Indo-European Studies

Review
This review is based mainly on the article Ideology and Indo-European Studies, which
makes an attempt to present the origins o the concept o indo-europeni!ation"
In the irst place, there is a short description o how the terms idea and ideology
appeared and what is the meaning o them" Thereore, the word idea is related to the old
greek term idea, being a derivative rom the verb idein" #s opposed to this, the origins
o the word ideology do not appear in the ancient register, considered to be invented by
the ollowers o the $rench neoclacisism"
In the second place, it is actually thought that the indo-europenistics origins were
connected to the name o %illiam &ones and his destiny" Even i he died not being able to
create a great paper based on the thesis o indo-europenistic concept, he had a certain
speech which clearly pointed out that Sanskrit appro'imately belongs to the same amily
language with the #ryan" %hat is interesting, is the act that three years ater &ones
speech, $ran! (opp published s very comple' paper, said to have been the irst one
having as principal matter linguistic domain, but the man who irst used the term indo-
european was Thomas )oung" It was then when Indians were considered superiors
concerning the language and wisdom, so that Sanskrit became the *oly +rail o the all
indo-europenian languages"
#ter $ran! (opps period, studying indo-europenian idioms turned out to be the most
eicient way to develop the whole process o language science" Important igures, as
#ugust Schleicher and &ohann Schimdt tried to classiy the indo-europenian idioms so as
to be able to create new words in a new language" In the period o ,I, century, indo-
europenian became a vast domain ull o rambles, arriving to that point o evolution o an
ideological myth" -oreover, there was an improvement o the terminology area and rom
the Sanskrit arya, which means noble, %illiam &ones created the English aryan,
word which reerred to the indo-iranian part o the indo-europeni!ation" (ut, surprisingly,
this term was chosen by an e'treme group and its meaning or all the indo-europeans was
#ryan ancients rom a superior race, having a particular set o characteristics such as
blond hair and blue eyes"
(esides, at the beginning o the II-nd century #".", the romans Tacitus commentaries
regarding the germans became a maniestation or the german #ryans between ,I, and
,, centuries" Ideologically speaking, Tacitus insisted on simplity, critici!ing the political
system o Rome" #nother personality who decided in avot o racialism was Renan, the
one who thought that language results rom the each other genius rom a race" *e also
considered the act that in the #ryan vocabulary it did not appeared terms to describe
hunting or war, but words which represented peace, ield work or aminals growth" Renan
was the one who helped other scientists to show that all the indo-europenians descended
rom plowers o the central-european prehistory"
In /010, -allory took into consideration the problem o the aryan myth, showing that
the stereotype o blons-haired and blue-eyed person which previously was the caricature
o the romantics, became a notion to describe a powerul man"
$rom that point on, there were a lot o linguists and anthropologists who advocated or
the idea o an superior race, woth 2ordic ancients, idea which dominated .entral Europe"
In /111, -a' -uller considered that someone who belongs to a superior race, having
#ryan blood and #ryan hair, shines as much as a linguist who speaks about a dictionary"
(ut -ullers sarcasm couldnt stop the urge or the #ryans"
The irst Romanian linguist, (ogdan 3etriceicu *a deu, was the one who did not think
that Sanskrit was a mother-tongue, he actually agreed that Sanskrit was one o the indo-
european languages" -oreover, he presents the asian society rom .alcutta rom /415
saying that the tidings are or host 6ust when the do not represent an idea, showing also
that the new ideas ight against the old ideas"
Even *a deu s opinions wouldnt have the opportunity to inluence the eruopean
linguistics, or the Romanian one it has a great signiicance due to his knowledge and
interpretative skills" (esides, he also raised the problem o dacism, settling a new theory,
and tries to distinguish the patriotism rom science, the ormer having no right to hide the
truth no matter what"
There e'ists also the e'ample o Isaac Taylor, who claimed that dolihoceal race is
protestant and the celtic-slave belongs to the Roman .aholicism, the ormer having
developed the individualism, willingness and sel-trust, and the latter shows obedience to
the authority, it is conservative in their attitudes"
+enerally, it is believed that in the irst hal o the ,, century, indo-europenistics and
historical linguistics had a decline caused by others linguists belies or other
synchroni!ing attempts"