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Linguists believe that the languages of about one-third of the human race all developed from one Indo-European language.
語言學家認為，大約三分之一人類所使用的語言都源自一種印歐語言。

But who were the speakers of this ancient language?
但是，這種古老語言的使用者是誰呢？

Linguistic detective work offers some clues.
語言學上的偵探工作提供了一些線索。

It is sometimes said that you can deduce a people’s history from the words they use.
人們常說，可以從一個民族使用的詞彙推斷出他們的歷史。

A study of some fifty ancient vocabularies has led to a reconstruction of the lifestyle of the first Indo-Europeans, a vanished people.
對大約五十種古老詞彙的研究，使人們重建了最早的印歐民族——一個早已消失的民族的生活方式。

From the words they used, it seems likely that they lived a half-settled, half-nomadic existence.
從他們使用的詞彙來看，他們似乎過著半定居、半遊牧的生活。

They had horses, oxen, and sheep.
他們擁有馬、牛和羊。

They plowed, planted, worked leather, and wove wool.
他們耕地、種植、加工皮革，並且編織羊毛。

They worshipped gods who are clear ancestors of Indian, Mediterranean, and Celtic deities.
他們崇拜的神明顯然是印度、地中海和凱爾特神祇的祖先。

However, exactly who the original Indo-Europeans were and when they lived remains a hotly debated mystery.
然而，原始印歐人到底是誰，何時生活，仍然是一個備受爭議的謎團。

According to an early theory, they lived in Mesopotamia, but this idea was exploded by nineteenth-century archaeology.
根據早期的理論，他們生活在美索不達米亞，但這一觀點在十九世紀的考古發現中被推翻。

Today, some argue for the Krugan culture of the Russian steppes, others for the farming culture of the Danube valley.
如今，一些人主張他們屬於俄羅斯草原的庫爾干文化，另一些人則認為他們屬於多瑙河谷地的農耕文化。

The most widely accepted theory locates the Indo-Europeans in a cold, northern climate where common words for snow and wolf were important.
最廣為接受的理論認為，印歐人生活在寒冷的北方地區，因為他們的語言中有許多與雪和狼相關的詞彙。

None of these prehistoric languages had a word for the sea.
這些史前語言中都沒有表示“海洋”的詞彙。

From this, and from our knowledge of nature, it is clear that the Indo-Europeans must have lived somewhere in northern central Europe.
由此以及我們對自然的了解可以清楚地推斷，印歐人必定生活在北歐中部的某個地區。