5

Joseph Skulj, Jagdish C. Sharda, Snejina Sonina,

Ratnakar Narale
INDO-ARYAN AND SLAVIC
LINGUISTIC AND GENETIC
AFFINITIES PREDATE THE ORIGIN OF
CEREAL FARMING
Te Hindu Institute of Learning, Toronto, Canada
Paper read at: Te Sixth International Topical Conference: Origin of Europeans in Ljubljana,
Slovenia June 6
th
and 7
th
2008.
Abstract
Linguistic comparisons between Indo-Aryan languages, Vedic Sanskrit in particular, and
Slavic languages show evidence of remarkable similarities in words of elemental nature and
those describing the process of domestication of animals specially the terminology regarding
the sheep and the cattle. Similarly, Haplogroup (Hg) R1a1 (HG3 in Rossers nomenclature), the
male lineage Y-Chromosome genetic marker found at high frequencies both in the Slavic and
the Indo-Aryan male populations points to a common genetic origin of a large percentage of
speakers of Slavic and Indic languages. Judging from the linguistic evidence, the separation of
these Indo-European branches appears to predate the advent of cereal domestication. Applying
Alineis Lexical Self-Dating (LSD) methodology to date the linguistic and the genetic evidence,
we estimate that the split between Indo-Aryans and the ancestors of Slavs occurred, afer the
domestication of the sheep and cattle, about 10,000 years ago, but before cereal farming became
a common industry amongst the ancestors of Slavs in Europe and Indo-Aryans on the Indian
sub-continent. Moreover, the genetic evidence does not indicate that there were any major
migrations of people from Europe, including the ancestors of the present day Slavs, to the
Indian sub-continent during the last 8,000 years. Te migration appears to have come from
the Indian sub-continent to Europe. However, there is a record of many military incursions
over the millennia into the sub-continent.
Furthermore, based on the linguistic, genetic, zooarchaeological and population growth
evidence, the coalescence of R1a1 in an ancestor common to many Indo-Aryans and Slavs,
probably occurred during the hunting-gathering era and there is evidence that the close
contact between the ancestors of Indo-Aryans and Slavs continued during the sheep and
cattle domestication, up to and including the nomadic pastoral age. Based on this evidence,
the major population expansion from the Indian sub-continent into Europe appears to have
come, before the age of cereal farming.
Also the patrilineal Y-Chromosome genetic marker Hg R1a1, that accompanied this
expansion, appears to be more than 100,000 years old, based on its relative high frequency,
diversity and wide distribution extending from the Balkans to the Bay of Bengal. Tis estimated
age, based on the reproductive rates of historical individuals, is considerably older than the
molecular ages calculated on the basis of mutation rates as reported in the literature.
6
Introduction
Te earliest evidence of Paleolithic human presence in the Indo-Pakistani sub-continent
consists of stone implements found in the Soan River Valley in northern Pakistan. Tese
tools appear to indicate the presence of hominids in the sub-continent as early as 200,000-
400,000 years ago (Qamar et al. 2002). However, according to C. Renfrew, when W. Jones
frst spoke of the early literature of India he had absolutely no idea of the antiquity of
Indian civilization. For many years, the material record did not go back much before the
time of King Ashoka in the 3
rd
century BC, and the brief accounts of north India lef by
the commentators upon Alexander the Great travels and conquests in the previous century.
It was in 1921 that the great discovery of the Indus Valley civilization was made, with the
investigation of two of its great cities at Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Tis civilization was
already fourishing shortly afer 3000 BC. Other archaeological excavations in western
Pakistan have found evidence of the cultivation of cereal crops such as barley, einkorn,
emmer and bread wheat preceding 6000 BC (Renfrew 1987: 183, 190).
Based on archaeological evidence, it is generally accepted that the agriculture
originated in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East about 12,000 years ago and that new
cereal crops, as well as domesticated sheep, goat and probably cattle spread via Anatolia
all over Europe. It has also been suggested that the global expansion of farming included
also the dispersal of genes and languages (Haak 2005, Renfrew 1987: 266). However,
genetic evidence suggests frmly that there were at least two independent domestications
of cattle, sheep, pig and water bufalo. In addition to the Fertile Crescent, cattle and sheep
were also domesticated on the Indian sub-continent (Lofus 1994, Bradley 2000). In this
paper, we will attempt to demonstrate that there is genetic and linguistic evidence that
the expansion of herding, from the Indian sub-continent, was also accompanied by the
dispersal of genes and languages.
From the Greek historian Herodotus, who was describing notable events occurring
during his lifetime and the times before ~2,500 years ago, we learn that the Indians were
more numerous than any other nation that he was acquainted with and paid tribute exceeding
that of every other people, 360 talents of gold-dust, to the Persian king Darius. From his
accounts we also learn, that in his day, the tribes of Indians were numerous and did not all
speak the same language; some were nomads others not (Herodotus 1942: 259-264).
It is noteworthy how little have things changed in the last 2,500 years, since Herodotus.
Even now, the population of the Indian sub-continent, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka and India proper, is the largest on the planet and totals nearly 1.5 billion humans,
representing ~23% of the worlds population. Tis is higher than the population of China
or any other nation. Many languages are still spoken in India; Hindi speakers being the
largest population
Similarly for the Slavs in Europe: Herodotus writes, Te Tracians are the most
powerful people in the world, except, of course, the Indians; and if they had one head, or
were agreed among themselves, it is my belief that their match could not be found anywhere,
and that they would very far surpass all other nations. But such union is impossible for
7
them, and there are no means for ever bringing it about. Herein, therefore, consists their
weakness. Te Tracians bear many names in the diferent regions of their country, but all
of them have like usages in every respect, excepting only the Getae, the Trausi and those
who dwell above the people of Creston (Herodotus: 374). Alinei has advanced a hypothesis
based on the historical and linguistic evidence that Tracians was the name Herodotus
gave to the Slavs owing to the fact that the Tracians were one of the most powerful and
representative elites of the Slavic speaking Eastern Europe (Alinei 2003). Modern day
relative population numbers appear to refect those of the ancient world. Te population
on the Indian sub-continent is still the largest in the world and the Slavic speakers form
the most numerous language group in Europe and they occupy more than one half of the
landmass of Europe (Rand McNally 1980).
Linguistic comparisons
It is necessary to mention that over the millennia many changes occurred in Indian
languages and that these changes resulted in the origin of a number of tongues, for many
of which Sanskrit can be regarded as proto-language. Te changes of this type (ancestor-
descendent) are illustrated below by Sanskrit and Hindi correspondences. It is obvious
that through the ages many changes were happening in the Slavic proto-language as well,
which resulted in the formation of modern Slavic tongues. Te diferences of this type
(sister-sister) are illustrated below and in the Appendix by the comparison of Russian
and Slovenian. Te tables in the Appendix also allow the comparison of the two Slavic
languages with their more remote cousin Hindi together with their ancestor Sanskrit.
We cite here the most striking similarities from elemental and agro-pastoral vocabulary
(for more complete lists see Skulj et al. 2006) and semantically structured comparisons of
cereal farming terminology. Te corpus for farming comparisons was initially extracted
from Russian proverbs related to agriculture collected by V. I. Dal (1994: 563-567) and
later completed with semantically and morphologically related words.
C. Renfrew notes that, despite the confusion which surrounds the question of the origins
of the Indo-European languages, there remains much value in the comparative method,
and the approach is indeed one of the most useful ways to study the relationship between
them. If the languages with the related words are geographically far apart, the linguistic
palaeontologist can argue that borrowing from one by another is unlikely. Tus the basic
principle of linguistic palaeontology is that if the Indo-European can be shown by linguistic
analysis to have had the name of a specifc thing within their proto-lexicon, then they can
be assumed to have been acquainted with the thing itself (Renfrew 1987: 183).
M. Alinei has taken this concept, in an innovative way, a step further, naming it
lexical self-dating and has shown that it can be applied to the dating of historical events
(Alinei 2004).
It is evident from the linguistic comparisons as shown in the Appendices that, Sanskrit
and Slavic languages share many cognates of the pre-pastoral and pastoral terminology,
which would indicate a common origin or a common homeland prior to and during the
8
domestication of the livestock such as cattle and sheep. However, this close linguistic afnity
does not continue with the domestication of the cereals. At the cereal farming stage of
their development, this linguistic similarity ends abruptly.
In the Appendix under Farming, it is very apparent that there is no obvious similarity
in the cereal farming terminology between Slavic and Indo-Aryan languages. Tis lack
of resemblances in the terminology describing the cereal farming instruments, methods
and products is evident, despite an attempt to select the words that are closest in sound
and meaning. Some similarities would be expected, particularly in the names of the plants
and cereals used for food, given that wild grasses (wild cereals) were utilized by Levantine
foragers as early as 19,500 years ago and have been inferred to have been used by aboriginal
Australians perhaps as far back as 30,000 years ago (Fuller 2002). Herodotus writing ~2500
years ago also reports: Tere is another set of Indians whose customs are very diferent.
Tey refuse to put any live animal to death; they sow no corn, and have no dwelling-houses.
Vegetables are their only food. Tere is a plant which grows wild in their country, bearing
seed about the size of millet-seed in a calyx: their wont is to gather this seed and having
boiled it, calyx and all, to use it for food (Herodotus 1942: 61).
All of this gives credence to M. Snoj who in his etymological dictionary proposes
that Slovenian ito meaning grain, cereals has its origin in ive, ivilo meaning food,
provisions, foodstuf and ultimately in iveti (pron. zhiveti) to live; this corresponds to
iti (zhiti) meaning to live (Snoj 1997). Tis is analogous to Sanskrit jv (jvati) meaning
to live; jvtu meaning life (RV) and also victuals, food and jvala meaning full of life,
animating (AV).
Renfrew cites W. Lehmann, who concluded that on the basis of modern linguistics, the
terms for herd, cow, sheep, wolf , grain etc. and the lack of specifc terms for grains or
vegetables indicates a heavy reliance on animals for food. Tis led to the notions that the
Proto-Indo-Europeans were nomads. Te Comparative Method has also been applied to
the localization of their homeland by focusing on the features of the natural environment
such as names of certain animals and trees. Tis method has also been used to make
chronological inferences (Renfrew 1998: 78-82).
Similarly, we are making analogous chronological inferences, based on linguistic
and genetic comparisons between Indo-Aryans and Slavs, that the ancestors of Slavs
and Indo-Aryans had a common pre-pastoral sojourn involving hunting and gathering,
followed by domestication of sheep and cattle and then nomadic pastoral society. Te split
between them appears to have occurred during their nomadic pastoral stage, before the
development of agriculture. Slavs were also known historically by other names such as
Sclavenes, Antes and also Venedi, Venethi (Curta 2001: 7); Wenden, Winden, Winedas (Little
1957); Veneti>Windisch, Vandals (Priestly 1997); Sarmati (Ramusio 1604). In addition,
the Macedonians and the Veneti both belonged to the numerous family of nations that
was usually designated by the collective term Tracian (Sotirof 1971). Furthermore, the
cultures of Scythians and Sarmatians are believed to have been Slavic (avli 1996: 74), but
most linguists consider the languages to have belonged to north-eastern Iranian family.
We know that three-quarters of the population on the Indian subcontinent speak
9
the I-E languages, which are based on Sanskrit. Also in Europe, Slavic languages share
many linguistic and grammatical similarities with Sanskrit, particularly Vedic Sanskrit.
It is enigmatic that the Slovenian language, bordering on Italy and Austria, still shares
more linguistic similarities with the Sanskrit, than with the neighboring languages. In
addition, Slovenians also have greater genetic similarity, with respect to R1a1 frequency,
to the extant Indo-Aryan speaking populations of India, than to their European neighbors
to the west. Furthermore, Slovenian language, due to its archaic character, still preserves
many lexical and grammatical forms present in the Sanskrit, but no longer used in the
present day Indic languages and most I-E languages. Te still active daily usage of the dual
in the grammatical forms of the nouns and the verbs is noteworthy. Te conjugation of
the verb to be is illustrative of this similarity with Sanskrit (Skulj & Sharda 2001, Narale
2004 p.101).
Table 1. Te Present Tense Conjugation and the Imperative of the verb to be
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian OCS* Hindi English
Sing. asmi sem ja jest iesm maim hum I am
asi si ty jest' iesi tu hai you are
asti je on jest' iest va hai he is
Dual sva sva x jesve x x
stha sta x jesta x x
sta sta x jeste x x
Plural sma smo my jest jesm ham haim we are
stha ste vy jest jeste tum ho you are
santi so oni jest sut ve haim they are
* OCS is a common abbreviation for the Old Church Slavonic (or Slavic)
Transliteration Legend:
Russian transliteration generally follows the guidelines of Te Random House College
Dictionary.
Slovenian pronunciation is similar to Russian: c is pronuciated as TS; as CH; j as Y; as SH;
as ZH.
Sanskrit transliteration of Devanagari follows primarily A Sanskrit-English Dictionary com-
piled by M. Monier-Williams and Sanskrit for English Speaking People by A. Ratnakar, where
English is used as the base but: is pronounced as CH; as SH; dot under a letter denotes a
cerebral letter.
Hindi transliteration follows the Sanskrit.
In the Appendix: m. means masculine; f. feminine; n. neuter; f.p. feminine plural; v. verb
Table 2. Imperative of Sanskrit verb bh, bhavati meaning to be, become
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian OCS Hindi English
Sing. bodhi bodi bud ho be
Dual bhavatm bodita x x x
Plural bhavata bodite budte hovo be
10
Slovenian language shows more similarity with Sanskrit than Russian and Hindi: it
kept all the forms and the dual closer to Sanskrit. A very similar picture can be observed
in the comparison of noun declensions. Te Sanskrit noun mt i, chosen as a typical
example and shown below declined in singular number, has eight forms. In all compared
languages, same or similar endings and sufxes are used to construct declension forms but
both modern Russian and Hindi lack several forms if compared to Sanskrit. Once again
Slovenian language shows more similarity with Sanskrit than Russian and Hindi: it kept
more forms and also the dual along with the plural.

Table 3. Declination of the Sanskrit noun mt i
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian Hindi English
nominative mt mati mat mt mother
accusative mtram mater mat mt ko mother
instrumental mtr materjo materju mt ne, se by mother
dative mtre materi materi mt ke liye to mother
ablative mtur matere - mt se from mother
genitive mtur matere materi mt ka of mother, mothers
locative mtari materi materi mt me on mother
vocative mtar mati - he mt mother
Furthermore, in addition to similarities in vocabulary (see Appendix), declensions
and conjugations, there are also additional morphological similarities, as refected in many
derived forms.
Table 4. Verbs > nouns (Sufxes -sna, -nje, -n; -ti, -tje)
Sanskrit
Verb
Sanskrit
Noun
Slovenian
Noun
Russian
Noun
Hindi
Noun
English
Noun
bh bhiyas bojazen bojazn bhay fear, apprehension
bh bht bitje bytije hast, astitva being, existence
jv jvana ivenje(arch.) izn jvan life
jv jvitva ivetje (arch.) itje (arch.) astitva (living) life
jv jvina ivina (cattle) ivotina jv living being
j jna znanje znanie jna knowledge
m i mra mor, mora mor maran death, pestilence
m i m itaka mrtvak mirtvjec mritak dead man, corpse
prach prana (v)praanje vopros pra question, query
prach pr pria prita (fable) priha statement in debate
sn snna snaenje x snna bathing, cleansing
sth sthna stanje sostojanije sthiti state, condition
sth sthna stan stan(ica) sthn abode, dwelling
utth (udsth) utthna vstanje vstavanije utthn rising, resurrection
utth (udsth) utthya vstaja stoja (p.p.) utthan standing up
udvs udvsa odveza otvjaz
(yvanije)
muta karn setting free
(p.p.) - past participle
11
Te examples above show that many derived Slovenian nouns formed on verbal stems
use derivative sufxes that are very similar to the corresponding sufxes in Sanskrit. Both
Slovenian and Russian kept one of the most archaic sufxes -tih (Cf. Meillet 1964 p.273)
in the noun bitje-bytije corresponding to Sanskrit bht. However in other verbal nouns,
Russian ofen appends on more sufx in addition to the initial form of the verbal noun:
it can be the sufx -nije corresponding to the very characteristic Sanskrit sufx -na
(stojanije, otvjaz(anije)) or the typical Russian sufx -, ec, ic(a) (mertvjec, stan(ica)). Some
corresponding Russian words changed their meaning or have to be qualifed as archaic.
Hindi ofen has no corresponding noun at all or uses a verbal periphrase (hast, astitva,
muta karn).
Te situation is more or less the same in the formation of verbal adjectives.
Table 5. Verb > verbal adjective (Sufxes -ena, -ev ; -ta)
Sanskrit
Verb
Sanskrit
Adjective
Slovenian
Adjective
Russian
Adjective
Hindi
Adjective
English
bh bhiyasna bojazen bojazjen bhru fearful, timid
jv jva iv iv jvit living, alive
j ja znan znakom jnn familiar with
m i m ita mrtev mjortv mrit dead, rigid
p pta pitan upitan (fed) piye-hue drunk, suckled
pr priyatva prijeten prijaten priya pleasing, being
dear
pr purna poln napolnen prn flled, full
sn snta snaen ien snt washed, cleansed
siv syta ivan, seit sit sewn
Te verbal adjective is derived directly from the verbal root and not from a tense stem
(Beekes 1995: 250). Slovenian shows most similarities with Sanskrit, Russian ofen adds a
prefx or another sufx, and Hindi ofen lacks corresponding adjective.
Examples below illustrate similarities between Sanskrit and Slavic languages in formation
of active and causative verbs and nouns.
Table 6. Verbs: active > causative (Prefx o-, stem change to -o-)
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian Hindi English
jv jvati iveti it jn to live, be alive
jv ajjivat oiveti oivit jln restore to life, make alive
p pibati, pti piti pit pn to drink, swallow
p -yayati, pyate pojiti poit plan to cause to drink
p p (drinking) pupati pit pn to drink
p payate pitati pitat plan to fatten, cause to swell
12
Table 7. Verbal nouns: active > causative (Stem change to -o-)
Sanskrit
Verb
Sanskrit
Noun
Slovenian
Noun
Russian
Noun
Hindi
Noun
English
Noun
m i m ityu mrtje umiranie maran dying
m i mra a morjenje morjenje mran killing, causing to die
p > p pti pitje pitjo pn drinking
p pyana pojenje pojenije pln causing or giving to
drink
Just as Sanskrit, Slavic languages use prefxes (oiveti, oivit) or change the stem vowel
to -o- (pojiti, poit; morjenje, morjenje; pojenje, pojenije) to form the causative but Hindi
does not allow to discern a similar pattern.
Many prefxed verbs and corresponding nouns show similarities between Indic and
Slavic languages.
Table 8. Prefxed verbs (pra-, ud-)
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian Hindi English
pra-dru (-dravati) pridrveti prepustit pradrava to hasten towards, rush
upon
pra-pat (-patati) propasti propast prapd to fall down, lose
prati-vah (-vahati) privesti privest pravaln to lead or draw towards
ud--vas (vasati) odvzeti udvas to remove
ud--vah (-vahati) odvesti otvest vahan karn to lead away; marry
ud-i (eti) oditi ujti / otojti u a to go, march of
Table 9. Prefxed verbs and corresponding nouns (Sufxes -va, -na, -nje)
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian Hindi English
verb pra-dh
(-dhatte)
prodati predat(give out) pradn karn to give away, sell
noun pradhna predaja pradn giving, donation
verb pra-d (-dryate) predreti
(pierce)
prodrat pha n to split open
noun pradara prodor,
predor
razdor (quarrel) pradara rout of an army,
crevice
verb pra-stu (-stauti) predstaviti predstavit prastut karn introduce as a topic
noun prastva predstava predstavljenije prastut introduction
verb prati-budh
(-budhyate)
prebuditi prebudit prabodh karn to awaken
noun pratibodhan prebud,
prebujenje
probudjenije pratibodhn awaking
verb prati-j (-jnti) priznati priznat pratij to admit, consent
noun pratijna priznanje priznanije pratij admission, assertion
verb jalam-p (pti) lampati hljupat jal pn to drink water
noun jalapna lampanje hljupanje jalpn the drinking water
13
Behind phonetic changes occurred in Slavic languages, it is still possible to recognize
prefxes corresponding to the Sanskrit prefxes pra- and ud-. Russian, however, changed
the meaning of derived verbs or used a diferent sufx to form a noun more ofen than
Slovenian.
Te morphological tendencies illustrated above are confrmed by the view from another
angle. Above we were looking at the same type of derivatives from diferent stems. Below
we show diferent type of derivatives from the same stem.
Table 10. Verbal family of derivatives from stem vid > vedati, vidati, vindati; to know, percieve,
understand
Sanskrit Slovenian Russian Hindi English
vid > veda (n.) veda vedjenije veda knowledge
vid > vedi (n.) vedec vedma (witch) vidvn wise man
vid > vedin (adj.) veden svedu vidvn knowing
vid > vitta (adj.) viden vedom gat known
vid > vindu (adj.) (Vind > Venet)? jnkr familiar or
acquainted with
(n.) - noun
(adj.) - adjective
As in all other examples, the closest phonetic and semantic correspondences can be
observed between Sanskrit and Slovenian words. Two out of four Hindi words diverse more
from Sanskrit than Slovenian ones in form (phonetic epenthesis vidvn) and one word
does not exist because the corresponding adjective uses a diferent stem (gat). Russian
examples also confrm the derivation tendencies noticed earlier: it looks like the Russian
language normalized its derivative sufxes (vedje-nije, (s)ved-u, ved-om) unlike the
Slovenian that ofen keeps the original form of the word. Typical for the Russian examples
change of meaning also occurs within this derivative paradigm. Te Russian word vedma
meaning a witch can be linked to the Sanskrit stem vid for two reasons: frst, because all
other words of the family show the same phonetic change vid > ved; second, because the
sufx -ma, according to Meillet (1964: 274), is known to form agent nouns in Sanskrit (Cf.:
dhar-ma- qui tient = the one who holds; brahma- prtre=priest) and corresponds to the
Indo-European sufx -men. Te corresponding Greek noun - [id-mon] meaning
the one who knows(qui sait in Meillet 1964: 275) also helps to link vedma to vid with
the meaning a woman who possesses some esoteric knowledge.
Te fact that Slovenian seems to be closer to Sanskrit than other Slavic languages is
important in diferent regards. From the linguistic point of view, Sanskrit - Slovenian -
Russian comparisons provide unexpected insights into etymology. For instance, while
working on this paper we were able to see many missing links that cannot be discovered
by comparing Sanskrit with Old Church Slavic, as it is usually done in Indo-European
linguistics (Cf.: Meier-Brgger 2003) for the simple reason that old scriptures use quite
limited vocabulary. For instance, it is possible to see that the Russian verb hljupat - make
ugly noises while drinking can be linked to the Sanskrit compound jalam-p (pti)- drink
14
water only afer coming across the Slovenian compound verb lampati with the meaning
close to Russian. From the genetic point of view, this study of diferent degrees of language
resemblance can be inspiring for a research seeking to understand to what extent linguistic
afnities can be backed by genetic similarities.
Genetic comparisons
Two localities are considered more alike if the same haplogroups occur at similar
frequencies and if the various haplogroups difer by fewer mutations. Clines are usually
associated with distinct population movements. Demic difusion, which is a combination
of demographic growth, range expansion and limited admixture, is an example of a form of
directional population expansion causing allele-frequency clines. Clines may be generated
by loss of genetic variation or by admixture between two genetically distinct groups initially
separated by a non-populated area (Karafet et al. 2001).
Bradley (2000) shows that the motif of dual domestication is a common one in livestock.
On the basis of mtDNA results, he demonstrates that sheep and cattle were domesticated
both in the Fertile Crescent and also on the Indian sub-continent. It can be inferred that
the domestication of the sheep and cattle on the Indian sub-continent is the likely source
of the linguistic similarity between Indo-Aryan and Slavic terminology relating to the
sheep and cattle (Skulj et al. 2006).
In addition to linguistic similarities, the comparisons of the human genetic markers on
the Y-Chromosome also indicate close relationship. Geneticists, studying the human DNA
note that a Y-Chromosome genetic marker which they named, according to Y Chromosome
Consortium, haplogroup R1a1 (HG3 according to Rosser 2000 nomenclature) is the most
common among the Slavic populations in Europe and Indo-Aryans in India, at 47% and 30%
respectively; but is found to be as high as 51% in Punjab (Kivisild et al. 2002) - (Figure 1).
If we do the math, using the published statistics, we see that in Europe, ~61 million Slavic
speaking males have this genetic marker, but on the Indian sub-continent, the number is
almost four times higher, at ~240 million males.
Some may argue that this genetic (Figure 1) and linguistic afnity (Tables 1-9 and Appendix)
is due to the recent arrival of the Vedic Aryans from India into Central Europe, Eastern Europe
and the Balkans. However, such a recent migration from the Southeast Asia, would have also
picked up and brought a Finno-Ugric genetic marker Haplogroup N3 (HG16 of Rossers
nomenclature) to the Balkans, since it is widely distributed in Russia and Ukraine-between
Black Sea and the Baltic Sea (Rosser et al. 2000) - (Figure 3). Te Uralic-speaking people are
suggested to have been descendants of the hunter-gatherers who lived in the periglacial zone
between the Carpathian Mountains and the Volga River during the last glacial maximum and
have inhabited the Baltic area for ~10,000 years (Laitinen et al. 2002).
It is signifcant that this Hg N3 genetic marker has not been found either south of the
Carpathian Mountains, central Europe nor in the Balkans. Tis would indicate that the
populations carrying the Hg R1a1 came to the Balkans before the Finno-Ugric population
spread into Northeastern Europe, European Russia and Ukraine about 10,000 years ago.
Terefore, the R1a1 expansion from the Indian sub-continent to the Balkans must have
15
occurred prior to this Finno-Ugric expansion ~10,000 years ago; thus avoiding an mixing
with the populations with the Finno-Ugric genetic marker.
Te reverse major population movement, from Europe to India, within the last 10,000
years, is highly unlikely. Such a migration would have brought a Finno-Ugric genetic
marker Hg N3 and also the palaeolithic, more than 20,000 years old Hg I to India. Tis
Hg I genetic marker is common throughout Europe; the highest frequencies have been
found in the Balkans and is a likely signature of a Balkan population re-expansion afer
the Last Glacial Maximum (Marjanovic et al. 2005, Pericic et al. 2005). It is important to
note that these two genetic markers, Hg N3 and Hg I, have not been detected in India
(Cordaux et al. 2004, Sengupta et al. 2006).
Table 11. Hg R1a1 & Hg I Y-chromosome frequencies in Eurasia
Population Hg R1a1 Hg I
% %
Basques 0 Rosser et al 2000 6 Rootsi et al 2004
Irish 1 Rosser et al 2000 11 Rootsi et al 2004
Western Europe 4 Kivisild et al 2002 3-39 Rootsi et al 2004
Germans 30 Rosser et al 2000 20 Rosser et al 2000
Poles 54 Rosser et al 2000 18 Rootsi et al 2004
Sorbs 63 Behar et al 2003 18 Behar et al 2003
Czechs 38 Rosser et al 2000 14 Rootsi et al 2004
Slovaks 47 Rosser et al 2000 14 Rootsi et al 2004
Slovenians 37 Rosser et al 2000 38 Rootsi et al 2004
Croats 29 Semino et al 2000 38 Rootsi et al 2004
Bosniacs 15 Marjanovic et al 2005 48 Marjanovic et al 2005
Macedonians 35 Semino et al 2000 30 Rootsi et al 2004
Belarussians 39 Rosser et al 2000 19 Rootsi et al 2004
Ukrainians 44 Kharkov et al 2004 22 Rootsi et al 2004
Russians/North 43 Nasidze et al 2005 5 Rootsi et al 2004
Russians/Moscow 47 Rosser et al 2000 19 Rootsi et al 2004
Russians/Tashkent 47 Nasidze et al 2005
Anatolia & Caucasus 5 Kivisild et al 2002 0-6 Rootsi et al 2004
Central Asia 2 Rootsi et al 2004
Iran 11 Kivisild et al 2002 0 Rootsi et al 2004
Pakistan 37 Firasat et al 2007 1 Sengupta et al 2006
Burusho 28 Qamar et al 2002
Pathan 45 Qamar et al 2002
Sindhi 49 Qamar et al 2002
India 30 Kivisild et al 2002 0 Sengupta et al 2006
Cordaux et al 2004
Punjab 51 Kivisild et al 2002
Gujarat 24 Kivisild et al 2002
West Bengal 39 Kivisild et al 2002
Sri Lanka 24 Kivisild et al 2002
Nepal/Kathmandu 35 Gayden et al 2007
Bangladesh (W. Bengal) 39 Kivisild et al 2002
16
Figure 1: Hg R1a1 Y-Chromosome frequencies in Europe, West Asia
and Indian sub-contintent
Figure 2: Hg I Y-Chromosome frequencies in Europe, West Asia
and Indian sub-contintent
17
Te human population growth over millennia
Until Meave Leakey of Kenya found new evidence, it was believed that the frst and
oldest species of our family Homo habilis, evolved into Homo erectus, and fnally into Homo
sapiens. New evidence shows that the two earlier species lived side by side about 1.5 million
years ago in Kenya and that they have a common still-undiscovered ancestor that probably
lived two to three million years ago. Afer studying the fossils, Leakeys team announced
their fndings and concluded that is was time to redraw the family tree and rethink other
ideas about human evolutionary theory, especially about our most immediate ancestor,
Homo erectus (Borenstein 2007).
Now the homo sapiens population is estimated at 6.5 billion. Over the millennia the
human population growth has been closely associated with the social organization and with
the technologically assisted food production. Historically, human population has grown
very slowly and the exponential growth did not begin until the last few centuries.
From Hanson (2000) we learn that many authors have informally summarized world
history as continually accelerating change, and that many others have described human
history as sequences of specifc growth modes. Human history has also been described
as slow expansion of hunter-gatherers, followed by faster growth with the domestication
of animals and plants and then followed by even faster growth with science and industry.
Te age of human population has been estimated by Hawks et al. to be 2 million years.
From 2 million years ago up to about 5,000 BC hunters were dominant, then, as the world
Figure 3: Hg N3 Y-Chromosome frequencies in Europe, West Asia
and Indian sub-contintent
18
population grew to approximately 5 million to 20 million, farmers began to dominate
(Hanson 2000, U.S. Census Bureau 2007).
McEvedy and Jones (1978) estimated that 12, 000 years ago the human population
was at approximately 4,000,000; then it took 11,500 years of near linear growth to reach
425,000,000 in the 15
th
century. Afer 1500 AD, the exponential population growth began
and it took only 400 years for the population to reach 1.6 billion in the year 1900 AD and
then only 100 years for the population to reach 6 billion.
On the other hand, Kremer (1993), went back further into pre-history and estimated
that 1 million years ago, there was already a human population of 125,000, which grew,
albeit very slowly, and reached 4 million people 12,000 years ago and increased to 425
million in 1500 AD.
Te question arises, how many male or Y-chromosome lineages were in existence or
came into existence due to mutations over a span of 1 million years and how many of them
are extinct now? A widely accepted hypothesis amongst the geneticists is one that places
all modern humans in Africa, within the past 200,000 years, and assigns a genetic date of
the ancestor of all human males at 40,000 to 140,000 years ago (Wells 2003: 54-55). At the
present time, due to mutations, there are 153 diferent known haplogroups world-wide (Te
Y Chromosome Consortium 2002). Indian sub-continent shows great genetic diversity, since
36 of them are present in India and Pakistan (Sengupta et al. 2006) and Hg R1a1 being the
one with the highest frequency of 30% in India (Kivisild et al. 2002, Wells 2003: 167).
Origin of Satem Indo-European Languages
In our paper, we do not address the origins of human language, which some believe
has its beginnings 150,000 years ago (Te Economist, September 22
nd
2007) nor of the
Indo-European languages, which some believe that they have their beginnings in central
and eastern Anatolia and others posit their origin north of the Black Sea. From Anatolia,
according to some hypotheses, the distribution of the early form of the language and
its successors spread into Europe in association with the farming (Renfrew 1987: 205).
However, Bandelt et al. (2002) point out that, to stretch the origin of language families
to the Fertile Crescent or nearby regions may not explain the real processes, which could
actually have run in the opposite direction or have involved other centers of origin. In our
paper, we demonstrate that the Slavs and Indo-Aryans share both genetic and linguistic
afnities and that the distribution of their ancestors stretching from the Balkans, central
and northern Europe, also north of the Black Sea and along north-eastern shores of the
Caspian Sea and on the Indian sub-continent from Punjab to the Bay of Bengal and Sri
Lanka (Table 11), is associated with the nomadic-pastoral age and that the subsequent split
into Slavic and Indo-Aryan speakers predates the origin of farming.
At present, there are a number of hypotheses that propose to account for the greater
similarity of Indians with western Eurasians than with the Mongoloid people to the east
of India. First, there is a widely known hypothesis of an invasion of nomadic Indo-Aryan
tribes around 4,000 years ago into India, either from the west or from the Central Asian
19
steppes in the north. Second, there is a more recently proposed postulate, which is based
on the fact that 8,000-9,000 years ago several varieties of wheat and other cereals reached
India, presumably from the Fertile Crescent. Tis hypothesis is supported by linguistically
based suggestions of a recent common root for Elamite and Dravidic languages (Kivisild
et al. 2000, Wells 2003: 167).
In addition to the invasion theories, the theory of the indigenous origin of the Aryans
on the Indian subcontinent has been advocated by a number of scholars. Te indigenous
theory is credible since, there is no evidence to show that the Vedic Aryans were foreigners
or that they migrated into India within traditional memory. Sufcient literary materials
are available to indicate, that the Vedic Aryans themselves regarded Sapta-Sindhu as their
original home (Ghosh 1951: 220). Ghosh also cites H. Gntert and F.R. Schrder who have
shown that Western Europe is one of those areas that were Aryanized last (Ghosh 1951:
214). Tis is in agreement with the frequency of R1a1; only 4 % in Western Europe, 1 %
in Irish and 0% in the Basques who are the farthest from the Indian sub-continent. Tis
is in contrast to high frequencies amongst the male Slavs in Europe at 47 % the males in
India at 30 % (Kivisild et al. 2002, Rosser et al. 2000) numbering 61 million and 169 million
respectively and 237 million for the whole Indian sub-continent.
Kivisild et al (2000) have found that the node of the phylogenic tree of the mtDNA,
ancestral to more than 90% of the present-day typically European maternal lineages, is
present in India at a relatively high frequency. Tey estimate that the age of this ancestral
node is greater than 50,000 years. Tey have also found that mtDNA haplogroup U is the
most abundant mtDNA variety in India as it is in Europe. Furthermore, they believe that
there are now enough reasons to question the recent Indo-Aryan invasion into India some
4,000 years ago and alternatively to consider India as a part of the common gene pool
ancestral to the diversity of human maternal lineages in Europe.
Age of Hg R1a1 (time since coalescence)
Bandelt et al. (2002) express some caveats regarding the coalescence times, which
play an integral part in historical genetics, because there has been an over-emphasis on
superfcial population-genetics formalizations and insufcient attention to the resources
of other disciplines. In addition, geneticists are calculating the coalescence times using
the model of random-mating populations of constant sizes. Tis can lead to potentially
dramatic miscalculations of coalescence times.
Kharkov et al. (2004) attempt to clarify the ethnogenesis of the Slavs in general and
Eastern Slavs in particular, by studying the Y-chromosome diversity in the Ukrainians and
other populations of Eurasia. Tey agree with some of the published estimates, that Hg
R1a1 coalesced in a common ancestor 2,500 to 3,800 years ago. Although, in their paper,
they alluded to the relatively high frequency of R1a1 in India and Pakistan, they did not
inquire into the signifcance of such large numbers of R1a1 carriers, both on the Indian
sub-continent and amongst the Slavs, in Europe. Tey also failed to demonstrate how R1a1
could become one of the most widespread and also the most numerous genetic markers
20
both in Europe and on the Indian sub-continent during a relatively short period of time,
i.e. less than 4,000 years.
Tey note that haplogroup (Hg) R1a1 is the most common Y-chromosome variant among
the Ukrainians at ~ 44%. Upon further analysis of the published results in the literature, it
appears that Hg R1a1 is one of the most frequent genetic markers in the world. It is most
frequent in the populations speaking satem I-E languages, namely the Slavic speakers
in Europe and the Indo-Aryan speakers on the Indian sub-continent. If we do the math,
using the US Census I. P. Center population fgures and the percentages published in the
literature (Rosser et al. 2000, Semino et al. 2000, Pericic et al. 2005, Sengupta et al. 2006,
Kivisild et al. 2002) we see that in Europe, ~61 million Slavic speaking males have the Hg
R1a1 genetic marker; but in India the number is more than two and a half times higher, at
~170 million males. When considering the Indian sub-continent as a whole, the number
is ~240 million or almost four times higher than in the Slavic populations. In addition
this genetic marker is also present in smaller numbers in Western Europe, Scandinavia,
Baltic States, Caucasus, Turkey and Central Asian countries and totals ~25.5 million. In
total this represents more than 10 % of the male population of the world. Sengupta et al.
(2006) also report that the R1a1 frequency in I-E speakers of Upper Castes is at 45%, which
is similar to frequencies in the Slavic populations of Europe. Tis would indicate that a
similar increase of Hg R1a1, relative to populations with other genetic markers, took place
among the Slavic populations of Europe as in the caste populations of India.
In order to do a reality check on the age of Hg R1a1, we will use a macro-analytical
approach with a global perspective and consider the recorded genealogies of known
historical individuals, some in a position of privilege, others just common men. We will
then compare the results with the estimated coalescence dates of Hg R1a1-M17 lineage
found in the literature, where the micro-analytical approach, based on mutation rates, is
used for determining the ages of Y-Chromosome mutations.
Mutation Rate is defned as the rate at which a genetic marker mutates or changes
over time (Kerchner 2007). Tere is as yet no general agreement on the mutation rate at
an average Y-Chromosome short-tandem repeat locus; the range is quite wide; 0.00069 per
25 years (Zhivotovsky et al. 2004); 0.00069 per locus per mutation, with an intergeneration
time of 25 years (Gayden et al. 2007); 0.00026 per 20 years (Forster et al. 2000); 0.002 per
generation (Kerchner 2007) and 0.0018 per generation (Quintana-Murci et al. 2001). Te
subsequent calculated age estimates are then based on these mutation rates. Understandably,
there is also no consensus on the length of time from coalescence, for the frst male with
Hg R1a1 mutation, which is the most recent common ancestor for the largest percentage of
Indo-Aryans and Slavs. Tese ages vary from 1,650-4260 years (Kayser et al. 2000); 2,500-
3,800 years (Kharkov et al. 2004); 3,800 years (Zerjal et al. 1999); 7,500 years (Karafet et al.
1999); 10,000-15,000 years (Wells 2003: 176) and Semino et al. (2000) posit that it expanded
from the present day Ukraine afer Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 to 13,000 years ago.
Passarino et al (2001) are very candid about dating: Unfortunately, poor knowledge
of the molecular basis of 49a,f system and the complete ignorance of the mutational rate
do not allow any attempt to date this phylogeny. However, an attempt to date the Eu19
21
(R1a1 - M17) lineage was made by combining the micro-satellite variations resulting from
the analysis of 243 Y chromosomes. By the two approaches used, ages of 7,654 and 13,031
years were obtained.
For this reason, it is worthwhile to compare the age estimates, which are based on
mutation rates, with the reproductive capabilities of some known historical men, since
the number of their descendants, over known time period, integrates all the factors that
infuenced their procreation and in some cases made their progeny grow, not only in
numbers, but also in relation to the population of the world. By comparing these dates
with the ones obtained by the mutation rates, it is possible to test the validity of the results
obtained by the mutation rate method and also to determine, what is a reasonable time
interval, for more than 325 million men, representing ~10 % of the worlds male population,
now living with this Hg R1a1 mutation, to come into existence; starting from a single
individual. For example:
A. Confucius. Year 2009 will coincide with the 2,560
th
anniversary of this great
philosophers birth. He now has about 3 million descendants, which includes female relatives,
world wide. Tis number represents ~ 0.23 % of the population of China and 0.046 % of
the worlds population. From the growth rate it can be seen that Confucius clan grew at
a faster rate than the population of the world, which is estimated to have been 95 million
in 551 BC (US Census Bureau 2007) and at birth he represented only 0.000001 % of the
worlds population. On the average, an individual born at the same time, as Confucius,
would have only ~68 descendants now.
Assuming a linear growth in relation to the worlds population, it will require 217 time
periods of 2560 years or 555,520 years for the descendants of Confucius to reach 10 % of
the population worlds population. (10 : 0.046 x 2560 = 555,520)
B. Macedonian cavalry with Hg I-M170/M223/M379 in Pakistan - Sengupta et al.
(2006) and Firasat et al (2007) report that 0.57 % and 0.3 % respectively, of the Pakistani
males are identifed with this genetic marker. According to Firasat et al. (2007), this genetic
marker may have been brought by the Greek slaves 150 years before Alexander the Great,
but more likely by the Alexanders army of 25,000-30,000 mercenary foot soldiers from
Persia and West Asia and 5,000-7,000 Macedonian cavalry during the invasion 327-323
BC. Hg I-M170, which is a component of the European Y Chromosome gene pool and
accounts for 18 % of the total paternal lineages, is widespread in Europe, but is absent in
India. In Europe six subhaplogroups of Hg I-M170 have been reported (Rootsi et al. 2004).
In Pakistan only the subhaplogroup I-M223/M379 is found. Te subhaplogroup I-M223
is relatively rare in Europe, nevertheless, it is also found amongst the Slavic speakers in
the Balkans at 0.4 % (Marjanovic et al. 2005). Assuming that the genetic marker was
brought to Pakistan by the Macedonian cavalry of the Alexander the Great and by using
the data provided by Firasat et al. (2007), it is apparent that it took ~2,300 years for this
genetic marker to reach ~ 0.43 % of the Pakistani male population of 82.4 million or
354,000. From a global perspective, 354,000 males represent 0.011 % of the worlds male
population. However, an average individual born 2,300 years ago would now have only
~ 40 descendants.
22
Terefore, the Macedonian cavalryman, perhaps there was more than one individual
with this genetic marker, was reproducing faster than the population of the world over
this period of 2,300 years. By giving credit to only one individual and thus increase the
compounding rate, we can estimate the length of time that, it would take for the descendants
to reach 10 % of the worlds population. Since it took 2,300 years to reach 0.011% of the
worlds population and assuming a linear growth in relation to the worlds population,
it will take them 909 time periods of 2,300 years or 2,090,700 years to reach 10% of the
worlds population (10 : 0.011 x 2,300 = 2,090,700 years).
C. Giocangga. Geneticist Tyler-Smith (2005) has estimated that 1.5 million Chinese
men are descendants of Giocangga, the grandfather of the founder of the Qing dynasty, from
about 500 years ago. His descendants were in a privileged position and the extraordinary
number is thought to be a result of the many wives and concubines his ofspring took.
Because of the special privileges, his children would have had a good chance of survival,
but an average individual has only ~20 descendants, for that time period. Tis number
of 1.5 million males represents 0.23% of the total male population of China, estimated at
660,926,000 males. From a global perspective, 1.5 million males represent 0.046 % of the
worlds male population of 3.25 billion.
Assuming a linear growth, in relation to the male population of the world, for the
descendants of Giocannga, it will require 217 time periods of 500 years to reach 10% of
the worlds population or ~109,000 years (10 : 0.046 x 500 = 108,696 years).
Cohen (2002) in estimating the population growth modeled his estimates on the
compounding interest calculations. With his model, he attempted to take into consideration
natural disasters and the subsequent population bottlenecks. Consequently, when using the
compounding interest calculations, he was concerned that the population growth could
be greatly overstated. Recognizing this and using trial and error method he estimated that
prior to the adoption of the agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, the growth rate had to be
very near zero, perhaps only 0.003% (rate of 0.00003) per year. From then, to the time of
Columbus, he estimated that the rate was also small, at 0.1 % (0.001); higher compounding
rate would result in a historical population greater than it is. He gave an example that at the
0.1 % compounding rate, it would take a group of 500 individuals more than a thousand
years to grow to 1500.
In our calculations, to estimate how long it would be necessary to reach 10 % of the global
population, starting from a single individual, we used a somewhat diferent approach, by using
the recorded reproduction statistics of the known historical individuals and going past the
exponential population growth of the past century, when during this time period of 1965-1970,
the growth rate was ~2.1 % (0.021) per year. As a further refnement, the simultaneous global
population growth was also part of the equation used to determine the incremental growth rate
of these historical men against the population as a whole. Since it is this incremental growth
rate that determines the time that it would take to grow from one individual to millions of
human beings representing more than 10% of the worlds population.
From the above real time examples, where all the descendants grew faster than the
global population, it is apparent that growth of the human populations, having specifc
23
human traits, be it a genetic marker or a surname, relative to the rest of the population,
is a long term process. Te process of growth, relative to the rest of the population, has to
be accompanied with special attributes not present in the surrounding population. Tis
reproductive ftness advantage (RFA), can be in the form of fertility or reproductive ftness,
special privileges or resistance to disease which ensures the survival of the progeny and
allows the privileged population to grow faster than the surrounding population. Tis is
analogous to the mechanics of a similar process such as language replacement, which C.
Renfrew named elite dominance (Renfrew 1998: 95,132).
To account for the relatively high frequency of Hg R1a1, there is no reason to believe
that the Slavic populations have an inherently higher reproduction rate than surrounding
populations, due to reproductive ftness. For example, the population of Russia is now
decreasing and will continue to decrease into the foreseeable future, relative to other
countries (Te Economist, June 2007). Tis creates a dilemma. How could the male
population with this genetic marker have grown to more than ~325 million? Obviously,
higher rate of growth, relative to other populations, coupled with a long time period since
coalescence was needed to achieve this. Tese are the only two ways that could have created
the necessary conditions to have one man leave enough descendants to go from ~ 0 % to
10 % of the worlds male population. Factors such as economic, cultural, physical, military
superiority or resistance to disease must have been present to a higher degree to have a
higher population growth rate and thus allowed the males with this R1a1 genetic marker to
grow so dominantly and to preserve this status in relation to the other 152 Y-Chromosome
haplogroups of the worlds male populations, so that now one out of every ten males has
this genetic marker.
It is noteworthy that the majority of the populations on the Indian subcontinent who
speak the I-E languages, which are based on Sanskrit also have a high frequency of the R1a1
genetic marker. Also in Europe, Slavic languages share many linguistic and grammatical
similarities with Sanskrit, particularly Vedic Sanskrit. Tus it is possible to regard R1a1
as an Indo-Aryan and Slavic genetic marker. Wells (2003: 167) calls it Indo-European as
a contrast to Dravidian genetic markers.
Based on these linguistic and genetic similarities, it is not out of order to combine the
Slavic and Indian populations and the relative percentages of Hg R1a1 of 47% and 30%,
respectively, as reported by Kivisild et al. (2002). Tis means that the coalescence of the
common ancestor of Hg R1a1 would have taken place considerably earlier than the Ice Age.
Only the early coalescence can account for the high frequency and wide distribution of Hg
R1a1 prior to modern day population migrations. Tis reproduction rate is in line with
that of the historical personage, Giocangga, whose descendents would require ~109,000
years, to reach 10 % of the worlds male population, based on their past reproduction
rates. Taking into consideration the reproduction rates of historical individuals, it can
be concluded that the time since coalescence of Hg R1a1 must be at least 100,000 years,
but very likely much more, since this calculations is based on reproduction rate of an
individual not afected by the population bottlenecks created by such events as the Toba
Volcano explosion and the Last Ice Age.
24
Tis age estimate of ~100,000 years since coalescence of Hg R1a1, should not be
discounted as unrealistic, since that area of the world has supported human life for more
than 1 million years (Kremer 1993, Zerjal et al. 2002) and humans have been speaking for
at least 150,000 years (Te Economist, September 2007 p. 57). New discovery of a human
lower jawbone, dated to be 1.3 million years old, in a limestone cave in northern Spain (Hurst
2008), will undoubtedly lead to reappraisal of human existence in and outside Africa.
Direction of gene fow
Some would argue that genetic and linguistic afnity between Slavs and Indo-Aryans
is due to the recent arrivals from the east. However, a recent migration from the east
would have also brought Hg N3 to the Balkans, since it is widely distributed in Russia
and Ukraine - between Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, but this genetic marker has not
been found in the Balkans. Tis indicates that R1a1 migration to the Balkans took place
before Hg N3 arrived in European Russia and Ukraine. Hg N3 has the highest frequency
amongst the Finns at 61% and has been considered a Finno-Ugric marker. Laitinen et al.
(2002) estimate that Finno-Ugric tribes arrived in the Baltic region 5,000-6,000 years ago.
Terefore, the Hg R1a1 migration from the east to the Balkans must have occurred prior
to the Hg N3 expansion and thus avoided the contact with the populations when Hg N3
was already present (Skulj et al. 2006).
Signifcantly, Hg I-M170 (Figure 2), which is posited to be older than Hg R1a1-
M17 and is believed to have expanded from a refuge in the northern Balkans afer
LGM (Semino et al. 2000), has not been detected in India (Sengupta et al. 2006). Hg I is
widespread throughout Europe; from British Isles to Russia and from Baltic Sea to the
Balkan peninsula. Te frequency is particularly high in the Balkans, as high as ~71% in
the Croats of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is frequent in Russia and Ukraine at ~20%, and also
the rest of Europe, particularly in Scandinavia. In England the frequency is 18%, Germany
20%, Denmark 39%, Norway 40%, south Sweden 40% and Estonia 19%. Te estimated
age of Hg I is 22, 000 years, which would give it an abundance of time for expansion, and
it is also considerably more widely spread in Europe than Hg R1a1. It should be stressed
that, despite the theories of Aryan home in Germany or Germanic lands (Ghosh 1951:
213-214), Hg I has not been detected in India. Tis would rule out Europe as the home
of the Aryans afer the last Ice Age. Hg I-M170 has been detected in Pakistan at 0.57 %
(Sengupta et al. 2006) and at 0.3 % (Firasat et al. 2007), where it could have been brought
by the army of the Alexander the Great (Qamar et al. 2002, Firasat et al. 2007). At lower
frequencies, Hg I is found in the Near East, Caucasus and Central Asia but not in Iran. In
the populations of Central Asia, the frequency is only 1.5% (Marjanovic et al. 2005, Qamar
et al. 2002, Rootsi et al. 2004).
Furthermore, another haplogroup can provide some insights into the origins of the
Indo-Aryans. It is Hg K*-M9, which is widespread in Asia and appears at high frequencies
in Koreans at 69 %, Mongolians at 25 %, Uzbeks at 15 %, Kazakhs at 11 %, Tatars at 9 %,
Russians/Tashkent at 6 % (Nasidze et al. 2005), Russians/Yaroslavl at 14 % (Malyarchuk et
25
al. 2004). In India it was not detected in a sample of 728 males, but in Pakistan there was
one individual in a sample size of 176 or 0.57 % (Sengupta et al. 2006). While Kivisild et
al. (2002) has found that Hg K* (HG26-M9) is absent in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Sri
Lanka, but is present at 0.8 % in India as a whole, but at 3.2 % in Western Bengal and 3.4 %
in Gujarat and also in Iran at 3.6 %. From Chatterji (1988) we learn that there is a Mongoloid
stratum in the Himalayas and in the tracts immediately to the south, in Assam, in North
and East Bengal and that he observed Sino-Tibetan infuence is still present there.
It is signifcant, that Hg N3 and also Hg I did not reach Iran and India. Tis can be
taken as another indication that the migration(s) carrying Hg R1a1 did not originate in
Europe. A northern, central or east European origin of Hg R1a1, and the subsequent
expansions and migrations would have picked up both Hg I and Hg N3 chromosomes and
the linguistic afnities with Sanskrit and taken them eastward in the direction of India.
However, high frequency of Hg R1a1 chromosomes, and the high linguistic afnities with
Sanskrit are primarily common only to Slavic and Indo-Aryan populations. Tis is not the
case for other European or eastern European genetic markers such as Hg I and Hg N3,
since Hg I and Hg N3 are absent from India. Also the virtual absence of Hg K* also rules
out central Asia or Siberia as the homeland of the Indo-Aryans.
As mentioned before, Hg N3, which is widely distributed among Finno-Ugric populations
where the high frequencies occur, is also frequent in the Slavic populations surrounding
the Baltic and Black Sea, where the largest absolute numbers occur. Tis marker, which is
considered to be as old as R1a1, has not reached the Balkans, nor has it migrated to India
(Skulj 2007) (Figure 3).
Based on the above mentioned genetic markers, one has to conclude that Hg R1a1
chromosomes came from India and reached the Balkans, before Hg N3 expanded between
the Baltic and the Black Seas. Also the expansion of Hg I from the Balkans was impeded
and did not reach India. All of this is in agreement and supports Out of India Teory
(OIT) of the satem branch of the Indo-European language family. Furthermore, the
domestication of cattle in the Indus valley and no indication of domestication of European
aurochs (Edwards et al. 2007) further support the OIT.
Tat is why it is very difcult to accept the relative young age of R1a1, which Karafet
et al. (1999), Kayser et al. (2000), Kharkov et al. (2004), Zerjal et al. (1999) propose to have
coalesced in a common ancestor less than 10,000 years ago. If this R1a1 genetic marker is
one of the youngest, why is it, in this Darwinian world, one of the most prolifc and prior to
the discovery of the Americas was also one of the most widely distributed haplogroups? At
high frequencies, it stretches like an arc north of the Black and Caspian Seas from southern
Adriatic in Europe to the Bay of Bengal and Sri Lanka on the Indian sub-continent.
However, the numerical success of the R1a1 in India and in Europe raises some
obvious questions:
1) In the populations north of Black Sea and Caspian Sea where Hg I and Hg N3 are at
high frequencies:
What has prevented the carriers of ostensibly much older genetic markers from
26
blossoming and taking over the planet and leaving R1a1 chromosome in a minor
role?
What prevented N3 from supplanting R1a1?
What prevented Hg I from doing the same, or Hg P which is considered to be even
older than Hg I?
2) In the populations south of Black and Caspian Seas:
Why have the Anatolian and Middle East agriculturists, with older haplogroups such
as Hg J and Hg E, lagged behind R1a1 populations in numbers, since they would
have had a head-start in time, agricultural food production and technology?
3) Was the agro-pastoral way of life the sole means to provide this advantage, or was
it a combination of some other form of the elite dominance in culture, warfare,
technology or resistance to particular diseases that enabled the populations with the
high frequency of R1a1 chromosome to surpass in frequency all others in Eurasia?
How can the high frequency of ~10 % of Hg R1a1 in the worlds male population be
accounted for, when the expected percentage is less than 1 %, since the lineage is just one
out of 153 and at the same time considered to be one of the youngest. S. Wells (2003 p.
84) has attempted to explain why certain genetic lineages are more numerous than others.
He ofers a rather simplistic explanation, based on intelligence and the ruthlessness of the
founder and his progeny. Te progenitor was more intelligent than other members of his
clan. He was also a better hunter, since he had better knowledge of the animal behavior
and devised better tools to hunt them. He became their leader; members of his clan ate
well, prospered and he was able to father many children. Ten his children, when grown,
killed or chased away other males of the clan. Tus the lineage had a head-start and was
able to prosper. Tere are probably also other reasons.
Tere is anecdotal evidence that people of East Indian descent in Canada have a much
higher incidence of cardio-vascular diseases than other nationalities. Tese diseases afect
primarily individuals past their best reproductive years (Ogilvie 2008). Terefore, in light
of the high population numbers with the R1a1 genetic marker, it would be reasonable to
expect that people with this genetic marker may have had better resistance to other forms
of disease, during their reproductive years. Such an advantage could have provided them
with better survival rates with respect to other 152 lineages.
Also part of the answer will probably be found to be in the evidence that the age of
Hg R1a1 is considerably older than the estimates of Kharkov et al (2004) of 2,500-3800
years. Passarino et al (2001) presented two diferent dates for the age of R1a1 M17 lineage,
namely, 7,654 years and 13,031 years. However, they do mention that when an attempt was
made to estimate the age of mutations M173 and M17, the values obtained were compatible
with a Palaeolithic origin.
We estimate that mutation is in all probability much older; we estimate the age at more
than 100,000 years based on compounding calculations and the results agree with the
straight line estimates (Skulj 2007). In addition to the antiquity of this genetic marker, the
carriers of R1a1 must also have had a tremendous Darwinian advantages mentioned above,
27
to surpass the other Y-chromosome genetic competitors in their reproductive ftness.
Furthermore, their data shows that the highest frequency of what could be the oldest
c-haplotype, namely c-Ht 17 of the M17 lineage, occurs in India, where it was observed
in 10.5% of the males or ~57.5 million men. In Eastern Europe, it occurs at 9.5% or in
~12 million males, in the Balkans at 3.8%, in Western Europe at 0.3% and Middle East
at 2.5%. Another haplotype, c-Ht 19 has been found almost exclusively in the Balkans,
Eastern Europe and India. Here again India represents 8%, Eastern Europe 4%, Balkans
0.5% and Western Europe 0.2% of the male population with this haplotype. Te percentages
and absolute numbers suggest the direction of the gene fow. Tese statistics are also an
indication that the gene fow appears to be from India to Europe.
Using Alineis lexical self-dating, there is evidence that a common agro-pastoral origin
of Sanskrit gopati, gospati and Slavic gospod, gospodin meaning lord/master/gentleman
occurred more than 8,000 years ago (Skulj et al. 2006). Terefore, the people who invented
this terminology must have had their origin prior to that period of human history when
the domesticated cattle were already part of the wealth of certain individuals.
Tere is a common belief, primarily based on the linguistic similarities between the
Indo-Aryans and the Europeans, that their original common home was Europe (Anur
2006). However, as discussed earlier, despite the linguistic and genetic similarity between
Indo-Aryans and Slavs, there is evidence to the contrary. Te domestication of cattle and
sheep on the Indian sub-continent, the absence of Hg I and Hg N3 in India and their high
frequencies in Europe are indicators that the gene fow was not from Europe to India, but
from India to Europe in the distant past - pre 10,000 years ago, along with the precursor
of the satem Indo-European languages.
Conclusions
In many instances, the Slovenian language appears to be gramatically closer to
Sanskrit than other Slavic languages and even Indic languages such as Hindi, Bengali and
Gujarati.
Genetic and linguistic afnities between the Indo-Aryan and Slavic speaking populations
indicate that a large percentage of their ancestors had a common sojourn during the pre-
pastoral and also during the pastoral age.
Linguistic evidence suggests that the separation of the Indo-Aryans and the ancestors of
present day Slavs occurred prior to the innovation of the cereal farming in agriculture.
Hg R1a1-M17 lineage appears to have come to Europe, via the ancestors of the present
day Slavs, from the Indian sub-continent, before the spread of farming ~9000 years ago.
Genetic evidence does not support a large scale invasion of India from Europe during
the prehistoric times, since no evidence of Hg R1*-M173, Hg I-M170 or of Hg N3-TAT
has been found in India, although these Haplogroups are very frequent in Europe (Rosser
et al. 2000, Sengupta et al. 2006).
Te coalescence of Hg R1a1, the most frequent genetic marker in Indo-Aryan and
Slavic populations, very likely occurred more than 100,000 years ago. Only if the most
28
recent common ancestor of such a large percentage of Indo-Aryans and the Slavs lived
more than 100,000 years ago, could the male population with this genetic marker grow
to such high absolute numbers of 325 million men representing more than ~10 % of the
worlds total male population.
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Povzetek
Jezikovne in genetske sorodnosti med Indoarijci in Slovani
izvirajo iz dobe pred kmetijstvom
Jezikoslovne primerjave indoarijskih jezikov, posebno vedskega sanskrta, s slovanskimi jeziki
kaejo na izredno sorodnost osnovnih besed in tudi tistih, ki so v zvezi z udomaitvijo ivali kot
so ovce in govedo. Podobna sorodnost se vidi tudi v Y-kromosomskih genetskih primerjavah
haploskupine (Hg) R1a1 (ali HG3 po izrazju Rosserjeve), med Indoarijci in Slovani, kjer je ta
genetski marker najbolj pogost. Ta genetska sorodnost kae na skupen izvor velikega odstotka
prebivalstva, ki govori indoarijske in slovanske jezike. Z Alinei-jevo Lexical Self-Dating
metodo, uporabljajo arheoloke, genetske in jezikoslovne dokaze, se da sklepati, da so govorci
teh dveh jezikovnih skupin imeli skupen izvor in so skupno udomaili ovce in govedo pred
priblino 10 tiso leti. Toda predniki Indoarijcev in Slovanov so se razli, e predno so udomaili
itarice in postali poljedelci. Nadalje, velika pogostost in razsenost genetskih markerjev Hg
I in Hg N3 v Evropi in odsotnost teh markerjev v Indiji dokazuje, da ni bilo kaknega vejega
preseljevanja ljudstev, vkljuno prednikov Slovanov, iz Evrope v Indijo v zadnjih 8 tiso letih,
eprav je prilo v Indijo v tem asu veliko vojakih vpadov.
Nastanek Hg R1a1 ali M-17 mutacije v predniku velikega tevila Slovanov in Indoarijcev,
upotevajo arheoloke, jezikovne, genetske dokaze in rast prebivalstva, se da postaviti v lovsko-
nabiralno dobo. Skupni stiki prednikov teh ljudstev so se nadaljevali do udomaitve ovac in
goveda, toda prenehali so pred poljedelstvom. Zato se da sklepati, da se je irjenje prebivalstva s
to mutacijo iz indijskega pol-kontinenta e konalo v dobi panitva. Ta mutacija mora biti stara
najmanj 100 tiso let, sode po veliki razirjenosti, raznolikosti in velikem tevilu potomcev v
primerjavi z zgodovinskimi osebami, za katere se ve za as rojstva in tevilo potomcev. Starost
mutacije ugotovljene na tej podlagi se precej razlikuje od tistih, ki se opirajo na hitrost mutacij
posameznih haplotipov ki sestavljajo haploskupine, e objavljenih v literaturi.
33
APPENDIX
LINGUISTIC COMPARISONS
Transliteration and Pronunciation
Slovenian: Pronunciation: c is pronuciated as TS; as CH; j as Y; as SH; as ZH.
Russian: Transliteration of Cyrillic alphabet follows Slovenian orthography. Apostrophe
at the end of a word marks a palatalized consonant. Te letter <y> represents central [i]
sound, [] in the IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_central_unrounded_vowel).
Sanskrit: Transliteration of Devanagari follows primarily A Sanskrit-English Dictionary
compiled by Sir Monier Monier-Williams and Sanskrit for English Speaking People by
Acharya Ratnakar, where English is used as the base but: is pronounced as CH; as SH
sometimes as S; dot under a letter denotes a cerebral letter.
Hindi: Transliteration follows the Sanskrit.
m. means masculine; f. feminine; n. neuter; f.pl. feminine plural; v. verb
A) ELEMENTAL
Four elements
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
air in motion veter m. veter m. vta vt, vyu f.
fre ogon m. ogenj m. agni, vahni agni
ground, earth zemlja f. prst f., zemlja f., tla f. p ithv f., tala prthv, sthal
water voda f. voda f. uda n. pn
Astronomy and seasons
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
bright (be) svet (brightness) svetiti, svitati se vit (vetate) suspash karn
day den dan m. dina n. din
darkness tma tema f. tama tamas
dawn svetat (to dawn) svit m. vetan ush kl
light, brightness svet, lu (ray) lu f., svit ruc f. rashm (ray)
month mesjac m. mesec m. msa m. or n. mukh
moon mesjac m. mesec m. ms m. msa
night no no f., tema f. ni f., tam f. tam
sky nebo n. nebo n. nabha nabha
spring vesna vesna vasanta vasnt
sun solnce n. sonce n., solnce n. surya surya
winter, cold zima f. zima f. hima t kl
34
Weather and geography
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
cloud oblako n. megla f, oblak m. megha megh
dew, moisture rosa f. rosa f. rasa rasa
dryness su sua f. ushik f. skhapan
heat (to) topit topiti tap (tapati) tapn
heat teplo(ta) n. toplota f. tpa tpa
lake ozero jezero, jezer sara n. sarovar
mountain gora f. gora f. giri m. giri
open space lug (meadow) loka (meadow) loka argah
rain (to) (idjot) dod padati pat (ptayati) varsha padan
river reka drava (name of river) dravant dariya
sprinkle (to) pryskat priti p ish (parshate) chhirikan
vapour dym m. dim m. dhma vshp
warm teplo topel m. topla f. tapta tapt
wet, moist vlaga f. voden voda, rdra gla
Primary actions
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
ask (to), beg prosit praati, prositi prach (p ihati) puchhn
abide(to) live, exist byt, byvat' bivati, biti bh (bhavati) hon
bake (to) pe pei pa (payate) pakn
be (imperative) bud bodi < biti bodhi <bh ho
being, existence bytije bitje n. bhti f. hast
come forth (to) prijti priti pre (praiti) gen
copulate, have sex jebat (vulgar) jebati (vulgar) yabh (yabhati) sambhog
karn
copulation jeblja(vulgar) jebanje(vulgar) yabhana n. maithun
delight (to)
gladden
byt prijatnym prijati pr (priyate) priya hon
desire (to) long for ljubit ljubiti lubh (lubhati) lobh hon
devour(to)
consume
poyrat basati se, reti bhas (babhasati) harapan
die (to) umirat mreti m i (mriyate),
(marati)
maran
drink (to) pit piti p (pyate), p
(pibati)
pn
drink (causing to) pojit pojiti v., pojenje n. pyana n. pln
dry (to) suit suiti ush (ushyati) skhan
eat (to) jest, pojedat jesti, jedati ad (atsyati, dayati) khan
excrete (to) srat (vulgar) srati s i (sryate) utsarjit karn
fall (to) padat padati pad (padyate) patan hon
fear, be afraid bojatsja f. bati se (bojim se) bh (bhayate) bhaya hon
35
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
fearful, timid bojazlivji bojazen, bojazljiv bhijasna bhru
free (to set), release reit reiti r (reshyati) chhodan
give (to) dat dati, dajati d (dadti, dti), dy
(dyati)
den
go (to) idti iti i (eti) jn
kill, hurt (to) kolot (kill
animals)
klati krath, klath
(klathati)
mrn
know (to) znat, vedat znati, vedeti j (jnti), vid
(vetti)
jnn
knowledge znanije znanje n., veda f. jna, veda gyn
lead away (to) otvest odvesti udvah (udvahati) le jn
live (to) it iveti jv (jvati) jn
murder (to) morit (archaic) moriti m i (mryati) mrn
nibble (to), gnaw kusat (bite) (po)kuati kush (kushati) kutarn
open mouth (to) zevat (yawn) zijati, zehati (yawn) jeh (jehate) jbha:n
pleased, fond of rad (a) rad, rada adj. rata adj. rat
pleasure, delight radost f. radost f. rati f. rati f.
remove (to),
separate
ubrat odvzeti, odvezati udvas (udvasayati) vichchhin
hon
setting free otvjaz (yvanije) odveza f. udvsa m.
report (to) obvinit (accuse) ovaditi vid (vidati) vedan karn
revolve (to), turn vertet vrteti v it (vartate) vartan karn
run (to), hasten beat drveti dru (dravati) druti karn
scream (to) kriat rjuti, kriati ru (rauti) ron
see (to) videt opaziti,paziti pa (payati) dekan
sit upon (to) sidet sedeti sad (sadati, sdati) baithn
shine (to), glitter bljestet blesteti, bleati bhl (bhlati) bhs hon
sleep (to) spat spati svap (svapiti) son
speak (to) govorit govoriti, praviti bru (bravti) praka karn
stand (to) stojat stati sth (tish hati) sthan lena
stand frm (to) stojat trvjordo stalen (biti) sthal (sthalati)
state, condition sostojanije stanje n. sthna n.
stop at a place (to) vstat vasovati vas (vasati) vasn
swim (to) plavat plavati plu (plavate) tairn
thirsty (to be) adat ejati jeh (jehati) pys hon
understand (to) uvidet (to see) uvideti vid (vedati), ave
(avaiti)
janan
violate (to), rob grabit ropati rup (rupyati) lup
(lumpati)
chhnan
wake (to) budit buditi budh (budhyate) jgn
waken (to) probudit prebuditi prabudh
(prabodhayati)
jagn
ward of (to), hide vorovat varovati, varati v i (varati) varan karn
yell (to) kriat kriati kru (kroati) chnkhan
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Life and life sustaining substances
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
alive ivoj, -a, -o (m., f., n.) iv, -a, -o (m., f., n.) jva m., n. jiv f. jiv m.
animal ivotnoje n. ival f. jv m. jv m.
cover, membrane koa (skin) koa f.(skin, hide) koa m. kosha
dwelling ves (little village) vas f.(village) vasa m. vs
food pia f., jeda f. ive m., jed f., pia f. jvatu (m., n.), adana,
pitu m.
jivan
honey mjod med m. madhu n. madhu
home dom dom dam, dama dhm
living being ivyje ivina (f.pl.) (cattle) jvin jv
meat mjaso n. meso n. ms n. = ms mns
raf plot splav m. plava lattha
seat sidenje sede m. sadas n. san
skin, hide sdirat (to skin, to
fay)
dreti (to skin, to fay) d iti m., kritti f.
tree derevo n. drevo n. dru, taru m. taru
wood drova n.pl. drva f.pl. dru driksh
Wild Animals and Prey
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
bear medved medved m. madhvad (honey
eater)
bhl
bird ptica, ptaha pti m. ptica f. patat m. pakshi
deer, wild beast zver m. mrha?, mrha (bear) m iga mrig
fock staja (of birds) jata ytha yth
hunter ohotnik ujeda (bird of prey) vydha vydh
louse vo u f. yk yk
mouse my mi, mika f. msh m. f., mshika mshak
otter vydra f. vidra f. udra jalamarjara
wolf volk m. volk m. v ika bhe i
B) PASTORAL
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
beef govjadina f. goveje meso gomnsa n. gomns
cattle skot m. govo, govedo n. gva gyen
cow korova f. krava f. go, gaus, gava gu, gya.
grass trava f. trava f. tri a n. tri
herd stado n. paa f. pava n. pashu
herdsman pastuh pastir, panikar m. gopa, paupla pashuplak
lamb jagnjonok m. bac m., jagnje n. vatsa bachcha a
master, owner gospodin, gospod, gospodar pati, gopati pati, gopati
37
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
milk (thickened) syr (cheese) sir m. (cheese) kshra n. kshir
mutton baranina f. ovje meso n. avimnsa n. gota
pasture pastbie n. panik m. paavya n. pashuchar
ram baran m. oven m. avi mesh
sheep ovca f. ovca f. avik bhe
shepherd ovar m. ovnar, ovar m. avipla charavh
wool erst f. / runo n. volna f., runo n. ur n
yoke jarmo n. / igo n. igo n., jug m., jarem m. yuga yoktra
C) FARMING
Farmer
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
farmer krestjanin m. kmet m. krishaka, kshetr
m.
krishaka
plough man pakharm. ora, oratar, oravec krishaka, sairika halvh
reaper njec m. anjec m, anjica f. lavaka, hedaka lavan
sower sejatel m. seja, sejavec m. vapt m., vijavapt
m.
bj bonevl
winnower vejatel m. veja, vejavec m. pvaka pvak m.
thresher molotilik m. mlati m. mardana m. mardan m.
Field
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
feld pole n. niva f. polje n., njiva f. kshetra n., bhmi f. khad
feld (ploughed) panja f. zorana zemlja f. styakshetra n.
furrow borozda, panja f. brazda f. st f. har
garden sad m. vrt m. udyana, upavana n. udyn
manure, dung navoz m. gnoj m., sranje n. gomaya, sra gobar
Instruments
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
plough(wooden) soha f. drevo n. hala n., sra, gokla hal
plough (metal) plug m. plug m, oralo n. lgala n. lngala
fail cep m. cep/cepec m. ka an f., musala msal
harrow borona f. brana f. ko ia heng m.
hoe motyga f. motika f. khanitra, khtra n. khanitra
mill melnica f. mlin m. pesha a, atra n. chak-ki
scythe kosa f. kosa f. khagka, lavitra n. hansiy
sickle serp m. srp m. lavitra n. dtra n. dtr
threshing-foor gumno n. gumno n. khala m. khaliyn m.
38
Products for humans
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
bread hleb m. kruh m.(hleb-loaf) ppa, abhyusha rot
four brano n. muka f. moka f. (brano-
food)
aktu, godhmacrna tt
sheaf snop m. snop m. stamba m. gattha pulind
Food for animals
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
forage korm m. krma f. gavdana n. chr
grass trava f. trava f. trina n. ghs
hay seno n. seno n. ushkatri a n. chr
Agricultural activity verbs and gerunds
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
furrow (to) borozdit, pahat brazditi stam kri, hal (halati) hal chaln
harrow (to) boronit branati ko ikshetrena bhmim kri chaln
harrowing - branitva, branitev
f.
krash anam heng chalan
hoe (to) motyit, ryhlit okopati, rahljati khanitre a khan
(khanati)
khodan
mill (to) molot mleti cr (cr ayati) psn
milling pomol m. mletva, mletev f. cr atva n. psn
plough (to) pahat orati halena krish (karshati) hal chaln
ploughing panja f. oratva, oratev f. halanam hal chaln
reap (to) at eti l (lunti) ktn
reaping, harvest atva etva, etev f. lavanam lavan
seed (to) seyat dati seme, posejati vjam d bjan
sow (to) seyat, zasevat sejati vap (vapati), vapanam
kri
bon
sowing posev m., sejanje
n.
setev f., sejanje n. vapanam bon
thresh (to) molotit mlatiti dhnydi mrid p n
threshing molotba f. mlatitva, mlatitev
f.
mardanam p n
winnow (to) vejat vejati udh (odhayati) osv
winnowing vejanie n. vejanje n. vejatev f. praspho anam osn
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Cultivated plants
English Russian Slovenian Sanskrit Hindi
cereals, grain ito n. ito n. dhnya n., stya n. dhnyu
barley jamen m. jemen m. yava, yavaka jav f.
beet svjokla f. pesa planga hukandar
cabbage kapusta f. zelje n., kapus m. kaprabheda, ka bandgobh
carrot morkov f. koren m. garjara gjar
cucumber ogurec m. kumara f. karka khr
fax ljon m. lan m. atas, um, mlik san
hemp konoplja f. konoplja f. a a n., bhag pa u
millet proso n. proso n. a u, priyagu bjr, jur f.
nut oreh m. oreh m. drihaphalam dhibr
oats ovjos m. oves m. o sangnaka ja f.
onion luk m. luk m., ebula f. pal u, nabhojya pyj
pea goroh m. grah m. kalya, hare u ma ar
rowen otava f. otava f. x
rye ro' f., ito n. r f. x
spelt polba f. pira f. x
swede brjukva f. repa f. x
turnip repa f. repa f. griana shalgam
wheat penica f. penica f. godhma gehn