Laura Spinney

One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story. PROTO by @lfspinney is out in paperback today! 'The fascinating story of the ancient words that survive in the mouths of billions of speakers today.' The Guardian

@Jorrit_Kelder @ancientstristan @HistoryHit Hello to you and @ancientstristan! Can't wait to see this @HistoryHit

A lovely morning filming with @ancientstristan for an upcoming @HistoryHit documentary on the Mycenaean World on the Acropolis: wonderful to watch sunrise over the “Strong House of Erechteus”.

¡📣Novedad📚!  'Lengua madre', de Laura Spinney [@lfspinney], recorre continentes y milenios para seguir la odisea indoeuropea. El resultado es una historia de la humanidad contada desde el hilo invisible del lenguaje ⬇️⬇️ planetadelibros.com/libro-lengua-m…

If Proto-Indo-European is new to you, watch my interview with @lfspinney about her book "Proto." This is where the deep history of English begins. deadlanguagesociety.com/p/what-came-be…

Chat with @lfspinney explores her 2 books, bringing disease, history, language & geography. 👉 tdr.who.int/global-health-… Nerd epilogue: I write in Armenian, a standalone branch of the Indo‑Euro family: Իմ հետևորդներ, ովքեր կարդում են հայերեն, այս նախադասությունը ձեզ համար է։

@elephantvoices rich archive of elephant communication in all its glory here, with music from Nick Romero and interviews by me. Our fabulous producer was Julian Mayers bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

@thbaketal Congratulations Thomas

The moment I have been waiting for decades... Signing the professorial roll @ University of Edinburgh, originally a written oath not to teach anything contrary to the Holy Scriptures & the Church of Scotland. Nice to be in the company of Joseph Lister, though not David Hume...)

La France entre-t-elle en phase révolutionnaire ? lepoint.fr/debats/le-chao… via @LePoint

@DrFrancisYoung @HarperCollins Thank you. I take on board what you say about mythology, nevertheless people don't seem to stop trying... I'm interested in the fact that some linguists eg @riccginevra argue that if you do attempt it, you must start from the language.

I reviewed ‘Proto’ by @lfspinney. In short, excellent; but I remain deeply unconvinced by any attempted reconstructions of shared or Proto-Indo-European religion and mythology drfrancisyoung.com/2026/01/26/rev…

@cobbaltt @kaeshour Thank you. That's exactly right. And in the book I wrote I was more precise than in a phone interview where time was short. Even so, the labels don't capture the fluid reality.

@kaeshour @lfspinney This is a matter of labels, not of the language itself. I suppose you'd rather that she had said that "a language that came to be called Sanskrit was brought by immigrants". I agree that I prefer this framing but it doesn't make a difference to the larger point.

@lfspinney is clearly mistaken. Let’s put it this way — was English ever spoken in what’s now Germany or Denmark? Did the Saxons and Jutes bring “English” with them to the Isles? Or did their W Germanic dialects transformed into Old English of Ælfred within England?

@kaeshour Your confidence is impressive. India didn't exist 4,000 years ago, and Sanskrit was spoken long before it was attested.

@lfspinney Sure. I hope it is better than the interview.

@kaeshour I suggest you read my book.

@lfspinney This statement that Sanskrit came with immigrants is plain wrong. As silly as saying Romans brought French into France. Sanskrit is the label of Indo-Iranian *only* attested in the Indian subcontinent. It is a local stage of evolution sharing areal features like retroflexes.

@kapil_harwani Thanks Kapil! Looking forward to it.

@lfspinney Salut! Looking forward to attend your session On 15 Jan. at 1 PM at JLF'26. <"Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global"> À bientôt! :)

The horse cemetery at Tsarskoye Selo has been restored and is now open to visitors. If only there wasn't a war on we could all go and marvel at the ancient - and modern - Eurasian custom of burying your trusty steed shorturl.at/Cflyh #PROTO

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How do pandemics, language, and identity intersect? Science journalist Laura Spinney (@lfspinney) joins Nick Dirks (@NickDirks) on the latest Shaping Science episode to explore the 1918 flu, language origins, and how crisis shapes society. Listen now: nyas.org/ideas-insights…

🧠 Ideas winners 🧠 THE IDEOLOGICAL BRAIN by @LeorZmigrod OPEN SOCRATES by @AgnesCallard PROTO by @lfspinney STRANGERS & INTIMATES by @tiffanyjenkins DON’T FORGET WE’RE HERE FOREVER by Lamorna Ash

The Loss of The Cornish Language 1350 – 1750 brilliantmaps.com/cornish-langua… via @brilliantmaps