The same terms are applied indifferently to the human enemies of the Aryans and to the fiends, and no criterion exists by which references to real fo… - A. Berriedale Keith

Nothing is more unsatisfactory than to attempt to define Indo-European society on the assumption that the Indo-Europeans knew only what can be ascribed to them on con- clusive evidence. Ex hypothesi, there were great dispersals of peoples from the original home, and those who wondered away were unquestionably constantly intermingling with other peoples . . . and it is not to be wondered at that in new surroundings new words were employed; still less can it be a matter of surprise that peoples which ceased to be in contact with natural features soon dropped the names which had become use- less.

Dasyu, a word of some- what doubtful origin, is in many passages of the Rigveda clearly applied to superhuman enemies... Dasa, like Dasyu, sometimes denotes enemies of a demoniac character in the Rigveda.

By taking the linguistic evidence too literally one could conclude that the original Indo-European speakers knew butter, but not milk; snow and feet but not rain or hands!