Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The epic tale of how one ancient language went global, and the scientific quest to trace it back to its roots, from the author of the international bestseller Pale Rider
As the planet emerged from the last ice age, a language was born between Europe and Asia, by the Black Sea. This ancient tongue, which we call Proto-Indo-European, soon exploded out of its cradle, changing and fragmenting as it went, until its offspring were spoken from Scotland to China. Today those descendants constitute the worlds largest language family, the thread that connects disparate cultures: Dantes Inferno to the Rig Veda, The Lord of the Rings to the love poetry of Rumi. Indo-European languages are spoken by nearly half of humanity. How did this happen

Laura Spinney set out to answer that question, retracing the Indo-European odyssey across continents and millennia. With her we travel the length of the steppe, navigating the Caucasus, the silk roads and the Hindu Kush. We follow in the footsteps of nomads and monks, Amazon warriors and lion kings the ancient peoples who spread these languages far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the scientists on a thrilling mission to retrieve those lost languages: the linguists, archaeologists and geneticists who have reconstructed this ancient diaspora. What they have learned has vital implications for our modern world, as people and their languages are on the move again. Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR PALE RIDER

'Not just an excavation but a reimagining of the past' Guardian

'Magisterial' Observer

Weaves together global history and medical science to great effect Riveting Sunday Times

'Impressive packed with fascinating, quirky detail' Nature

'Wonderfully absorbing' BBC History Magazine

Author Bio

Laura Spinney was born in Yorkshire in 1971 and graduated from Durham University with a degree in Natural Sciences. She has written for the New Scientist, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. Her first novel The Doctor was published by Methuen in 2001. She lives in Paris and London.