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Dictionary of Indo–European Concepts and Society

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Dictionary of Indo–European Concepts and Society by Émile Benveniste, with a new introduction by Giorgio Agamben, is a classic reference work exploring the historical and linguistic roots of key social and institutional concepts such as gifts, contracts, sacrifice, and kinship. Through comparative analysis of Germanic, Romance, Indo-Iranian, Latin, and Greek languages, it reveals the deep genealogies and structures of meaning underlying these ideas. This dictionary illuminates the interconnected sociocultural worlds of ancient societies, making it essential reading for understanding the evolution of social institutions.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is invaluable for anthropologists, linguists, literary theorists, classicists, philosophers, and scholars interested in the deep linguistic and cultural history of social concepts. It also appeals to readers invested in the study of language's role in shaping institutions and societal structures across European, Middle Eastern, and South Asian contexts.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Since its publication in 1969, âEmile Benveniste's 'Vocabulaire' - here in a new translation - has been the classic reference for tracing the institutional and conceptual genealogy of the sociocultural worlds of gifts, contracts, sacrifice, hospitality, authority, freedom, ancient economy, and kinship.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Since its publication in 1969, Émile Benveniste's Vocabulaire—here with a new introduction by Giorgio Agamben—has been the classic reference for tracing the institutional and conceptual genealogy of the sociocultural worlds of gifts, contracts, sacrifice, hospitality, authority, freedom, ancient economy, and kinship.

A comprehensive and comparative history of words with analyses of their underlying neglected genealogies and structures of signification—and this via a masterful journey through Germanic, Romance, Indo-Iranian, Latin, and Greek languages—Benveniste's dictionary is a must-read for anthropologists, linguists, literary theorists, classicists, and philosophers alike.

This book has famously inspired a wealth of thinkers, including Roland Barthes, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Pierre Bourdieu, Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Giorgio Agamben, François Jullien, and many others. In this new volume, Benveniste's masterpiece on the study of language and society finds new life for a new generation of scholars.

As political fictions continue to separate and reify differences between European, Middle Eastern, and South Asian societies, Benveniste reminds us just how historically deep their interconnections are and that understanding the way our institutions are evoked through the words that describe them is more necessary than ever.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780986132599

Publisher: HAU

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 November 2016

Country: United States

Imprint: HAU

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 34.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 228.0mm

Weight: 842g

Pages: 594

About the Author

emile Benveniste (1902 1976) was a French linguist and semiotician and professor of linguistics at the Coll ge de France until 1969. He is the author of many works on Indo-European languages, including Problems in General Linguistics. Along with Claude Levi-Strauss and Pierre Gourou, Benveniste was also cofounder of the anthropological journal L'Homme.

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