Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global

One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story.

Star. Stjarna. Stare. Thousands of miles apart, people look up at the night sky and use the same word to describe what they see.

Listen to these English, Icelandic and Iranic words and you can hear echoes of one of the most extraordinary journeys in humanity’s past. All three of these languages – and hundreds more – share a single ancient ancestor.

Five millennia ago, in a mysterious Big Bang of its own, this proto tongue exploded, 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. With her we travel the length of the steppe, navigating the Caucasus, the Silk Roads and the Hindu Kush. We follow in the footsteps of nomads and monks, Amazon warriors and lion kings – the ancient peoples who spread these tongues far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the linguists, archaeologists and geneticists racing to recover this lost world. What they have discovered 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.

Review

'The fascinating story of the ancient words that survive in the mouths of billions of speakers today … combining linguistics, archaeology and genetic research to trace the movement of people and their language.'

Henry Oliver, The Guardian

'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

'A sweeping saga … Spinney explains how a single language family spread across the world … the most holistic approach yet to the topic'

Publishers Weekly

'This beautifully researched and written book is about far more than language; it is a history of the world in microcosm.'

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

About the Author

Laura Spinney is a science journalist and writer. She is the author of the celebrated Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. Her writing on science has appeared in National Geographic, Nature, The Guardian and The Atlantic, among others. Born in the UK, she lives in Paris.