Comparative Similarities Between Indo-European Languages Reflect Ultraconservation

As I was watching the James Bond film Specter a couple of months ago, I spotted the Spanish for "The Day of The Dead", "Dia de Muertos" flash across the screen. The scene was when Daniel Craig was visiting Mexico City on an unofficial purpose. 

I was overawed once more! How could there be so much semblance between languages, given that they are spoken by people separated some several thousands miles apart? Here in this case for example, dia stands for day in English and din in Bengali; while muertos (dead) is phonetically and alphabetically related to mrityu (death, in Bangla). Not only do they retain their meanings across languages/dialects/cultures so disparate geographically but also the phonetic pronunciation remain almost intact. I have been, for a long time, amazed at the astounding similarities between English and other European languages with that of Bengali and Hindi. Please note that these similarities existed way before the British came to India: some 15,000 years ago! (see references below). More recently, "in the 16th century, European visitors to the Indian subcontinent began to notice similarities among Indo-Aryan, Iranian, and European languages." Here are only a few examples. More examples can be found here, here and here.

Phonetic Bengali [(IPA) symbols NOT adhered to]	English/other European terms with same meaning	Hindi or other ANI   Ancestral North Indians (ANI)
POOROপুরো	PURE, Full, 100%	POOREY, पूरे दशम
MRITYU মৃত্যু	MUERTOS (SPANISH)	MURDA/MURDER मुर्दा
PATH পথ	PATH	पथ
ADOR আদর	ADORE
OLI (=LANE)-GOLI অলি	ALLEY
AAGRAASON আগ্রাসন	AGGRESSION
NAAM নাম	NAME, NOM	नाम
BAWD বদ	BAD	बद
DWOR দোর	DOOR	दौर
KUTTA কুত্তা	KUTYA (HUNGARY), Dog	KUTTA कुत्ता
BHRAATAA ভ্রাতা	BRAT (RUSSIA, POLAND, UKRAINE, CROATIA), Brother	भ्राता
BAARF বরফ	[BRITISH SLANG FOR SICK]	SNOW IN FARSI, URDU, HINDI बर्फ
BOWMI বমি	VOMIT
NAWBOW নব	NEW, NUEVO	नया
	BETTER	BEHTER बेहतर
BYABOHAAR ব্যবহার	BEHAVIOUR	ब्याबोहर
আহ্নিক	DI-URNAL
সায়া কায়া ট্রিক	PSYCHIATRIC [SAYA-KAYA (BODY-MIND)]	साया _काया
ONDOR অন্দর	INDOOR	अंदर
BAAG বাগ	BURG/BURGH/Borough [E.G. KAROLBAAG, HAMBURG]	BAAG बाघ
GEET/ GITA গীত, গীতা	GUITAR [Song, E.G. BHAGWAT GITA]
OSTHI অস্থি	OSTEO (BONE)	अस्थि
SHAWTOW শত	CENTUM (HUNDRED)	शत
PAWD পদ	PEDIS	पद
BAKYO বাক্য	VOX, Voice, Word	BAKSH बाक्या
DOSHOM দশম	DECEM, TEN	दशम
বার্চ	BIRCH	BHURJYA भुर्ज्य (SANSKRIT)
AAMI আমি	ME, MYSELF	मुझे
DIN দিন	DAY, DIEM	दिन
NAASAAA, নাসা, নাসিকা	NASION, NOSE	नासा, नासिका
DEVAH দেব	DIO (GOD)	देवा
SARPA, SERPE সর্প	SERPENT	सर्प
ASTAA অষ্ট	EIGHT, OCTO (LATIN)	अष्ट
NAVA নবম	NINE, NOVE (ITALIAN)	न
SAAT সাত	SEPTEM, SEVEN, SETTE	सात
DWO দু	TWO	दो
SARKARA শর্করা	SUGAR/CANDY	SUKKAR (ARABIC) शक्कर
আদমি	ADAM	ADMI (PERSON) HINDI) आदमी
DANT দাঁত	DENTAL, TOOTH	दांत
BANDHAN বন্ধন	BONDAGE	बंधन

Well, then how are these languages so intricately related? How likely is it that the "cognates" are just coincidences? 

[Cognates are words which have the same linguistic lineage. When you do a voice search on Google Assistant or Apple's Siri, the server breaks-up your voice command into 'phonemes' and they then try to match the word that appears most likely to be spoken by comparing with its database. Cognates are thus likely to be confused by the computer since they are so phonetically similar. Generally, most cognates have a linguistic half-life of about 2000-4000 years. This means that there is 50% chance that a cognate will be replaced by a non-cognate (not similar sounding) one. But it has been seen that pronouns, numerals and some other words tend to persist much longer, and are less prone to erosion.] 

The semblance unequivocally points to a common origin; and that these words did not originate 'separately' on the planet!

However, the linguistic similarities are noticed between European and North Indian languages only. 

It has been proved by genetic analysis that most of the ethno-linguistic groups in India (and South Asia in general) originated from two separate ancestral populations: Ancestral North Indians (ANI) and Ancestral South Indians (ASI). While the ANI ancestry is strongly related genetically to Central Asians, Caucasians and Europeans, the ASI ancestry derived from within the subcontinent. This finding in genome analysis corroborates with the evidences from archaeology and linguistics, that there was a mixture between ANI and people from the said regions. 

[There happened mixtures between ASI and ANI as well, but endogamous marriages became the order of the day when the caste system came into vogue precluding any further admixtures.]

Clearly, the etymological similarities between the said language families strongly suggest a single single linguistic superfamily (Proto-Indo-European superfamily) from which civilizations diverged. So it is certain that there were some ancient populace who migrated and somehow some of the words still managed to survive the language erosion. 

[The term Indo-European was first used by none other than Thomas Young, the British Polymath, famous for his double-slit experiment that foxes our ordinary minds!] 

The most accepted opinion is that the early linguistic ancestors migrated from the Pontic Caspian steppe, somewhere near Ukraine, to populate more southwards. There is another postulate that the early migration took a northward route, towards Europe.

But is there any proof that these ancient people really traveled or migrated? There is, indeed! Not only the similarities in language, there are also other clues that prove that this migration really happened. It is bolstered by archaeological, ecological, genetic and anthropological evidences. Though it is innate human nature to forage and advance just for the sake of adventure, the early migration may have arisen out of necessity. The early hunter-gatherers may have moved to a favorable place where farming and agriculture was prevalent, so that they could feed themselves and their cattle and horses. Perhaps a harsher winter in Europe forced these population to leave their original homeland (Urheimat hypothesis or the primary homeland hypothesis).

Consider the Gundestrup Cauldron (below) adored as a beautiful example of Celtic art, discovered in Denmark in 1891 and was thought to date back to about 100 BC. 

The horned god, sculpted in the cauldron, looks very much like the seal of Shiva/ Pasupati icon of  early Indus Valley Civilization (below), which dates back to about 2000 BC. 

There are other artefacts of proto-Indian-European (PIE) religion that suggest the linkage of ancient Indian items to that found in Europe.

Of all the possible theories that explain our common ancestry, the most interesting perhaps is the Genetic theory. 

There are 46 chromosomes in humans. 22 pairs of autosomes and two sex chromosomes: XX in females and XY in males. In addition to these strands of DNA that these chromosomes contain, there are mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that also contains the 'four letters' (ATGC) of the nucleotide alphabetic lexicon. What's interesting about these mtDNA strands is that they are inherited "exclusively" from the maternal side.

So it's certain that migration of population did take place but in which direction? The Aryans migrated from Europe or the other way? I'm sure that if you have seen the 2 pictures above and noted their dates as well, you've already drawn your conclusion!

We will next discuss about the faint 'possibility' of a plaussible "Aryan Invasion Theory" in our next blog post. Till then hang on! 

Special Reference:
https://www.rbth.com/blogs/2014/11/01/sanskrit_and_russian_ancient_kinship_39451

["The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either":  (William Jones, Philologist)]

Published on 30/06/2018, last updated on 02/03/2025

tags: aryan invasion theory, genetics, evolution, DNA, archaeology, cognates, James Bond, Specter