Schleicher's fable

Schleicher's fable (avis akvāsas ka) is an artificial text composed in the reconstructed language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) published by August Schleicher in 1868. Schleicher was the first scholar to compose a text in PIE. The fable is entitled Avis akvāsas ka ("The Sheep and the Horses"). At later dates, various scholars have published revised versions of Schleicher's fable, as the idea of what PIE should look like has changed over time. The fable may serve as an illustration of the significant changes that the reconstructed language has gone through during the last 140 years of scholarly efforts.

The first revision of Schleicher's fable was made by Hermann Hirt (published by Arntz in 1939). A second revision was published by Winfred Lehmann and Ladislav Zgusta in 1979. Another version by Douglas Q. Adams appeared in the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (1997:501). In 2007 Frederik Kortlandt published yet another version on his homepage.

Avis akvāsas ka

[Das] schaf und [die] rosse

The Sheep and the Horses

Owis ek’wōses-kʷe

Owis eḱwōskʷe

Owis ek’woi kʷe

H₂óu̯is h₁ék̂u̯ōs-kʷe

h₂ówis h₁ék’wōskʷe

Owis eḱwōs kʷe

H₂ówis (h₁)ék̂wōs-kʷe

...
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