In modern times, it may not seem as though the peoples of India or Iran have much in common with the peoples of Europe or with the descendants of European peoples who live in the Americas. But in fact these groups are all related by race and language. Thus Asian Indians, though their coloring tends to be much darker than that of most Europeans, have facial features similar to those of their Western cousins.
More important, the languages of the Indian subcontinent, Europe, Iran, and surrounding areas are all part of the same Indo-European “family of languages.” Within this family, certain languages are more closely related than others— much as brothers and sisters are closer to one another than they are to cousins—but all are united by a common Indo-European thread. For instance, the name of the Indo-Europeans' goddess of fire, Agni (AG-nee) is related to the Latin word ignis (IG-nis), which also means “fire”; these words are in turn reflected in the English word ignite.
In studying most ancient groups, archaeologists are able to uncover ruins that provide a wealth of knowledge. The Indo-Europeans, however, were nomads and therefore left behind little physical evidence of their migration to India. Thus the real detective work concerning the Indo-Europeans has fallen to linguists, scholars who study language.
One can “dig” into a language just as archaeologists dig into a site. Just as there are deeper and deeper layers beneath the surface of the earth, so there are “layers” within a language. In English, for instance, there is a thick layer of Latin on top of an even thicker layer of German. At perhaps the deepest layer of all is the Indo-European root that unites English with the ancient languages of India, particularly Sanskrit [SAN-skrit].
World History
