Reddit reviews In Search of the Indo-Europeans

No problem, it was fun. :D

If you're interested in IE Historical Linguistics, you might want to check out Ben Fortson's awesome Introduction, though this is much more focused on the reconstructed language itself and the development of the individual daughter languages than in the history and culture of the original Indo-Europeans.

For more of a broad cultural history, you might want to check out Mallory's book, which is written in a very easy to read style.

Great post.

The Wikipedia entry on Proto-Indo-European religion does a good job of elaborating on the links.

Noted archaeologist, J. P. Mallory, has done fine work expounding on the theories underlying the Indo-European hypothesis.

His books, In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth (more accessible of the two) and The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, are well worth the read.

It's not controversial at all:

https://www.amazon.com/Search-Indo-Europeans-J-P-Mallory/dp/0500276161

The English "better" is more likely a cognate with the German "besser". They follow similar morphologies:

English: good < better < best
German: gut < besser < besten

As to a deeper link between the Germanic languages of English and German and Farsi that might be a question for J.P. Malloy (http://www.amazon.com/In-Search-Indo-Europeans-J-Mallory/dp/0500276161).

Like davemidrock said, most of your ancestors are Indo European and a lot of experts and scholars have put together a few well researched reconstructions/hypothesis's of what that original culture would be like and their gods. Here's a few books to start with:

https://www.amazon.com/Search-Indo-Europeans-J-P-Mallory/dp/0500276161

https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Wheel-Language-Bronze-Age-Eurasian/dp/069114818X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4FZR86TV92PSQ8B7PSG9

https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Ancestors-Practicing-Religion-Proto-Indo-Europeans-ebook/dp/B00JF6RKXK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deep+Ancestors%3A+Practicing+the+Religion+of+the+Proto-Indo-Europeans&qid=1568890408&s=books&sr=1-1*** I have not read this one but I have heard good things about it. It really get's into the whole deity and myth thing.

With Indo-European beliefs you generally get the twin creation myths, an earth goddess, sky god and of course sun/moon deities. It seems with the earth goddesses, it not really an earth goddess that embodies the whole world (although it can be) but more of a local or regional goddess of the land. The problem with that is that most of the land deity's names have been lost to time, unless otherwise recorded (like Arduinna for the Ardiennes area). I'm nowhere near where Arduinna was first honored but she is what I lean toward as far as a goddess. However, I'm actually working through outdoor meditation on perhaps learning what my local land goddesses name is. My first instinct was to find the local indigenous name for the land spirit/goddess, but again, that's been swallowed by the mists of time. So even I have my struggles lol. I think you can figure this out with mindfulness, meditation, patience and reflection. Good luck!