meaning for words—and the necessity for legal sentences to be uttered precisely the same way each time to remain binding, it is possible to securely reconstruct some elements of the Proto-Indo-European legal system. For instance, the word *- ('to make a circle, complete') designated a type of compensation where the father (or master) had to either pay for the damages caused by his son (or slave), or surrender the perpetrator to the offended party. It is attested by a common legal and linguistic origin in both Roman and Hittite laws. Another root denoting a compensation, *, had the meanings of 'blood-price', 'vengeance' or 'guilt' in daughter languages, suggesting that it was specifically applied to the restitution for theft or violence. Law was apparently designed to preserve the 'order' (*) of the universe, with the underlying idea that the cosmic harmony should be maintained, be it in the physical universe or the social world. There was however probably no public enforcement of justice, nor were there formal courts as we know them today. Contractual obligations were protected by private individuals acting as sureties: they pledged to be responsible for payments of debts incurred by someone else if the latter defaulted. In case of litigation, one could either take matter into their own hands, for instance by barring someone from accessing their property to compel payment, or bring the case before judges (perhaps kings) that included witnesses. The word for 'oath', *, derives from the verb * ('to go'), after the practice of walking between slaughtered animals as part of taking an oath. The root * (from *, 'to fit') is associated with the concept of a cosmic order, that is which is 'fitting, right, ordered'. It is one of most securely reconstructed Proto-Indo-European words, with cognates attested in most sub-families: Latin ('joint'); Middle High German ('innate feature, nature, fashion'); Greek (, 'arrangement'), possibly (, 'excellence'); Armenian (, 'ornament, shape'); Avestan ('order') and ('truth'); Sanskrit (, 'right time, order, rule'); Hittite (, 'right, proper'); Tocharian A ('to praise, be pleased with'). Trifunctional hypothesis The trifunctional hypothesis, proposed by Georges Dumézil, postulates a tripartite ideology reflected in a threefold division between a clerical class (encompassing both the religious and social functions of the priests and rulers), a warrior class (connected with the concepts of violence and braveness), and a class of farmers or husbandmen (associated with fertility and craftsmanship), on the basis that