Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The reconstructed language that was the ancestor of the Indo-European languages.
- adjective Of, relating to, or being Proto-Indo-European or one of its reconstructed linguistic features.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun linguistics, uncountable The hypothetical
ancestor language orprotolanguage of theIndo-European family of languages, which includes most European and Indian languages. - proper noun anthropology, countable A person who spoke the Proto-Indo-European language.
- adjective linguistics, anthropology Of or pertaining to the Proto-Indo-European language, or the people who spoke it.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a prehistoric unrecorded language that was the ancestor of all Indo-European languages
Etymologies
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Examples
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That common source first imagined by Sir William is none other than the one we now refer to as Proto-Indo-European.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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That common source first imagined by Sir William is none other than the one we now refer to as Proto-Indo-European.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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The simplified version of the Proto-Indo-European root for “star” is given as *ster-.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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Speakers of Proto-Indo-European raised cows and sheep and sacrificed animals to gods.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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Global English too preserves many relics of Proto-Indo-European, often simply referred to as PIE, in words whose roots can be traced back to that early language.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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For a short but engaging overview of Proto-Indo-European language and culture, see DIR, vii–xxxv.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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Specialists call this entirely unrecorded but partly reconstructed language Proto-Indo-European, as in “the common ancestor of all the Indo-European languages.”
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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Speakers of Proto-Indo-European observed the heavens, had names for seasons of the year, times of day, and numbers.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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Like laugh, out and loud are native English words with reconstructed roots in Proto-Indo-European.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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All such kek-sounding and cook-related words derive from the related Proto-Indo-European root *pekw-, preserved in Greek words that also have to do with “cooking” and “ripening,” as well as “digesting,” and heard in some English words taken from Greek, like pumpkin and dyspepsia.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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