Diffusion of Indo-European Theonyms: what they show us
Dir. Dr. Nicholas Kazanas
Greece
Summary: In presenting this collection of Vedic and Indo-European theonyms I discuss the derivation of some and argue that, since the Rgveda alone contains all these names, the RV must be older than other IE texts and more clearly indicative of the Proto-Indo-European culture, while Vedic is both older and closer to PIE than any other branch. Moreover, since the RG is richer in cultural and linguistic elements than other early IE traditions we can conclude that the Vedic speakers moved very little or not at all from the PIE homeland. These ideas have been published elsewhere anbd attracted some criticism mainly from J.P.Mallory; this is now being refuted.