Norn was the Norse language spoken in the Shetland and Orknie Islands in the north of Scotland. It was most closely related to Icelandic. It died out at the end of the 19th century. In spite of it's modern demise relatively few examples remain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Favor i ir i chimrie / Our Father (1700 A.D. Version)
Favor i ir i chimrie,
Helleur ir i nam thite,
gilla cosdum thite cumma,
veya thine mota vara gort
o yurn sinna gort i chimrie,
ga vus da on da dalight brow vora
Firgive vus sinna vora
sin vee Firgive sindara mutha vus,
lyv vus ye i tumtation,
min delivera vus fro olt ilt,
Amen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Favor i ir i chimrie / Our Father /(1713 A.D. Version)
Favor i ir i chimrie,
Helleur ir i nam thite,
Gilla cosdum thite cumma,
Veya thine mota vara gort o yurn
sinna gort i chimrie,
Ga vus da on da dalight brow vora,
Firgive vus sinna vora sin vee firgive sindara mutha vus,
Lyv us et ye i tutation,
Min delivera vus fro olt ilt.
Amen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Favor i ir i chimrie / Our Father /(1870 A.D. Version)
Favor i ir i chimrie,
helleur iri nam thite;
Gilla cosdum thite cumma.
Veya thine mota vara gort o yurn,
sinna gort i chimrie.
Ga vus da on da dalight brouw vora.
Firgive vus sinna vora sin vee
firgive sindara mutha vus.
Lyv us et ye i tuntation;
min delivera vus fro olt ils.
Amen.
Friday, 25 July 2014
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Cornish To Be Formally Recognized
FROM THE DAILY MAIL;
'This is a proud day for us': Cornish will be recognized as national minority group for the first time after 15-year campaign
By Mark Duell
The Cornish are to be recognized as a national minority group for the first time, it has been revealed.
Chief Secretary Danny Alexander announced the decision today, saying it meant for the first time that Cornish people would receive the same rights and protections as other minorities in Britain.
It will also mean they are classified under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities the same as the UK's other Celtic people, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.
Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister Mr Alexander, 41, who is making a visit to Bodmin today, said: ‘Cornish people have a proud history and a distinct identity.
‘I am delighted that we have been able to officially recognise this and afford the Cornish people the same status as other minorities in the UK.’
Campaigners say the region deserves special measures - including economic concessions, such as reductions in fuel duty - in recognition of its geographical location and cultural heritage.
Those who have pushed over a 15-year period for Cornwall to be fully recognized under European rules for the protection of national minorities welcomed the announcement.
Dick Cole, leader of Cornish independence party Mebyon Kernow, said: ‘This is a fantastic development.
‘A lot of people have been working for many years to get Cornwall the recognition other Celtic people of the UK already receive. The detail is still to come out on what this might mean, but make no mistake that this is a proud day for Cornwall.’
He told MailOnline: ‘The actual implementation isn't going to cost the Government. There's no immediate of promise of money from central government. Announcement: Chief Secretary Danny Alexander revealed the decision, saying it meant for the first time that Cornish people would receive the same rights and protections as other minorities in Britain
‘But in terms of promoting the culture, there's going to be opportunities to access money. It's also the responsibility for the people of Cornwall to make it work us.’
Mr Cole also said that it is not the case that all councils will have to employ Cornish diversity officers, because they all already have equality and diversity strategies which will now cover the Cornish as well.
And in terms of road signs in Cornwall, there are at least 1,000 already in place, he said - and they are all being built on new estates to avoid any extra cost of replacing existing signs.
In response to claims by critics that the Cornish are no different to any other community in England, Mr Cole said: ‘Already the Welsh, Irish and Scots were protected by the framework on the basis of their national origins.
‘If you take that basic starting point, Cornwall is exactly the same. The position for Cornwall is that it is specifically a Celtic area.’
Prime Minister David Cameron, whose daughter Florence was born in the county while the Cameron family were on holiday in 2010, said Cornwall had a ‘very special place in my heart’.
Florence was born during a family holiday in August 2010, and was given the middle name Endellion in honour of the village of St Endellion near where the Camerons were staying in Cornwall.
Mr Cameron told BBC Radio Cornwall: ‘I am very proud of the fact that she was born in Cornwall, very proud of the fact that she carries the name Endellion - a church which means a lot to me.
‘I've been to a wedding of one of my best friends there and very sadly buried another of my friends there. Cornwall has a very special place in my heart.
‘I love it when we go down to Cornwall now and Florence is there. Some shopkeepers single her out for special attention and say “well I want to talk to the Cornish one first”. So she gets the pasty before anybody else.’
Communities Minister Stephen Williams added: ‘This is a great day for the people of Cornwall who have long campaigned for the distinctiveness and identity of the Cornish people to be recognized officially.
‘The Cornish and Welsh are the oldest peoples on this island and as a proud Welshman I look forward to seeing Saint Piran's Flag flying with extra Celtic pride on March 5 next year.’
Campaigners have taken their message to Westminster in recent years after concerns policies affecting them were being made from Whitehall without their consideration.
Half a million people signed a petition - swelled by support from newspapers including the Western Morning News - opposing 2012's controversial ‘pasty tax’.
And thousands marched through Cornwall and in Westminster in an ultimately successful effort to get the Government to reverse plans imposing VAT on hot Cornish pasties.
Independent Cornwall Councillor Bert Biscoe, who worked on the campaign, said: ‘I very much welcome that the Cornish as a group can stand equally beside all other groups in British society.’
Fellow campaigner and comedian Edward Rowe, also known as the Kernow King, added: ‘This is obviously great news for the people of Cornwall.
‘I think there is always going to be a certain degree of pessimism when politicians are involved - are they going to be chasing votes, for example.
‘But it is great for Cornwall to get the recognition for its culture and heritage that it deserves.’
North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson said: ‘Today's announcement means that the Cornish will finally be recognized as one of the constituent peoples of the UK alongside the Welsh, Scottish and Irish.
‘It will also make sure that public institutions take account of Cornwall's unique identity.'
The Liberal Democrat added: ‘Despite the fact that the last Labour Government said that the Cornish couldn't be recognized in this way, Liberal Democrats in Coalition Government have made sure that the Cornish people, and our traditions, culture and heritage, now have the same status as everyone else.'
The announcement follows previous commitments, which included formal recognition of the Cornish language.
In March, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the Government would be investing a further £120,000 into the Cornish Language Partnership to promote and develop the language.
Mr Cole added: ‘In 2002, the Government recognized the Cornish language through a charter, and it's putting money in to help with the revival.
‘So we've always been arguing that it's a bit silly - you're recognizing a minority language, but not a minority group from which it came. What they've done today is to close the circle.’
Residents of Cornwall traditionally spoke a Celtic language similar to that of France's Brittany region.
Separately, a tongue-in-cheek plot played out in the BBC’s spoof comedy W1A last month looked at the issue of Cornwall being under-represented on the Corporation.
A fictional local presenter in the series - which looks at what might go on behind closed doors at the BBC - felt that she could not work as a national presenter because of a perceived anti-Cornish bias. The series, which ran for four episodes as a follow-up to Twenty Twelve, starred Hugh Bonneville.
Plus there was this;
'This is a proud day for us': Cornish will be recognized as national minority group for the first time after 15-year campaign
By Mark Duell
The Cornish are to be recognized as a national minority group for the first time, it has been revealed.
Chief Secretary Danny Alexander announced the decision today, saying it meant for the first time that Cornish people would receive the same rights and protections as other minorities in Britain.
It will also mean they are classified under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities the same as the UK's other Celtic people, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.
Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister Mr Alexander, 41, who is making a visit to Bodmin today, said: ‘Cornish people have a proud history and a distinct identity.
‘I am delighted that we have been able to officially recognise this and afford the Cornish people the same status as other minorities in the UK.’
Campaigners say the region deserves special measures - including economic concessions, such as reductions in fuel duty - in recognition of its geographical location and cultural heritage.
Those who have pushed over a 15-year period for Cornwall to be fully recognized under European rules for the protection of national minorities welcomed the announcement.
Dick Cole, leader of Cornish independence party Mebyon Kernow, said: ‘This is a fantastic development.
‘A lot of people have been working for many years to get Cornwall the recognition other Celtic people of the UK already receive. The detail is still to come out on what this might mean, but make no mistake that this is a proud day for Cornwall.’
He told MailOnline: ‘The actual implementation isn't going to cost the Government. There's no immediate of promise of money from central government. Announcement: Chief Secretary Danny Alexander revealed the decision, saying it meant for the first time that Cornish people would receive the same rights and protections as other minorities in Britain
‘But in terms of promoting the culture, there's going to be opportunities to access money. It's also the responsibility for the people of Cornwall to make it work us.’
Mr Cole also said that it is not the case that all councils will have to employ Cornish diversity officers, because they all already have equality and diversity strategies which will now cover the Cornish as well.
And in terms of road signs in Cornwall, there are at least 1,000 already in place, he said - and they are all being built on new estates to avoid any extra cost of replacing existing signs.
In response to claims by critics that the Cornish are no different to any other community in England, Mr Cole said: ‘Already the Welsh, Irish and Scots were protected by the framework on the basis of their national origins.
‘If you take that basic starting point, Cornwall is exactly the same. The position for Cornwall is that it is specifically a Celtic area.’
Prime Minister David Cameron, whose daughter Florence was born in the county while the Cameron family were on holiday in 2010, said Cornwall had a ‘very special place in my heart’.
Florence was born during a family holiday in August 2010, and was given the middle name Endellion in honour of the village of St Endellion near where the Camerons were staying in Cornwall.
Mr Cameron told BBC Radio Cornwall: ‘I am very proud of the fact that she was born in Cornwall, very proud of the fact that she carries the name Endellion - a church which means a lot to me.
‘I've been to a wedding of one of my best friends there and very sadly buried another of my friends there. Cornwall has a very special place in my heart.
‘I love it when we go down to Cornwall now and Florence is there. Some shopkeepers single her out for special attention and say “well I want to talk to the Cornish one first”. So she gets the pasty before anybody else.’
Communities Minister Stephen Williams added: ‘This is a great day for the people of Cornwall who have long campaigned for the distinctiveness and identity of the Cornish people to be recognized officially.
‘The Cornish and Welsh are the oldest peoples on this island and as a proud Welshman I look forward to seeing Saint Piran's Flag flying with extra Celtic pride on March 5 next year.’
Campaigners have taken their message to Westminster in recent years after concerns policies affecting them were being made from Whitehall without their consideration.
Half a million people signed a petition - swelled by support from newspapers including the Western Morning News - opposing 2012's controversial ‘pasty tax’.
And thousands marched through Cornwall and in Westminster in an ultimately successful effort to get the Government to reverse plans imposing VAT on hot Cornish pasties.
Independent Cornwall Councillor Bert Biscoe, who worked on the campaign, said: ‘I very much welcome that the Cornish as a group can stand equally beside all other groups in British society.’
Fellow campaigner and comedian Edward Rowe, also known as the Kernow King, added: ‘This is obviously great news for the people of Cornwall.
‘I think there is always going to be a certain degree of pessimism when politicians are involved - are they going to be chasing votes, for example.
‘But it is great for Cornwall to get the recognition for its culture and heritage that it deserves.’
North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson said: ‘Today's announcement means that the Cornish will finally be recognized as one of the constituent peoples of the UK alongside the Welsh, Scottish and Irish.
‘It will also make sure that public institutions take account of Cornwall's unique identity.'
The Liberal Democrat added: ‘Despite the fact that the last Labour Government said that the Cornish couldn't be recognized in this way, Liberal Democrats in Coalition Government have made sure that the Cornish people, and our traditions, culture and heritage, now have the same status as everyone else.'
The announcement follows previous commitments, which included formal recognition of the Cornish language.
In March, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the Government would be investing a further £120,000 into the Cornish Language Partnership to promote and develop the language.
Mr Cole added: ‘In 2002, the Government recognized the Cornish language through a charter, and it's putting money in to help with the revival.
‘So we've always been arguing that it's a bit silly - you're recognizing a minority language, but not a minority group from which it came. What they've done today is to close the circle.’
Residents of Cornwall traditionally spoke a Celtic language similar to that of France's Brittany region.
Separately, a tongue-in-cheek plot played out in the BBC’s spoof comedy W1A last month looked at the issue of Cornwall being under-represented on the Corporation.
A fictional local presenter in the series - which looks at what might go on behind closed doors at the BBC - felt that she could not work as a national presenter because of a perceived anti-Cornish bias. The series, which ran for four episodes as a follow-up to Twenty Twelve, starred Hugh Bonneville.
Plus there was this;
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
It's All Not Greek To Me. But It Might Be Elvish. Or Klingon.
A recent article in Archeology.org (see below) reconstructs a what the language of inhabitants of Europe might have sounded like. The general consensus is that is sounds like Klingon. I personally think it sounds like Elvish but what the Hell.
Some background here; Almost all European languages (with only a couple of exceptions which we'll get to in a bit) are related to each other to a greater or lessor degree in a language family called "Indo-European". This is a by-product of a massive migration into Europe from West of the Himalayas in what is now Western China approximately 6000 years ago. The people or peoples who made this trek have been shown to have shared the same basic DNA and it is assumed (although it can never actually be proved by this point of course) that they also shared the same basic language and that most (but not quite all) existing European languages descend from this language. The language family to which most European languages are included is called "The Indo-European Family" and the oldest form is known as "Proto-Indi-European". Of course at that time there was no written form much less recorded samples but there has been attempts to reconstruct what it may have sounded like;
Taken from an article on Archeology.org; Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European
By ERIC A. POWELL
By the 19th century, linguists knew that all modern Indo-European languages descended from a single tongue. Called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE, it was spoken by a people who lived from roughly 4500 to 2500 B.C., and left no written texts. The question became, what did PIE sound like? In 1868, German linguist August Schleicher used reconstructed Proto-Indo-European vocabulary to create a fable in order to hear some approximation of PIE. Called “The Sheep and the Horses,” and also known today as Schleicher’s Fable, the short parable tells the story of a shorn sheep who encounters a group of unpleasant horses. As linguists have continued to discover more about PIE, this sonic experiment continues and the fable is periodically updated to reflect the most current understanding of how this extinct language would have sounded when it was spoken some six thousand years ago. Since there is considerable disagreement among scholars about PIE, no one version can be considered definitive. Here, University of Kentucky linguist Andrew Byrd recites his version of the fable using pronunciation informed by the latest insights into reconstructed PIE.
Schleicher originally rendered the fable like this:
Avis akvāsas ka
Avis, jasmin varnā na ā ast, dadarka akvams, tam, vāgham garum vaghantam, tam, bhāram magham, tam, manum āku bharantam. Avis akvabhjams ā vavakat: kard aghnutai mai vidanti manum akvams agantam. Akvāsas ā vavakant: krudhi avai, kard aghnutai vividvant-svas: manus patis varnām avisāms karnauti svabhjam gharmam vastram avibhjams ka varnā na asti. Tat kukruvants avis agram ā bhugat.
Here is the fable in English translation:
The Sheep and the Horses;
"A sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool." Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.
And here is the modern reconstruction recited by Andrew Byrd. It is based on recent work done by linguist H. Craig Melchert, and incorporates a number of sounds unknown at the time Schleicher first created the fable:
H2óu̯is h1éḱu̯ōs-kwe
"h2áu̯ei̯ h1i̯osméi̯ h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1ést, só h1éḱu̯oms derḱt. só gwr̥hxúm u̯óǵhom u̯eǵhed; só méǵh2m̥ bhórom; só dhǵhémonm̥ h2ṓḱu bhered. h2óu̯is h1ékwoi̯bhi̯os u̯eu̯ked: “dhǵhémonm̥ spéḱi̯oh2 h1éḱu̯oms-kwe h2áǵeti, ḱḗr moi̯ aghnutor”. h1éḱu̯ōs tu u̯eu̯kond: “ḱludhí, h2ou̯ei̯! tód spéḱi̯omes, n̥sméi̯ aghnutór ḱḗr: dhǵhémō, pótis, sē h2áu̯i̯es h2u̯l̥h1náh2 gwhérmom u̯éstrom u̯ept, h2áu̯ibhi̯os tu h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1esti. tód ḱeḱluu̯ṓs h2óu̯is h2aǵróm bhuged.
Here is the fable in English translation:
The Sheep and the Horses;
"A sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool." Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain."
And here is the modern reconstruction recited by Andrew Byrd. It is based on recent work done by linguist H. Craig Melchert, and incorporates a number of sounds unknown at the time Schleicher first created the fable:
H2óu̯is h1éḱu̯ōs-kwe;
"h2áu̯ei̯ h1i̯osméi̯ h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1ést, só h1éḱu̯oms derḱt. só gwr̥hxúm u̯óǵhom u̯eǵhed; só méǵh2m̥ bhórom; só dhǵhémonm̥ h2ṓḱu bhered. h2óu̯is h1ékwoi̯bhi̯os u̯eu̯ked: “dhǵhémonm̥ spéḱi̯oh2 h1éḱu̯oms-kwe h2áǵeti, ḱḗr moi̯ aghnutor”. h1éḱu̯ōs tu u̯eu̯kond: “ḱludhí, h2ou̯ei̯! tód spéḱi̯omes, n̥sméi̯ aghnutór ḱḗr: dhǵhémō, pótis, sē h2áu̯i̯es h2u̯l̥h1náh2 gwhérmom u̯éstrom u̯ept, h2áu̯ibhi̯os tu h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1esti. tód ḱeḱluu̯ṓs h2óu̯is h2aǵróm bhuged."
THE SHEEP AND THE HORSES;
In the 1990s, historical linguists created another short parable in reconstructed PIE. It is loosely based on a passage from the Rigveda, an ancient collection of Sanskrit hymns, in which a king beseeches the god Varuna to grant him a son. Here, Andrew Byrd recites his version of the “The King and the God” in PIE, based on the work of linguists Eric Hamp and the late Subhadra Kumar Sen.
Here is an English translation of the story:
The King and the God;
"Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son. He asked his priest: "May a son be born to me!" The priest said to the king: "Pray to the god Werunos." The king approached the god Werunos to pray now to the god. "Hear me, father Werunos!" The god Werunos came down from heaven. "What do you want?" "I want a son." "Let this be so," said the bright god Werunos. The king's lady bore a son."
And here is the story rendered in reconstructed Proto-Indo-European:
H3rḗḱs dei̯u̯ós-kwe;
"H3rḗḱs h1est; só n̥putlós. H3rḗḱs súhxnum u̯l̥nh1to. Tósi̯o ǵʰéu̯torm̥ prēḱst: "Súhxnus moi̯ ǵn̥h1i̯etōd!" Ǵʰéu̯tōr tom h3rḗǵm̥ u̯eu̯ked: "h1i̯áǵesu̯o dei̯u̯óm U̯érunom". Úpo h3rḗḱs dei̯u̯óm U̯érunom sesole nú dei̯u̯óm h1i̯aǵeto. "ḱludʰí moi, pter U̯erune!" Dei̯u̯ós U̯érunos diu̯és km̥tá gʷah2t. "Kʷíd u̯ēlh1si?" "Súhxnum u̯ēlh1mi." "Tód h1estu", u̯éu̯ked leu̯kós dei̯u̯ós U̯érunos. Nu h3réḱs pótnih2 súhxnum ǵeǵonh1e."
THE KING AND THE GOD;
The online responses have been to mockingly claim that it sounds like Klingon and Romulan from "Star Trek" or Elvish from "Lord Of The Rings". More realistically I think it bears a certain resemblance to Celtic languages like Gaelic and Welsh, (spoken with an oddly Scandinavian accent) for whatever that's worth.
Incidentally the few languages that are not part of the Indo-European language family are;
The Uralic Language Family which includes Finnish, Estonian and Lapp along with the more distantly related Hungarian. This group are actually known to be relatively late-comers to Europe, arriving in the Dark Ages.
Maltese; which is actually a Semitic language related to Arabic and Hebrew and which arrived with the Moors.
The next languages are much older and thus more relevant to the historical evolution;
Basque; which is spoken in the mountain border area of North-West Spain and South West France. Basque is quite ancient and clearly predates Celtic or Latin. It is theorized that Basque may have been related to Iberian, the ancient pre-Latin language of Spain and Portugal. This makes logical sense but there are too few samples of this tongue to prove this.
The Caucasian Family which is spoken in the Caucasus Mountains on the borders of Russia and Turkey and includes Georgian, Abkhaz, Chechen, Ingush, Circasian and literally dozens of smaller tongues (some of which are only spoken by tiny groups), but not Armenian (which actually is Indo-European) and Azeri which is related to Farsi (Persian). Linguists group these Caucasian languages together although they are not entirely sure they are all actually related to each other, or any other language. There are simply too many languages in the Caucasus spoken by tiny groups to make an in depth study practical.
Although not in Europe; there is a third language isolate residing in another mountain area surrounded by Indo-European people, namely the Burushaski people who live in the mountains of Western Pakistan. This language is spoken by a relatively small and isolated group of people and thus has not been heavily studied.
There are also some important long dead European languages such as Etruscan which was spoken in pre-Latin Italy and is now thought to be related to a couple of other dead languages such as Raetic (spoken in the Southern Alps) and Minoan spoken in the Aegean Islands. There is also Pictish, once spoken in Scotland. The scanty evidence suggests a possible link for Pictish to Welsh but this is thus far unproven.
Linguists refer to these languages that are unrelated to other language families as "isolates". The Caucasian languages have some interesting factors in common with Basque and Burushaski. All three languages are acknowledged to be very ancient with peoples who live in remote mountainous regions which suggests that in ancient times these peoples retreated into the mountains in the face of the later migrations of peoples like the Celts, Slavs etc. Also worth pointing out that there are very ancient Stonehenge type structures, stone circles and burial mounds that stretch from the outer islands of Scotland across Europe to the Caucasian Mountains that in turn implies that at one point there was one basically related culture that stretched across Europe in pre-historic times predating the arrival of the Indo-European peoples. Therefore there may have also been a related language. In search of this theory various linguists have tried to find a link connecting Basque and Georgian, although thus far this theory is unproven and controversial. At attempt to further link the Proto-Indo-European language with the Basque/Georgian/Burshaski languages needs further study.
A TV DOC ABOUT PROTO-LANGUAGE;
Some background here; Almost all European languages (with only a couple of exceptions which we'll get to in a bit) are related to each other to a greater or lessor degree in a language family called "Indo-European". This is a by-product of a massive migration into Europe from West of the Himalayas in what is now Western China approximately 6000 years ago. The people or peoples who made this trek have been shown to have shared the same basic DNA and it is assumed (although it can never actually be proved by this point of course) that they also shared the same basic language and that most (but not quite all) existing European languages descend from this language. The language family to which most European languages are included is called "The Indo-European Family" and the oldest form is known as "Proto-Indi-European". Of course at that time there was no written form much less recorded samples but there has been attempts to reconstruct what it may have sounded like;
Taken from an article on Archeology.org; Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European
By ERIC A. POWELL
By the 19th century, linguists knew that all modern Indo-European languages descended from a single tongue. Called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE, it was spoken by a people who lived from roughly 4500 to 2500 B.C., and left no written texts. The question became, what did PIE sound like? In 1868, German linguist August Schleicher used reconstructed Proto-Indo-European vocabulary to create a fable in order to hear some approximation of PIE. Called “The Sheep and the Horses,” and also known today as Schleicher’s Fable, the short parable tells the story of a shorn sheep who encounters a group of unpleasant horses. As linguists have continued to discover more about PIE, this sonic experiment continues and the fable is periodically updated to reflect the most current understanding of how this extinct language would have sounded when it was spoken some six thousand years ago. Since there is considerable disagreement among scholars about PIE, no one version can be considered definitive. Here, University of Kentucky linguist Andrew Byrd recites his version of the fable using pronunciation informed by the latest insights into reconstructed PIE.
Schleicher originally rendered the fable like this:
Avis akvāsas ka
Avis, jasmin varnā na ā ast, dadarka akvams, tam, vāgham garum vaghantam, tam, bhāram magham, tam, manum āku bharantam. Avis akvabhjams ā vavakat: kard aghnutai mai vidanti manum akvams agantam. Akvāsas ā vavakant: krudhi avai, kard aghnutai vividvant-svas: manus patis varnām avisāms karnauti svabhjam gharmam vastram avibhjams ka varnā na asti. Tat kukruvants avis agram ā bhugat.
Here is the fable in English translation:
The Sheep and the Horses;
"A sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool." Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.
And here is the modern reconstruction recited by Andrew Byrd. It is based on recent work done by linguist H. Craig Melchert, and incorporates a number of sounds unknown at the time Schleicher first created the fable:
H2óu̯is h1éḱu̯ōs-kwe
"h2áu̯ei̯ h1i̯osméi̯ h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1ést, só h1éḱu̯oms derḱt. só gwr̥hxúm u̯óǵhom u̯eǵhed; só méǵh2m̥ bhórom; só dhǵhémonm̥ h2ṓḱu bhered. h2óu̯is h1ékwoi̯bhi̯os u̯eu̯ked: “dhǵhémonm̥ spéḱi̯oh2 h1éḱu̯oms-kwe h2áǵeti, ḱḗr moi̯ aghnutor”. h1éḱu̯ōs tu u̯eu̯kond: “ḱludhí, h2ou̯ei̯! tód spéḱi̯omes, n̥sméi̯ aghnutór ḱḗr: dhǵhémō, pótis, sē h2áu̯i̯es h2u̯l̥h1náh2 gwhérmom u̯éstrom u̯ept, h2áu̯ibhi̯os tu h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1esti. tód ḱeḱluu̯ṓs h2óu̯is h2aǵróm bhuged.
Here is the fable in English translation:
The Sheep and the Horses;
"A sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool." Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain."
And here is the modern reconstruction recited by Andrew Byrd. It is based on recent work done by linguist H. Craig Melchert, and incorporates a number of sounds unknown at the time Schleicher first created the fable:
H2óu̯is h1éḱu̯ōs-kwe;
"h2áu̯ei̯ h1i̯osméi̯ h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1ést, só h1éḱu̯oms derḱt. só gwr̥hxúm u̯óǵhom u̯eǵhed; só méǵh2m̥ bhórom; só dhǵhémonm̥ h2ṓḱu bhered. h2óu̯is h1ékwoi̯bhi̯os u̯eu̯ked: “dhǵhémonm̥ spéḱi̯oh2 h1éḱu̯oms-kwe h2áǵeti, ḱḗr moi̯ aghnutor”. h1éḱu̯ōs tu u̯eu̯kond: “ḱludhí, h2ou̯ei̯! tód spéḱi̯omes, n̥sméi̯ aghnutór ḱḗr: dhǵhémō, pótis, sē h2áu̯i̯es h2u̯l̥h1náh2 gwhérmom u̯éstrom u̯ept, h2áu̯ibhi̯os tu h2u̯l̥h1náh2 né h1esti. tód ḱeḱluu̯ṓs h2óu̯is h2aǵróm bhuged."
THE SHEEP AND THE HORSES;
In the 1990s, historical linguists created another short parable in reconstructed PIE. It is loosely based on a passage from the Rigveda, an ancient collection of Sanskrit hymns, in which a king beseeches the god Varuna to grant him a son. Here, Andrew Byrd recites his version of the “The King and the God” in PIE, based on the work of linguists Eric Hamp and the late Subhadra Kumar Sen.
Here is an English translation of the story:
The King and the God;
"Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son. He asked his priest: "May a son be born to me!" The priest said to the king: "Pray to the god Werunos." The king approached the god Werunos to pray now to the god. "Hear me, father Werunos!" The god Werunos came down from heaven. "What do you want?" "I want a son." "Let this be so," said the bright god Werunos. The king's lady bore a son."
And here is the story rendered in reconstructed Proto-Indo-European:
H3rḗḱs dei̯u̯ós-kwe;
"H3rḗḱs h1est; só n̥putlós. H3rḗḱs súhxnum u̯l̥nh1to. Tósi̯o ǵʰéu̯torm̥ prēḱst: "Súhxnus moi̯ ǵn̥h1i̯etōd!" Ǵʰéu̯tōr tom h3rḗǵm̥ u̯eu̯ked: "h1i̯áǵesu̯o dei̯u̯óm U̯érunom". Úpo h3rḗḱs dei̯u̯óm U̯érunom sesole nú dei̯u̯óm h1i̯aǵeto. "ḱludʰí moi, pter U̯erune!" Dei̯u̯ós U̯érunos diu̯és km̥tá gʷah2t. "Kʷíd u̯ēlh1si?" "Súhxnum u̯ēlh1mi." "Tód h1estu", u̯éu̯ked leu̯kós dei̯u̯ós U̯érunos. Nu h3réḱs pótnih2 súhxnum ǵeǵonh1e."
THE KING AND THE GOD;
The online responses have been to mockingly claim that it sounds like Klingon and Romulan from "Star Trek" or Elvish from "Lord Of The Rings". More realistically I think it bears a certain resemblance to Celtic languages like Gaelic and Welsh, (spoken with an oddly Scandinavian accent) for whatever that's worth.
Incidentally the few languages that are not part of the Indo-European language family are;
The Uralic Language Family which includes Finnish, Estonian and Lapp along with the more distantly related Hungarian. This group are actually known to be relatively late-comers to Europe, arriving in the Dark Ages.
Maltese; which is actually a Semitic language related to Arabic and Hebrew and which arrived with the Moors.
The next languages are much older and thus more relevant to the historical evolution;
Basque; which is spoken in the mountain border area of North-West Spain and South West France. Basque is quite ancient and clearly predates Celtic or Latin. It is theorized that Basque may have been related to Iberian, the ancient pre-Latin language of Spain and Portugal. This makes logical sense but there are too few samples of this tongue to prove this.
The Caucasian Family which is spoken in the Caucasus Mountains on the borders of Russia and Turkey and includes Georgian, Abkhaz, Chechen, Ingush, Circasian and literally dozens of smaller tongues (some of which are only spoken by tiny groups), but not Armenian (which actually is Indo-European) and Azeri which is related to Farsi (Persian). Linguists group these Caucasian languages together although they are not entirely sure they are all actually related to each other, or any other language. There are simply too many languages in the Caucasus spoken by tiny groups to make an in depth study practical.
Although not in Europe; there is a third language isolate residing in another mountain area surrounded by Indo-European people, namely the Burushaski people who live in the mountains of Western Pakistan. This language is spoken by a relatively small and isolated group of people and thus has not been heavily studied.
There are also some important long dead European languages such as Etruscan which was spoken in pre-Latin Italy and is now thought to be related to a couple of other dead languages such as Raetic (spoken in the Southern Alps) and Minoan spoken in the Aegean Islands. There is also Pictish, once spoken in Scotland. The scanty evidence suggests a possible link for Pictish to Welsh but this is thus far unproven.
Linguists refer to these languages that are unrelated to other language families as "isolates". The Caucasian languages have some interesting factors in common with Basque and Burushaski. All three languages are acknowledged to be very ancient with peoples who live in remote mountainous regions which suggests that in ancient times these peoples retreated into the mountains in the face of the later migrations of peoples like the Celts, Slavs etc. Also worth pointing out that there are very ancient Stonehenge type structures, stone circles and burial mounds that stretch from the outer islands of Scotland across Europe to the Caucasian Mountains that in turn implies that at one point there was one basically related culture that stretched across Europe in pre-historic times predating the arrival of the Indo-European peoples. Therefore there may have also been a related language. In search of this theory various linguists have tried to find a link connecting Basque and Georgian, although thus far this theory is unproven and controversial. At attempt to further link the Proto-Indo-European language with the Basque/Georgian/Burshaski languages needs further study.
A TV DOC ABOUT PROTO-LANGUAGE;
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