Ancient Linguistic Observations and the Indo-European Connection
Did anyone in the ancient world notice the similarities between languages such as Latin, Ancient Greek, Avestan, and Sanskrit? If so, how did they explain these linguistic resemblances?
Unexplained Language Similarities in Antiquity
In ancient times, people did not feel the need to explain the similarities between languages like Latin and Ancient Greek. It was widely believed that all languages originated from the Greek language, and these similarities were often overlooked or unexplained.
The Rise of Comparative Linguistics
The similarities between Latin and Greek were more intensely observed and studied during Roman times, largely because the Romans had an interest in finding common linguistic roots. During the Middle Ages, scholars noted similarities between Germanic languages and Latin due to ongoing cultural and political exchanges. However, the connection between Sanskrit and Persian was well-understood in Southern Asia for centuries, but there is no known record of anybody connecting these Eastern languages to the Western ones until the last few centuries.
Indo-European Connection
The concept of an Indo-European linguistic connection is intriguing. While Indo-European peoples did not explicitly recognize their common ancient heritage, they often assumed that all foreign languages shared some sort of relation to their own. This approach, however, only worked well for other Indo-European languages. For example, the idea that all Indo-European languages were related was a basis for the theory of homogeneity in ancient linguistics.
Latin and Greek: The Bilingual Roman Aristocracy
The bilingual Roman aristocracy noticed parallels between Latin and Greek, and soon, Greek-speaking scholars began to suggest that Latin was actually a dialect of Greek. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek author writing in the time of Augustus, articulated this theory:
Roman Antiquities 1.90.1
Cicero: “Well turns out I was speaking Greek the whole time…”
Several other ancient authors, predominantly Greek, subscribed to this idea. For example, Quintilian, a Roman rhetorician, noted that languages of neighboring peoples tended to be similar, as Dionysius suggested, providing a potential basis for a broader theory of linguistic origin. However, no such theory seemed to take shape despite the idea being well-known in some scholarly circles.
Varro's Contribution: A Different Perspective
Varro, the Roman scholar, had a different opinion. He accepted that part of the similarities between Latin and Greek came from a dialect of Aeolic Greek but postulated a different origin for other linguistic parallels. For instance, in his discussion on livestock, he suggested that:
Latin sus Greek hus, bos Greek bous, taurus Greek tauros.
He argued that the identity of the names in Latium and in Greece may be the result of onomatopoeias, suggesting that the words might have been derived from sounds made by the animals.
Varro's perspective emphasizes that while some linguistic similarities might be due to shared origins, others could be coincidental due to onomatopoeic roots.
The Lack of Conception of Language Families
It is important to note that the Greeks and Romans had no concept of language families. They had a vague sense that some languages were more ancient than others. For instance, Herodotus tells a story about the Phrygian language, but he does not claim that all other languages derived from Phrygian. Similarly, there was no sense that Sanskrit was related to Greek and Latin, and no hint that the northern barbarian tongues had anything to do with the sophistication of Latin and Greek.
For Further Reading
For a deeper exploration of these ideas, you can refer to the following article available on JSTOR:
Benjamin Stevens. The Classical Journal 102 (2006/7), pp. 115-144.
By understanding these ancient linguistic observations and the efforts to explain the Indo-European connection, we can gain valuable insights into the development of comparative linguistics and the evolution of language families.