Thread

Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek

196 points · 74 comments · axiologist

kleton · 1789709109 · focus · HN ↗
> because the Proto-Indo-European language arose in the landlocked steppes, it had no need for—and has no securely reconstructable word for—‘sea’.
No, it is mori, attested in marine, muir, maryadah, mal, morje, etc in farflung IE tongues today.
1. TFNA · 1789709548 · focus · HN ↗
  There are decades of scholarship on those cognates, and a longstanding view that in Proto-Indo-European the word meant simply "large body of water" and not specifically "sea". Moreover, it may be a substrate word borrowed into European IE languages, as the affinity of that Sanskrit word to this cognate set is not very certain.
  1. Utilera · 1789715787 · focus · HN ↗
    The cognate set is real, but jumping from that to "PIE had a word for the sea" assumes the original meaning was already maritime

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