Indo-European languages

Hey everybody

I would like to discuss the origins of the Indo-European languages; as well as their similarities in phonemic and vocabulary. So far here are some comparisons and examples of some living Indo-European tongues as well as extinct ones.

Sanskirt: pitar, matar, nama, napat, bhri, bhratar, shta
Old Persian: pitar, matar, nama, napat, bar, bratar, çta
Greek: pater, meter, onoma, anepsios, ferein, phrater, istemi
Latin: pater, mater, nomen, nepos, ferre / ursus, frater, sto
German: vater, mutter, nahme, neffe, führen, stehen
Italian: padre, madre, nome, nipote, fratello, sto
Spanish: padre, madre, nombre, nieto, hermano, estoy
English: father, mother, name, nephew, brother, stand

&

Hittite: vadar, ezza, uga, tug, vesh, kuish, quit
English: water, eat, me, you / thou, we, who, what
Latin: aqua, edo, ego, tu, nobis, quis, quid
Spanish: agua, como, yo, tu, nosotros, quien, que
Italian: acqua, mangio, io, tu, noi, chi, cosa / che

>> German: vater, mutter, nahme, neffe, führen, stehen
>> English: father, mother, name, nephew, brother, stand

engl.: name = german: Name

engl.: brother = german: Bruder

Where did you get the translations?

That was a nice way to put it. "Führen" means "to lead". The OP probably just left out some words.

In Spanish "estoy" means "I am", but if you want the infinitive it's "Estar de pie" for "stand". "Yo" is more like "I". Depending on the use, the word may even look like "me".

In Greek, the word for brother I know is "adelfos'", but I am a beginning student in Modern Greek.

In Italian, "stare in piedi" is "to stand up", but "sto" is first person singular.

In any case the OP made me think about some words and why I like IE languages.

Thanks for the corrections, as well as for your guy's input. However, my initial statement the similarities in phonemic and vocabulary between the Indo-European languages - is there a hypothetical eve of the Indo-European languages; what scholars and historians consider the source of all European languages, as well as region in Europe?

I got my translations from: Will Durant, "Story of civilization: 1"

actually, "nieto" does not mean "nephew" in spanish, but rather "grandson".
"Sobrino" means "nephew".
I think it makes the relationship between the ie languages even more intriguing to see how as the word itself changes, its meaning also changes as it is passed through descendant languages.

For example, the latin "habere" which is passed to french as "avoir" and to spanish as "haber", two verbs with related but distinct meanings.

It isn't just in those languages (but you probably know that already).

Have
Avere (It.)
Haben (Ger.)
Hebben (Dutch)
Ha (Norwegian), and I'm sure you'll get some verbs that are similiar in Danish and Swedish
What is it in Romanian? Maybe "avea"? Yiddish may be close to the German with a vowel change-out.

Ouch, I skipped right over "nieto", blepman is right.

I don't know what the theory is, but I've heard that story about the area of Ukraine as well. I had a chance to be with some extraordinary polyglots recently (the kind who speak with native accents in several languages) and we were talking about the trail of words across Europe and Asia.

Sanskrit was offered up as a big clue. However, being a barbarian, I don't speak Sanskrit.

<<Have
Avere (It.)
Haben (Ger.)
Hebben (Dutch)
Ha (Norwegian), and I'm sure you'll get some verbs that are similiar in Danish and Swedish
What is it in Romanian? Maybe "avea"? Yiddish may be close to the German with a vowel change-out.
>>

English "have", Dutch "hebben", German "haben", Norwegian "ha" (Swed "ha(va)", Dan "have")
are not related to
Latin "habere", Italian "avere", French "avoir", Spanish "haber"

These two families of words have different roots in IE ("kap-" & "ghab(h)-")

I don't know about IE, but the words all have some connection to some meaning of "have"; on the other hand, I don't mind looking at a book with origins of words in various languages. What do you recommend?

"Varg" means "wolf" in Swedish (Germanic) and Mazandarani (Iranian) languages."Better" means "better" in Mazandarani.

Very interesting to find words in Iranian or Sanskrit that are simmilar to European languages. In terms of language, the Indians and Iranians are closer to Europe (or the other way around) than some Europeans such as the Finnish, Basques or the Hungarians.

The similarities between Arabic and Hebrew are also interesting. Both are semitic languages.

Thanks for the provided link MJDT.

Interestingly enough, haber in Spanish is rather an auxiliary then an actual meaning of "to have" suffice to say the verb takes up more then one meaning. I had used nieto ab initio to give more resemblance to the rest instead of placing 'sobrino'.

What interests me - at the moment - is the Hittite language (long ago extinct) of its close similarities with Latin and far apart geographically speaking.

English: water, eat, I, you / thou, me, we, who, what
Hittite: vadar, ezza, uga, tug, vesh, mu, kuish, quit
Latin: aqua, edo, ego, tu, nobis, me, quis, quid

English: water, eat, I, you / thou, me, we, who, what
Hittite: vadar, ezza, uga, tug, vesh, mu, kuish, quit
Latin: aqua, edo, ego, tu, nobis, me, quis, quid
Russian: voda, est', ya, ty, menya, my, kto, chto


English: father, mother, name, nephew, brother, stand
Russian: otets, mat' (gen. materi), imya, plemyannik, brat, stoyat'.

<<English: water, eat, I, you / thou, me, we, who, what
Hittite: vadar, ezza, uga, tug, vesh, mu, kuish, quit
Latin: aqua, edo, ego, tu, nobis, me, quis, quid >>

If we examine by relation, rather than by meaning, it shows as follows

English :water
Hittite: watar
Latin: *unda* (cognate)
Greek: hydor

English: ea, island, ait
Hittite: akw- ("to drink")
Latin: aqua

The consistency is striking....

English: now
Old English: nu
Latin: nunc
Hittite: nu

However, true that by relation that words would tend to be less apparent to be related.

<<The similarities between Arabic and Hebrew are also interesting. Both are semitic languages>>

Hebrew: yad, regel, bayit, kabir, hamor, hamesh, yom, lashon, ayin, melekh, rosh, se'ar

Arabic: yad, rijel, bayit, akkbar, hmar, hamsa, yaum, lissan, ayin, malik, rass, sha'er

Translation: hand, leg, house, huge, donkey, five, day, language/tongue, eye, king, head, hair