Mother of Sanskrit and related languages
Mother of Sanskrit and related languages was spoken by Turkish farmers, says new study
Subodh Varma, TNN | Aug 24, 2012, 06.12PM IST
NEW DELHI: Ma (Hindi), mater (Latin), mutter (German), mere (French), madre (Spanish), madar (Persian), matka (Polish) - these are words from different languages but they all mean 'mother'. There are many words like that common to languages from Iceland to Sri Lanka, including many (but not all) Indian languages. All these languages - about 494 in all - are clubbed together to make the Indo-European family of languages. Scientists believe that they must have had a common origin.
But where? A study published in today's Science magazine puts forward evidence that
they originated in a language spoken in Anatolia, part of modern Turkey, 8000 to 9500 years ago. The language spread and changed over the millennia and exists today in these different forms.
Quentin D.Atkinson of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, one of the leading scientists of the study said in a Sciencepodcast interview with Isabelle Boni that
such a massive spread can be explained only by a "fairly major powerful mechanism". That mechanism, according to Atkinson, could be agriculture.
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Read more here:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Mother-of-Sanskrit-and-related-languages-was-spoken-by-Turkish-farmers-says-new-study/articleshow/15633438.cms