Travel the World of Indo-European Languages

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. We're at about 4,000 BC, looking for the original speakers of Indo-European. Now, we don't actually know where they were living, but what area would be the best place to look? I know, I'm your tour guide, I ought to know, but we just don't. Sorry! Iberian Peninsula Anatolian plateau Eurasian steppes Northern India

2. Do we, um, actually have any written record of Proto Indo-European? Yes No

3. Are you wondering why all these Indo-Europeans sound like they're speaking, well, Klingon? It's because the Indo-European language had a set of sounds that were lost in some later languages. What is the name for this set of sounds? Laryngeals Labial stops Palatal stops Sibilants

4. Those Indo-Europeans sure had one swell language, but high culture they were not. So, we're hitching up our chariot and riding south to Hattusa, the capital of the Land of Hatti. In the 21st century, we would call it Turkey, but this is the 17th century BC. King Hattusili shows us around his newly-built city and introduces us to a number of professional scribes under his employment, all skilled at writing cuneiform on clay tablets. Which language would this be? Babylonian Akkadian Hittite Sumerian

5. Having had our fill of rituals, chants, and mythology, we head east through Mesopotamia and across the Hindu Kush mountains. This necessitated ditching the chariot, unfortunately. But the pack animals aren't so bad, right? We encounter, well, more rituals, chants, and mythology. Here in northern India in the 13th century BC, most of the people speak Vedic, an earlier form of what famous Indian literary language? Sanskrit Urdu Hindi Tamil

6. Rather than repeat that rather arduous overland journey, we've taken a boat through the Gulf of Aden, into the Red Sea, and across the Aegean. This is better than climbing mountains, right? Oh. And why are you looking so, er, green all of a sudden? Well, now in the 13th century BC, we can admire the red-columned palaces of the Mycenaean civilization. A short hop forward in time to the 5th century BC, we can view the Parthenon, debate philosophy with Socrates, and listen to the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. What language would this be? Answer: (One word, five letters, starts with a G)

7. Well, we've arrived in Italy, but a tad too early for mainstream Latin and the good ol' Forum Romanum. Italy was actually home to a number of Indo-European languages closely related to Latin, at least until the Romans decided to conquer the world. Which of these is NOT an Indo-European language? Oscan Etruscan Umbrian South Picene

8. I'm really sorry the "navus" lost your "vestimenta," but you really should go buy yourself a new "toga" in the "forum." I know, "scio," as your guide, I'm fully... Look! Over there! It's the "imperator"! What language? Answer: (One word, five letters, starts with an L)

9. One Indo-European language was discovered relatively recently, and that's Tocharian. It's now recognized to be two languages, which we uncreatively deem Tocharian A and Tocharian B. Geographically, its location is something of a surprise. In modern-day terms, where are we located now? China Greenland Vietnam West Africa

10. Listening to lays about Odin, Thor and his faithful hammer Mjolnir, and the rest of those wonderful Norse gods and goddesses, you wonder: Is Old Norse a Celtic language? Yes No

11. We are making a stop, in India again, to honor the founder of our field. Sir William Jones, a British lawyer working in India, discovered that Sanskrit bore a strong resemblance to Greek and Latin. He made this discovery at about the same time as what other major event in world history? The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The American Declaration of Independence Gandhi's Salt March Columbus' discovery of America

12. Now, even though a Grand Tour of Europe is really out of the scope of this travel experience (We were going for a grand tour of the WORLD, right?), I should note that three language families widely spoken in Europe are really part of the Indo-European family of languages. Which of these is NOT one? Germanic Slavic Finno-Ugric Romance

13. Before we proceed to our next stop, I should note that there are some languages that you would probably never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER think of as being related to English in any way at all. Yet, these are Indo-European languages indeed. As an exercise to twist your mind, which of the following languages is NOT an Indo-European language? Tibetan Farsi Tajik Armenian

14. Now back in the 21st century, we travel to the country with what's considered to be the most conservative Indo-European language. It still has seven noun cases, and words are accented by pitch, not stress. Lounging in a "restoranas" in Vilnius, in what language would we be struggling to order "pietus"? Lithuanian Belorussian Latvian Estonian

15. From Vilnius we jet over to the United States, or maybe Great Britain, for a conference about Indo-European linguistics. All the world's best Indo-Europeanists are here, and we can look forward to a lovely few days of talks and conversation. But I should point out that the language spoken here is an Indo-European language. What language would this be, spoken by over 300 million people worldwide? Answer: (One word, starts with an E...The obvious one. Really!)