Indo-European

alternative Indoeuropean · alternative initialism IE · alternative initialism IE.

1. A major language family which includes many of the native languages of Europe, Western Asia and India, with notable Indic, Iranian and European sub-branches.
2. Proto-Indo-European: the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family.

   Synonyms: Indo-Germanic

plural Indo-Europeans · alternative Indoeuropean · alternative initialism IE · alternative initialism IE.

1. anthropologyA member of the original ethnolinguistic group hypothesized to have spoken Proto-Indo-European and thus to have been the ancestor for most of India and Western Eurasia.

   Thus, although at least one term for ‘alder’ can be reconstructed to PIE, the wide distribution of this tree prevents it from being diagnostic of the earlier location of the Indo-Europeans.

   1997, J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, “ALDER”, in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 12

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   Two theories of the origins of the Indo-Europeans currently compete. M. Gimbutas believes that early Indo-Europeans entered southeastern Europe from the Pontic Steppes starting ca. 4500 B.C. and spread from there. C. Renfrew equates early Indo-Europeans with early farmers who entered southeastern Europe from Asia Minor ca. 7000 BC and spread through the continent.

   1992, R.R. Sokal, N.L. Oden, B.A. Thomson, “Origins of the Indo-Europeans: genetic evidence”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 89, →DOI, →PMID

   Synonyms: Proto-Indo-European

2. A speaker of any Indo-European language (though especially an ancient one), or a member of an Indo-European culture, who is regarded as a continuation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans in terms of language, ancestry, or cultural affinity.

   We Indo-Europeans are crazy about three! We see the world as earth, sky, water. We see things as having a beginning, a middle, and an end. Do you want a third example? Sure you do—you're Indo-European!

   2015 December 18, Mark Damen, “The Indo-European Dual”, in TEDxUSU (video)

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   To the same direction points a recent revelation made by Professor Henning who identifies the Gutians or Kutians and Tukres of the ancient Near East that occur in the cuneiform inscriptions of the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. with historical Kuchi-Tocharians, this being the earliest appearance of the Indo-Europeans in history (cf. W. Henning, the first Indo-Europeans in history, "Society and History." […]).

   1988, Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, “On the problem of an Asiatic original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans”, in T.L. Markey and John A.C. Greppin, editors, When Worlds Collide: The Indo-Europeans and the Pre-Indo-Europeans, Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers, Inc., published 1990, →ISBN, page 6

3. rareA European living in India or the Indies.

   The sale of looted items persisted for a month, and quick profits were made by burghers and Indo-Europeans.

   2020, Sujit Sivasandaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 236

4. broadlyuncommonA person of mixed European and Indian or Indonesian ancestry.

comparative more Indo-European · superlative most Indo-European · alternative Indoeuropean · alternative initialism IE · alternative initialism IE.

1. Of or relating to the family of languages originally spoken in Europe and Western Asia.

   Of the great Indo-European family of languages the general principal was also that of one name for each individual[…]

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xi

2. Of or relating to the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family.

   Synonyms: Proto-Indo-European, PIE

3. Of or relating to the hypothetical group of peoples that spread early Indo-European languages.

   As there is no evidence for Indo-European apiculture, we have to reckon with foreign origin for κηρός […].

   2010, Robert S. P. Beekes, “κηρός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 690

4. broadlyuncommonOf or relating to persons of mixed European and Indian or Indonesian ancestry.