| International Standard Book Number |
9781639732586 : $29.99
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| Dewey Decimal Classification Number |
417/.7 23
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| Personal Name |
Spinney, Laura, author.
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| Title Statement |
Proto : how one ancient language went global / Laura Spinney.
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| Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice |
New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025.
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| Physical Description |
x, 342 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
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| Content Type |
text txt rdacontent
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| Media Type |
unmediated n rdamedia
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| Carrier Type |
volume nc rdacarrier
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-325) and index.
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| Citation/References Note |
Kirkus Reviews, March 01, 2025
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| Citation/References Note |
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
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| Citation/References Note |
Publishers Weekly, April 21, 2025
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| Summary, Etc. |
"The story of how one language left the steppes of Ukraine and became the earth's dominant language family has become clearer and more exciting than ever before. Hooray for a book where the author's curiosity, diligence, and literary craft gets it all down in what will stand as the go-to source for a generation." - John McWhorter, author of The Language Hoax Daughter. Duhita´r-. 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.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
World history.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Proto-Indo-European language.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Indo-European languages History.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Language spread.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Linguistic change.
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