Posted on 02/26/2009 8:52:45 AM PST by BGHater
Some of the oldest words in use in have been identified by scientists studying the evolution of language.
English and Indo-European words including 'I', 'we', 'two' and 'thou' have changed so little in tends of thousands of years that ancient hunter-gatherers would have been able to understand them.
Researchers have also identified several words that could die out within 1,000 years because they are likely to evolve into different forms. They include "throw", "stick", "dirty", "guts" and "squeeze" which could all be out of use by the year 3000.
Mark Pagel, of the University of Reading, who is leading the research, said that it was becoming possible to create a rudimentary 'time traveller's phrasebook' of words that could be understood by Stone Age cavemen.
He told The Times: "If a time traveller wanted to go back in time to a specific date, we could probably draw up a little phrasebook of the modern words that are likely to have sounded similar back then. You wouldn't be able to discuss anything very complicated, but it might be enough to get you out of a tight spot."
Other early words include 'two', 'three' and 'five'.
Dr Pagel has tracked how words have changed by comparing languages from the Indo-European family, which includes most of the past and present languages of Europe, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent.
He has been able to track the evolutionary history of Indo-European back using a computer and said that some of the oldest words were well over 10,000 years old even though the original Indo-European language is thought to date back no more than 9,000 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
No, its a reference to South Park, in one episode one of the girls gets her boobs, the boys become obsessed with her and fight over her, slowly devolving into neanderthals obsessed with her “AH-TA”.
“Grog wears fur bikinis?”
No, but there is Grog’s liberal neighbor two caves to the left, that there has been some gossip about around the water hole.
Words in common between almost all Indo European languages?
Wheel. Axel. Horse. Ewe. (and many others)
So they most likely used chariots or wagons with wheels and axles, drawn by horses, and they probably herded sheep.
Some propose that it was the domestication of the horse that enabled them to “spread” their language from India to Ireland; but there is little doubt that they were a highly successful culture/civilization that gave rise to the most successful cultures that still use a modified version of their language.
“We have a guess as to what was said 10,000 years ago.”
Or perhaps, “Me and the boys are heading over to Stonehenge to do the . . . uh . . . ‘more rain’ ceremony Saturday night. We’ll need more beer, it’s . . . uh . . . part of the . . . uh . . . ceremony.”
Middle East would be wrong. It's Persia.
What happened to 'four'? Are you telling me there was no cave-man golf?
Still no cure for cancer.
Or male pattern baldness.;-)
I found it too difficult to get enthused over characters who seemed to be fascinated with full commodes...
Interesting topic, but this is utter utter nonsense:
“Researchers have also identified several words that could die out within 1,000 years because they are likely to evolve into different forms. They include “throw”, “stick”, “dirty”, “guts” and “squeeze” which could all be out of use by the year 3000.”
What a joke! The word “throw” will go out of use? “Stick”? and so on. This is mind-bogglingly stupid.
Not a disease.
One theory, advanced by Muscarella and Cunningham, suggests baldness evolved in males through sexual selection as an enhanced signal of aging and social maturity, whereby aggression and risk-taking decrease and nurturing behaviours increase. This may have conveyed a male with enhanced social status but reduced physical threat, which could enhance ability to secure reproductive partners and raise offspring to adulthood.
In the study by Muscarella and Cunnhingham, males and females viewed 6 male models with different levels of facial hair (beard and mustache or none) and cranial hair (full head of hair, receding and bald). Participants rated each combination on 32 adjectives related to social perceptions. Males with facial hair and those with bald or receding hair were rated as being older than those who were clean-shaven or had a full head of hair. Beards and a full head of hair were seen as being more aggressive and less socially mature, and baldness was associated with more social maturity. A review of social perceptions of male pattern baldness has been provided by Henss (2001).
Another question: How hard was it to figure out that “I” and “we” are words that have been around a really long time? You know what, I bet “water” and “mother” have been around a long time too. Perhaps “tree” and “fire” as well. Maybe these schoalrs will be able to tell us that “nuclear” and “router” and “airplane” are relatively new.
Scientists is so stoopid. For some odd reason, it made me think back to this story:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071108-fossil-foodchain.html
Wow. Now they have ancient proof that there’s always a bigger fish...
Yup. If you could go back in time, you probably wouldn’t have to worry too much about problems from the locals. A bullet proof vest, hovercraft, some loaded weapons, and you’d be just fine. Of course, if you did encounter trouble, you would probably change the course of history, and come back to a world filled with dinosaurs.
The Hittite word for "water" was watar. Their word for "knee" was genu, the same as the Latin word. But the majority of the vocabulary is said to be of non-Indo-European origin. Some of the inflections resemble those in Greek and Latin rather closely.
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Thanks BGHater. |
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Thanks for posting that. I found it interesting.
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