I don't know exactly what your point is, or why, but: More than a century of German academics would disagree with you about there= =20 being no such thing as Indo-Germanic. Although in English we say=20 Indo-European, Indogermanisch is, as far as I can tell, the most common=20 term used in German philological parlance over the last century, not just=20 pre-1945. My judgment here is based on my work over the last year and a=20 half as a research assistant for a professor whose specialty is Germanic=20 philology. I have been primarily engaged in checking over a massive=20 bibliography. Many of the titles in this bibliography contain the word=20 indogermanisch or some variant of it. A justification for the use of this term is that the two components of the= =20 word represent the eastern and westernmost parts of this linguistic group,= =20 at least in its living forms (Tocharian, an Indo-European language, was=20 spoken further east than India, but it is now quite dead). If, as I take you to be saying, Germanic as a component of the name is=20 off-limits because Germanic is an offshoot as opposed to part of the=20 original (if there was such a thing) language, then the "Indo" component=20 should similarly be off-limits, since the mother language was clearly not=20 Indian either (even Sanskrit is significantly removed from IE). The bit about this designation sounding like a symptom of nineteenth and=20 twentieth century nationalism is, in my opinion, pretty weak. If the=20 association were strong, one would be quite surprised at the terms=20 continued use in German-speaking academia. Perhaps if the term were=20 something like "Indodeutsch" you would have a point. What any of this has to do with J=FCnger, I have no idea. Gerd At 11:00 AM 4/4/02, you wrote: >Indogermanic? Indoteutonic? Etc. That brings us to IndoLatin(and the=20 >branches) as well as to Indoslavic and by the same reasoning to=20 >Indoarmenian? Indotocharian? Indohitite? What is wrong with Indoeuropean?= =20 >Which obviously suggests from "India to Europe", correct? This smells to=20 >me of the over-familiar "SuiperiorityComplex". There is no such thing as= =20 >Indogermanic. About 5000 years ago, the Germans, the Latins(or Italics)=20 >were all somewhere in "South Russia-Ukraine-northern tip of Black and=20 >Caspian seas", communicating with Slavs and all other Indoeuropean peoples= =20 >in a common language which, at that time was most likely already showing=20 >sings of dialects or traits by the smaller Sub-Tribes. And this is=20 >interesting, because, you can only have sub-tribes if there is a "Large,=20 >or main Mother Tribe, which we could call "Proto-Tribe". It obvious that=20 >small tribes cannot break away from "Nothing". It is inconceivable to me=20 >that today's linguists are not talking about the Large Group or=20 >Proto-Group and therefore Proto-Language. If there were only small groups,= =20 >independent of each other, you would also have independent languages,=20 >which would be influenced by various neighboring peoples and consequently,= =20 >no Proto-Language. So, what was the large Proto-Tribe there, from which=20 >others could break away? Do we see a Large-Tribe or a Nation today which=20 >could sustain continuous break-aways of smaller groups and still remain a= =20 >Nation or a large Proto-Tribe? So, Germanic tribe moves away at one point,= =20 >becoming, eventually, one of the Indo-European languages and Nations, and= =20 >to be sure, one of the nations that contributed immensely to the humanity,= =20 >in science and arts, etc. So we have an advanced nation here, and at=20 >certain historical periods becomes very tempted ( as all others would ) to= =20 >get into this well known garbage about superiority. Indo-Germanish has a=20 >flavor of "we are the special branch of.....etc. etc.. We all know that is= =20 >not the case. I must make sure that nobody misunderstands me. I studied=20 >German language in high school in Europe and have the highest regard for=20 >German achievements. I am a professional musician and play Bach as much=20 >as any German musician does, and love. So, I don't want to accused of=20 >anything "Anti". I just want to say: "Let's stay with "Indo-European". >Sorry if I went on for too long. >Sincerely, Ted Lebar.
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