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ˌIndo-Euroˈpean, a. and n.
[f. Indo-1 + European.]
A. adj.
a. Common to India and Europe; applied to the great family or class of cognate languages (also called Indo-Germanic and Aryan, q.v.) spoken over the greater part of Europe and extending into Asia as far as northern India, and to the race or its divisions characterized by the use of one or other of these languages.
The earliest name for this family of languages, and, both from priority of date and superior fitness of expression, having greater claims than Indo-Germanic.
1814[Dr. T. Young] in Q. Rev. X. 255 (Adelung's Mithridates) Another ancient and extensive class of languages, united by a greater number of resemblances than can well be altogether accidental, may be denominated the Indo⁓european, comprehending the Indian, the West Asiatic, and almost all the European languages. Ibid. 256 Classes and Families..II. Indoeuropean: Sanscrit, Median, Arabian, Greek, German, Celtic, Latin, Cantabrian, Sclavic. 1815[Dr. T. D. Whitaker] Ibid. XIV. 97 (Hermes Scythicus) Of the five classes which we denominated Monosyllabic, Indoeuropean, Tataric, African, and American, the first two only are to be considered as constituted according to correct philological principles. 1826Prichard Phys. Hist. Mankind v. i. 491 By some the term of Indo-European, by others that of Indo-German dialects, has been applied to the whole class of idioms which are found to be thus allied. The former of these terms is preferable to the latter, and indeed to any other, as being the most general. 1831― Eastern Origin Celtic Nat. 20 Adelung and Murray have regarded the Celtic as a branch of the Indo-European stock. 1841Latham Eng. Lang. i. 3 That the Celtic languages were Indo-European has lately been demonstrated by Dr. Prichard. 1871Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accid. (1873) 6 The Indo-European family comprehends nearly all the languages of Europe, and all those Indian dialects which have sprung from the old Hindu language (Sanskrit). 1877T. L. Papillon Man. Compar. Philol. (ed. 2) 12 The original home of the Indo-European or Aryan nations. Ibid., The position of an Indo-European people. 1884Rhys Celtic Britain 1 The great group of nations which has been variously called Aryan, Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, Indo-Celtic, and Japhetic.
b. Pertaining or belonging to the Indo-European family of languages or peoples, as Indo-European root, ˌIndo-European philology, ˌIndo-European culture, etc.
B. n.
1. A member of the Indo-European race; an Aryan.
1871Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accid. 10 The language of the primitive Indo-Europeans had its local varieties or dialects.
2. An Indianized European. rare.
1825Heber Jrnl. (1828) II. 343 One of these Indo-Europeans is an old Colonel, of French extraction, but completely Indian in colour, dress, language, and ideas.
Hence ˌIndo-Euroˈpeanist, a person who studies the Indo-European family of languages.
1927Mod. Philology Nov. 217 This fallacy was possible because most Indo-Europeanists spoke a Germanic language and knew Latin and Greek from school and Sanskrit from grammars ultimately based on Panini. 1951Archivum Linguisticum III. 114 Both Sapir and Bloomfield—who are at present usually identified with work in exotic languages—began as Indo-Europeanists. 1969Language XLV. 249 The weight of this evidence seems to have persuaded a majority of Indo-Europeanists that Sievers-Edgerton's Law is a valid hypothesis.
Add:[B.] 3. a. Also Primitive Indo-European. The hypothetical parent language or group of dialects from which the Indo-European languages derive; = proto-Indo-European s.v. proto- 2 a. b. The Indo-European family of languages; Indo-European languages collect.
1871F. A. March Compar. Gram. Anglo-Saxon Lang. 3 (caption) Indo-European. Parent speech. 1875W. D. Whitney Life & Growth of Lang. xii. 251 The scale of dialectic difference is much less in Semitic than in Indo-European. 1933L. Bloomfield Language xviii. 307 Even languages which have reshaped our word..give some evidence as to the structure of the word in Primitive Indo-European. 1959Chambers's Encycl. VII. 505/2 Earlier scholars regarding original Indo-European simply as a more archaic form of Sanskrit..conceived of the mother Indo-European tongue as consisting solely of such roots. 1964[see Indo-Hittite s.v. Indo-1]. 1973Word 1966 XXII. 303 Standard reference works on Indo-European generally list three basic types of reduplication. 1987M. Ruhlen Guide to World's Lang. I. vii. 253 A related error involves the comparison of one family with only part of another family. Thus, for example, Indo-European is still sometimes compared directly with Semitic. |