Decipherment

Day 26: Proto-Indo-European, the Vinča Script, and Working on Video Games

Dr. Andrew M. Byrd

Reminder

Next week: original decipherment week! Attendance required.

Today

Far Cry Primal (2016)
PIE time
The Vinča script

Far Cry Primal

What is Far Cry Primal (2016)?

The Three Tribes

Wenja

The Three Tribes

Udam

The Three Tribes

Izila

Wenja & Udam speak Winja

Izila speak His-hilax

ConLangs

Both Wenja & Izila are conlangs

Conlang = “constructed language” vs. “natural language”

ConLangs: Artistic Languages

One ring to…

ConLangs: Artistic Languages

Na’vi

What Are Wenja & Izila?

Artistic conlangs based in reality — both based on Proto-Indo-European, source of:

English
Spanish
Russian
Farsi
Greek
Hindi, etc.

Who Were the Proto-Indo-Europeans?

Indo-European Migrations

PIE migrations

The Indo-European Languages

IE Languages

How Do We Even Know What PIE Looked Like?

We compare segments across languages and set up correspondence sets:

Greek	Latin	Sanskrit	English	Old Irish	Definition
pʰrāter	frāter	bʰrātar	brother	bráthair	‘brother’
pʰer-	fer-	bʰar-	bear	-ber	‘carry’

How Do We Even Know What PIE Looked Like?

Reconstructed forms:

PIE: *bʰraχter
PIE: *bʰer-

Greek	Latin	Sanskrit	English	Old Irish	Definition
pʰrāter	frāter	bʰrātar	brother	bráthair	‘brother’
pʰer-	fer-	bʰar-	bear	-ber	‘carry’

Why PIE for Primal (and Not Caveman English)?

Geico Caveman

Why Me?

Archaeology Magazine, 2013

Reconstructing PIE culture

> Proto-words give us a look at what those speakers had access to in their environment

Reconstructing Proto-Languages

Language	Word
English	water
Sanskrit	udan-
Slavic	voda
Hittite	watar
Greek	hydro-
Italic	utur

< PIE *wodr ‘water’

Further Unsurprising Etyma

Numbers:

*hoínos, *dwṓh, *tréyes, *kʷétwores, *pénkʷe, *séḱs, *séptm̩, *hoḱtoh, *néwn̩, *déḱm̩, *ḱm

Further Unsurprising Etyma

Seasons:

*wet- ‘year’, *ǵʰei-, *wésr̩, *sem-

wether/veteran, Himalayas, vernal, summer

Beyond Phonemes

We can discuss anything cultural that is reconstructable:

kinship
class
religion
art
where these people come from (their homeland)

Beyond Phonemes — Problems

Problems in reconstructing culture?

Culture remains the same; cognates are lost
Cognates are retained; culture / original values change

Beyond Phonemes — Problems

Cultures easily mixed
- Germanic, Celtic traditions & religion affected by spread of Roman empire and Christianity
- Hittites by Near Eastern neighbors
- Romans by Greeks
- Indic speakers by original residents of India (Dravidian culture)

Reconstructing PIE Society — Kinship

Reconstructed	Reflexes
*pəχtér- ‘father’	Skt. pitar-, Lat. pater-, OIr. athair
*átta ‘daddy’	Hitt. atta, Gk. átta, OCS otice, Alb. at
*mā́ter- ‘mother’	Skt. mātar-, Gk. mēter-, Lat. māter-, OIr. máthair

Reconstructing PIE Society — Kinship

Reconstructed	Reflexes
*bʰráχter- ‘brother’	Skt. bhrātar-, Gk. phrēter-, Lat. frāter, Arm. ełbayr
*swésor- ‘sister’	Skt. svasar-, Gk. eor-, Lat. soror, OIr. siur
*nép(o)t- ‘grandson, nephew’	Skt. napat-, Lat. nepot-, OIr. nïæ, OE neffa

Reconstructing PIE Society — Kinship

PIE society = the Omaha system (patrilineal exogamous society)

patrilineal: descent is reckoned through father’s line
patrilocal: spouses taken from outside the kin group
patriarchal: men hold the power, women excluded from it

Reconstructing PIE Society — Kinship

IE Marriage:

‘to lead a wife’ = ‘marry’; cf. Lat. uxōrem ducere
Indicates leading the wife from her old clan to the new one of her husband’s

Reconstructing PIE Society — Class

*teutáχ ‘people, tribe’ > OIr. tiuth, PGerm. *θiuð- (Germ. Deut-sch), Lat. tōtus ‘all’
*ʁrḗḱs ‘king, head of the *teutáh2’ > Lat. rēx ‘king’, OIr. rí ‘king’, Gaul. rīx, Skt. rāj- ‘king’, Av. bǝrǝzi-rāz- ‘ruling in the heights’
*póts ‘master’ > Gk. des-pot-ēs ‘master of the house (dem)’, Lat. potiri ‘be master, be able’, Skt. pátyati ‘rules’

Reconstructing PIE Society — Class

‘give’ and ‘take’:

*nem- (Gk. németai ‘allots’ vs. Germ. nehmen ‘take’)
*ai- (TochB ai- ‘give’ vs. Gk. aínumai ‘I take’)

Reciprocity extremely important in PIE society — between guest/host, poet/patron, gods/humans

Reconstructing PIE Society — Class

Each party of reciprocal relationship bound by *bʰeidʰ- ‘trust’:

‘trust’ fidēs, Eng. bide ‘stay, remain; trust, rely’
‘treaty’ foedus, Alb. besë ‘truce in a blood feud’

Hospitality: no distinct term for ‘stranger’ and ‘host’ — rather *gʰóstis ‘guest/host’ > Lat. hostis, Eng. guest

Reconstructing PIE Society — Class: Guest-Host Violations

Violations of ‘guest-host’ relationship throughout Indo-European societies:

Old Irish: refusing to give hospitality = crime demanding payment of the offended person’s full honor-price; same penalty as serious injury/murder
Greek: Cyclops in the Odyssey — the greatest offense? Eating his guests!
Greek: Paris vs. Meneleos in the Iliad — the greatest offense? Stealing Helen away

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion

Man (‘human’): *dʰǵʰmon- ‘earthling’

Lat. homō, OIr. duine ‘human’, OE guma, Lith. žmuõ ‘person’

Derivative of *dʰéĝʰōm ‘earth’ > Hitt. tēkan, Gk. kʰtʰōn, Skt. kṣām

*mr̥tó-, *mórto- ‘mortal’ > Lat. mortuus, Arm. mard ‘man’, Gk. mortós, Skt. márta- ‘mortal’

cf. Eng. murder

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion

*deiwos ‘god’, derivative of *dyew- ‘shine’:

OIr. día, Lat. deus, Lith. diẽvas, Hitt. sius, Skt. deva-

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion

Father Sky *dyḗws pəχtḗr > Skt. dyàuṣ pítar-, Gk. Zéus patēr, Lat. Iūppiter, Illyrian Dei-pátrous

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion

Dawn *χáusōs > Ved. Uṣās, Gk. Ēōs, Lat. Aurōra, Lith. Aušrine

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion

Pastoral god *páχusōn ‘pastoral god’ > Gk. Pān, Skt. Pūṣā(n) (epithet: “the goat borne”)

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion: Horse Ritual

Sanskrit aśvamedha: Sacrifice of stallion that excels on the right-hand side of the yoke, ritual copulations with it by the queen, cutting it up and distributing it to participants

Roman October Equus: Sacrifice of right-hand horse of the victorious team in a chariot race to Mars

Irish feis: Copulation of king with a mare, which is then killed, boiled and cut into parts, distributed for eating

Reconstructing PIE Society — Religion: Hittite Laws

From the Hittite Laws:

If a man has sexual relations with a cow, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing; he shall be put to death.

If a man has sexual relations with a sheep, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing; he shall be put to death.

If anyone has sexual relations with a pig or a dog, he shall die.

If a man has sexual relations with either a horse or a mule, it is not an offense.

Reconstructing PIE Society — Horses

Based on these… interesting… facts, what cultural practice would you reconstruct for PIE?

Reconstructing PIE Society — Poetry

Dragon-slaying myth:

Vedic: Indra, head of the Hindu pantheon, slays the serpent Vr̥tra to free the waters trapped in his mountain lair
Germanic: dragons are ‘hoarders of treasures’
Greek: Perseus slays the Gorgon Medusa, who has snakes for hair and turns people to stone

Reconstructing PIE Society — Poetry

Formula: *hégʷʰent hógʷʰim ‘(he) killed the serpent’

Language	Form	Gloss
Vedic	áhann áhim	‘he (Indra) slew the serpent’
Greek	épephnen te Gorgóna	‘he slew the Gorgon’

Reconstructing PIE Society — Poetry

Formula: *hégʷʰent hógʷʰim ’(he) killed the serpen

Language	Form	Gloss
Avestan	yō janaṯ ažīm dahākǝm	‘who slew Aži Dahāka’
Hittite	nu=kan MUŠilluyankan kuenta	‘and he slew Illuyanka (the serpent)’

What did PIE sound like?

Espoo, Finland: Clues to Our Roots exhibition

What did PIE sound like?

A son was born from Father Sky and the Broad Earth.
Thunderer, by name.
He drinks mead with the immortal gods.
He has protected men and livestock, the two-footed and the four-footed,
He killed the Serpent!

I remember him,
The undefeated Thunderer,
He who defeats enemies,
He whom the Broad Earth bore,
He killed the Serpent!

A serpent was born in the water, in the depths, in the darkness.
At first, the Serpent overcame the Thunderer and the Immortal gods.
He killed men and livestock, the two-footed and the four-footed.
The Thunderer escaped and received the hammer from the Fashioner.
He killed the Serpent!

Performers

What did PIE sound like?

Memónh₂a tóm,
N̥tr̥h₂tóm Tn̥h₂ántm̥,
H₁i̯ós ḱétrums tr̥h₂uti,
H₁i̯óm Pl̥th₂ús Dʰéǵʰōm bʰeret,
H₁é gʷʰent h₁ógʷʰim!

Suh₂nús Pəh₂trés Diu̯és Pl̥th₂áu̯s-kʷe Dʰəǵʰmés ǵn̥h₁to.
Tn̥h₂ánts h₁nómn̥.
Médhu n̥mr̥tṓi̯s déi̯u̯ōi̯s pibh₃oti.
U̯íh₁roms péḱuh₂-kʷe pēh₂st, du̯ipédm̥s kʷétu̯rpedm̥s-kʷe pēh₂st.
H₁é gʷʰent h₁ógʷʰim!

Ǵn̥h₁tó h₁ógʷʰis udéni, bʰudʰnói, h₁régʷesu.
H₁ógʷʰis próteros Tn̥h₂ántm̥ N̥mr̥tóms déi̯u̯oms-kʷe tr̥h₂ut.
H₁é gʷʰent u̯íh₁roms péḱuh₂-kʷe, du̯ipédm̥s kʷétu̯r̥pedm̥s-kʷe.
Tn̥h₂ánts bʰunékt u̯áǵrom-kʷe Tu̯r̥ḱtrés dēḱt.
H₁é gʷʰent h₁ógʷʰim!

Do you recognize any words?

English

A son was born from Father Sky and the Broad Earth
Thunderer, by name
He drinks mead with the immortal gods
He protects men and livestock

PIE

Suh₂nús Pəh₂trés Diu̯és Pl̥th₂áu̯s-kʷe Dhəǵhmés ǵn̥h₁to
Tn̥h₂ánts h₁nómn̥
Médhu n̥mr̥tṓi̯s déi̯u̯ōi̯s pibh₃oti
U̯íh₁roms péḱuh₂-kʷe pēh₂st

Do you recognize any words?

English

I remember him
The undefeated Thunderer
He who defeats enemies
He whom the Broad Earth bore
He killed the Serpent!

PIE

Memónh₂a tóm
N̥tr̥h₂tóm Tn̥h₂ántm̥
H₁i̯ós ḱétrums tr̥h₂uti
H₁i̯óm Pl̥th₂ús Dhéǵhōm bheret
H₁é gʷhent h₁ógʷhim

Do you recognize any words?

English

A serpent was born in the water, in the depths, in the darkness.
At first, the Serpent overcame the Thunderer and the Immortal gods.

PIE

Ǵn̥h₁tó h₁ógʷʰis udéni, bʰudʰnói, h₁régʷesu.
H₁ógʷʰis próteros Tn̥h₂ántm̥ N̥mr̥tóms déi̯u̯oms-kʷe tr̥h₂ut.

Do you recognize any words?

English

He killed men and livestock, the two-footed and the four-footed.
The Thunderer escaped and received the hammer from the Fashioner.

PIE

H₁é gʷʰent u̯íh₁roms péḱuh₂-kʷe, du̯ipédm̥s kʷétu̯r̥pedm̥s-kʷe.

Tn̥h₂ánts bʰunékt u̯áǵrom-kʷe Tu̯r̥ḱtrés dēḱt.

H₁é gʷʰent h₁ógʷʰim!

How do you connect words together?

By identifying regular patterns.

Identifying Phonological Changes

PIE

tó-
tn̥h₂ánt-
tr̥h₂u-
-t

English

the / this / that
thunder
through
-th (giveth)

PIE → Latin comparison

PIE

tó-
tn̥h₂ánt-
tr̥h₂u-
-t

Latin

is-te
tonare
trans
est

PIE *d → English

PIE

Diu̯-
du̯i-
deḱ-
u̯ed-

English

Tuesday
twice / twin
take
water

PIE *d → Latin

PIE

Diu̯-
du̯i-
deḱ-
u̯ed-

Latin

deus
bi-
dexter / doceo
unda

PIE *dʰ → English

PIE

bʰudʰnó-
dʰeh₁-
dʰu̯or-
dʰeiǵʰ-

English

bottom
do
door
dough

PIE *dʰ → Latin

PIE

bʰudʰnó-
dʰeh₁-
dʰu̯or-
dʰeiǵʰ-

Latin

fundus
facio
for-
fict-

Evolution of PIE Stops

t → th (θ)
d → t
dʰ → d

What types of sounds are t, d and th (θ)?

Evolution of PIE Stops

Voiceless stop t → Voiceless fricative th (θ)
Voiced stop d → Voiceless stop t
Voiced aspirated stop dʰ → Voiced stop d

Voiceless Stop > Voiceless Fricative

PIE pod- > Eng. foot
PIE ḱm̥tóm > Eng. hundred
PIE kan- > Eng. hen
PIE (s)kʷalo- > Eng. whale

Voiced Stop > Voiceless Stop

PIE dʰub- > Eng. deep
PIE ǵombʰo- > Eng. comb
PIE gel- > Eng. cool, cold, chill
PIE gʷen- > Eng. queen

Voiced Aspirated Stop > Voiced Stop

PIE ǵombʰo- > Eng. comb
PIE ǵʰans- > Eng. goose
PIE gʰabʰ- > Eng. give
PIE gʷʰen- > Eng. bane

Grimm’s Law (full picture)

Voiceless → Fricative

PIE	Eng
p	f
t	th
k	h
kʷ	wh

Voiced → Voiceless

PIE	Eng
b	p
d	t
g	k
gʷ	kʷ

Voiced Aspirate → Voiced

PIE	Eng
bʰ	b
dʰ	d
gʰ	g
gʷʰ	b

Together: what do these words become?

gʰostis → PGmc → English ______
kǝptos → PGmc → English ______

With your neighbor: how do the consonants change?

Fill in the Proto-Germanic forms:

PIE porḱos ‘pig’ → PGmc. ___ ar ___ az
PIE ḱǝptos ‘grabbed’ → PGmc. ___ a ___ taz
PIE kʷī- ‘to rest’ → PGmc. ___ ī-(laz)
PIE samǝdʰos → PGmc. sam ___ az
PIE bʰéreti ‘carries’ → PGmc. *___ ere ___*

Reconstructing the PIE Homeland

Reconstructing PIE Society — The Homeland

Where and when did the PIE people live?

Reconstructing PIE Society — The Homeland

To find out where the Indo-Europeans came from, you need to:

Know what technologies / culture / environmental awareness they possessed
Know when they came from
Line the two up to see what’s most likely
Double check with the archaeological record

Reconstructing PIE Society — The Homeland: Fauna

Did they domesticate animals?

Reconstructed	Reflexes
*gʷṓws ‘cow’	Eng. cow, Lat. bovine
*χówis ‘sheep’	Eng. ewe, Lat. ovine
*ḱwón/ḱun- ‘dog’	Eng. hound, Lat. canine
*pórḱo- ‘pig’	Eng. farrow ‘litter of pigs’, Lat. pork

Other reconstructable fauna: bear, fox, wolf, beaver (*bʰébʰro-), otter, hedgehog, elk, eagle, vulture, pheasant, stork, owl, turtle, frog, salmon, trout, bees, louse, mouse…

Reconstructing PIE Society — The Homeland: Technology

Reconstructed	Reflexes
*náχu- ‘boat’	Lat. navis, Gk. naus
*χr̩ǵento- ‘silver’	Lat. argentum, Gaul. arganto-
*heḱwos ‘horse’	Lat. equus, Gk. hippos, Skt. aśvas
*kʷekʷlos ‘wheel’	Skt. cakrám, Gk. kúklos, Eng. wheel
*aḱs- ‘axle’	Eng. axle, Gk. axon, Skt. aksas
*yugóm ‘yoke’	Eng. yoke, Lat. iugum, Gk. zugon
*rotχo- ‘chariot’	Skt. ratha-; cf. Lat. rota ‘wheel’

Reconstructing PIE Culture — The Homeland: Environment

Climate: temperate (*sneigʷʰ- ‘snow’ > Eng. snow, Germ. Schnee, Sp. nieve)

Reconstructable flora:

Tree *d(o)ru
Birch *bʰerHǵ-
Beech *bʰāgo-
Mistletoe *mizd-
Elder, Oak, Hazel, Cherry, etc.

So…What Does This Tell Us About the Homeland?

What part of the world would YOU reconstruct the PIE people as living in?

Trees? Dogs? Beavers? Snow?

The Usual Story

Earliest Date: 3500–3400 BCE
Khvalynsk: Evidence of Horse Sacrifice, 4500 BCE
Horse-Head Maces: 4200 BCE
Evidence of Riding: 3600–3000 BCE

How Can We Prove Horseback Riding?

What is needed to ride horses?

How Can We Prove Horseback Riding?

The Yamnaya

Yamnaya & DNA Evidence

NYT: DNA Deciphers Roots of Modern Europeans

Back to Primal

How did we make Wenja and Izila?

Two languages, but very similar in structure.

Making Izila

Stay as true to PIE as possible
Avoid overlong words
Eliminate grammar that is unnecessary for in-game translation
Make as phonologically distinct from Wenja as possible
Not too hard — actors have to pronounce it!

Making Wenja & Udam

Design to be more archaic: proto-PIE

How? Identify archaic alternations in PIE and assume them to be part of an earlier stage of the language.

kick–kicked, kiss–kissed (regular) vs. sing–sang–sung, ring–rang–rung (alternation)
cf. Lat. tego ‘cover’ ~ toga ‘covering’
Alternation goes back to PIE

Example: kwis ‘who’, kwid ‘what’, etc. = question words → Wenja ku ‘?’

Final Product

Version	Text
English	Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son. He asked his priest: “May a son be born to me!”
PIE	ʁrḗḱs hest; só n̥putlós. ʁrḗḱs súχnum wl̥nhto. tósi̯o ǵʰéutorm̥ prēḱst: “súχnus moi̯ ǵn̥hyetōd!”

Final Product

Version	Text
Izila	hréks hest; só nputlós. hréks súxnum welhet. tósyo blágmenəm préket: “súxnus moy génhetu!”
Wenja	sams fraji. san putila. fraji sushnu walha. si-blajiman pracha: “u sushnu miyi janha!”

Audio Recordings

Working with Actors

Filming the Scenes

And we got to make cool scenes like this one

Was there a writing system?

Yes, but not one that’s canon.

The Primal Script

smarkaka:mw:^MANWENJApaty:hay:nawa: kraybaty:^TRIBEWENJAs#

The Vinča “Script”

Where did I get those symbols?

What Is the Vinča Script?

Also called the Old European Script or Danube Script
Found on pottery, figurines, and artifacts throughout the Central Balkans
Centered around the Vinča culture, southeast of modern Belgrade
Symbols date to 8000–6500 years ago (6000–4500 BCE)
Over 700 distinct signs identified

Where Was It Found?

Spread across a wide area: modern-day Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

Where Was It Found?

Found consistently across sites separated by hundreds of miles
Symbols appear on:
- Pottery and ceramic vessels
- Figurines (especially anthropomorphic ones)
- Spindle whorls and weights
- Fired clay tablets

The Tărtăria Tablets

Discovered in 1961 in Tartaria, Romania
Three small clay tablets with incised symbols

The Tărtăria Tablets

Dated to around 5300 BCE — older than early Sumerian writing
Sparked debate: did writing originate in Europe, not Mesopotamia?
Problem: likely not writing in any meaningful sense

What Do the Symbols Look Like?

Largely geometric: lines, chevrons, spirals, crosses, meanders
Some appear pictographic (resembling plants, animals, humans)
No clear directionality — no consistent left-to-right or top-to-bottom
No obvious syntax — symbols don’t combine in rule-governed ways

Hunting Scene?

Is It Writing?

For something to count as writing, it must:

Represent language — specific words, sounds, or grammar
Be decipherable by someone who knows the language
Show systematic correspondence between symbol and meaning

Vinča symbols meet none of these criteria conclusively

That said, it’s not just random symbols!

Shan Winn: “Internal analysis of the Vinca signs supports the conclusion that the signs are conventionalised and standardised, and that they represent a corpus of signs known and used over a wide area for several centuries.”

Likely isn’t writing — it’s proto-writing: conveys a message, but isn’t language

Slide 65

Shan Winn

“Internal analysis of the Vinca signs supports the conclusion that the signs are conventionalised and standarised, and that they represent a corpus of signs known and used over a wide area for several centuries.”

Likely isn’t writing – it’s proto-writing Conveys a message, but isn’t language

Want to Learn More?

speakingprimal.blogspot.com