Question about an idiom / figure-of-speech in Indo-European languages


Hello,

I wonder if any contributors to this group would assist me by
addressing an inquiry. (It has to do with some research into an
ancient Persian dialect.) The question pertains to an entire family of
languages, though -- of course -- I would expect contributors to this
group to address it with respect to the language this group is
dedicated to.

The English words 'herd' and 'sheep' colloquially and figuratively
mean, and are used to connote, the great mass of common folk,
especially the group-think'ing masses and/or what are known as the
'plaebians' or the 'proletariat'. I would agree that these words, when
used in the specified sense, carry a slight pejorative implication, and
so I must clarify that any such implication is of no relevance to my
inquiry. (Up until a century ago, 'cattle' was another word that was
figuratively used with very nearly the same connotation but in our time
it is infrequently used in that sense.)

I am interested in knowing whether (the equivalents of) 'herd' and
'sheep' plus 'cow', 'ox', 'cattle', and/or 'kine' colloquially and
idiomatically have the same or similar connotations in the language
under consideration.

(Also, I am interested in finding out whether such words are suspected
or known to have had the same connotations in the following defunct
languages: Sumerian, Hittite, Vedic, and Sanskrit.)

Thank you for any help.

.

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