I was wondering if anyone on the list had thought
about the domestication of the chicken and the origins of PIE. It is often said
that the domestic chicken arrived rather late on the scene in comparison to
the domestic horse, the domestic dog, the domestic cow, etc.
It is believed (based on a recent DNA test by
Japanese scientists) that all modern chickens are genetically descended from a
species of wild fowl first domesticated in Thailand and Vietnam perhaps around
6000 BC. That the creature soon made its way north is seen in Neolithic chicken
remains discovered at the mouth of the Yellow River in China around 5500
BC. We see the chicken heading westward from remains disovered in Pakistan
around 3250 BC (or sometimes said to be 2000 BC). Chicken bones appear in
Egyptian tombs in 2000 BC.
My question is this: where the Proto Indo Europeans
aware of the chicken and were they responsible for its spread into Europe, or
did the animal spread after the breakup of PIE?
There is an interesting agreement amongst the
Indo-Iranian and Celtic branches - from the two opposite ends of the IE spectrum
(note the k- in the satem languages):
Old Irish Cercc, "hen" (not a Latin
loan; Latin has instead Pullo or Gallus)
Perhaps Gaulish Cercit[-], Cercenus,
Cercion and Cercola (personal names), cercius / circius (?
glosses)
Indic krka-vaku "rooster"
Avesten kahrkatat "rooster," Persian ka:rk
"chicken," Ossetic kerko
Pokorny has the word come from *Kerk, from *ker-
"rough tone" (used to describe an animal's cry) which also is the root behind
words meaning "raven" in Italic and Germanic.
-C. Gwinn