Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1922-01-21


scendantS Of the One-time race. which
Professor Bender belieYes lived In that
ettion Of Europe between the Baltic
and Black seas, or modern Poland and
Lithuania
Comparison of Languages.
Living before recorded history. In
what Is often referred to as cave man
times, this ancient people from whom
are descended all of the modern Eur
opean races left us little with which
we might learn Of their culture and
daily life. All that we have Is a meth
cd of comparative language study by
which we find their own language. and
hence much about their civilization.
Philologists have discovered that the
language of quarter Of billion peo-
pie In Asia and most of the inhabi-
tants of Europe. North and South
America and other regions of the
earth colonized by Europeans are fun.
damentally alike. That is, Latin. Ger
man. Russian and Greek are at the
bottom of same. having all descended
from the same parent language. Pro
feSsor Bender says: Language is The
best evidence Of community. of life
and culture, and we can at least as
sumo that at some time and In some
more or less definite territory there
dWelt people. or group of peoples
racially pure or rarially mixed. who
lived to Il large extent a common life.
and who spoke tongue which WIS
the common ancestor of the languages
now spoken by the majority of the
civilized peoples of the earth.
"With the beginnings of the science
Of comparative philology early In the
Nineteenth century came the knowl-
edge that Sanscrit was the oldest Of
the Indo-European languages-if not
the mother of them all. at least their
elder sister. PhiloOgists concluded
that the home of the IIindus must al
so have been the home of the Indo-
Europeans. and this common home
they visralized on The banks of In
dia's most sacred stream, the Gauges.
The study of the Veda soon showed.
however. that the Vedic people did not
know the Ganges. but lived in north
west India; so the primitive home OF
the 1ndo- Europeans was moved once
more, this time into the Iranian re,
sion east Of the Caspian sea-"
Professor Bender goes on to show
how philologians and theologians net
on a common ground for different rea-
sons and decided that the location was
southwestern Asia. He presents the
arguments In support of this hypo-
thesis and shows how most of them
have been disproved and presents the
method whereby modern philologists
have arrived at this new conclusion.
Honey Bee Is Factor.
On account of the fact that almost
every Indo-EurOpean language shares
with its cognates common word for
honey, or for an Intoxicating drink
made from honey, it is made clear that
the primitive home of the Indo-Eur-
Opeans musu have been land where
the honey bee abOunded. But not one
Of the Asiatlc sites that have been
seriously considered by modern philol.
ogists as the possible home of these
peoples, falls within the bee belt. In
Europe, on the other hand, the bee
is indigenous almost everywhere.
BY continuing this process of com
parative phil0logy and by the processes
of elimination the conclusion above
mentioned is reached I'VE have. left
finally" says Professor Bender, 1.-THE
great plain Of central and southeast
ern Europe, which embraces roughly
the present Poland. Lithuania, Ukraine
and Russia south and west of the Vol.
ga. Almost every condition is salts.
fed by the conception of the Indo-
Europeans as inhabiting some part of
this plain as late as 5000 or $500 r.
G. Geographically this central Euro
pean plain lies In the very heart Of
Indo-European territory as we now
know It,"
In support Of his theory Professor
Bender states in the closing paragraph
of his lecture: 'NOr can we Ignore
the notable fact that right here we find
the Lithuanian, which has preserved
into modern living speech more of the