Indo-European ghosts

 

An interesting new theory about the peculiar nature of the Greek language in the Indo-European language family, where Greek doesn´t seem to have any close relatives (Armenian might be a very distant one). This kind of doesn´t make any sense on the traditional view of how the Indo-European languages developed. A new paper suggests a solution: the Greek and language is derived from a different Proto-Indo-European ancestral population than the other Indo-European languages. 

In the classical scenario, the PIEs are identified with the Eurasian steppe culture known as Yamnaya. The paper have found genetic markers among Greeks poiting to their ancestors being a different steppe group group, a PIE "ghost population". The YouTube video above argues that this elusive people isn´t unknown at all. *They* are the Yamnaya. In this scenario, both Greeks and Armenians have partial Yamnayan ancestry and so have their respective languages. Presumably, the original Yamnaya tongue was heavily mixed with the lingos of the Neolithic farmers in the southern Balkans and the Transcaucasus.

In Europe outside the Balkans, another (nameless) Indo-European group gave rise to the Corded Ware culture, the Bell-beaker culture, and so on. Here, Neolithic farmers were more sparse, which explains why these languages have a more "pure" Indo-European character. 

Thus, the Proto-Indo-Europeans during the Copper Stone Age were already split into different groups speaking somewhat different languages or dialects. Which, I suppose, raises the question where and when the PIE language first arose (if that´s even a meaningful question).   

The content-creator (Fortress of Lugh) also speculates about what this could mean for comparative mythology. Maybe Greek mythology can´t be easily correlated with, say, Celtic mythology. He doesn´t mention Norse or Vedic mythology, but that´s another obvious conclusion. Here, however, it´s important to bear in mind that there isn´t a one-to-one correspondence between genes, language and culture (including mythology). I mean, how do you explain the similarity between the figure on the Pashupati seal and Cernunnos?

Still, it´s an interesting contribution.