Europe and the Indo-European Languages

Brussels Journal ^ | Friday, June 13, 2008 | Fjordman

[SunkenCiv]

If you believe Mr. Edward Said and his numerous supporters, Sir William Jones was actually a racist pig who invented comparative linguistics in order to establish his dominance over "the Other." It's strange that Muslims didn't think of this when they ruled other peoples for centuries. After all, Persian, which they knew, is an Indo-European language, as is Sanskrit, as well as Greek, Armenian and the tongues of many of their subjects. Muslim scholars had access to a number of Semitic languages, from Arabic and Hebrew to Aramaic, in addition to languages of other Afro-Asiatic branches in North and East Africa. They were thus in a position to discover this linguistic tree, but they didn't. Did they simply lack curiosity?

Why was European civilization the only civilization on earth to invent comparative linguistics? It is interesting to ponder why nobody had made this connection before. The Indians hadn't done so, neither had the Persians, despite their cultural sophistication. Muslims were generally uninterested in other cultures for reasons of religious bigotry and cultural supremacism, and rarely bothered to learn non-Muslim languages. The few translations that were made from non-Muslim cultures, for instance works of the ancient Greeks in the early stages of Islamic rule, were mainly concerned with scientific matters, not with historical events or cultural ideas, and the translations were often made by non-Muslims.

[SunkenCiv]

The Brussels Journal is written by Europeans, living in as well as outside Europe. The Brussels Journal is published by the Society for the Advancement of Freedom in Europe (SAFE), a Swiss non-profit organisation.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction by James Clackson

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[blam]

Muslims are POS scum-bags.

[KarlInOhio]

Why was European civilization the only civilization on earth to invent comparative linguistics? It is interesting to ponder why nobody had made this connection before.

To be able to reach this conclusion you need a minimum level of travel to be able to get knowledge of a lot of languages. Just knowing two or three isn't enough. You probably need at least some knowledge of a dozen or two before you can start seeing links. Preferably you have access to older versions of languages. You can see the links more by comparing Old English to Old German than you can with the modern languages. You also need the ability to distribute information so many people can see copies of it - that means you need printing presses. It probably wasn't until the 18th century that anyone could put the necessary parts together and it was Western Europe that was on top at the time.

[A_perfect_lady]

Edward Said, the rock-throwing pathological liar... he’s dead, right?

[SunkenCiv]

Don’t hold back, blam, tell us how *I* really feel. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, he was preparing to throw a massive rock, and it wound up coming down on his own ass. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

Great post.

[SunkenCiv]

Hamas Uses Huge Gaza Blast It Caused As Pretext To Launch Massive Attack Israel
STEVELACKNER.COM | June 13, 2008 | Steven W. Lackner
Posted on 06/13/2008 8:55:25 AM PDT by stevelackner
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2030624/posts

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Many scholars had hinted at a common ancestor for modern languages.

[T]he discovery of the genetic relationship of the whole family of Indo-European languages is often attributed to Sir William Jones, a British judge in India who in a 1786 lecture (published 1788) observed that

"The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists."

in his 1786 The Sanscrit Language postulating a proto-language uniting six branches - Sanskrit (i.e. Indo-Aryan), Persian (i.e. Iranian), Greek, Latin, Germanic and Celtic.

[Malesherbes]

Only marginally off topic: while reading this thread I am listening to a violin concerto played by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg -— whose name I find enchanting. Nadja = Slavic; Salerno = Latin; Sonnenberg = Germanic. Now that’s European.

[null and void]

Don’t hold back, blam, tell us how *I* really feel. :’)

Excellent!

(one minor correction, *I* should be *we*)...

[norton]

This one is a keeper,
Thanks.

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Sounds like her ancestors fiddled around too.

[ZULU]

Muslims aren;t interested inm anything that preceded Mohammad.

Muslims are not interested in anything outside of Islam except from the perspective of learning how to destroy it.

Simple.

[Grimmy]

“...(one minor correction, *I* should be *we*)...”

Amen.

[twigs]

An excellent and informative post. Thank you very much.