Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781639732586)

From the author of Pale Rider, drawing on cutting-edge science, the riveting story of how today's largest language family (including English) descends from one lost, ancient dialect-and what that reveals about the course of human civilization.

Daughter. Duhit?r-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear the echoes of one of history's most unlikely journeys. All four languages-along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish-trace their origins to a single language dubbed Proto-Indo-European, that predated writing and can only be glimpsed through tentative reconstructions. The last speaker of Proto-Indo-European died thousands of years ago, yet it survives today in the languages spoken by nearly half the Earth's population.

Who spoke Proto-Indo-European, and how did its offspring come to dominate from Valencia to Vladivostok? Acclaimed science journalist Laura Spinney leads us on an epic journey, following in the footsteps of nomads and monks, Amazon warriors and lion kings - the ancient peoples who spread the Indo-European languages far and wide. Distilling the latest research in linguistics, archaeology and paleogenetics, Proto reveals that their common ancestor emerged at a cultural fault line that persists to this day, making its story acutely relevant to our own unsettled age. Readers of Empires of the Word and Sapiens will revel in Spinney's sweeping and vivid history of a vanished world, told in its own words.

Author: Laura Spinney
ISBN-10: 1639732586
ISBN-13: 9781639732586
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Language: English
Published: 05/13/2025
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.25h x 6.12w x 1.00d