Proto-Indo-European society

Categories: Indo-European | Bronze Age

The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) were a patrilineal society of the Bronze Age (roughly 5th to 4th millennium BC), probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry.

Societal Structure

The native name with which these people referred to themselves as a linguistic community, or as an ethnic unity of related tribes cannot be reconstructed with certainty. It may have been *aryo- (c. f. "Aryan race").

There is evidence for sacral kingship, suggesting the tribal king at the same time assumed the role of high priest. Many Indo-European societies know a threefold division of a clerical class, a warrior class and a class of farmers or husbandmen. Such a division was suggested for the Proto-Indo-European society by Georges Dumézil.

There was probably a separate class of warriors, consisting of young men that were yet unwed. They would have followed a separate warrior code unacceptable in the society outside their peer-group. Traces of initiation rites in several Indo-European societies suggest that this group identified itself with wolves or dogs (c. f. berserker, werewolf).

The people were organized in settlements (*weiks; English -wick "village"), probably each with its king (*rek's). These settlements or villages were further divided in households (dom), each headed by a patriarch (*demspots; Greek despotes, Sanskrit dampati).

Names

The use of two-word compound words for personal names, typically but not always ascribing some noble or heroic feat to their bearer, is so common in Indo-European languages that it seems certainly inherited. These names are often of the class of compound words that in Sanskrit are called bahuvrihi compounds.

They are found in the Celtic region (Dumnorix: "king of the world"; Kennedy: "ugly head"), in Indo-Aryan languages (Asvaghosa: "tamer of horses"); in Greek (Socrates: "good ruler"); Cleopatra: "from famous lineage"; George: "tiller of the soil"); in Slavic languages (Vladimir: "peaceful ruler" (Vladimir parses as volodi-mirom, "possess the world")); in the Germanic languages (Alfred: "elf-counsel"; Godiva: "gift of God").

Patronymics such as Gustafson ("son of Gustav"), McCool, or Mazurkiewicz are also frequently encountered in Indo-European languages.

Ritual and Sacrifice

See also Proto-Indo-European religion.

They practiced a polytheistic religion centered on sacrificial rites, probably administered by a class of priests or shamans.

Animals were slaughtered and dedicated to the gods in the hope of winning their favour. The king as the high priest would have been the central figure in establishing favourable relations with the other world.

The Kurgan hypothesis suggests burials in barrows or tomb chambers. Important leaders would have been buried with their belongings, and possibly also with members of their household or wives (human sacrifice, sati).

Poetry

Only small fragments of Proto-Indo-European poetry may be recovered. What survives of their poetry are stock phrases of two or three words, like undying fame and immortal gods, that are found in diverse ancient sources. These seem to have been standard building blocks for song lyrics.

Inferring mainly from the Vedas, there would have been sacrificial hymns, creation myths (such as myths of a world tree), and hero tales (the slaying of a serpent or a dragon by a heroic man or god).

Probably of the greatest importance to the Indo-Eurpeans themselves were songs extolling great deeds by heroic warriors. In addition to perpetuating their glory (*k'levos), such songs would also temper the warriors' behavior, since each needed to consider whether his undying fame would be honorable or shameful. See also bard, fili, skald, rhapsode.

Philosophy

Some words conected with PIE world-view:

• *ghosti- concerned mutual obligations between people and between worshipers and gods, and from which guest and host are derived.
• *rtu-, rta-, "fitting, right, ordered", also "right time, ritually correct", related to the order of the world (Vedic rta-, rtu-)

Subsistence

Proto-Indo-European society depended on animal husbandry. Cattle (*gwous) were the most important animals to them, and a man's wealth would be measured by the number of cows he owned. Sheep and goats were also kept, presumably by the less wealthy. Agriculture and fishing were also practiced.

The domestication of the horse (see Tarpan) may have been an innovation of this people and is sometimes invoked as a factor contributing to their rapid expansion.

Technology

Technologically, reconstruction suggests a culture of the Bronze Age: Words for Bronze can be reconstructed (*ayos from Germanic, Italic and Indo-Iranian, gheleg'h- from Balto-Slavic and Greek, maybe originally designating Copper as "red metal"), while no word for Iron can be dated to the proto-language. Gold and Silver. An *nsis was a bladed weapon, originally a dagger of Bronze or in earliest times of bone. An *ik'mos was a spear or similar pointed weapon. Words for axe are *ag^wesih (Germanic, Greek, Italic) and pelek'us (Greek, Indo-Iranian); these could have been either of stone or of bronze.

The wheel (*kwekwlos) was known, certainly for ox-drawn carts. Horse-drawn chariots developed after the breakup of the proto-language, originating with the Proto-Indo-Iranians around 2000 BC.

Judging by the vocabulary, techniques of weaving, plaiting, tying knots etc. were important and well-developed and used for textile production as well as for baskets, fences, walls etc. Weaving and binding also had a strong magical connotation, and magic is often expressed by such metaphors. The bodies of the deceased seem to have been literally tied to their graves to prevent their return.