Indo-European Languages Updated 15/7/2023

Wednesday, 24 February 2016 05:21
Written by Susan Hayward

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Europeans have been conditioned to think that they are mixed racial groups with many different languages and most have no idea where many of these languages originated. Experts have discovered that the majority of European languages are actually descended from a single language called Indo-European, the chart above shows the indo-European and the language branches. The one exception to this is the Basque language, which is believed to be one of the languages that survived the Ice Age. All other languages have changed due to time and isolation from each other and there are many theories surrounding the origin of the Indo-European language. No doubt the Indo-European language itself is most likely to be the descended language of the early Ice Age people of Europe and Central Asia.

Origin of Language

As long as people have been living in different regions of Europe, there would have been various languages and dialects spoken by the various population groups. The earliest Europeans up to the Heidelberg people, and their ancestors would have had a very simple vocabulary compared to the language we use today.

Like today, there are English-speaking people who integrate into the culture and adopt the language of the country they have migrated to. Some languages have also become rare while others have become extinct. But as generations passed, the language became more complex with a larger vocabulary, passed on from generation to generation over thousands of years.

Screenshot 6mater

Indo-European Languages - Word Comparisons

@UtsavSapkotaProfile

I speak Nepali, it is derived from Sanskrit and is of Indo-European language family. I find similar words in Latin, Greek, Persian and Slavic languages.

@info_bot

I'm from Bangladesh. Just the idea of my mother tongue, Bengali (or Bangla), being so similar to a language like Lithuanian seems so crazy! Lol

@materbrasiliae2114

The most curious thing is that the most similar words are in the both extremes regions, in North India and North Europe, wich indicates that the origin of the Indo Europeans was in the centre of both, the Caucasus, and those people migrated one part to north of Europe and one part to south in the Indian subcontinent, and then, after, their descendents migrated to that middle part were is Greece and Turkey because has the most different words from the originals.

Indo-European vocabulary

New Indo-European Languages

The Germanic tribes, Anglo- Saxons Europeans, moved into England and spoke the Germanic language, and over time, it changed, and today it called the English language. If you learn German you will find many words sound similar to English words. Here are some words to give you an idea how the German language has changed in pronunciation and developed into English-language:

German	English	German	English
Rot	Red	Lampe	Lamp
Mutter	Mother	Vater	Father
Gut	Good	Haben	Have
Morgen	Morning	Und	And

Indo-European languages are spoken all across the globe with approximately 3 billion people in total. Of the 20 most spoken languages in the world today, 12 of these are of Indo-European language family:

Spanish
English
Hindi
Portuguese
Bengali
Russian
German
Marathi
French
Italian
Punjabi
Urdu

Useful Links and Videos

Indo-European Language Tree

Indo-European Dispersals and the Eurasian Steppe with J.P. Mallory

Language of Indo-European (Family Tree)

Overview of the Indo-European Languages

Marija Rediviva: DNA and Indo-European Origins

" Marija Gimbutas had a detailed knowledge of the archaeology of prehistoric Europe and of the cultures of ‘Old Europe’ with their rich iconography of goddesses and gods, which she viewed as overwhelmed at the onset of the Bronze Age by the Kurgan invasion, an incursion of a new population from the East European steppe lands, north of the Black Sea. This she saw as the key impetus which brought Old Europe to an end, and which introduced to Europe a new population speaking early Indo-European languages."

Screenshot 1indo e east a

Lord Colin Renfrew | Marija Redivia: DNA and Indo-European Origins

English Language

We look at the history of the alphabet and some of the historical events and linguistic changes that have resulted in the complicated spelling system in English, from Viking & Norman invasions to the Great Vowel Shift and the printing press.

Why is English spelling so complicated?

Is English Really a Germanic Language?

Langfocus

Russian

The Russian Language

Afrikaans

Afrikaans: A Daughter Language of Dutch

Jewish

Are Yiddish and Hebrew Similar?

The Alphabet

History of the Alphabet

The Basque language in Europe is not related to the Indo-European language

The Basques white Europeans live in North-Central Spain. Basques are the most fiercely nationalist group in Europe. The Basque population is divided into France and Spain in the border of those two countries, with each side using the official language (Spanish or French) for official business, but speaking Euzkera (the Basque language and the oldest language spoken in Europe, going back to Ice Age Europeans). The Basques communities have retaining a strong sense of identity in Europe and all over the World.

Basque - A Language of Mystery

Revenge of the Basques

" In this video, we explore the Latin language. We learn it history, how it shaped our language, and many other languages, its role in the Roman Empire, how it changed through time, and more."

How Latin Works

Coveners League has many articles, here is a small sample, please check them out.

Teach White Europeans About Their Ice Age Heritage

White European Racial Pride. What Race Are You ?