18 th century mercantilism and colonialism = introduction of Sanskrit to European scholars Similarities between Sanskrit and European languages proved the existence of a common language Early 19 th century scholars analyzed the languages’ similarities in attempts to reconstruct the prehistoric language, now called Indo-European Iceland, Ireland -- W N -- Scandinavia E – India S – Greece, Italy

Indo- European IndicIranianGreekArmenianSlavicBalticAlbanianCelticItalicGermanic ENGLISH

Most prevalent member of Indo-European family Extensive borrowing from German and Romance neighbors, Latin, Greek, and others Loss of much of original Old English vocabulary Due to borrowing from other Indo-European languages, English still contains over 50% Indo-European roots First 100 most frequent words in the English language are native Indo-European, and 83 of the second 100

Comparative method -- look at words in various related languages and find recurring patterns to assist in finding the root word Example: “daughter-in-law” SanskritOld English Old Church Slavonic LatinGreekArmenian Snusasnorusnukhanurusnuósnu  What is the Indo-European root?

SanskritOld EnglishOld Church Slavonic LatinGreekArmenian snusasnorusnukhanurusnuósnu Sn- Sanskrit, Germanic, and Slavic show the common Indo-European sn- beginning In other Latin, Greek, and Armenian words, initial Indo-European s was lost before -n; we can assume this word follows suit  Regularity of sound correspondences -u- Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and Armenian agree in using -u- In other words, Slavic -u- corresponds to Sanskrit -u- and Old English -o- has undergone a change from earlier -u- -s- Sanskrit -s- changes to -s- when preceded by -u- Slavic -s- changes to -kh- after -u- In Latin always and in some Germanic cases, intervocalic -s- changes to -r- In Greek and Armenian, intervocalic -s- disappears Ending Sanskrit, Old English, and Slavic endings suggest feminine ending Latin, Greek, and Armenian have irregular (and therefore inherited) feminine endings  snusos (f.)

Apocope: the deletion of a vowel at the end of a word Ex: nama  name Grimm’s Law: p t k f th h b d g Great Vowel Shift:

Indo-European Present-Day English Root Word Albho (“white”)  Dheubh (“deep”)  Pent (“to tread, go)  Albh  Alp  Alf  ælf (OE)  Elf apocope Grimm’s Law Great Vowel Shift deupaz (Germ.)  deop (OE)  Deep Grimm’s Law finthan (Germ.)  findan (OE)  Find Grimm’s Law, Great Vowel Shift