of which possess high literary merit, but the period of about 1500-1200 BC would be acceptable to most scholars. The hymns formed a liturgical body that in part grew up around the cult of the soma ritual and the sacrifice. ... The foremost collection, or Samhita, of such hymns ... is the Rigveda." (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
  • Late Neolithic: The Neolithic or "New Stone Age" in Europe is the time from the introduction of agriculture there (about 7000 BC) to about 2300, when the use of bronze tools became widespread. The Late Neolithic starts in the late 4th millennium BC--i.e., somewhat before 3000 BC. (See Encyclopaedia Britannica article on the Neolithic period)
  • Dark Ages: "the early medieval period of western European history. Specifically, the term refers to the time (476-800) when there was no Roman (or Holy Roman) emperor in the West; or, more generally, to the period between about [AD] 500 and [AD] 1000, which was marked by frequent warfare and a virtual disappearance of urban life. It is now rarely used by historians because of the value judgment it implies." (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
  • Eneolithic: also called the "Copper Age"; a period preceding the Bronze Age, when copper was sporadically used, along with flint, to make tools and ornaments. Also spelled "Aeneolithic"; the word comes from Latin aeneus, meaning "made of copper or bronze". The Encyclopaedia Britannica says: "Also known as the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic Period, the Copper Age was a time of diffuse and sporadic use of copper for a limited number of small tools and personal ornaments. If the age is defined simply as the time when copper first began to be used, then localized Copper Age cultures existed in southeastern Europe from the 5th millennium BC. On the other hand, if it is defined as the time when copper was an established element in the material culture, then it must be dated from about 3200 BC in the Carpathian Basin and southeastern Europe, slightly later in the Aegean, and later still in Iberia." ("Copper Age" section of the "History of Europe" article)
  • August Schleicher (1821-1868): "German linguist whose work in comparative linguistics was a summation of the achievements up to his time and whose methodology provided the direction for much subsequent research. He was influenced by the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel, which he espoused during his student days at the University of T¸bingen, and, later, by the views of Charles Darwin. Ultimately, he aimed to devise a logical and scientific theory of language based on a combination of the Hegelian theory of history and Darwinian natural selection." See Mallory, pp. 14-20.
  • Adalbert Kuhn (1812-1881): "German language scholar and folklorist who founded a new school of comparative mythology based on comparative philology. ... In his Zur ”ltesten Geschichte der indogermanischen V–lker (1845; "On the Most Ancient History of the Indo-European Peoples") he gave an account of the earliest Indo-European peoples before their separation into different families, comparing and analyzing the original meaning of the words and stems common to the different languages. His other works include Mythologische Studien, 2 vol. (1886-1912; "Mythological Studies"). " ( EB article)
• p. 113
  • Iron Age Celts: The iron-using Hallstatt culture (near Salzburg, Austria, about 700 BC) and its descendant, the La TËne culture (at the eastern end of Lake Neuch’tel in Switzerland, about 450 BC), are believed to have represented Celtic-speaking populations; see Mallory, pp. 95-107.
  • Tocharian: an extinct Indo-European language (or two closely related languages, called "Tocharian A" and "Tocharian B"), remains of which (dating from about AD 500-700) were discovered only about 1900 in what is now the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of western China. (See the EB article on Tocharian.) There is a project to digitize all available Tocharian manuscripts; this page has links to some nice color images of them, such as this one:
  • Anatolian languages: The extinct branch of Indo-European that includes Hittite and other languages of Anatolia (i.e., the Asian part of Turkey), as in the map below Here is a map showing where the Anatolian languages were spoken; click it to go to the page where it came from:
    
  • Paul Friedrich: Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Linguistics, and Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
• p. 114
  • Ossetic: Also called Ossetin, an Iranian language spoken in the Caucasus region (specifically, in South Ossetia, part of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and in North Ossetia, a republic in the Russian Federation--not far from Chechnya). (A good detailed map of the Caucasus region is here). Look for Ossetic on this map of Iranian languages (click the map to go to the page it came from):
    
  • quaternary : The most recent geological period, from about 1.6 million years ago down to the present. It is part of the Cenozoic Era, and it is subdivided into two epochs: the Pleistocene Epoch (1.6 million to 10,000 years ago) and the Holocene Epoch (10,000 years ago to now). (See the EB article.)
  • pollen diagrams: A pollen diagram is a graph showing the amount of fossil pollen found in a given location, for various plant species, for different time depths. Here is a sample pollen diagram for a bog in Illinois (click it to go to the page):
    
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