Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch Geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages of the Indo-Iranian family The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani. The term Aryan languages is occasionally still used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages. The speakers of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language, the of Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and Southern Asia, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia. With written attestations appearing since the Bronze Age, in the form of the Anatolian languages and Mycenaean. Today, there are over one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, most of them native to South Asia South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as the Indian subcontinent south of the, where they form the majority. It is believed that their linguistic roots can be traced back to the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan , Iranian and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family.[citation needed]
Origins
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Indo-European topics
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| Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and Southern Asia, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia. With written attestations appearing since the Bronze Age, in the form of the Anatolian languages and Mycenaean (list The Indo-European languages include some 443 languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. Each subfamily in this list contains many subgroups and individual languages) |
| Albanian Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, Montenegro, southern Serbia and north-western Greece. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves in Greece, along the eastern coast · Armenian The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora. It has its own script, the Armenian alphabet · Baltic The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. The language group is sometimes divided into two sub-groups: Western Baltic, containing only extinct languages, and Eastern Baltic, containing both
Celtic The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, having much earlier been used by Greek and Roman writers to describe tribes in central Gaul. During the 1st · Germanic The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe. Proto-Germanic, along with all of its descendants, is characterized by a · Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of
Indo-Iranian The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani. The term Aryan languages is occasionally still used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages. The speakers of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language, the (Indo-Aryan Geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages, Iranian The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Old Persian is the oldest recorded Iranian language)
Italic extinct: Anatolian · Paleo-Balkans (Dacian,
· Slavic The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia
extinct: Anatolian The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages, which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language · Paleo-Balkan The Paleo-Balkan languages is a geolinguistic concept referring to the Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans in ancient times. Except for Greek and the language that gave rise to Albanian , they are all extinct, due to Hellenization (in the south), Romanization (in the north), and Slavicisation due to the later Slavic migrations (Dacian The Dacian language was spoken by the ancient inhabitants of Dacia. It belongs to the Indo-European language family,
Phrygian The Phrygian language was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, spoken in Asia Minor during Classical Antiquity, Thracian The Thracian language was the Indo-European language spoken in ancient times by the Thracians in South-Eastern Europe) · Tocharian Tocharian or Tokharian is an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family. The name is taken from people known to the Greeks as the Tocharians (Ancient Greek: Τόχαροι, "Tokharoi"). These are sometimes identified with the Yuezhi and the Kushans, while the term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria. A Turkic
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| Indo-European language-speaking peoples |
| Europe: Balts The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number · Slavs The Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in central and eastern Europe. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of the Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Many settled later in Siberia and Central Asia or emigrated to other parts of the world. Over half of Europe's · Albanians Albanians are a people from southeast Europe who live in Albania and neighboring countries. They speak the Albanian language. Roughly half of Albanians live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo[a], the Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro. There are Albanian communities in a number of other countries, including Turkey, Greece, · Italics Ancient peoples of Italy are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. Not all of these various peoples are linguistically or ethnically closely related. Some of them spoke Italic languages, others spoke Greek because of the arrival of Hellenic colonists, while others belonged to another Indo-European branch or were non- · Celts The Iron Age and Roman-era Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Europe who spoke Celtic languages · Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples are a historical ethno-linguistic group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages, which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The descendants of these peoples became, and in many areas contributed to, the ethnic groups of North · Greeks The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world · Paleo-Balkans (Illyrians The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited the Western Balkans during classical antiquity. The territory the tribes covered came to be known as Illyria to Greek and Roman authors, corresponding roughly to the area of the former Yugoslavia and Albania, between the Adriatic sea in the west, the Drava river in the north, the Morava river in · Thracians The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe known as Thrace. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family. The study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology · Dacians The Dacians were an Indo-European people, the ancient inhabitants of Dacia (located in the area in and around the Carpathian mountains and east of there to the Black Sea), present-day Romania and Moldova, parts of Sarmatia (mostly in eastern Ukraine) and Scythia Minor in southeastern Europe (Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria). They spoke the Dacian) ·
Asia: Anatolians The Cappadocian people were thousands of small villages, and each village was a clan. They made buildings out of clay from Cappadocia and structured them with rocks. This architectural design is unique to Cappadocians and resemble the natural rock formations only found in Cappadocia. The buildings, like all rocks and clay that happened to be (Hittites The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia (on the Central Anatolian plateau) ca. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height ca. the 14th century BC, encompassing a large part, Luwians Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian is closely related to Hittite, and was among the languages spoken during the second and first millennia BC by population groups in central Anatolia, to the west or southwest of the core Hittite area . In the oldest texts, eg. the Hittite Code, the) · Armenians The Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are from 8 to 11 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in Georgia, Iran, Russia, and Ukraine. As a · Indo-Iranians Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan , Iranian and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family (Iranians Indigenous ethnicities and emigrant communities living in: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Oman, China , Hungary, United Kingdom, Germany and United States · Indo-Aryans) · Tocharians Other Indo-European peoples, other Indo-Iranian peoples, Yuezhi, Kushans, genes found in Tarim mummies supports evidence of relations between the DNA found in western Eurasia , South Asians(desi) and East Asians
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| Proto-Indo-Europeans The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , an unattested but now reconstructed prehistoric language |
| Language The Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for over a century, and reconstruction is far advanced and quite detailed · Society The society of the Proto-Indo-Europeans existed during the Bronze Age (roughly fifth to fourth millennium BC), and has been reconstructed through analyses of modern Indo-European societies as well as archaeological evidence. PIE society was most likely patrilineal, and probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry · Religion The existence of similarities among the deities and religious practices of the Indo-European peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) religion and mythology
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| Urheimat hypotheses The Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses are designed to explain the origins of the Proto-Indo-European language and the people. The identity of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has been a recurring topic in Indo-European studies since the 19th century. Many hypotheses for an Urheimat have been proposed, but none of them has gained general acceptance |
| Kurgan hypothesis The Kurgan hypothesis is one of the proposals about early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the people of an archaeological "Kurgan culture" (a term grouping the Pit Grave culture and its predecessors) in the Pontic steppe were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language. The term is derived from kurgan (кур
Anatolia The Anatolian hypothesis is also called Renfrew's Neolithic Discontinuity Theory ; it proposes that the dispersal (discontinuity) of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic Anatolia. The hypothesis suggests that the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) lived in Anatolia during the Neolithic era, and associates the distribution · Armenia The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat, based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto-Indo-European language was spoken during the 4th millennium BC in the Armenian Highland. It is an Indo-Hittite model and does not include the Anatolian languages in its scenario. The phonological peculiarities proposed in the · India The Out of India theory is the proposition that the Indo-European language family originated in the Indian subcontinent and spread to the remainder of the Indo-European region through a series of migrations. A notable proponent was Friedrich Schlegel · PCT
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| Indo-European studies |
Main article:
Indo-Aryan migration
Further information:
Indigenous Aryans and
Out of India Theory
The separation of Indo-Aryans proper from the Iranians is commonly dated, on linguistic grounds, to roughly 1800 BCE.[4] The Nuristani languages probably split in such early times, and are classified as either remote Indo-Aryan dialects or as an independent branch of Indo-Iranian. By the mid 2nd millennium BCE early Indo-Aryans had reached Assyria in the west (the Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni) and the northern Punjab in the east (the Rigvedic tribes).[5]
The spread of Indo-Aryan languages has been connected with the spread of the chariot in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Some scholars trace the Indo-aryans (both Indo-Aryans and European aryans) back to the Andronovo culture (2nd millennium BCE). Other scholars[6] have argued that the Andronovo culture proper formed too late to be associated with the Indo-Aryans of India, and that no actual traces of the Andronovo culture (e.g. warrior burials or timber-frame materials) have been found in India and Southern countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives[7]
Archaeologist J.P. Mallory (1998) finds it "extraordinarily difficult to make a case for expansions from this northern region to northern India" and remarks that the proposed migration routes "only [get] the Indo-Iranian to Central Asia, but not as far as the seats of the Medes, Persians or Indo-Aryans" (Mallory 1998; Bryant 2001: 216). Therefore he prefers to derive the Indo-Aryans from the intermediate stage of the BMAC culture, in terms of a "Kulturkugel" model of expansion. Likewise, Asko Parpola (1988) connects the Indo-Aryans to the BMAC. But although horses were known to the Indo-Aryans, evidence for their presence in the form of horse bones is missing in the BMAC.[8] Parpola (1988) has argued that the Dasas were the "carriers of the Bronze Age culture of Greater Iran" living in the BMAC and that the forts with circular walls destroyed by the Indo-Aryans were actually located in the BMAC. Parpola (1999)[9] elaborates the model and has "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans intrude the BMAC around 1700 BCE. He assumes early Indo-Aryan presence in the Late Harappan horizon from about 1900 BCE, and "Proto-Rigvedic" (Proto-Dardic) intrusion to the Punjab as corresponding to the Swat culture from about 1700 BCE.
Antiquity
See also:
Vedic period,
Rigvedic tribes,
Iron Age India,
Mahajanapadas, and
Maurya Empire
An influx of early Indo-Aryan speakers over the Hindukush (comparable to the Kushan expansion of the first centuries CE) together with Late Harappan cultures gave rise to the Vedic civilization of the Early Iron Age. This civilization is marked by a continual shift to the east, first to the Gangetic plain with the Kurus and Panchalas, and further east with the Kosala and Videha. This Iron Age expansion corresponds to the black and red ware and painted grey ware cultures.
For Hellenistic times, Oleg N. Trubachev (1999; elaborating on a hypothesis by Kretschmer 1944) suggests that there were Indo-Aryan speakers in the Pontic steppe. The Maeotes and the Sindes, the latter also known as "Indoi" and described by Hesychius as an "an Indian people".[10]
Middle Ages
Further information:
Middle Indic,
Middle Kingdoms of India, and
History of Hindustani
The various Prakrit vernaculars developed into independent languages in the course of the Middle Ages (see Apabhramsha), forming the Abahatta group in the east and the Hindustani group in the west. The Romani people (also known as Gypsies) are believed to have left India around 1000 CE.
Contemporary Indo-Aryan peoples
Further information:
South Asians and
Desi
Contemporary Indo-Aryans are spread over most of the northern, western, central and eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, Hyderabad in southern India, and in most parts of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Non-native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages also reach the south of the peninsula. The largest groups are the Hindi, Bengali and Urdu (Hindustani) speakers of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, together with other dialects also grouped as Hindustani, numbering at roughly half a billion native speakers, constituting the largest community of speakers of any of the Indo-European languages. Of the 23 national languages of India, 16 are Indo-Aryan languages (see also languages of India).
Genetic studies
A study headed by geneticist S.Sharma et al.(2009), collated information for 2809 Indians (681 Brahmins, and 2128 Tribals and Scheduled Castes). The results showed "no consistent pattern of the exclusive presence and distribution of Y-haplogroups to distinguish the higher-most caste, Brahmins, from the lower-most ones, schedule castes and tribals". In its conclusions, the study proposed "the autochthonous origin and tribal links of Indian Brahmins" as well as the origin of R1a1* in the Indian subcontinent[11]
In a study led by Mukherjee et al.(2001), the R1a lineage was found to form around (35)–(45)% among all the castes in North Indian population.
Contradicting these findings, however, a genetic study in Kerala state of India found that the upper caste Hindus were closer relatives to Eastern-Europeans than to Hindus from lower castes.[12]
A study conducted by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2009 (in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT) analyzed half a million genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25 ethnic groups from 13 states in India across multiple caste groups.[13] The study asserts, based on the impossibility of identifying any genetic indicators across caste lines, that castes in South Asia grew out of traditional tribal organizations during the formation of Indian society and that the Indian population derives largely from two groups, with the "ancient north indian" group predating the advent of the Indo-Aryan languages. According to Kumarasamy Thangarajan, "The initial settlement took place 65,000 years ago in the Andamans and in ancient south India around the same time, which led to population growth in this part...At a later stage, 40,000 years ago, the ancient north Indians emerged which in turn led to rise in numbers here. But at some point of time, the ancient north and the ancient south mixed, giving birth to a different set of population.".[14] However, this study fails to explain the presence of R1a1 in significant frequencies (About 30% average over all of India) in the Indian population, given that R1a1 originated no more than 17,000 years ago.
List of Indo-Aryan peoples
Historical
Contemporary
Notes
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html#People
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html#People
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html#People
- ^ Mallory, J.P. (1989). In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 38f..
- ^ e.g. EIEC, s.v. "Indo-Iranian languages", p. 306.
- ^ Brentjes (1981), Klejn (1974), Francfort (1989), Lyonnet (1993), Hiebert (1998) and Sarianidi (1993)
- ^ Edwin Bryant. 2001
- ^ e.g. Bernard Sergent. Genèse de l'Inde. 1997:161 ff.
- ^ Parpola, Asko (1999), "The formation of the Aryan branch of Indo-European", in Blench, Roger & Spriggs, Matthew, Archaeology and Language, vol. III: Artefacts, languages and texts, London and New York: Routledge.
- ^ Sindoi (or Sindi etc.) were also described by e.g. Herodotus, Strabo, Dionysius, Stephen Byzantine, Polienus. [1]
- ^ "The Indian origin of paternal haplogroup R1a1 substantiates the autochthonous origin of Brahmins and the caste system", S.Sharma et al.(2009)
- ^ Bamshad et al. Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations (2000)
- ^ Indians are one people descended from two tribes
- ^ Aryan-Dravidian divide a myth: Study, Times of India
References
- Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9.
- Mallory, JP. 1998. "A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia". In The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern and Central Asia. Ed. Mair. Washington DC: Institute for the Study of Man.
- Trubachov, Oleg N., 1999: Indoarica, Nauka, Moscow.
See also
Categories: Indo-Aryan peoples | Pre-Islamic heritage of Pakistan
