Re: Indo-European for Indo-European

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "lifeiscool86" <lifeiscool86@...> wrote:

> Indo-European for Indo-European
>
> I was wondering (again with the wondering!), if whether there was
> any PIE term that was common to all (or most) Indo-European
> descendants;

If there was one (something I wouldn't bet my money on), it has been
replaced by a host of other terms. Ethnonyms are as changeable as the
social structures they refer to.

> or possibly a reconstructed term that would fit a
> plausible PIE description for themselves. I was writing an article
> about my own ethnic origins when I couldn't think of a "poetic" term
> that could denote IEs. Saying "the Indo-Europeans" doesn't sound
> poetic -- it's too scientific. "Aryan" just sounds
> too "elitist",

Too narrow. I don't think it was used outside the Indo-Iranian branch.

> "The Fair-Eyes" too misleading;

Besides, this is the kind of term that could be used by _foreigners_
to describe a population with a high proportion of blue-eyed individuals.

> but "The People"
> could be possible since every society referred themselves as "The
> Only People".

An overstatement, but of course "The People" is an extremely common
type of ethnonym (at least on a par with "Our Own Guys" or "Those Who
Speak Intelligibly").

> Well, I'm not a linguist so I don't know what would be
> the PIE equivalent for "The People" --> something connected to
> teuta, tuatha, theudisko or something.

*teutáh2 ("Teuta", to make it layperson-friendly) was quite
widespread, together with its derivatives.

> Basta something that is
> unique to the IEs --> Horse-masters or Cow-people for example. horse
> = ekwos?, cow = ???

Cows and horses unique to the IEs? Lots of other people had them too.
But if you need a term like "Horse-lord", *h1ek^wo-poti- ("Equopotis")
could do. The word for an IE cowboy might have been *gWou-h2ag^o-
("Gwouhagos") 'cattle drover', *gWou-pah2- ("Gwoupah") 'cowherd' or
anything similar with the second element meaning 'owner, master,
protector, grazier' etc. Lotsa roots to choose from. There are also
Indo-Iranian-style adjectives like *gWou-ment- 'having many cows'.

;-)

Piotr