Posts Tagged: proto-indo-european

  • An image of a child saying "mama" to five women across the ages from a stone age mother to a modern mother

    Mother—our first word?

    This Sunday is Mother’s Day. It will be a day of flowers, crowded cafés and, for many of us, a guilty phone call to our mothers apologising for not ringing more often. “Mother” is considered one of the oldest words in human language (along with “father”). Words for mother are remarkably similar across many languages. […]

  • Ancient Proto-Indo-Europeans indulging in snow sports (a snowball fight)

    Snow sports at the Olympics

    As the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics progresses with the excitement of the flying ski jumpers and downhill skiers we should celebrate the word at the centre of the whole celebration. We often refer to winter sports as snow sports. Snow is a very old word and its origins take us back to our most ancient […]

  • Horse image coloured etching madrigal

    A little history of horse words

    It started with ekwos Modern horses (Equus ferus caballus) were first domesticated on the northern European steppes 6000 years ago by people we identify as the Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE). These Proto-Indo-Europeans called their new friend the ekwos. They used it to conquer Europe and Asia and to spread their language firstly across these continents and ultimately […]