Proto
How One Ancient Language Went Global
Format:Hardback
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers
Publishing:24th Apr '25
£22.00
This title is due to be published on 24th April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A New History of Our Ancient Past, From the Author of the International Bestseller Pale Rider
'Lively and fascinating. I loved it' David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in your Ear?
'A truly extraordinary detective story'Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything
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'Lively and fascinating. I loved it' David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in your Ear?
'A truly extraordinary detective story'Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything
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One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story.
Star. Stjarna. Setareh. Thousands of miles apart, humans look up at the night sky and use the same word to describe what they see.
Listen to these English, Icelandic, and Iranian words, and you can hear echoes of one of history's most unlikely, miraculous journeys. For all of these languages – and hundreds more – share a single ancient source.
In a mysterious Big Bang of its own, this proto tongue exploded outwards, forming new worlds as it spread east and west. Today, nearly half of humanity speaks an Indo-European language. How did this happen?
In Proto, acclaimed journalist Laura Spinney sets off to find out. Travelling over the steppe and the silk roads, she follows in the footsteps of nomads and monks, Amazon warriors and lion kings – the ancient peoples who spread their words far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the scientists, archaeologists and linguists racing to reanimate this lost world. What they have learned has vital lessons for our modern age, as people and their languages are on the move again.
Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.
'Thought-provoking … A lively and fascinating account of how these languages split from their root, developed in different ways, mingled with each other, crossed tracks, flourished and died. I loved it!'
David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in your Ear?
'Formidably researched but lightly written, I put down this book with the pleasurable sense that the world around me had become a little stranger and richer.'
Helen Gordon, author of Notes from Deep Time
‘Superb. With style and panache, Laura Spinney tells a truly extraordinary detective story.’
Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything
‘Spinney charts an extraordinary journey through human history with words as a compass. It is a sweeping story beautifully told. Profound and illuminating.’
Moudhy Al-Rashid, author of Between Two Rivers
'This beautifully researched and written book is about far more than language; it is a history of the world in microcosm, drawing together a diversity of subjects from genetics and religion to warfare and boozing. I highly recommend this wholly absorbing book.'
Douglas Preston, author of #1 New York Times bestselling The Lost City of the Monkey God
'Proto is a real detective story told with a compelling combination of academic rigour, human interest, vivid description, and personal biography. A tour de force.'
David Crystal, author of A Date with Language
‘Hooray for a book where the author's curiosity, diligence, and literary craft gets it all down – the language, the archaeology, the DNA – in what will stand as the go-to source for a generation at least.’
John McWhorter, author of New York Times bestselling Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter
‘Laura Spinney’s erudite and highly entertaining text is full of refreshing new insights as she tells the fascinating and romantic story of this dialect that spread across the world.’
Professor Peter Trudgill FBA
ISBN: 9780008626525
Dimensions: 240mm x 159mm x 35mm
Weight: 560g
352 pages