Coined by English polymathThomas Young in 1813, fromIndo- +European, relating to the geographical extremes inIndia andEurope (which was valid before the discovery ofTocharian languages in the early 20th century).
1992, R.R. Sokal, N.L. Oden, B.A. Thomson, “Origins of the Indo-Europeans: genetic evidence”, inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume89,→DOI,→PMID:
Two theories of the origins of theIndo-Europeans currently compete. M. Gimbutas believes that earlyIndo-Europeans entered southeastern Europe from the Pontic Steppes starting ca. 4500 B.C. and spread from there. C. Renfrew equates earlyIndo-Europeans with early farmers who entered southeastern Europe from Asia Minor ca. 7000 BC and spread through the continent.
Thus, although at least one term for ‘alder’ can be reconstructed to PIE, the wide distribution of this tree prevents it from being diagnostic of the earlier location of theIndo-Europeans.
Aspeaker of any Indo-European language (though especially an ancient one), or a member of an Indo-Europeanculture, who is regarded as a continuation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans in terms of language, ancestry, or cultural affinity.
1988, Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, “On the problem of an Asiatic original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans”, in T.L. Markey and John A.C. Greppin, editors,When Worlds Collide: The Indo-Europeans and the Pre-Indo-Europeans, Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers, Inc., published1990,→ISBN, page 6:
To the same direction points a recent revelation made by Professor Henning who identifies theGutians orKutians andTukres of the ancient Near East that occur in the cuneiform inscriptions of the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. with historical Kuchi-Tocharians, this being the earliest appearance of theIndo-Europeans in history (cf. W. Henning, the firstIndo-Europeans in history, "Society and History." […]).
2015 December 18, Mark Damen, “The Indo-European Dual”, inTEDxUSU[2] (video):
WeIndo-Europeans are crazy about three! We see the world as earth, sky, water. We see things as having a beginning, a middle, and an end. Do you want a third example? Sure you do—you're Indo-European!
The anthropological senses are an extension of the definition in linguistics.
In older sources, often little distinction was made between the earliest Indo-Europeans (i.e. Proto-Indo-Europeans) and their descendants, as the Indo-European expansions were commonly regarded as part of a continuous whole “invasion” or similar replacement event, during which Indo-European–speaking peoples remained ethnoculturally similar long after their dispersal, a view that is now outdated. Also, the prefixProto- only gradually became standard throughout the 20th century, leaving “Indo-European” as a somewhat dated relic from a time before the prefix. In modern academic settings, the use ofIndo-European as a countable noun is less common and discouraged for these reasons.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
2010,Robert S. P. Beekes, “κηρός”, inEtymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series;10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN, page690:
As there is no evidence forIndo-European apiculture, we have to reckon with foreign origin for κηρός […].
(loosely,uncommon) Of or relating to persons of mixed European and Indian or Indonesian ancestry.
Indo-European on Wikipedia.Wikipedia