“Proto…” Kate began. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“Nor have I,” Dr. Chang said.
“I too am unfamiliar,” Dr. Janus said.
“They aren’t well known. The irony is that they are the precursor civilization for almost everyone living in Europe, the Middle East, and India today. In fact, half the world’s population is directly descended from Proto-Indo-European groups.”
Janus sat forward. “How do you know? The gene pool—”
David held up his hand. “We historians have another tool, just as important as the gene pool. It’s passed down from generation to generation. We can mark changes in it across time, and we can trace its dispersal across the world—it changes in different places.”
None of the three scientists offered a guess or comment.
“Language,” David said. “We know that almost everyone in Europe, the Middle East, and India speaks a language that is descended from a common root language: the Proto-Indo-European language, which was spoken by a single group, the Proto-Indo-Europeans, about eight thousand years ago. We believe these people lived in either Anatolia or the Eurasian Steppes—that’s present day Turkey or southwestern Russia.”
“Fascinating…” Janus mumbled as he glanced out the window.
“David, it’s interesting, but I’m just not sure how this would connect with the plague,” Kate said gently.
Janus glanced at David, then Kate. “I agree, but I for one would very much like to hear more about this.”
David gave Kate a look that said, At least someone around here appreciates me.
Janus continued, “I have two questions. First: how do you know what you’re saying is true?”
“Well we didn’t even know about the PIE until 1870 when a British judge named William Jones was assigned to India. Jones was a brilliant scholar and linguist. He knew Greek and Latin and began studying Sanskrit—mostly to familiarize himself with native Indian laws, many of which were written in Sanskrit. Jones made a remarkable discovery: Sanskrit and the ancient classical Western languages were eerily similar. This was completely unexpected. As he further compared Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, he realized that they all had a common ancestral language. Here we have three languages, separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years of development, yet they had all evolved from a common root language: what we now call the Proto-Indo-European language. Jones was a true scholar, and he dug deeper into the mystery. The revelations were shocking. Other languages were also Proto-Indo-European, and not just obscure ones: every major root language from India to Great Britain. Latin, ancient Greek, Norse, Runic, Gothic—they’re all derived from the Proto-Indo-European language. The list of modern-day languages is extensive. All the Germanic languages, including Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, English—”
“Wait, English is a Germanic language?” Kate asked.
“Yes, of course. The English are descended from Germanic tribes, well mostly. The Angles and Saxons were Germanic tribes that settled the west coast of Britain in the fifth century. You’ve got the Norman invasion in the eleventh century, but the Normans were also a Germanic tribe—Norman literally means “north men”—who invaded and settled the north of France, now Normandy. France is really a mix of Franks—another Germanic tribe—and some Celtic and Latin peoples. When the Normans invaded Britain, it was actually the descendants of one Germanic tribe attacking another. But back to Great Britain. You’ve got some Gaelic and Celtic elements present, but the Angles and Saxons gradually displaced them, especially after the Plague of Justinian, which I believe is the third part of the code—”
Janus held his hand up and spoke softly. “If you would indulge us a moment, I would like to hear more about the PIE. You said there were other derivative languages?”
“Oh yeah, tons of them. All the Italic languages: Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish… let’s see… all the Slavic languages: Russian, Serbian, Polish. What else, Balkan languages. Of course Greek; the Greeks were PIE descendants. Sanskrit, as I mentioned; Hindi, Farsi, Pashto. There are also tons of extinct PIE languages. Hitite, Tocharian, Gothic. In fact, scholars have been able to work backwards to actually reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European language. And that’s actually the basis of about everything we know about them. They had words for horse, wheel, farming, animal breeding, snow-capped mountains, and for a sky god.”
David paused, not sure what to add next. “In general we know the PIE were extremely advanced for their time—their use of horses, the wheel, tools, and agriculture made them a force in the region, and their descendants went on to dominate the world from Europe to India. As I said, today roughly half the world speaks a Proto-European language. In many ways, they are the ultimate lost civilization.” David stopped again, then glanced at Janus. “You said you had two questions?”
Janus was deep in thought. After a second, he realized the room was waiting for him. “Oh yes. I… would like to know… where they are now.”
“That’s the real mystery. We’re not even sure where to look for them. What we know of them is based on language reconstruction and myths—specifically the mythology they passed down to their descendant groups along with their language. Those are the tools of history: language, stories, and artifacts. In this case we don’t have many artifacts, just their language and myths.”
“Myths?” Janus said.
“Here again, we’re reconstructing the past based on shared myths across cultures—these are instances where the same story appears with slight changes. Obviously the names are changed, but the shape of the narrative is the same. One common belief is that there were two progenitors of mankind: brothers, sometimes twins. For the Indic, it was Manu and Yemo; the Germanic have tales of Mannus and Ymir. These mythologies were eventually incorporated into histories. For the Romans, Remus and Romulus; the Hebrews, Cain and Abel. Another common myth is that of the Great Flood—it appears in some form in every PIE culture. But overwhelmingly, the most common myth is that of an epic battle ending with the slaying of a serpent, usually a dragon of some sort.”
Chang picked up the page. “It seems Dr. Grey had some inkling of who the PIE were. What does it mean: PIE = Immaru? I am not familiar with Immaru.”
David looked at Kate. Do we tell them?
Kate didn’t hesitate. “The Immaru are, or more likely were, a group of monks in the mountains of Tibet. After the incident in China, where David was almost killed, they rescued us.”