Beyond Etymology: Historical Reconstruction and Diachronic Toponomastics through the Lens of a New Convergence Theory

Abstract

This paper introduces basic principles of a New Convergence Theory (NCT) into the field of Indo-European linguistics. The first part of the article is dedicated to a brief evaluation of current approaches to the Indo-European origins and etymology as well as to the theoretical explanation of the NCT’s epistemological fundamentals. The second part deals with some examples of the etymological reconstruction conducted according to this innovative approach, in which historical phonetics, historical semantics, historical geography, and landscape archaeology are utilized for recovering the most ancient origins of prehistoric European names.