Language in ancient Asia and the Americas: An introduction

1 O Bṛhaspati. When in giving names they first set forth the beginning of Language, Their most excellent and spotless secret was laid bare through love. 2 When the wise ones formed Language with their mind, purifying it like grain with a winnowing fan, Then friends knew friendships – an auspicious mark placed on their language. 3 Through sacrifice they tracked the path of Language, and within the poets found it. Bearing it, they spread it abroad – in many places; the seven singers together spoke it loud. 4 One looking did not see Language; another listening did not hear it; Language unfolds itself to another – like a wife, beautifully adorned and willing, to her husband. Rig-veda 10.71.1–4 The present volume covers far greater geographic space than any of its companion volumes: all of Asia is included – excepting the linguistically rich regions of Asia Minor, with Transcaucasia (see The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor) and southwest Asia (which readers will find covered within the volumes entitled The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Aksum and The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia) – as well as the American continents (or continent, as one prefers). Over half of the languages examined in the chapters that follow were spoken in ancient Iran, central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent; and of these, all were Indo-European languages, with the exception of the Dravidian language of Old Tamil.