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Proto

How One Ancient Language Went Global

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Proto

Auteur(s): Laura Spinney
Narrateur(s): Emma Spurgin-Hussey
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À propos de cet audio

 Bloomsbury presents Proto by Laura Spinney, read by Emma Spurgin-Hussey

The enthralling story of how today’s largest language family, spoken by nearly half the world’s population, descended from one ancient dialect.

Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history’s most unlikely journeys. All four languages—along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish—trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west. Its last speaker died thousands of years ago, yet Proto-Indo-European lives on in its myriad linguistic offspring and in some of our best loved works of literature, including Dante’s Inferno and the Rig Veda, The Lord of the Rings and the love poetry of Rumi. How did this happen?

Acclaimed journalist 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 retrace the epic journeys of nomads and monks, warriors and kings – the ancient peoples who carried these languages far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the scientists on a thrilling mission to retrieve the lost languages and their speakers: the linguists, archaeologists and geneticists who have reconstructed that ancient diaspora. What they have learned has profound implications for our modern world, because people and their languages are on the move again. Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.©2025 Laura Spinney (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Ancienne Archéologie Monde Science Sciences biologiques Sciences sociales Redevances

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Ce que les critiques en disent

'Formidably researched but lightly written, I put down this book with the pleasurable sense that the world around me had become a little stranger and richer.' (Helen Gordon)

'Superb. With style and panache, Laura Spinney tells a truly extraordinary detective story.' (Matt Ridley)

'This beautifully researched and written book is about far more than language; it is a history of the world in microcosm, drawing together a diversity of subjects from genetics and religion to warfare and boozing. I highly recommend this wholly absorbing book.' (Douglas Preston)

'Spinney charts an extraordinary journey through human history with words as a compass. It is a sweeping story beautifully told. Profound and illuminating.5' (Moudhy Al-Rashid)
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Les plus pertinents
This was an engaging, accessible overview of the evolution of Proto Indo European into its various daughter languages. As a non-academic, I found this really easy to follow; each chapter outlined the major patterns of human migration and cultural exchanges with both Indo-European-speaking and non-Indo-European-speaking groups that gave rise to the major Indo-European language families. I especially appreciated how the author weaves together genetics, archaeology, and linguistics to tell a cohesive, compelling story.

The author writes with a compassionate and optimistic tone, reframing modern anxieties around immigration by illustrating how millennia of migration and cultural exchange are the source of today’s linguistic and cultural richness. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it for anyone interested in the deep roots of modern Indo-European languages and prehistory in Europe and Eurasia.

Engaging, Accessible Overview of Proto Indo European’s Journey through Time

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The narrator has a very engaging voice and the author approaches a potentially sticky subject in a conscientious and respectful way. The only thing I would change about this is that I wish it came with maps! I love a good map.

Well-read, interesting and respectful

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Spinney’s ability to summarize such concepts made me finish this book in just two days. Now I am finding myself deep down in research. As a Circassian who is exploring my own mother-tongue that is facing assimilation and a creeping death, Spinney’s book ables me to ponder more on ancient migratory paths, linguistic remains and a DNA that we still have to study a lot to understand and unlock the threads of history.

Complex history made simple

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