Indo-European languages originated in Anatolia, say scientists

A new research indicates Anatolia and Mesopotamia as the source of Indo-European language family

An international team conducting researches on the origination of ancient and modern Indo-European languages from Anatolia and Mesopotamia suggests modern Indo-European languages did not originate in southwest Russia but rather in Turkey about 9,000 years ago. 

Scientists led by Remco Bouckaert from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, indicated in the declaration of their research on 100 Kurdish words that the Kurdish language is quite similar to the Baluchi language which is mainly spoken in Pakistan, Beluchi territory, eastern Iran and Afghanistan today. It is also argued that the Kurdish language started to separate from other languages before 1500s. 

The research which traced similarities between Indo-European languages- like the Kurdish word ‘stêr’, which means ‘star’ in English and has a similar correspondence in other Indo-European languages- puts forward a new thesis on the origination of the language family by constituting a contradiction to the widely accepted language theory which claims that ancient and modern Indo-European languages originated 5,000 years ago in south-west Russia. 

Scientist Remco Bouckaert, the leader of the research team, has shared the research results concerning the Kurdish language with ANF. 

According to the research leaded by New Zealander scientists, the language family of Kurdish united with ancient Iranian languages three thousand years ago and with Avesta languages four thousand years ago. The research also puts forward that the Kurdish language is spoken in a large territory expanding from middle Anatolia to Armenia. 

The findings of the New Zealander scientists suggest that the Indo-European language family, which consists of Kurdish, Persian and Armenian in the Middle East as well as English, German, French, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian and Italian in Europa, originated nine thousand years ago. The research which compares similar words of the same origin in different languages argues that this language family spread to the world by means of agriculture. 

The research in New Zealand serves as the anti-thesis of linguistic Marija Gimbutas’ Kurgan hypothesis, the most widely accepted thesis on Indo-European origins, which was first formulated in 1950s and based the Indo-European language family on Russian territory. 

According to the Gimbutas, the Indo-European languages spread from southern Russia to Europe and to the Middle East by means of migrations around five-six thousand years ago. Despite the fact that the Kurgan hypothesis of Gimbutas has widely been accepted by a large number of archaeologists and linguists so far, it seems that the results of the new research at the University of Auckland will in question in long lasting discussions.

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