An elegant account of how one ancient language went global

by Philippa Kaur 23 April 2025, 18:00 45 Views

The now-extinct Tocharian language on a scrap of parchment

Sakkmesterke/Alamy

Proto
Laura Spinney (HarperCollins (UK) Bloomsbury Publishing (US, 13 May))

A new book by Laura Spinney is rather tantalisingly called Proto, begging the question: proto-what? Prototype, the earliest version of a technology? Protoplasm, the stuff of our cells? Or even protoplanet, a small hunk of space rock with a big future ahead?

The answer, in fact, sits above and across those words: Proto-Indo-European. This is the great original language from which English, among many other tongues, both alive and dead, derives. As Spinney puts it: “Almost every second person on…

Source: Humans - newscientist.com

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An elegant account of how one ancient language went global

Earth’s landmasses lost trillions of tons of water this century

First evidence of gladiator fight with lion seen in Roman-era skeleton

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