# Indo-European languages

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Language family native to Eurasia

"Indo-European" redirects here. For Eurasian people living in or connected with Indonesia, see [Indo people](/source/Indo_people). For other uses, see [Indo-European (disambiguation)](/source/Indo-European_(disambiguation)).

Indo-European Geographic distribution Worldwide Native speakers est. 3.4 billion Linguistic classification One of the world's primary language families Proto-language Proto-Indo-European Subdivisions Currently spoken: • Albanoid • Armenian • Balto-Slavic • Celtic • Germanic • Hellenic • Indo-Iranian • Italic Extinct: • Anatolian † • Tocharian † Unclassified or poorly attested: • Dacian † • Elymian † • Liburnian † • Ligurian † • Lusitanian † • Paeonian † • Philistine † • Phrygian † • Thracian † • Venetic † • Ancient Cappadocian † Language codes ISO 639-2 / 5 ine Glottolog indo1319 The approximate present-day distribution of the native speakers of the eight branches of the Indo-European language family within Europe and Asia: Albanoid (Albanian) Armenian Balto-Slavic Celtic Germanic Hellenic (Greek) Indo-Iranian Italic (Romance) Non-Indo-European languages Dotted/striped areas indicate where multilingualism is common (more visible upon full enlargement of the map). Notes † indicates this branch of the language family is extinct

Part of a series on Indo-European topics Languages List of Indo-European languages Extant Albanoid Albanian Armenian Balto-Slavic Baltic Slavic Celtic Germanic Hellenic Greek Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Nuristani Italic Romance Extinct Anatolian Tocharian Paleo-Balkan Dacian Illyrian Liburnian Messapic Mysian Paeonian Phrygian Thracian Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut Hypothetical Balkanic Daco-Thracian Graeco-Albanian Graeco-Armenian Graeco-Aryan Graeco-Phrygian Indo-Hittite Italo-Celtic Thraco-Illyrian Grammar Vocabulary Root Verbs Nouns Pronouns Numerals Particles Other Proto-Albanian Proto-Anatolian Proto-Armenian Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse) Proto-Italo-Celtic (Proto-Celtic · Proto-Italic) Proto-Greek Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic · Proto-Baltic) Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Indo-Aryan, Proto-Iranian, Proto-Nuristani) Philology Anitta text Hittite inscriptions Hieroglyphic Luwian Linear B Rigveda Avesta Homer Behistun Greek epigraphy Phrygian epigraphy Messapic epigraphy Latin epigraphy Gaulish epigraphy Runic epigraphy Ogham Gothic Bible Bible translations into Armenian Tocharian script Old Irish glosses Albanian Kanun Origins Homeland Proto-Indo-Europeans Society Religion Mainstream Kurgan hypothesis Indo-European migrations Eurasian nomads Alternative and fringe Anatolian hypothesis Armenian hypothesis Beech argument Indigenous Aryanism Baltic homeland Paleolithic continuity theory Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Domestication of the horse Kurgan Kurgan stelae Kurgan culture Steppe cultures Bug–Dniester Sredny Stog Dnieper–Donets Samara Khvalynsk Yamnaya Mikhailovka culture Novotitarovskaya culture Caucasus Maykop East Asia Afanasievo Eastern Europe Usatove Cernavodă Cucuteni Northern Europe Corded ware Baden Middle Dnieper Bronze Age Pontic Steppe Chariot Yamnaya Catacomb Multi-cordoned ware Poltavka Srubnaya Northern/Eastern Steppe Abashevo culture Andronovo Sintashta Europe Globular Amphora Corded ware Bell Beaker Únětice Trzciniec Nordic Bronze Age Terramare Tumulus Urnfield Proto-Villanovan Lusatian Este South Asia Bishkent Vakhsh BMAC Ochre Coloured Pottery Copper Hoard Cemetery H Gandhara grave Iron Age Steppe Chernoles Europe Thraco-Cimmerian Hallstatt Latial Jastorf Caucasus Colchian Central Asia Yaz India Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware Peoples and societies Bronze Age Anatolian peoples (Hittites) Armenians Mycenaean Greeks Indo-Iranians Iron Age Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryans Iranians Iranians Nuristanis Nuristanis East Asia Wusun Yuezhi Europe Celts Gauls Celtiberians Insular Celts Cimmerians Hellenic peoples Italic peoples Germanic peoples Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia Thracians Dacians Illyrians Paeonians Phrygians Scythians Middle Ages East Asia Tocharians Europe Albanians Balts Slavs Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians Middle Ages Indo-Aryan Medieval India Iranian Greater Iran Religion and mythology Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-Iranian religion Historical Vedic religion Ancient Iranian religion Historical Hittite Indo-Aryan Vedic Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Iranian Persian Zoroastrianism Kurdish Yazidism Yarsanism Scythian Ossetian Others Armenian European Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian) Greek Roman Celtic Irish Scottish Breton Welsh Cornish Germanic Anglo-Saxon Continental Norse Baltic Latvian Lithuanian Slavic Practices Fire rituals Horse sacrifice Sati Winter solstice/Yule Indo-European studies Scholars Marija Gimbutas J. P. Mallory Institutes Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European Publications Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture The Horse, the Wheel, and Language Journal of Indo-European Studies Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Category v t e

The **Indo-European languages** are a [language family](/source/Language_family) native to the northern [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent), most of [Europe](/source/Europe), and the [Iranian plateau](/source/Iranian_plateau), with additional native branches found in regions such as parts of [Central Asia](/source/Central_Asia) (e.g., [Tajikistan](/source/Tajikistan) and [Afghanistan](/source/Afghanistan)), southern Indian subcontinent ([Sri Lanka](/source/Sri_Lanka) and the [Maldives](/source/Maldives)) and [Armenia](/source/Armenia). Historically, Indo-European languages were also spoken in [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia) and [Northwestern China](/source/Tarim_Basin). The Indo-European family is divided into several branches or sub-families, including [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language), [Armenian](/source/Armenian_language), [Balto-Slavic](/source/Balto-Slavic), [Celtic](/source/Celtic_languages), [Germanic](/source/Germanic_languages), [Hellenic](/source/Hellenic_languages), [Indo-Iranian](/source/Indo-Iranian_languages), and [Italic](/source/Italic_languages), all of which contain present-day living languages, as well as two major [extinct](/source/Extinct_language) branches, [Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages) and [Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_languages).

Today the individual Indo-European languages with the most native speakers are [English](/source/English_language), [Spanish](/source/Spanish_language), [Portuguese](/source/Portuguese_language), [Russian](/source/Russian_language), [Hindi](/source/Hindustani_language), [Bengali](/source/Bengali_language), [Punjabi](/source/Punjabi_language), [French](/source/French_language), [German](/source/German_language) and [Persian](/source/Persian_language); many others spoken by smaller groups are in danger of extinction. Over 3.4 billion people (42% of the global population) speak an Indo-European language as a [first language](/source/First_language)—by far the most of any language family. There are about 446 living Indo-European languages, according to an estimate by *[Ethnologue](/source/Ethnologue)*, of which 313 belong to the Indo-Iranian branch.[1]

All Indo-European languages are descended from a single prehistoric language, [linguistically reconstructed](/source/Linguistically_reconstructed) as [Proto-Indo-European](/source/Proto-Indo-European), spoken sometime during the [Neolithic](/source/Neolithic) or early [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) (c. 3300 – c. 1200 BC). The geographical location where it was spoken, the [Proto-Indo-European homeland](/source/Proto-Indo-European_homeland), has been the object of many competing hypotheses; the academic consensus supports the [Kurgan hypothesis](/source/Kurgan_hypothesis), which posits the homeland to be the [Pontic–Caspian steppe](/source/Pontic%E2%80%93Caspian_steppe) in what is now [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine) and [Southern Russia](/source/Southern_Russia), associated with the [Yamnaya culture](/source/Yamnaya_culture) and other related archaeological cultures during the 4th and early 3rd millennia BC.

By the time the first written records appeared, Indo-European had already evolved into numerous languages, spoken across much of [Europe](/source/Europe), [Central](/source/Central_Asia), [West](/source/West_Asia)[a] and [South Asia](/source/South_Asia). Some European languages of this family—[English](/source/English_language), [French](/source/French_language), [Portuguese](/source/Portuguese_language), [Russian](/source/Russian_language), [Spanish](/source/Spanish_language), and [Dutch](/source/Dutch_language)—have expanded through [colonialism](/source/Colonialism) in the modern period and are now spoken across [America](/source/Americas), [Oceania](/source/Oceania) and [North Asia](/source/North_Asia).

Written evidence of Indo-European appeared during the Bronze Age in the form of [Mycenaean Greek](/source/Mycenaean_Greek) and the [Anatolian languages](/source/Anatolian_languages) of [Hittite](/source/Hittite_language) and [Luwian](/source/Luwian). The oldest records are isolated Hittite words and names, interspersed in texts that are otherwise in the unrelated [Akkadian language](/source/Akkadian_language) (a [Semitic language](/source/Semitic_language)) found in texts of the [Assyrian](/source/Assyria) colony of [Kültepe](/source/K%C3%BCltepe) in eastern [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia) dating to the 20th century BC.[2] Although no older written records of the original [Proto-Indo-European population](/source/Proto-Indo-Europeans) remain, some aspects of [their culture](/source/Proto-Indo-European_society) and [their religion](/source/Proto-Indo-European_mythology) can be reconstructed from later evidence in the daughter cultures.[3] The Indo-European family is significant to the field of [historical linguistics](/source/Historical_linguistics) as it possesses the second-longest [recorded history](/source/Recorded_history) of any known family after [Egyptian](/source/Egyptian_language) and the [Semitic languages](/source/Semitic_languages), which belong to the [Afroasiatic language family](/source/Afroasiatic_language_family). The analysis of the family relationships between the Indo-European languages, and the reconstruction of their common source, was central to the development of the methodology of historical linguistics as an academic discipline in the 19th century.

The Indo-European language family is not considered by the current academic consensus in the field of linguistics to have any [genetic relationships](/source/Genetic_relationship_(linguistics)) with other language families, although several [disputed hypotheses](#Proposed_external_relations) propose such relations.

## History of Indo-European linguistics

See also: [Indo-European studies § History](/source/Indo-European_studies#History)

During the 16th century, European visitors to the [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent) began to notice similarities among [Indo-Aryan](/source/Indo-Aryan_languages), [Iranian](/source/Iranian_languages), and [European](/source/Languages_of_Europe) languages. In 1583, English [Jesuit](/source/Jesuit) missionary and [Konkani](/source/Konkani_language) scholar [Thomas Stephens](/source/Thomas_Stephens_(Jesuit)) wrote a letter from [Goa](/source/Goa) to his brother—published in the 20th century[4]—in which he noted similarities between North Indian languages and [Greek](/source/Greek_language) and [Latin](/source/Latin).

Another account was made by [Filippo Sassetti](/source/Filippo_Sassetti), a merchant born in [Florence](/source/Florence) in 1540, who travelled to the Indian subcontinent. Writing in 1585, he noted some word similarities between [Sanskrit](/source/Sanskrit) and Italian (these included *devaḥ*/*dio* 'God', *sarpaḥ*/*serpe* 'serpent', *sapta*/*sette* 'seven', *aṣṭa*/*otto* 'eight', and *nava*/*nove* 'nine').[4] However, neither Stephens' nor Sassetti's observations led to further scholarly inquiry.[4]

In 1647, [Dutch](/source/Dutch_people) linguist and scholar [Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn](/source/Marcus_Zuerius_van_Boxhorn) noted the similarity among certain Asian and European languages and theorized that they were derived from a primitive common language that he called Scythian.[5] He included in his hypothesis [Dutch](/source/Dutch_language), [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language), [Greek](/source/Greek_language), [Latin](/source/Latin), [Persian](/source/Persian_language), and [German](/source/German_language), later adding [Slavic](/source/Slavic_languages), [Celtic](/source/Celtic_languages), and [Baltic languages](/source/Baltic_languages). However, Van Boxhorn's suggestions did not become widely known and did not stimulate further research.

Ottoman Turkish traveller [Evliya Çelebi](/source/Evliya_%C3%87elebi) visited Vienna in 1665–1666 as part of a diplomatic mission and noted a few similarities between words in German and in Persian. [Gaston Coeurdoux](/source/Gaston-Laurent_Coeurdoux) and others made observations of the same type. Coeurdoux made a thorough comparison of Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek [conjugations](/source/Grammatical_conjugation) in the late 1760s to suggest a relationship among them. Meanwhile, [Mikhail Lomonosov](/source/Mikhail_Lomonosov) compared different language groups, including Slavic, Baltic ("[Kurlandic](/source/Courland)"), Iranian ("[Medic](/source/Median_language)"), [Finnish](/source/Finnish_language), [Chinese](/source/Chinese_language), "Hottentot" ([Khoekhoe](/source/Khoekhoe_language)), and others, noting that related languages (including Latin, Greek, German, and Russian) must have separated in antiquity from common ancestors.[6]

The hypothesis reappeared in 1786 when [Sir William Jones](/source/Sir_William_Jones) first lectured on the striking similarities among three of the oldest languages known in his time: [Latin](/source/Latin), [Greek](/source/Greek_language), and [Sanskrit](/source/Sanskrit), to which he tentatively added [Gothic](/source/Gothic_language), [Celtic](/source/Celtic_languages), and [Persian](/source/Persian_language),[7] though his classification contained some inaccuracies and omissions.[8] In one of the most famous quotations in linguistics, Jones made the following prescient statement in a lecture to the [Asiatic Society of Bengal](/source/Asiatic_Society_of_Bengal) in 1786, conjecturing the existence of an earlier ancestor language, which he called "a common source" but did not name:

The Sanscrit [*[sic](/source/Sic)*] language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no [philologer](/source/Philology) could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists.[note 1]

— Sir William Jones, Third Anniversary Discourse delivered 2 February 1786, ELIOHS[9]

[Thomas Young](/source/Thomas_Young_(scientist)) first used the term "Indo-European" in 1813, deriving it from the geographical extremes of the language family: from [Western Europe](/source/Western_Europe) to [North India](/source/North_India).[10][11] A synonym is *Indo-Germanic* (*Idg.* or *IdG.*), specifying the family's southeasternmost and northwesternmost branches. This first appeared in French (*indo-germanique*) in 1810 in the work of [Conrad Malte-Brun](/source/Conrad_Malte-Brun); in most languages this term is now dated or less common than Indo-European, although in German *indogermanisch* remains the standard scientific term. A [number of other synonymous terms](/source/Indo-European_studies#Naming) have also been used.

[Franz Bopp](/source/Franz_Bopp) was a pioneer in the field of comparative linguistic studies.

[Franz Bopp](/source/Franz_Bopp) wrote in 1816 "On the conjugational system of the Sanskrit language compared with that of Greek, Latin, Persian and Germanic"[12] and between 1833 and 1852 he wrote *Comparative Grammar*. This marks the beginning of [Indo-European studies](/source/Indo-European_studies) as an academic discipline. The classical phase of Indo-European [comparative linguistics](/source/Comparative_linguistics) leads from this work to [August Schleicher](/source/August_Schleicher)'s 1861 *Compendium* and up to [Karl Brugmann's](/source/Karl_Brugmann) *[Grundriss](/source/Grundri%C3%9F_der_vergleichenden_Grammatik_der_indogermanischen_Sprachen)*, published in the 1880s. Brugmann's [neogrammarian](/source/Neogrammarian) reevaluation of the field and [Ferdinand de Saussure's](/source/Ferdinand_de_Saussure) development of the [laryngeal theory](/source/Laryngeal_theory) may be considered the beginning of "modern" Indo-European studies. The generation of Indo-Europeanists active in the last third of the 20th century (such as [Calvert Watkins](/source/Calvert_Watkins), [Jochem Schindler](/source/Jochem_Schindler), and [Helmut Rix](/source/Helmut_Rix)) developed a better understanding of morphology and of [ablaut](/source/Ablaut) in the wake of [Kuryłowicz's](/source/Jerzy_Kury%C5%82owicz) 1956 *Apophony in Indo-European*, who in 1927 wrote about the existence of the [Hittite consonant](/source/Hittite_phonology) ḫ.[13] Kuryłowicz's discovery supported Ferdinand de Saussure's 1879 proposal of the existence of *coefficients sonantiques*, elements de Saussure reconstructed to account for vowel length alternations in Indo-European languages. This led to the so-called [laryngeal theory](/source/Laryngeal_theory), a major step forward in Indo-European linguistics and a confirmation of de Saussure's theory.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Classification

See also: [List of Indo-European languages](/source/List_of_Indo-European_languages)

The various subgroups of the Indo-European language family include ten major branches, listed below in alphabetical order:

- [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language), attested from the 13th century;[14] [Proto-Albanian](/source/Proto-Albanian) evolved from an ancient [Paleo-Balkan language](/source/Paleo-Balkan_language), traditionally thought to be [Illyrian](/source/Illyrian_languages), or otherwise a totally unattested Balkan [Indo-European language](/source/Indo-European_language) that was closely related to Illyrian and [Messapic](/source/Messapic).[15][16][17]

- [Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages), extinct by [Late Antiquity](/source/Late_Antiquity), spoken in [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia), attested in isolated terms in [Luwian](/source/Luwian)/[Hittite](/source/Hittites) mentioned in Semitic [Old Assyrian](/source/Akkadian_language) texts from the 20th and 19th centuries BC, [Hittite texts](/source/Hittite_texts) from about 1650 BC.[18][19] Among the text is the [Anitta text](/source/Anitta_text) in the [Hittite language](/source/Hittite_language), which is also the oldest known text in an Indo-European language. It is dated to 1700 BCE.[20][21][22]

- [Armenian](/source/Armenian_language), attested from the early 5th century AD. It evolved from the [Proto-Armenian language](/source/Proto-Armenian_language) which, according to the [Armenian hypothesis](/source/Armenian_hypothesis), developed *in situ* from the [Proto-Indo-European language](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language) of the 3rd millennium BC.[23][24]

- [Balto-Slavic](/source/Balto-Slavic), believed by most Indo-Europeanists[25] to form a phylogenetic unit, while a minority ascribes similarities to prolonged language-contact. - [Slavic](/source/Slavic_languages) (from [Proto-Slavic](/source/Proto-Slavic)), attested from the 9th century AD ([possibly earlier](/source/Pre-Christian_Slavic_writing)), earliest texts in [Old Church Slavonic](/source/Old_Church_Slavonic). Slavic languages include [Bulgarian](/source/Bulgarian_language), [Russian](/source/Russian_language), [Polish](/source/Polish_language), [Czech](/source/Czech_language), [Slovak](/source/Slovak_language), [Silesian](/source/Silesian_language), [Kashubian](/source/Kashubian_language), [Macedonian](/source/Macedonian_language), [Serbo-Croatian](/source/Serbo-Croatian) ([Bosnian](/source/Bosnian_language), [Croatian](/source/Croatian_language), [Montenegrin](/source/Montenegrin_language), [Serbian](/source/Serbian_language)), [Sorbian](/source/Sorbian_language), [Slovenian](/source/Slovenian_language), [Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainian_language), [Belarusian](/source/Belarusian_language), and [Rusyn](/source/Rusyn_language). - [Baltic](/source/Baltic_languages), attested from the 14th century; although attested relatively recently, they retain many archaic features attributed to [Proto-Indo-European](/source/Proto-Indo-European) (PIE). Living examples are [Lithuanian](/source/Lithuanian_language) and [Latvian](/source/Latvian_language).

- [Celtic](/source/Celtic_languages) (from [Proto-Celtic](/source/Proto-Celtic)), attested since the 6th century BC; [Lepontic](/source/Lepontic) inscriptions date as early as the 6th century BC; [Celtiberian](/source/Celtiberian_language) from the 2nd century BC; Primitive Irish [Ogham inscriptions](/source/Ogham_inscription) from the 4th or 5th century AD, earliest inscriptions in [Old Welsh](/source/Old_Welsh) from the 7th century AD. Modern Celtic languages include [Welsh](/source/Welsh_language), [Cornish](/source/Cornish_language), [Breton](/source/Breton_language), [Scottish Gaelic](/source/Scottish_Gaelic), [Irish](/source/Irish_language) and [Manx](/source/Manx_language).

- [Germanic](/source/Germanic_languages) (from [Proto-Germanic](/source/Proto-Germanic)), earliest attestations in [runic](/source/Runic) inscriptions from around the 2nd century AD, earliest coherent texts in [Gothic](/source/Gothic_language), 4th century AD. [Old English](/source/Old_English) manuscript tradition from about the 8th century AD. Includes [English](/source/English_language), [Frisian](/source/Frisian_languages), [German](/source/German_language), [Dutch](/source/Dutch_language), [Scots](/source/Scots_language), [Danish](/source/Danish_language), [Swedish](/source/Swedish_language), [Norwegian](/source/Norwegian_language), [Afrikaans](/source/Afrikaans), [Yiddish](/source/Yiddish), [Low German](/source/Low_German), [Icelandic](/source/Icelandic_language), [Elfdalian](/source/Elfdalian), and [Faroese](/source/Faroese_language).

- [Hellenic](/source/Hellenic_languages) (from [Proto-Greek](/source/Proto-Greek), see also [History of Greek](/source/History_of_Greek)); fragmentary records in [Mycenaean](/source/Mycenaean_language) Greek from between 1450 and 1350 BC have been found.[26] [Homeric](/source/Homer) texts date to the 8th century BC. [Ancient Macedonian](/source/Ancient_Macedonian_language) was either an [ancient Greek dialect](/source/Ancient_Greek_dialect)[27][28] (part of [Northwest Greek](/source/Northwest_Greek)) or a Hellenic language.

- [Indo-Iranian](/source/Indo-Iranian_languages), attested c. 1400 BC, descended from [Proto-Indo-Iranian](/source/Proto-Indo-Iranian) (dated to the late 3rd millennium BC). - [Indo-Aryan](/source/Indo-Aryan_languages), attested from around 1400 BC in [Hittite](/source/Hittite_language) texts from [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia), showing [traces of Indo-Aryan](/source/Indo-Aryan_superstrate_in_Mitanni) words.[29][30] Epigraphically from the 3rd century BC in the form of [Prakrit](/source/Prakrit) ([Edicts of Ashoka](/source/Edicts_of_Ashoka)). The [Rigveda](/source/Rigveda) is assumed to preserve intact records [via oral tradition](/source/Patha) dating from c. the mid-2nd millennium BC in the form of [Vedic Sanskrit](/source/Vedic_Sanskrit). Includes a wide range of modern languages from [North India](/source/North_India), Eastern Pakistan and Bangladesh, including [Hindustani](/source/Hindustani_language) ([Hindi](/source/Hindi), [Urdu](/source/Urdu)), [Bengali](/source/Bengali_language), [Odia](/source/Odia_language), [Assamese](/source/Assamese_language), [Punjabi](/source/Punjabi_language), [Kashmiri](/source/Kashmiri_language), [Gujarati](/source/Gujarati_language), [Marathi](/source/Marathi_language), [Sindhi](/source/Sindhi_language) and [Nepali](/source/Nepali_language), as well as [Sinhala](/source/Sinhala_language) of [Sri Lanka](/source/Sri_Lanka) and [Dhivehi](/source/Maldivian_language) of the [Maldives](/source/Maldives) and [Minicoy](/source/Minicoy). - [Iranian](/source/Iranian_languages) or Iranic, attested from roughly 1000 BC in the form of [Avestan](/source/Avestan). Epigraphically from 520 BC in the form of [Old Persian](/source/Old_Persian) ([Behistun inscription](/source/Behistun_inscription)). Includes [Persian](/source/Persian_language), [Pashto](/source/Pashto), [Kurdish](/source/Kurdish_languages), [Balochi](/source/Balochi_language), [Luri](/source/Luri_language), [Tajik](/source/Tajik_language), and [Ossetian](/source/Ossetian_language). - [Nuristani](/source/Nuristani_languages), attested since the 20th century, are among the newest Indo-European languages to be studied. Includes [Katë](/source/Kat%C3%AB), [Prasun](/source/Wasi-wari), [Ashkun](/source/Askunu_language), [Nuristani Kalasha](/source/Nuristani_Kalasha), [Tregami](/source/Tregami), and [Zemiaki](/source/Zemiaki).

- [Italic](/source/Italic_languages) (from [Proto-Italic](/source/Proto-Italic)), attested from the 7th century BC. Includes the ancient [Osco-Umbrian languages](/source/Osco-Umbrian_languages), [Faliscan](/source/Faliscan_language), as well as [Latin](/source/Latin) and its descendants, the [Romance languages](/source/Romance_languages), such as [Italian](/source/Italian_language) and [French](/source/French_language).

- [Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_languages), with proposed links to the [Afanasevo culture](/source/Afanasevo_culture) of Southern Siberia.[31] Extant in two dialects (Turfanian and Kuchean, or Tocharian A and B), attested during roughly the 6th–9th centuries AD. Marginalized by the Old Turkic [Uyghur Khaganate](/source/Uyghur_Khaganate) and probably extinct by the 10th century.

In addition to the classical ten branches listed above, several extinct and little-known languages and language-groups have existed or are proposed to have existed:

- [Ancient Belgian](/source/Ancient_Belgian): hypothetical language associated with the proposed [Nordwestblock](/source/Nordwestblock) cultural area. Speculated to be connected to Italic or Venetic, and to have certain phonological features in common with Lusitanian.[32][33]

- [Cimmerian](/source/Cimmerian_language): possibly Iranic, Thracian, or Celtic

- [Dacian](/source/Dacian_language): possibly very close to Thracian

- [Elymian](/source/Elymian_language): Poorly-attested language spoken by the [Elymians](/source/Elymians), one of the three indigenous (i.e. pre-Greek and pre-Punic) tribes of Sicily. Indo-European affiliation widely accepted, possibly related to Italic or Anatolian.[34][35]

- [Illyrian](/source/Illyrian_languages): possibly related to Albanian, Messapian, or both

- [Liburnian](/source/Liburnian_language): evidence too scant and uncertain to determine anything with certainty

- [Ligurian](/source/Ligurian_language_(ancient)): possibly close to or part of Celtic.[36]

- [Lusitanian](/source/Lusitanian_language): possibly related to (or part of) Celtic, Ligurian, or Italic

- [Messapic](/source/Messapic): not conclusively deciphered, often considered to be related to Albanian as the available fragmentary linguistic evidence shows common characteristic innovations and a number of significant lexical correspondences between the two languages[37][38][39]

- [Paionian](/source/Paionian_language): extinct language once spoken north of Macedon

- [Phrygian](/source/Phrygian_language): language of the ancient [Phrygians](/source/Phrygians). Very likely, but not certainly, a sister group to Hellenic.

- [Sicel](/source/Sicel_language): an ancient language spoken by the Sicels (Greek Sikeloi, Latin Siculi), one of the three indigenous (i.e. pre-Greek and pre-Punic) tribes of Sicily. Proposed relationship to Latin or Proto-Illyrian (Pre-Indo-European) at an earlier stage.[40]

- [Sorothaptic](/source/Sorothaptic): proposed, pre-Celtic, Iberian language

- [Thracian](/source/Thracian_language): possibly including Dacian

- [Venetic](/source/Venetic): shares several similarities with Latin and the Italic languages, but also has some affinities with other IE languages, especially Germanic and Celtic.[41][42]

Indo-European family tree in order of first attestation

Indo-European language family tree based on "Ancestry-constrained phylogenetic analysis of Indo-European languages" by Chang *et al.* 2015[43]

Membership of languages in the Indo-European language family is determined by [genealogical](/source/Genetic_(linguistics)) relationships, meaning that all members are presumed descendants of a common ancestor, [Proto-Indo-European](/source/Proto-Indo-European). Membership in the various branches, groups, and subgroups of Indo-European is also genealogical, but here the defining factors are *shared innovations* among various languages, suggesting a common ancestor that split off from other Indo-European groups. For example, what makes the Germanic languages a branch of Indo-European is that much of their structure and phonology can be stated in rules that apply to all of them. Many of their common features are presumed innovations that took place in [Proto-Germanic](/source/Proto-Germanic), the source of all the Germanic languages.

In the 21st century, several attempts have been made to model the phylogeny of Indo-European languages using Bayesian methodologies similar to those applied to problems in biological phylogeny.[44][45][43] Although there are differences in absolute timing between the various analyses, there is much commonality between them, including the result that the first known language groups to diverge were the Anatolian and Tocharian language families, in that order.

### Tree versus wave model

See also: [Language change](/source/Language_change)

The "[tree model](/source/Tree_model)" is considered an appropriate representation of the genealogical history of a language family if communities do not remain in contact after their languages have started to diverge. In this case, subgroups defined by shared innovations form a nested pattern. The tree model is not appropriate in cases where languages remain in contact as they diversify; in such cases subgroups may overlap, and the [wave model](/source/Wave_model) is a more accurate representation.[46] Most approaches to Indo-European subgrouping to date have assumed that the tree model is by-and-large valid for Indo-European;[47] however, there is also a long tradition of wave-model approaches.[48][49][50]

In addition to genealogical changes, many of the early changes in Indo-European languages can be attributed to [language contact](/source/Language_contact). It has been asserted, for example, that many of the more striking features shared by Italic languages (Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, etc.) might well be [areal features](/source/Areal_features). More certainly, very similar-looking alterations in the systems of [long vowels](/source/Long_vowel) in the West Germanic languages greatly postdate any possible notion of a [proto-language](/source/Proto-language) innovation (and cannot readily be regarded as areal, either, because English and continental West Germanic were not a linguistic area). In a similar vein, there are many similar innovations in Germanic and Balto-Slavic that are far more likely areal features than traceable to a common proto-language, such as the uniform development of a [high vowel](/source/High_vowel) (**u* in the case of Germanic, **i/u* in the case of Baltic and Slavic) before the PIE syllabic resonants **ṛ, *ḷ, *ṃ, *ṇ*, unique to these two groups among IE languages, which is in agreement with the wave model. The [Balkan sprachbund](/source/Balkan_sprachbund) even features areal convergence among members of very different branches.

An extension to the *[Ringe](/source/Donald_Ringe)-[Warnow](/source/Tandy_Warnow) model of language evolution* suggests that early IE had featured limited contact between distinct lineages, with only the Germanic subfamily exhibiting a less treelike behaviour as it acquired some characteristics from neighbours early in its evolution. The internal diversification of especially West Germanic is cited to have been radically non-treelike.[51]

### Proposed subgroupings

Hypothetical Indo-European phylogenetic clades Balkan Paleo-Balkan Graeco-Albanian Daco-Thracian Graeco-Armenian Graeco-Aryan Graeco-Phrygian Armeno-Phrygian Thraco-Illyrian Other Italo-Celtic Indo-Hittite Indo-Uralic v t e

Specialists have postulated the existence of higher-order subgroups such as [Italo-Celtic](/source/Italo-Celtic), [Graeco-Armenian](/source/Graeco-Armenian), [Graeco-Aryan](/source/Graeco-Aryan) or Graeco-Armeno-Aryan, and Balto-Slavo-Germanic. However, unlike the ten traditional branches, these are all controversial to a greater or lesser degree.[52]

The Italo-Celtic subgroup was at one point uncontroversial, considered by [Antoine Meillet](/source/Antoine_Meillet) to be even better established than Balto-Slavic.[53] The main lines of evidence included the genitive suffix *-ī*; the superlative suffix *-m̥mo*; the change of /p/ to /kʷ/ before another /kʷ/ in the same word (as in *penkʷe* > **kʷenkʷe* > Latin *quīnque*, Old Irish *cóic*); and the subjunctive morpheme *-ā-*.[54] This evidence was prominently challenged by [Calvert Watkins](/source/Calvert_Watkins),[55] while Michael Weiss has argued for the subgroup.[56]

Evidence for a relationship between Greek and Armenian includes the regular change of the [second laryngeal](/source/Laryngeal_theory) to *a* at the beginnings of words, as well as terms for "woman" and "sheep".[57] Greek and Indo-Iranian share innovations mainly in verbal morphology and patterns of nominal derivation.[58] Relations have also been proposed between Phrygian and Greek,[59] and between Thracian and Armenian.[60][61] Some fundamental shared features, like the [aorist](/source/Aorist) (a verb form denoting action without reference to duration or completion) having the perfect active particle -s fixed to the stem, link this group closer to Anatolian languages[62] and Tocharian. Shared features with Balto-Slavic languages, on the other hand (especially present and preterit formations), might be due to later contacts.[63]

The [Indo-Hittite](/source/Indo-Hittite) hypothesis proposes that the Indo-European language family consists of two main branches: one represented by the Anatolian languages and another branch encompassing all other Indo-European languages. Features that separate Anatolian from all other branches of Indo-European (such as the gender or the verb system) have been interpreted alternately as archaic debris or as innovations due to prolonged isolation. Points proffered in favour of the Indo-Hittite hypothesis are the (non-universal) Indo-European agricultural terminology in Anatolia[64] and the preservation of laryngeals.[65] However, in general this hypothesis is considered to attribute too much weight to the Anatolian evidence. According to another view, the Anatolian subgroup left the Indo-European parent language comparatively late, approximately at the same time as Indo-Iranian and later than the Greek or Armenian divisions. A third view, especially prevalent in the so-called French school of Indo-European studies, holds that extant similarities in non-[satem](/source/Satem) languages in general, including Anatolian, might be due to their peripheral location in the Indo-European language-area and to early separation, rather than indicating a special ancestral relationship.[66] Hans J. Holm, based on lexical calculations, arrives at a picture roughly replicating the general scholarly opinion and refuting the Indo-Hittite hypothesis.[67]

### Satem and centum languages

Main article: [Centum and satem languages](/source/Centum_and_satem_languages)

Some significant isoglosses in Indo-European daughter languages at around 500 BC.
  Blue: centum languages

  Red: satem languages

  Orange: languages with [augment](/source/Augment_(Indo-European))

  Green: languages with PIE *-tt- > -ss-

  Tan: languages with PIE *-tt- > -st-

  Pink: languages with instrumental, dative and ablative plural endings (and some others) in *-m- rather than *-bh-

The division of the Indo-European languages into satem and centum groups was put forward by Peter von Bradke in 1890, although [Karl Brugmann](/source/Karl_Brugmann) did propose a similar type of division in 1886. In the satem languages, which include the Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian branches, as well as (in most respects) Albanian and Armenian, the reconstructed [Proto-Indo-European palatovelars](/source/Proto-Indo-European_phonology#Consonants) remained distinct and were fricativized, while the labiovelars merged with the 'plain velars'. In the centum languages, the palatovelars merged with the plain velars, while the labiovelars remained distinct. The results of these alternative developments are exemplified by the words for "hundred" in Avestan (*satem*) and Latin (*centum*)—the initial palatovelar developed into a fricative [s] in the former, but became an ordinary velar [k] in the latter.

Rather than being a genealogical separation, the centum–satem division is commonly seen as resulting from innovative changes that spread across PIE dialect-branches over a particular geographical area; the centum–satem [isogloss](/source/Isogloss) intersects a number of other isoglosses that mark distinctions between features in the early IE branches. It may be that the centum branches in fact reflect the original state of affairs in PIE, and only the satem branches shared a set of innovations, which affected all but the peripheral areas of the PIE dialect continuum.[68] [Kortlandt](/source/Frederik_Kortlandt) proposes that the ancestors of Balts and Slavs took part in satemization before being drawn later into the western Indo-European sphere.[69]

## Proposed external relations

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From the beginning of Indo-European studies, there have been attempts to link the Indo-European languages genealogically to other languages and language families. No theory has gained majority support, and most specialists in Indo-European linguistics[*[failed verification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability)*] are sceptical or agnostic about such proposals.[70]

Proposals linking the Indo-European languages with a single language family include:[70]

- [Indo-Uralic](/source/Indo-Uralic), joining Indo-European with [Uralic](/source/Uralic)

- [Pontic](/source/Pontic_languages), postulated by [John Colarusso](/source/John_Colarusso), which joins Indo-European with [Northwest Caucasian](/source/Northwest_Caucasian)

Other proposed families include:[70]

- [Nostratic](/source/Nostratic), comprising all or some of the Eurasiatic languages and the [Kartvelian](/source/Kartvelian_languages), [Dravidian](/source/Dravidian_languages)—or wider, [Elamo-Dravidian](/source/Elamo-Dravidian)—and [Afroasiatic](/source/Afroasiatic) language families

- [Eurasiatic](/source/Eurasiatic), a theory by [Joseph Greenberg](/source/Joseph_Greenberg), comprising the [Uralic](/source/Uralic), [Altaic](/source/Altaic) and various [Paleosiberian](/source/Paleosiberian) families ([Ainu](/source/Ainu_languages), [Yukaghir](/source/Yukaghir_languages), [Nivkh](/source/Nivkh_languages), [Chukotko-Kamchatkan](/source/Chukotko-Kamchatkan), [Eskimo–Aleut](/source/Eskimo%E2%80%93Aleut)) and possibly others

Nostratic and Eurasiatic, in turn, have been included in wider groupings, such as [Borean](/source/Borean), a language family separately proposed by [Harold C. Fleming](/source/Harold_C._Fleming) and [Sergei Starostin](/source/Sergei_Starostin) that encompasses almost all of the world's natural languages with the exception of those native to [sub-Saharan Africa](/source/Sub-Saharan_Africa), [New Guinea](/source/New_Guinea), [Australia](/source/Australia), and the [Andaman Islands](/source/Andaman_Islands).

## Evolution

### Proto-Indo-European

Main article: [Proto-Indo-European language](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language)

 Scheme of Indo-European language dispersals from c. 4000 to 1000 BC, according to the widely held [Kurgan hypothesis](/source/Kurgan_hypothesis).
– Center: Steppe cultures
1 (black): Anatolian languages (archaic PIE)
2 (black): Afanasievo culture (early PIE)
3 (black) Yamnaya culture expansion (Pontic-Caspian steppe, Danube Valley) (late PIE)
4A (black): Western Corded Ware
4B-C (blue & dark blue): Bell Beaker; adopted by Indo-European speakers
5A-B (red): Eastern Corded ware
5C (red): Sintashta (Proto-Indo-Iranian)
6 (magenta): Andronovo
7A (purple): Indo-Aryans (Mittani)
7B (purple): Indo-Aryans (India)
[NN] (dark yellow): Proto-Balto-Slavic
8 (grey): Greek
9 (yellow):Iranians
– [not drawn]: Armenian, expanding from western steppe

The proposed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the [reconstructed](/source/Comparative_method) common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the [Proto-Indo-Europeans](/source/Proto-Indo-Europeans). During the 1960s, knowledge of Anatolian became certain enough to establish its relationship to PIE. Using the method of [internal reconstruction](/source/Internal_reconstruction), an earlier stage, called Pre-Proto-Indo-European, has been proposed.

PIE is an [inflected language](/source/Inflected_language), in which the grammatical relationships between words were signalled through inflectional morphemes, usually endings. The [roots](/source/Root_(linguistics)) of PIE are basic [morphemes](/source/Morpheme) carrying a [lexical](/source/Lexical_(semiotics)) meaning. By addition of [suffixes](/source/Suffix), they form [stems](/source/Stem_(linguistics)), and by addition of [endings](/source/Ending_(linguistics)), these form grammatically inflected words, such as [nouns](/source/Indo-European_noun) or [verbs](/source/Indo-European_verb). The reconstructed [Indo-European verb](/source/Indo-European_verb) system is complex and, like the noun, exhibits a system of [ablaut](/source/Ablaut).

### Diversification

See also: [Indo-European migrations](/source/Indo-European_migrations)

The diversification of the parent language into the attested branches of daughter languages is historically unattested. The timeline of the evolution of the various daughter languages is mostly undisputed.

Using a mathematical analysis borrowed from evolutionary biology, [Donald Ringe](/source/Donald_Ringe) and [Tandy Warnow](/source/Tandy_Warnow) proposed the following evolutionary tree of Indo-European branches:[71]

- Pre-[Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages) before 3500 BC

- Pre-[Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_languages)

- Pre-Italic and Pre-Celtic before 2500 BC

- Pre-Armenian and Pre-Greek after 2500 BC

- Proto-[Indo-Iranian](/source/Indo-Iranian_languages) c. 2000 BC

- Pre-Germanic and Pre-Balto-Slavic;[71] Proto-Germanic c. 500 BC[72]

David Anthony proposes the following sequence:[73]

- Pre-[Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages) c. 4200 BC

- Pre-[Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_languages) c. 3700 BC

- [Pre-Germanic](/source/Germanic_parent_language) c. 3300 BC

- Pre-Italic and Pre-Celtic c. 3000 BC

- Pre-Armenian c. 2800 BC

- Pre-Balto-Slavic c. 2800 BC

- Pre-Greek c. 2500 BC

- Proto-[Indo-Iranian](/source/Indo-Iranian_languages) c. 2200 BC; split into Iranian and Old Indic c. 1800 BC

From 1500 BC the following sequence may be given:[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- 1500–1000 BC: - The [Nordic Bronze Age](/source/Nordic_Bronze_Age) of [Scandinavia](/source/Scandinavia) developed [pre-Proto-Germanic](/source/Pre-Proto-Germanic), and the (pre-) Proto-Celtic [Urnfield](/source/Urnfield) and [Hallstatt](/source/Hallstatt_culture) cultures emerged in Central Europe, introducing the [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age). - Migration of the Proto-[Italic](/source/Italic_languages) speakers into the Italian peninsula ([Bagnolo stele](/source/Bagnolo_stele)). - [Migration of Aryans to India](/source/Indo-Aryan_migrations) followed by the redaction of the [Rigveda](/source/Rigveda); rise of the [Vedic civilization](/source/Vedic_civilization) and [beginning of Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age_in_India) in the [Punjab](/source/Punjab). - The [Mycenaean civilization](/source/Mycenaean_civilization) gave way to the [Greek Dark Ages](/source/Greek_Dark_Ages). - Hittite went extinct. - [Iranian speakers](/source/Iranian_languages) started migrating southwards to [Greater Iran](/source/Greater_Iran). - [Balto-Slavic](/source/Balto-Slavic) split into ancestors of modern [Baltic](/source/Baltic_languages) and [Slavic](/source/Slavic_languages).

- 1000–500 BC: - The [Celtic languages](/source/Celtic_languages) spread over Central and Western Europe, including [Britain](/source/Great_Britain). - [Baltic languages](/source/Baltic_languages) were spoken in a large area from present-day Poland to [Moscow](/source/Moscow).[74] - [Pre-Proto-Germanic](/source/Germanic_parent_language) gave rise to [Proto-Germanic](/source/Proto-Germanic) in southern Scandinavia. - [Homer](/source/Homer) and the beginning of [Classical Antiquity](/source/Classical_Antiquity). - The Vedic civilization gave way to the [Mahajanapadas](/source/Mahajanapadas) as the Indo-Aryan tongue reaches eastwards, giving rise to the [Greater Magadha](/source/Greater_Magadha) cultural sphere, where [Mahavira](/source/Mahavira) preached [Jainism](/source/Jainism) and [Siddhartha Gautama](/source/Siddhartha_Gautama) preached [Buddhism](/source/Buddhism). - [Zoroaster](/source/Zoroaster) composed the [Gathas](/source/Gathas), rise of the [Achaemenid Empire](/source/Achaemenid_Empire), replacing the [Elamites](/source/Elamites) and [Babylonia](/source/Babylonia). - Separation of Proto-Italic into [Osco-Umbrian](/source/Osco-Umbrian), [Latin-Faliscan](/source/Latin-Faliscan_languages), and possibly [Venetic](/source/Venetic) and [Siculian](/source/Siculian). - A variety of [Paleo-Balkan languages](/source/Paleo-Balkan_languages) besides Greek were spoken in Southern Europe, including [Thracian](/source/Thracian_language), [Dacian](/source/Dacian_language) and [Illyrian](/source/Illyrian_language), and in [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia) ([Phrygian](/source/Phrygian_language)). - Development of [Prakrits](/source/Prakrits) across the Indian subcontinent, as well as migration of Indo-Aryan speakers to [Sri Lanka](/source/Sri_Lanka) and the [Maldives](/source/Maldives).

- 500–1 BC, [Classical Antiquity](/source/Classical_Antiquity): - Spread of [Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) and [Latin](/source/Latin) throughout the Mediterranean and, during the [Hellenistic period](/source/Hellenistic_period) ([Indo-Greeks](/source/Indo-Greeks)), to Central Asia and the [Hindukush](/source/Hindukush). - The Magadhan power and influence rose in ancient India, especially with the conquests of the [Nandan](/source/Nanda_Empire) and [Mauryan empires](/source/Mauryan_empire). - Germanic speakers started migrating southwards to occupy formerly Celtic territories. - [Scythian cultures](/source/Scythian_cultures) extended from Eastern Europe ([Pontic Scythians](/source/Scythians)) to Northwest China ([Ordos culture](/source/Ordos_culture)).

- 1 BC–AD 500; [Late Antiquity](/source/Late_Antiquity), [Gupta period](/source/Gupta_period): - Attestation of [Armenian](/source/Armenian_language). [Proto-Slavic](/source/Proto-Slavic). - The [Roman Empire](/source/Roman_Empire) and then the [Germanic migrations](/source/Germanic_migrations) marginalized the Celtic languages to the British Isles. - [Sogdian](/source/Sogdian_language), an [eastern Iranian language](/source/Eastern_Iranian_language), became the *[lingua franca](/source/Lingua_franca)* of the [Silk Road](/source/Silk_Road) in Central Asia leading to China, due to the proliferation of [Sogdian](/source/Sogdia) merchants there. - Greek settlements and [Byzantine](/source/Byzantine) rule made the last Anatolian languages [extinct](/source/Language_death). - [Turkic languages](/source/Turkic_languages) started replacing [Scythian languages](/source/Scythian_languages).

- 500–1000, [Early Middle Ages](/source/Early_Middle_Ages): - The [Viking Age](/source/Viking_Age) formed an Old Norse [koine](/source/Koin%C3%A9_language) spanning Scandinavia, the British Isles and Iceland. - Phrygian became extinct. - The [Islamic conquests](/source/Islamic_conquests) and the [Turkic expansion](/source/Turkic_expansion) resulted in the [Arabization](/source/Arabization) and [Turkification](/source/Turkification) of significant areas where Indo-European languages were spoken, and [Persian](/source/Persian_language) developed under Islamic rule and extended into [Afghanistan](/source/Afghanistan) and [Tajikistan](/source/Tajikistan). - Due to further [Turkic migrations](/source/Turkic_migrations), [Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_languages) became fully extinct while Scythian languages were overwhelmingly replaced. - Slavic languages spread over wide areas in central, eastern and southeastern Europe, largely replacing Romance in the Balkans—with the exception of Romanian—and whatever was left of the [Paleo-Balkan languages](/source/Paleo-Balkan_languages)—with the exception of Albanian. - Pannonian Basin was taken by the [Magyars](/source/Magyars) from the western [Slavs](/source/Slavs).

- 1000–1500, [Late Middle Ages](/source/Late_Middle_Ages): - Attestation of [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language) and [Baltic](/source/Baltic_languages). - Modern dialects of Indo-European languages started emerging.

- 1500–2000, [early modern period](/source/Early_modern_Europe) to present: - Colonialism resulted in the spread of Indo-European languages to every habitable continent, most notably [Romance](/source/Romance_language) (North, Central and South America, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia), [West Germanic](/source/West_Germanic) ([English](/source/English_language) in North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and Australia; to a lesser extent Dutch and German), and [Russian](/source/Russian_language) to Central Asia and North Asia.

### Key languages for reconstruction

In reconstructing the history of the Indo-European languages and the form of the [Proto-Indo-European language](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language), some languages have been of particular importance. These generally include the ancient Indo-European languages that are both well-attested and documented at an early date, although some languages from later periods are important if they are particularly [linguistically conservative](/source/Conservative_(language)), most notably, [Lithuanian](/source/Lithuanian_language).[*[according to whom?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions)*] Early poetry is of special significance because of the rigid [poetic meter](/source/Poetic_meter) normally employed, which makes it possible to reconstruct a number of features, e.g. [vowel length](/source/Vowel_length), that were either unwritten or corrupted in the process of transmission down to the earliest extant written [manuscripts](/source/Manuscript).

Most noticeably:[75][*[according to whom?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions)*]

- [Vedic Sanskrit](/source/Vedic_Sanskrit) (c. 1500–500 BC). This language is unique in that its source documents were all composed orally, and were passed down through [oral tradition](/source/Oral_tradition) ([shakha](/source/Shakha) schools) for c. 2,000 years before being written down. The oldest documents are all in poetic form; oldest and most important of all is the *[Rigveda](/source/Rigveda)* (c. 1500 BC). The oldest inscriptions in the language of the *Rigveda*, are [found in northern Syria](/source/Indo-Aryan_superstrate_in_Mitanni), where the [Mitanni kingdom](/source/Mitanni) was located.[76][*[full citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#What_information_to_include)*] Though it is also likely that the language of the Mitanni kingdom was a related but older [Indo-Aryan language](/source/Indo-Aryan_languages).[77]

- [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) (c. 750–400 BC). [Mycenaean Greek](/source/Mycenaean_Greek) (c. 1450 BC) is the oldest recorded form, but its value is lessened by the limited material, restricted subject matter, and highly ambiguous writing system.[*[according to whom?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions)*]More important is Ancient Greek, documented extensively beginning with the two [Homeric poems](/source/Homeric_poems) (the *[Iliad](/source/Iliad)* and the *[Odyssey](/source/Odyssey)*, c. 750 BC).

- [Hittite](/source/Hittite_language) (c. 1700–1200 BC). This is the earliest recorded of all Indo-European languages, and highly divergent from the others due to the early separation of the [Anatolian languages](/source/Anatolian_languages) from the remainder. It possesses some highly archaic features found fragmentarily, if at all, in other languages. It appears to have undergone many early phonological and grammatical changes which, combined with the ambiguities of its writing system, hinder its usefulness somewhat.[*[according to whom?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions)*]

Other primary sources:

- [Latin](/source/Latin), attested in a large amount of poetic and prose material in the [Classical](/source/Classical_Latin) period (c. 200 BC – AD 100) and limited [Old Latin](/source/Old_Latin) material from as early as c. 600 BC.

- [Gothic](/source/Gothic_language) (the most archaic well-documented [Germanic language](/source/Germanic_language), c. AD 350), along with the combined witness of the other old Germanic languages: most importantly, [Old English](/source/Old_English) (c. 800–1000), [Old High German](/source/Old_High_German) (c. 750–1000) and [Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse) (c. 1100–1300, with limited earlier sources dating to c. AD 200).

- [Old Avestan](/source/Old_Avestan) (c. 1700–1200 BC) and [Younger Avestan](/source/Younger_Avestan) (c. 900 BC)). Documentation is sparse, but nonetheless quite important due to its highly archaic nature.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Modern [Lithuanian](/source/Lithuanian_language), with limited records in [Old Lithuanian](/source/Old_Lithuanian) (c. 1500–1700).

- [Old Church Slavonic](/source/Old_Church_Slavonic) (c. 900–1000).

Other secondary sources, due to poor attestation:

- [Luwian](/source/Luwian), [Lycian](/source/Lycian_language), [Lydian](/source/Lydian_language) and other [Anatolian languages](/source/Anatolian_languages) (c. 1400–400 BC).

- [Oscan](/source/Oscan), [Umbrian](/source/Umbrian) and other [Old Italic](/source/Italic_languages) languages (c. 600–200 BC)).

- [Old Persian](/source/Old_Persian) (c. 500 BC).

- [Old Prussian](/source/Old_Prussian) (c. 1350–1600); more archaic than Lithuanian.

Other secondary sources, due to extensive phonological changes and relatively limited attestation:[78]

- [Old Irish](/source/Old_Irish) (c. AD 700–850).

- [Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_language) (c. AD 500–800), underwent large phonetic shifts and mergers in the proto-language, and has an almost entirely reworked declension system.

- [Classical Armenian](/source/Classical_Armenian) (c. AD 400–1000).

- [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language) (c. 1284 – present).

### Sound changes

Main article: [Indo-European sound laws](/source/Indo-European_sound_laws)

As speakers of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) dispersed, the language's sound system diverged as well, changing according to various [sound laws](/source/Sound_law) evidenced in the [daughter languages](/source/Daughter_language).

PIE is normally reconstructed with a complex system of 15 [stop consonants](/source/Stop_consonant), including an unusual three-way [phonation](/source/Phonation) or [voicing](/source/Voice_(phonetics)) distinction between [voiceless](/source/Voiceless), [voiced](/source/Voiced) and "[voiced aspirated](/source/Voiced_aspirated)", i.e. [breathy voiced](/source/Breathy_voiced), stops, and a three-way distinction among [velar consonants](/source/Velar_consonant)—*k*-type sounds—between palatal *ḱ ǵ ǵh*, plain velar *k g gh* and [labiovelar](/source/Labialized_velar_consonant) *kʷ gʷ gʷh*. The correctness of the terms *palatal* and *plain velar* is disputed.[*[by whom?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions)*] All daughter languages have reduced the number of distinctions among these sounds, often in divergent ways.

As an example, in [English](/source/English_language), one of the [Germanic languages](/source/Germanic_language), the following are some of the major changes that happened:

1. As in other [centum](/source/Centum) languages, the "plain velar" and "palatal" stops merged, reducing the number of stops from 15 to 12.
1. As in the other Germanic languages, the [Germanic sound shift](/source/Germanic_sound_shift) changed the realization of all stop consonants, with each consonant shifting to a different one: 1. **bʰ* → **b* → **p* → **f* 1. **dʰ* → **d* → **t* → *θ 1. **gʰ* → **g* → **k* → **x* (Later initial **x* →**h*) 1. **gʷʰ* → **gʷ* → **kʷ* → **xʷ* (Later initial **xʷ* →**hʷ*) Each original consonant shifted one position to the right. For example, original **dʰ* became **d*, while original **d* became **t* and original **t* became *θ (written *th* in English). This is the original source of the English sounds written *f*, *th*, *h* and *wh*. Examples, comparing English with Latin, where the sounds largely remain unshifted: 1. For PIE *p*: *piscis* vs. *fish*; *pēs, pēdis* vs. *foot*; *pluvium* "rain" vs. *flow*; *pater* vs. *father* 1. For PIE *t*: *trēs* vs. *three*; *māter* vs. *mother* 1. For PIE *d*: *decem* vs. *ten*; *pēdis* vs. *foot*; *quid* vs. *what* 1. For PIE *k*: *centum* vs. *hund(red)*; *capere* "to take" vs. *have* 1. For PIE *kʷ*: *quid* vs. *what*; *quandō* vs. *when*
1. Various further changes affected consonants in the middle or end of a word: - The voiced stops resulting from the sound shift were softened to voiced [fricatives](/source/Fricatives), or perhaps the sound shift directly generated fricatives in these positions.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] - [Verner's law](/source/Verner's_law) also turned some of the voiceless fricatives resulting from the sound shift into voiced fricatives or stops. This is why the *t* in Latin *centum* ends up as *d* in *hund(red)* rather than the expected *th*. - Most remaining *h* sounds disappeared, while remaining *f* and *th* became voiced. For example, Latin *decem* ends up as *ten* with no *h* in the middle (but note *taíhun* "ten" in [Gothic](/source/Gothic_language), an archaic Germanic language). Similarly, the words *seven* and *have* have a voiced *v* (compare Latin *septem*, *capere*), while *father* and *mother* have a voiced *th*, although not spelled differently (compare Latin *pater*, *māter*).

None of the daughter-language families, except possibly [Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages), particularly [Luvian](/source/Luvian), reflect the plain velar stops differently from the other two series, and there is even a certain amount of dispute whether this series existed in PIE.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] The major distinction between [*centum* and *satem*](/source/Centum-satem_isogloss) languages corresponds to the outcome of the PIE plain velars:

- The central *satem* languages—[Indo-Iranian](/source/Indo-Iranian_languages), [Balto-Slavic](/source/Balto-Slavic), [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language), and [Armenian](/source/Armenian_language)—reflect both plain velar and labiovelar stops as plain velars, often with secondary [palatalization](/source/Palatalization_(sound_change)) before a [front vowel](/source/Front_vowel) (*e i ē ī*). The palatal stops are palatalized and often appear as [sibilants](/source/Sibilant), usually distinct from the secondarily palatalized stops.

- The peripheral *centum* languages—[Germanic](/source/Germanic_languages), [Italic](/source/Italic_languages), [Celtic](/source/Celtic_languages), [Greek](/source/Greek_language), [Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages) and [Tocharian](/source/Tocharian_language)—reflect both palatal and plain velar stops as plain velars, while the labiovelars continue unchanged, often with later reduction into plain [labial](/source/Labial_consonant) or [velar consonants](/source/Velar_consonant).

The three-way PIE distinction between voiceless, voiced and voiced aspirated stops is considered extremely unusual from the perspective of [linguistic typology](/source/Linguistic_typology)—particularly in the existence of voiced aspirated stops without a corresponding series of voiceless aspirated stops. None of the various daughter-language families continue it unchanged, with numerous resolutions to the unstable PIE situation:

- The [Indo-Aryan languages](/source/Indo-Aryan_language) preserve the three series unchanged and have evolved a fourth series of voiceless aspirated consonants.

- The [Iranian languages](/source/Iranian_language) probably passed through the same stage, subsequently changing the aspirated stops into fricatives.

- [Greek](/source/Greek_language) converted the voiced aspirates into voiceless aspirates.

- [Italic](/source/Italic_languages) probably passed through the same stage, and reflects the voiced aspirates as *f* or *h*, or sometimes plain voiced stops in [Latin](/source/Latin).

- [Celtic](/source/Celtic_languages), [Balto-Slavic](/source/Balto-Slavic), [Anatolian](/source/Anatolian_languages), and [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language) merge the voiced aspirated into plain voiced stops.

- [Germanic](/source/Germanic_languages) and [Armenian](/source/Armenian_language) change all three series in a [chain shift](/source/Chain_shift), e.g. with *bh b p* becoming *b p f*, known as *[Grimm's law](/source/Grimm's_law)* in Germanic.

Among the other changes affecting consonants are:

- The [Ruki sound law](/source/Ruki_sound_law), in which *s* becomes /ʃ/ after *r, u, k, i* in the *[satem](/source/Satem)* languages.

- Loss of prevocalic *p* in [Proto-Celtic](/source/Proto-Celtic).

- Development of prevocalic *s* to *h* in [Proto-Greek](/source/Proto-Greek), with later loss of *h* between vowels.

- [Verner's law](/source/Verner's_law) in [Proto-Germanic](/source/Proto-Germanic).

- [Grassmann's law](/source/Grassmann's_law), the dissimilation of aspirates, independently in Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian.

There are various basic outcomes of PIE consonants in some of the most important[*[according to whom?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions)*] daughter languages for the purposes of reconstruction.

Proto-Indo-European consonants and their reflexes in selected Indo-European daughter languages PIE Skr. O.C.S. Lith. Greek Latin Old Irish Gothic English Examples PIE Eng. Skr. Gk. Lat. Lith. etc. Prs. *p *p; *phH *p *Ø; *chT [x] *f; `-*b- [β] *f; -*v/f- *pṓds ~ *ped- foot pád- poús (podós) pēs (pedis) pãdas Piáde *t *t; *thH *t *t; -*th- [θ] *þ [θ]; `-*d- [ð]; *tT- *th; `-*d-; *tT- *tréyes three tráyas treĩs trēs trỹs thri (old Persian) *ḱ *ś [ɕ] *s *š [ʃ] *k *c [k] *c [k]; -*ch- [x] *h; `-*g- [ɣ] *h; -*Ø-; `-*y- *ḱm̥tóm hund(red) śatám he-katón centum šimtas sad *k *k; *cE [tʃ]; *khH *k; *čE [tʃ]; *cE' [ts] *k *kreuh₂ "raw meat" OE hrēaw raw kravíṣ- kréas cruor kraûjas xoreš *kʷ *p; *tE; *k(u) *qu [kʷ]; *c(O) [k] *ƕ [ʍ]; `-*gw/w- *wh; `-*w- *kʷid, kʷod what kím tí quid, quod kas, kad ce, ci *kʷekʷlom wheel cakrá- kúklos kãklas carx *b *b; *bhH *b *b [b]; -[β]- *p *d *d; *dhH *d *d [d]; -[ð]- *t *déḱm̥(t) ten, Goth. taíhun dáśa déka decem dẽšimt dah *ǵ *j [dʒ]; *hH [ɦ] *z *ž [ʒ] *g *g [ɡ]; -[ɣ]- *k *c / k; *chE' *ǵénu, *ǵnéu- OE cnēo knee jā́nu gónu genu zánu *g *g; *jE [dʒ]; *ghH; *hH,E [ɦ] *g; *žE [ʒ]; *dzE' *g *yugóm yoke yugám zugón iugum jùngas yugh *gʷ *b; *de; *g(u) *u [w > v]; *gun− [ɡʷ] *b [b]; -[β]- *q [kʷ] *qu *gʷīw- quick "alive" jīvá- bíos, bíotos vīvus gývas ze- *bʰ *bh; *b..Ch *b *ph; *p..Ch *f-; *b *b [b]; -[β]-; -*f *b; -*v/f-(rl) *bʰéroh₂ bear "carry" bhar- phérō ferō OCS berǫ bar- *dʰ *dh; *d..Ch *d *th; *t..Ch *f-; *d; *b(r),l,u- *d [d]; -[ð]- *d [d]; -[ð]-; -*þ *d *dʰwer-, dʰur- door dvā́raḥ thurā́ forēs dùrys dar *ǵʰ *h [ɦ]; *j..Ch *z *ž [ʒ] *kh; *k..Ch *h; *h/gR *g [ɡ]; -[ɣ]- *g; -*g- [ɣ]; -*g [x] *g; -*y/w-(rl) *ǵʰans- goose, OHG gans haṁsáḥ khḗn (h)ānser žąsìs gház *gʰ *gh; *hE [ɦ]; *g..Ch; *jE..Ch *g; *žE [ʒ]; *dzE' *g *gʷʰ *ph; *thE; *kh(u); *p..Ch; *tE..Ch; *k(u)..Ch *f-; *g / -*u- [w]; n*gu [ɡʷ] *g; *b-; -*w-; n*gw *g; *b-; -*w- *sneigʷʰ- snow sneha- nípha nivis sniẽgas barf *gʷʰerm- ??warm gharmáḥ thermós formus Latv. gar̂me garm *s *s *h-; -*s; *s(T); -*Ø-; [¯](R) *s; -*r- *s [s]; -[h]- *s; `-*z- *s; `-*r- *septḿ̥ seven saptá heptá septem septynì haft *ṣruki- [ʂ] *xruki- [x] *šruki- [ʃ] *h₂eusōs "dawn" east uṣā́ḥ āṓs aurōra aušra báxtar *m *m *m [m]; -[w̃]- *m *mūs mouse mū́ṣ- mũs mūs OCS myšĭ muš *-m -*m -*˛ [˜] -*n -*m -*n -*Ø *ḱm̥tóm hund(red) śatám (he)katón centum OPrus simtan sad *n *n *n; -*˛ [˜] *n *nokʷt- night nákt- núkt- noct- naktis náštá *l *r (dial. *l) *l *leuk- light ruc- leukós lūx laũkas ruz *r *r *h₁reudʰ- red rudhirá- eruthrós ruber raũdas sorx *i̯ *y [j] *j [j] *z [dz > zd, z] / *h; -*Ø- *i [j]; -*Ø- *Ø *j *y *yugóm yoke yugám zugón iugum jùngas yugh *u̯ *v [ʋ] *v *v [ʋ] *w > h / Ø *u [w > v] *f; -*Ø- *w *h₂weh₁n̥to- wind vā́taḥ áenta ventus vėtra bád PIE Skr. O.C.S. Lith. Greek Latin Old Irish Gothic English

- Notes:

- **C**- At the beginning of a word.

- -**C**- Between vowels.

- -**C** At the end of a word.

- `-**C**- Following an unstressed vowel ([Verner's law](/source/Verner's_law)).

- -**C**-(rl) Between vowels, or between a vowel and ****r, l*** (on either side).

- **C**T Before a (PIE) stop (****p, t, k***).

- **C**T− After a (PIE) obstruent (****p, t, k***, etc.; ****s***).

- **C**(T) Before or after an obstruent (****p, t, k***, etc.; ****s***).

- **C**H Before an original laryngeal.

- **C**E Before a (PIE) front vowel (****i, e***).

- **C**E' Before secondary (post-PIE) front-vowels.

- **C**e Before ****e***.

- **C**(u) Before or after a (PIE) ****u*** ([boukólos rule](/source/Bouk%C3%B3los_rule)).

- **C**(O) Before or after a (PIE) ****o, u*** ([boukólos rule](/source/Bouk%C3%B3los_rule)).

- **C**n− After ****n***.

- **C**R Before a [sonorant](/source/Sonorant) (****r, l, m, n***).

- **C**(R) Before or after a [sonorant](/source/Sonorant) (****r, l, m, n***).

- **C**(r),l,u− Before ****r, l*** or after ****r, u***.

- **C**ruki− After ****r, u, k, i*** ([Ruki sound law](/source/Ruki_sound_law)).

- **C**..Ch Before an aspirated consonant in the next syllable ([Grassmann's law](/source/Grassmann's_law), also known as [dissimilation of aspirates](/source/Dissimilation_of_aspirates)).

- **C**E..Ch Before a (PIE) front vowel (****i, e***) as well as before an aspirated consonant in the next syllable ([Grassmann's law](/source/Grassmann's_law), also known as [dissimilation of aspirates](/source/Dissimilation_of_aspirates)).

- **C**(u)..Ch Before or after a (PIE) ****u*** as well as before an aspirated consonant in the next syllable ([Grassmann's law](/source/Grassmann's_law), also known as [dissimilation of aspirates](/source/Dissimilation_of_aspirates)).

### Comparison of conjugations

Aa comparison of conjugations of the [thematic](/source/Vowel_stems) [present indicative](/source/Present_indicative) of the verbal root **bʰer-* of the English verb *to bear* and its reflexes in various early attested IE languages and their modern descendants or relatives, shows that all languages had in the early stage an inflectional verb system.

Proto-Indo-European (*bʰer- 'to carry, to bear') I (1st sg.) *bʰéroh₂ You (2nd sg.) *bʰéresi He/She/It (3rd sg.) *bʰéreti We two (1st dual) *bʰérowos You two (2nd dual) *bʰéreth₁es They two (3rd dual) *bʰéretes We (1st pl.) *bʰéromos You (2nd pl.) *bʰérete They (3rd pl.) *bʰéronti

Major subgroup Hellenic Indo-Iranian Italic Celtic Armenian Germanic Balto-Slavic Albanian Indo-Aryan Iranian Baltic Slavic Ancient representative Ancient Greek Vedic Sanskrit Avestan Latin Old Irish Classical Armenian Gothic Old Prussian Old Church Sl. Old Albanian I (1st sg.) phérō bʰárāmi barāmi ferō biru; berim berem baíra /bɛra/ *bera berǫ *berja You (2nd sg.) phéreis bʰárasi barahi fers biri; berir beres baíris *bera bereši *berje He/She/It (3rd sg.) phérei bʰárati baraiti fert berid berē baíriþ *bera beretъ *berjet We two (1st dual) — bʰárāvas barāvahi — — — baíros — berevě — You two (2nd dual) phéreton bʰárathas — — — — baírats — bereta — They two (3rd dual) phéreton bʰáratas baratō — — — — — berete — We (1st pl.) phéromen bʰárāmas barāmahi ferimus bermai beremkʿ baíram *beramai beremъ *berjame You (2nd pl.) phérete bʰáratha baraθa fertis beirthe berēkʿ baíriþ *beratei berete *berjeju They (3rd pl.) phérousi bʰáranti barəṇti ferunt berait beren baírand *bera berǫtъ *berjanti Modern representative Modern Greek Hindustani Persian Portuguese Irish Armenian (Eastern; Western) German Lithuanian Slovene Albanian I (1st sg.) férno (ma͠i) bʰarūm̥ (man) {mi}baram {con}firo beirim berum em; g'perem (ich) {ge}bäre beriu bérem (unë) bie You (2nd sg.) férnis (tū) bʰarē (tu) {mi}bari {con}feres beirir berum es; g'peres (du) {ge}bierst beri béreš (ti) bie He/She/It (3rd sg.) férni (ye/vo) bʰarē (ān) {mi}barad {con}fere beiridh berum ē; g'perē (er/sie/es) {ge}biert beria bére (ai/ajo) bie We two (1st dual) — — — — — — — beriava béreva — You two (2nd dual) — — — — — — — beriata béreta — They two (3rd dual) — — — — — — — beria béreta — We (1st pl.) férnume (ham) bʰarēm̥ (mā) {mi}barim {con}ferimos beirimid; beiream berum enkʿ; g'perenkʿ (wir) {ge}bären beriame béremo (ne) biem You (2nd pl.) férnete (tum) bʰaro (šomā) {mi}barid {con}feris beirthidh berum ekʿ; g'perekʿ (ihr) {ge}bärt beriate bérete (ju) bini They (3rd pl.) férnun (ye/vo) bʰarēm̥ (ānān) {mi}barand {con}ferem beirid berum en; g'peren (sie) {ge}bären beria bérejo; berọ́ (ata/ato) bien

Similarities are visible between the modern descendants and relatives of these ancient languages, and the differences have increased over time. Some IE languages have moved from [synthetic](/source/Synthetic_language) verb systems to largely [periphrastic](/source/Periphrastic) systems. Some of these verbs have undergone a change in meaning as well.

- In [Modern Irish](/source/Modern_Irish) *beir* usually only carries the meaning *to bear* in the sense of bearing a child; its common meanings are *to catch, grab*. Apart from the first person, the comparative forms are dialectical or obsolete. The second and third person forms are typically instead conjugated [periphrastically](/source/Periphrasis) by adding a pronoun after the verb: *beireann tú, beireann sé/sí, beireann sibh, beireann siad*.

- The [Hindustani](/source/Hindustani_grammar) ([Hindi](/source/Hindi) and [Urdu](/source/Urdu)) verb *bʰarnā*, the continuation of the Sanskrit verb, can have a variety of meanings, but the most common is "to fill". The comparative forms are etymologically derived from the [present indicative](/source/Present_indicative), and now have the meaning of [future subjunctive](/source/Subjunctive_mood).[79] The loss of the [present indicative](/source/Present_indicative) in Hindustani is roughly compensated by the periphrastic [habitual indicative](/source/Habitual_aspect) construction, using the [habitual participle](/source/Habitual_aspect) (etymologically from the Sanskrit present participle *bʰarant-*) and an auxiliary: *ma͠i bʰartā hū̃, tū bʰartā hai, vah bʰartā hai, ham bʰarte ha͠i, tum bʰarte ho, ve bʰarte ha͠i* (masculine forms).

- The Gothic forms are a close approximation of what the early West Germanic forms of c. 400 AD would have looked like. The descendant of Proto-Germanic **beraną* (English *bear*) survives in German only in the compound *gebären*, meaning "bear (a child)".

- The Latin verb *ferre* is irregular, and not representative of a normal thematic verb. In most Romance languages such as Portuguese, other verbs now mean "to carry" (e.g. Pt. *portar* < Lat. *portare*) and *ferre* was borrowed and nativized only in compounds such as *sofrer* "to suffer" (from Latin *sub-* and *ferre*) and *conferir* "to confer" (from Latin *con-* and *ferre*).

- In Modern [Greek](/source/Greek_language), *phero* φέρω (modern transliteration *fero*) "to bear" is still in specific contexts and is most common in such compounds as αναφέρω, διαφέρω, εισφέρω, εκφέρω, καταφέρω, προφέρω, προαναφέρω, προσφέρω etc. The form that is very common today[*[when?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items)*] is *pherno* φέρνω (modern transliteration *ferno*) meaning "to bring". Additionally, the perfective form of *pherno*, used for the subjunctive voice and also for the future tense, is also *phero*.

- The dual forms are archaic in standard Lithuanian, and are now used only in some dialects, e.g. [Samogitian](/source/Samogitian_dialect).

- Among modern Slavic languages, only Slovene continues to have a dual number in the standard variety.

## Comparison of cognates

Main article: [Indo-European vocabulary](/source/Indo-European_vocabulary)

See also: [Proto-Indo-European numerals](/source/Proto-Indo-European_numerals)

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2026)

## Present distribution

See also: [List of Indo-European languages](/source/List_of_Indo-European_languages)

  An Indo-European language is the majority native language

  An Indo-European language is a co-official and majority native language

  An Indo-European language is an official but minority native language

  An Indo-European language is a cultural or secondary language

  An Indo-European language is not widely spoken

Romance languages in the world

In the current century, Indo-European languages are spoken by billions of [native speakers](/source/Native_speaker#Defining_"native_speaker") across all inhabited continents,[80] the largest number by far for any recognized language family. Of the [20 languages with the largest numbers of speakers](/source/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers) according to *Ethnologue*, ten are Indo-European: [English](/source/English_language), [Hindustani](/source/Hindustani_language), [Spanish](/source/Spanish_language), [Bengali](/source/Bengali_language), [French](/source/French_language), [Russian](/source/Russian_language), [Portuguese](/source/Portuguese_language), [German](/source/German_language), [Persian](/source/Persian_language) and [Punjabi](/source/Punjabi_language), each with 100 million speakers or more.[81] Additionally, hundreds of millions of persons worldwide study Indo-European languages as secondary or tertiary languages, including in cultures which have completely different language families and historical backgrounds—there are around 600 million[82] learners of English, for example.

The success of the language family, including the large number of speakers and the vast portions of the Earth that they inhabit, is due to several factors. The ancient [Indo-European migrations](/source/Indo-European_migrations) and widespread dissemination of [Indo-European culture](/source/Indo-European_culture) throughout [Eurasia](/source/Eurasia), including that of the [Proto-Indo-Europeans](/source/Proto-Indo-Europeans) themselves, and that of their daughter cultures including the [Indo-Aryans](/source/Indo-Aryan_migration_theory), [Iranian peoples](/source/Iranian_peoples), [Celts](/source/Celts), [Greeks](/source/Hellenistic_period), [Romans](/source/Roman_Empire), [Germanic peoples](/source/Germanic_peoples), and [Slavs](/source/Slavs), led to these peoples' branches of the language family already taking a dominant foothold in virtually all of [Eurasia](/source/Eurasia) except for swathes of the [Near East](/source/Near_East), [North](/source/North_Asia) and [East Asia](/source/East_Asia), replacing many of the previously-spoken [pre-Indo-European languages](/source/Pre-Indo-European_languages) of this extensive area. [Semitic languages](/source/Semitic_languages) remain dominant in much of the [Middle East](/source/Middle_East) and [North Africa](/source/North_Africa), and [Caucasian languages](/source/Caucasian_languages) in much of the [Caucasus](/source/Caucasus) region. Similarly in [Europe](/source/Europe) and the [Urals](/source/Urals) the [Uralic languages](/source/Uralic_languages), such as Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian, remain, as does [Basque](/source/Basque_language), a pre-Indo-European isolate.

Before becoming aware of the common linguistic origin, diverse groups of Indo-European speakers continued to culturally dominate and often replace the indigenous languages of the western two-thirds of Eurasia. By the beginning of the [Common Era](/source/Common_Era), Indo-European peoples controlled almost the entirety of this area: the Celts western and central Europe, the Romans southern Europe, the Germanic peoples northern Europe, the Slavs eastern Europe, the Iranian peoples most of western and central Asia and parts of eastern Europe, and the Indo-Aryan peoples in the [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent), with the [Tocharians](/source/Tocharians) inhabiting the Indo-European frontier in western China. By the medieval period, the [Semitic](/source/Semitic_languages), [Dravidian](/source/Dravidian_languages), [Caucasian](/source/Languages_of_the_Caucasus), and [Uralic languages](/source/Uralic_languages), and the language isolate [Basque](/source/Basque_language) remained of the [indigenous languages of Europe](/source/Paleo-European_languages) and the western half of Asia.

Alongside medieval invasions by [Eurasian nomads](/source/Eurasian_nomads), a group to which the Proto-Indo-Europeans had once belonged, Indo-European expansion reached another peak in the [early modern period](/source/Early_modern_period) with the dramatic increase in the population of the [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent) and European expansionism throughout the globe during the [Age of Discovery](/source/Age_of_Discovery), as well as the continued replacement and assimilation of surrounding non-Indo-European languages and peoples due to increased state centralization and [nationalism](/source/Nationalism). These trends compounded throughout the modern period due to the general global [population growth](/source/Population_growth) and the results of [European colonization](/source/European_colonization) of the [Western Hemisphere](/source/Western_Hemisphere) and [Oceania](/source/Oceania), leading to an explosion in the number of Indo-European speakers as well as the territories inhabited by them.

Due to colonization and the modern dominance of Indo-European languages in the fields of politics, global science, technology, education, finance, and sports, many modern countries whose populations largely speak non-Indo-European languages have Indo-European languages as official languages, and the majority of the global population speaks at least one Indo-European language. The overwhelming majority of [languages used on the Internet](/source/Languages_used_on_the_Internet) are Indo-European, with [English](/source/English_language) continuing to lead the group; English in general has in many respects [become the *lingua franca*](/source/English_as_a_lingua_franca) of global communication.

## See also

Look up ***[Appendix:Indo-European Swadesh lists](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Indo-European_Swadesh_lists)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Indo-European languages](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Indo-European_languages).

- [Eurasiatic languages](/source/Eurasiatic_languages) – Proposed language macrofamily

- [Grammatical conjugation](/source/Grammatical_conjugation) – Creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection

- [*The Horse, the Wheel, and Language*](/source/The_Horse%2C_the_Wheel%2C_and_Language) – 2007 book by David W. Anthony

- [Indo-European copula](/source/Indo-European_copula) – Presence of the verb "to be" in Indo-European languages

- [Indo-European sound laws](/source/Indo-European_sound_laws)

- [Indo-European studies](/source/Indo-European_studies) – Subfield of linguistics

- [Indo-Semitic languages](/source/Indo-Semitic_languages) – Obsolete language hypothesis

- [Indo-Uralic languages](/source/Indo-Uralic_languages) – Hypothetical language family consisting of Indo-European and UralicPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

- [Language family](/source/Language_family) – Group of languages related through a common ancestor

- [Languages of Asia](/source/Languages_of_Asia)

- [Languages of Europe](/source/Languages_of_Europe)

- [Languages of India](/source/Languages_of_India)

- [Linguistics](/source/Linguistics) – Scientific study of language

- [List of Indo-European languages](/source/List_of_Indo-European_languages)

- [Proto-Indo-European root](/source/Proto-Indo-European_root) – Most basic form of words in the Proto-Indo-European language

- [Proto-Indo-European religion](/source/Proto-Indo-European_religion)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** The sentence goes on to say, equally correctly as it turned out: "...here is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family."

## References

### Citations

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["What are the largest language families?"](http://www.ethnologue.com/guides/largest-families). Ethnologue.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Bryce, Trevor (2005). *Kingdom of the Hittites* (New ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 37. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-928132-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-928132-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Mallory, J. P. (2006). *The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World*. Oxford University Press. p. 442. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-928791-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-928791-8).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAuroux20001156_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAuroux20001156_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAuroux20001156_5-2) [Auroux 2000](#CITEREFAuroux2000), p. 1156.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBeekes2011[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA12_12]_6-0)** [Beekes 2011](#CITEREFBeekes2011), p. [12](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA12).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Lomonosov_7-0)** [M. V. Lomonosov (drafts for *Russian Grammar*, published 1755). In: Complete Edition, Moscow, 1952, vol. 7, pp. 652–659](http://feb-web.ru/feb/lomonos/texts/lo0/lo7/lo7-5952.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200801211720/http://feb-web.ru/feb/lomonos/texts/lo0/lo7/lo7-5952.htm) 1 August 2020 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine): Представимъ долготу времени, которою сіи языки раздѣлились. ... Польской и россійской языкъ коль давно раздѣлились! Подумай же, когда курляндской! Подумай же, когда латинской, греч., нѣм., росс. О глубокая древность! [Imagine the depth of time when these languages separated! ... Polish and Russian separated so long ago! Now think how long ago [this happened to] Kurlandic! Think when [this happened to] Latin, Greek, German, and Russian! Oh, great antiquity!]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Poser, William J.; Campbell, Lyle (1992). "Indo-European Practice and Historical Methodology". [*Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on The Place of Morphology in a Grammar*](http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/BLS/article/view/1574). Vol. 18. Berkeley Linguistics Society. pp. 227–228. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3765/bls.v18i1.1574](https://doi.org/10.3765%2Fbls.v18i1.1574). Retrieved 7 December 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Blench, Roger (2004). ["Archaeology and Language: methods and issues"](https://web.archive.org/web/20060517091902/http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology%20data/CH4-BLENCH.pdf) (PDF). In John Bintliff (ed.). *A Companion To Archaeology*. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 52–74. Archived from [the original](http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology%20data/CH4-BLENCH.pdf) (PDF) on 17 May 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2010. Blench erroneously included [Egyptian](/source/Egyptian_language), [Japanese](/source/Japanese_language), and [Chinese](/source/Chinese_language) in the Indo-European languages, while omitting [Hindi](/source/Hindi).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Jones-1807_11-0)** Jones, William (2 February 1786). ["The Third Anniversary Discourse"](http://www.eliohs.unifi.it/testi/700/jones/Jones_Discourse_3.html). *Electronic Library of Historiography*. Universita degli Studi Firenze, taken from: Shore, John (1807). *The Works of Sir William Jones. With a Life of the Author*. Vol. III. John Stockdale and John Walker. pp. 24–46. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [899731310](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/899731310).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Robinson, Andrew (2007). [*The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, the Anonymous Genius who Proved Newton Wrong and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, among Other Surprising Feats*](https://archive.org/details/lastmanwhoknewev00robi). Penguin. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-13-134304-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-13-134304-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** In *London Quarterly Review* X/2 1813.; cf. [Szemerényi, Jones & Jones 1999](#CITEREFSzemerényiJonesJones1999), p. 12 footnote 6.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Bopp, Franz (2010) [1816]. *Über das Conjugationssystem der Sanskritsprache: in Vergleichung mit jenem der griechischen, lateinischen, persischen und germanischen Sprache*. Documenta Semiotica: Serie 1, Linguistik (in German) (2nd ed.). Hildesheim: Olms.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Kurylowicz, Jerzy (1927). "ə indo-européen et ḫ hittite". In Taszycki, W.; Doroszewski, W. (eds.). *Symbolae grammaticae in honorem Ioannis Rozwadowski*. Vol. 1. pp. 95–104.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-dictalit_16-0)** [Elsie, Robert](/source/Robert_Elsie) (2005). "Theodor of Shkodra (1210) and Other Early Texts". *Albanian Literature: A Short History*. New York: [I. B. Tauris](/source/I._B._Tauris). p. 5.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** In his latest book, [Eric Hamp](/source/Eric_Hamp) supports the thesis that the Illyrian language belongs to the Northwestern group, that the Albanian language is descended from Illyrian, and that Albanian is related to Messapic which is an earlier Illyrian dialect ([Hamp 2007](#CITEREFHamp2007)).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-De_Vaan_18-0)** [De Vaan, Michiel](/source/Michiel_de_Vaan) (11 June 2018). ["The phonology of Albanian"](https://books.google.com/books?id=SuR8DwAAQBAJ&q=Ylli+Proto-Albanian&pg=PA1732). In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). *Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics*. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 1732–1749. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-11-054243-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-11-054243-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Curtis, Matthew Cowan (30 November 2011). [*Slavic–Albanian Language Contact, Convergence, and Coexistence*](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED546136). p. 18. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-267-58033-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-267-58033-7). Retrieved 31 March 2017. So while linguists may debate about the ties between Albanian and older languages of the Balkans, and while most Albanians may take the genealogical connection to Illyrian as incontrovertible, the fact remains that there is simply insufficient evidence to connect Illyrian, Thracian, or Dacian with any language, including Albanian

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** ["The peaks and troughs of Hittite"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170203061604/http://www.leidenuniv.nl/en/researcharchive/index.php3-c=178.htm). *www.leidenuniv.nl*. 2 May 2006. Archived from [the original](http://www.leidenuniv.nl/en/researcharchive/index.php3-c=178.htm) on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Güterbock, Hans G. ["The Hittite Computer Analysis Project"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224845/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/ar/61-70/65-66/65-66_CHD.pdf) (PDF). Archived from [the original](http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/ar/61-70/65-66/65-66_CHD.pdf) (PDF) on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-d093_22-0)** ["Proceedings Volume 12"](https://books.google.com/books?id=Hz_lAAAAMAAJ). *Google*. 14 October 2009. p. 61. Retrieved 20 October 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-f026_23-0)** ["Anitta Text"](https://library.schlagergroup.com/chapter/9781961844193-book-part-013). *Schlager Group Inc*. Retrieved 20 October 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-d441_24-0)** Art, Percival David Foundation of Chinese (1979). [*Decorative Techniques and Styles in Asian Ceramics: A Colloquy Held 26-28 June 1978*](https://books.google.com/books?id=W3HrAAAAMAAJ). Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. p. 36. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7286-0067-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7286-0067-6). Retrieved 20 October 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** [Gamkrelidze, Tamaz V.](/source/Tamaz_V._Gamkrelidze); [Ivanov, Vyacheslav](/source/Ivanov%2C_Vyacheslav) (1995). *Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture. Part I: The Text. Part II: Bibliography, Indexes*. Walter de Gruyter. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-11-081503-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-11-081503-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** Haber, Marc; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Xue, Yali; Comas, David; Gasparini, Paolo; Zalloua, Pierre; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2015). "Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations". *European Journal of Human Genetics*. **24** (6): 931–936. [bioRxiv](/source/BioRxiv) 10.1101/015396. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):10.1038/ejhg.2015.206. [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) 4820045. [PMID](/source/PMID) 26486470.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** Such as [Schleicher 1874–1877](#CITEREFSchleicher1874–1877), p. 8, [Szemerényi 1957](#CITEREFSzemerényi1957), [Collinge 1985](#CITEREFCollinge1985), and [Beekes 1995](#CITEREFBeekes1995), p. 22.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** ["Tablet Discovery Pushes Earliest European Writing Back 150 Years"](http://www.science20.com/news_articles/tablet_discovery_pushes_earliest_european_writing_back_150_years-77650). *Science 2.0*. 30 March 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Dosuna2012_29-0)** Dosuna, J. Méndez (2012). "Ancient Macedonian as a Greek dialect: A critical survey on recent work (Greek, English, French, German text)". In Giannakis, Georgios K. (ed.). *Ancient Macedonia: Language, History, Culture*. Centre for Greek Language. p. 145. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-960-7779-52-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-960-7779-52-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** Obrador-Cursach, Bartomeu (2022). [*The Phrygian Language*](https://books.google.com/books?id=PghZEAAAQBAJ). Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East. Vol. 139. BRILL. p. 121. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789004419995](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789004419995). The Thracian corpus is too short to give an overview of this language and Macedonian is better explained as a Greek dialect than a proper language (...).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-31)** [*Indian History*](https://books.google.com/books?id=MazdaWXQFuQC&pg=SL1-PA114). Allied Publishers. 1988. p. 114. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-81-8424-568-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-81-8424-568-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** Mark, Joshua J. (28 April 2011). ["Mitanni"](https://www.worldhistory.org/Mitanni/). *[World History Encyclopedia](/source/World_History_Encyclopedia)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** Anthony, David W. (2013). ["Two IE phylogenies, three PIE migrations, and four kinds of steppe pastoralism"](https://doi.org/10.31826%2Fjlr-2013-090105). *Journal of Language Relationship*. **9**: 1–22. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.31826/jlr-2013-090105](https://doi.org/10.31826%2Fjlr-2013-090105). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [132712913](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:132712913).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** F. Ribezzo, *Revue Internationale d'Onomastique*, II, 1948 p. 43 sq. et III 1949, p. 45 sq., M.Almagro dans *RSLig*, XVI, 1950, p. 42 sq, P.Laviosa Zambotti, l.c.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Bernard_35-0)** Bernard, Sergent (1995). *Les Indo-Européens: Histoire, langues, mythes* (in French). Paris: Bibliothèques scientifiques Payot. pp. 84–85.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Olga_36-0)** Tribulato, Olga (December 2012). *Language and Linguistic Contact in Ancient Sicily*. [Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press). pp. 95–114. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-139-24893-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-139-24893-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-37)** Price, Glanville (April 2000). *Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe*. [John Wiley & Sons](/source/John_Wiley_%26_Sons). p. 136. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-631-22039-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-631-22039-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-kruta1_38-0)** Kruta, Venceslas (1991). *The Celts*. Thames and Hudson. p. 54.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-39)** Trumper, John (2018). "Some Celto-Albanian isoglosses and their implications". In Grimaldi, Mirko; Lai, Rosangela; Franco, Ludovico; Baldi, Benedetta (eds.). [*Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond: In Honour of Leonardo M. Savoia*](https://books.google.com/books?id=kAR-DwAAQBAJ). John Benjamins Publishing Company. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789027263179](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789027263179). pp. 283–286.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-40)** Friedman, Victor A. (2020). "The Balkans". In [Evangelia Adamou](/source/Evangelia_Adamou), [Yaron Matras](/source/Yaron_Matras) (ed.). [*The Routledge Handbook of Language Contact*](https://books.google.com/books?id=x4rvDwAAQBAJ). Routledge Handbooks in Linguistics. Routledge. pp. 385–403. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-351-10914-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-351-10914-7). p. 388

1. **[^](#cite_ref-41)** Friedman, Victor A. (2011). "The Balkan Languages and Balkan Linguistics". *Annual Review of Anthropology*. **40**: 275–291. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145932](https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-anthro-081309-145932).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-42)** Fine, John (1985). *The ancient Greeks: a critical history*. [Harvard University Press](/source/Harvard_University_Press). p. 72. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-674-03314-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-03314-6). Most scholars now believe that the Sicans and Sicels, as well as the inhabitants of southern Italy, were basically of Illyrian stock superimposed on an aboriginal 'Mediterranean' population.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-43)** Lejeune, Michel (1974). *Manuel de la langue vénète*. Heidelberg: C. Winter. p. 341.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-44)** Pokorny, Julius (1959). *Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch* [*Indogermanic Etymological Dictionary*] (in German). Bern: Francke. pp. 708–709, 882–884.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-chang_45-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-chang_45-1) Chang, Will; Chundra, Cathcart (January 2015). ["Ancestry-constrained phylogenetic analysis supports the Indo-European steppe hypothesis"](https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/news/ChangEtAlPreprint.pdf) (PDF). *[Language](/source/Language_(journal))*. **91** (1): 194–244. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1353/lan.2015.0005](https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2015.0005). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [143978664](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:143978664). Retrieved 30 September 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-remco_46-0)** Bouckaert, Remco; Lemey, Philippe (24 August 2012). ["Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4112997). *Science*. **337** (6097): 957–960. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2012Sci...337..957B](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012Sci...337..957B). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1126/science.1219669](https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1219669). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[11858/00-001M-0000-000F-EADF-A](https://hdl.handle.net/11858%2F00-001M-0000-000F-EADF-A). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [4112997](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4112997). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [22923579](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22923579).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-drinka_47-0)** [Drinka, Bridget](/source/Bridget_Drinka) (1 January 2013). "Phylogenetic and areal models of Indo-European relatedness: The role of contact in reconstruction". *Journal of Language Contact*. **6** (2): 379–410. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1163/19552629-00602009](https://doi.org/10.1163%2F19552629-00602009).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-48)** [François, Alexandre](/source/Alexandre_Fran%C3%A7ois_(linguist)) (2014), ["Trees, Waves and Linkages: Models of Language Diversification"](https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2014_HHL_Trees-waves-linkages_Diversification.pdf) (PDF), in Bowern, Claire; Evans, Bethwyn (eds.), *The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics*, London: [Routledge](/source/Routledge), pp. 161–189, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-415-52789-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-52789-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-49)** Blažek, Václav (2007). "From August Schleicher to Sergei Starostin: on the development of the tree-diagram models of the Indo-European languages". *[Journal of Indo-European Studies](/source/Journal_of_Indo-European_Studies)*. **35** (1–2): 82–109.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-50)** Meillet, Antoine (1908). *Les dialectes indo-européens* [*The Indo-European dialects*] (in French). Paris: Honoré Champion.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-51)** Bonfante, Giuliano (1931). *I dialetti indoeuropei*. Brescia: Paideia.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPorzig1954_52-0)** [Porzig 1954](#CITEREFPorzig1954).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-53)** Nakhleh, Luay; Ringe, Don & [Warnow, Tandy](/source/Tandy_Warnow) (2005). ["Perfect Phylogenetic Networks: A New Methodology for Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Natural Languages"](http://www.cs.rice.edu/~nakhleh/Papers/NRWlanguage.pdf) (PDF). *[Language](/source/Language_(journal))*. **81** (2): 382–420. [CiteSeerX](/source/CiteSeerX_(identifier)) [10.1.1.65.1791](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.65.1791). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1353/lan.2005.0078](https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2005.0078). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [162958](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162958).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-54)** Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (1997). *Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture*. London: Fitzroy Dearborn.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPorzig195439_55-0)** [Porzig 1954](#CITEREFPorzig1954), p. 39.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFortson2004247_56-0)** [Fortson 2004](#CITEREFFortson2004), p. 247.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-57)** Watkins, Calvert (1966). "Italo-Celtic revisited". In Birnbaum, Henrik; Puhvel, Jaan (eds.). *Ancient Indo-European dialects*. Berkeley: [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press). pp. 29–50.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-58)** Weiss, Michael (2012). Jamison, Stephanie W.; Melchert, H. Craig; Vine, Brent (eds.). [*Italo-Celtica: linguistic and cultural points of contact between Italic and Celtic*](https://www.academia.edu/3249855). Proceedings of the 23rd annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen. pp. 151–173. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-934106-99-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-934106-99-4). Retrieved 19 February 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-59)** Greppin, James (1996). "Review of *The linguistic relationship between Armenian and Greek* by James Clackson". *[Language](/source/Language_(journal))*. **72** (4): 804–807. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/416105](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F416105). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [416105](https://www.jstor.org/stable/416105).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-60)** [Euler, Wolfram](/source/Wolfram_Euler) (1979). *Indoiranisch-griechische Gemeinsamkeiten der Nominalbildung und deren indogermanische Grundlagen* [*Indo-Iranian-Greek similarities in nominal formation and their Indo-European foundations*] (in German). Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELubotsky1988_61-0)** [Lubotsky 1988](#CITEREFLubotsky1988).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKortlandt1988_62-0)** [Kortlandt 1988](#CITEREFKortlandt1988).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-63)** [Renfrew, Colin](/source/Colin_Renfrew) (1987). *Archaeology & Language. The Puzzle of the Indo-European Origins*. London: Jonathan Cape. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-224-02495-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-224-02495-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEncyclopædia_Britannica1981593_64-0)** [Encyclopædia Britannica 1981](#CITEREFEncyclopædia_Britannica1981), p. 593.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEncyclopædia_Britannica1981p._667_George_S._Lane,_Douglas_Q._Adams,_''The_Tocharian_problem''_65-0)** [Encyclopædia Britannica 1981](#CITEREFEncyclopædia_Britannica1981), p. 667 George S. Lane, Douglas Q. Adams, *The Tocharian problem*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-66)** The supposed autochthony of Hittites, the Indo-Hittite hypothesis and migration of agricultural "Indo-European" societies became intrinsically linked together by Colin Renfrew ([Renfrew 2001](#CITEREFRenfrew2001), pp. 36–73).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEncyclopædia_Britannica1981Houwink_ten_Cate,_H._J.;_Melchert,_H._Craig_&_van_den_Hout,_Theo_P._J._p._586_''The_parent_language,_Laryngeal_theory'';_pp._589,_593_''Anatolian_languages''_67-0)** [Encyclopædia Britannica 1981](#CITEREFEncyclopædia_Britannica1981), Houwink ten Cate, H. J.; Melchert, H. Craig & van den Hout, Theo P. J. p. 586 *The parent language, Laryngeal theory*; pp. 589, 593 *Anatolian languages*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEncyclopædia_Britannica1981p._594,_''Indo-Hittite_hypothesis''_68-0)** [Encyclopædia Britannica 1981](#CITEREFEncyclopædia_Britannica1981), p. 594, *Indo-Hittite hypothesis*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-69)** [Holm 2008](#CITEREFHolm2008), pp. 629–636. The result is a partly new chain of separation for the main Indo-European branches, which fits well to the grammatical facts, as well as to the geographical distribution of these branches. In particular it clearly demonstrates that the Anatolian languages did not part as first ones and thereby refutes the Indo-Hittite hypothesis.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEncyclopædia_Britannica1981588,_594_70-0)** [Encyclopædia Britannica 1981](#CITEREFEncyclopædia_Britannica1981), pp. 588, 594.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKortlandt1990_71-0)** [Kortlandt 1990](#CITEREFKortlandt1990).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Kallio2018_72-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Kallio2018_72-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Kallio2018_72-2) Kallio, Petri; Koivulehto, Jorma (2018). "More remote relationships of Proto-Indo-European". In Jared Klein; Brian Joseph; Matthias Fritz (eds.). *Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics*. pp. 2280–2291.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAnthony200756–58_73-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAnthony200756–58_73-1) [Anthony 2007](#CITEREFAnthony2007), pp. 56–58.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERinge200667_74-0)** [Ringe 2006](#CITEREFRinge2006), p. 67.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAnthony2007100_75-0)** [Anthony 2007](#CITEREFAnthony2007), p. 100.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-76)** Vijay, John; Slocum, Jonathan (10 November 2008). ["Indo-European Languages: Balto-Slavic Family"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110604200234/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/iedocctr/ie-lg/Balto-Slavic.html). Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas. Archived from [the original](http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/iedocctr/ie-lg/Balto-Slavic.html) on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBeekes2011[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA30_p._30],_[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA13_Skt:_13],_[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA20_Hitt:_20],_[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA24_Gk:_24]_77-0)** [Beekes 2011](#CITEREFBeekes2011), [p. 30](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA30), [Skt: 13](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA13), [Hitt: 20](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA20), [Gk: 24](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA24).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-k396_78-0)** See [p.49](https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Horse_the_Wheel_and_Language/0FDqf415wqgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA49&printsec=frontcover) of [Anthony (2010)](#HWL).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEWitzel20015_and_footnote_nr._8,_36,_49,_53–55_79-0)** [Witzel 2001](#CITEREFWitzel2001), pp. 5 and footnote nr. 8, 36, 49, 53–55.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBeekes2011p._30,_[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA19_Toch:_19],_Arm:_20,_Alb:_25_&_[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA124_124],_[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidW-HXnIG75PYCpgPA27_OIr:27]_80-0)** [Beekes 2011](#CITEREFBeekes2011), p. 30, [Toch: 19](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA19), Arm: 20, Alb: 25 & [124](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA124), [OIr:27](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC&pg=PA27).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:1_81-0)** van Olphen, Herman (1975). ["Aspect, Tense, and Mood in the Hindi Verb"](http://www.jstor.org/stable/24651488). *Indo-Iranian Journal*. **16** (4): 284–301. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1163/000000075791615397](https://doi.org/10.1163%2F000000075791615397). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0019-7246](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0019-7246). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [24651488](https://www.jstor.org/stable/24651488). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [161530848](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161530848).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-82)** ["Ethnologue list of language families"](http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=family) (22nd ed.). [Ethnologue](/source/Ethnologue). 25 May 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-83)** ["Ethnologue list of languages by number of speakers"](http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=size). [Ethnologue](/source/Ethnologue). 3 October 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-84)** ["English"](https://www.ethnologue.com/language/eng). [Ethnologue](/source/Ethnologue). Retrieved 17 January 2017.

### Sources

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- Anthony, David W. (2007). [*The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World*](https://books.google.com/books?id=0FDqf415wqgC). Princeton University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-691-05887-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-691-05887-0).

- Auroux, Sylvain (2000). [*History of the Language Sciences*](https://books.google.com/books?id=yasNy365EywC&q=3110167352&pg=PA1156). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-11-016735-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-11-016735-1).

- [Beekes, Robert S. P.](/source/Robert_S._P._Beekes) (1995). *Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction*. Translated by Vertalers, Uva; Gabriner, Paul (1st ed.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9027221510](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9027221510).

- [Beekes, Robert S. P.](/source/Robert_S._P._Beekes) (2011). [*Comparative Indo-European linguistics: An Introduction*](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-HXnIG75PYC). Revised and corrected by [Michiel de Vaan](/source/Michiel_de_Vaan) (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9027285003](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9027285003). Paperback: [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9027211866](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9027211866).

- [Brugmann, Karl](/source/Karl_Brugmann) (1886). *Grundriss der Vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen* (in German). Vol. Erster Band. Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner.

- Collinge, N.E. (1985). [*The Laws of Indo-European*](https://archive.org/details/lawsofindoeurope0000coll). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789027235305](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789027235305).

- [Fortson, Benjamin W.](/source/Benjamin_W._Fortson_IV) (2004). *Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction*. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4051-0315-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4051-0315-2).

- Hamp, Eric (2007). Rexhep Ismajli (ed.). *Studime krahasuese për shqipen* [*Comparative studies on Albanian*] (in Albanian). Akademia e Shkencave dhe e Arteve e Kosovës, Prishtinë.

- Holm, Hans J. (2008). ["The Distribution of Data in Word Lists and its Impact on the Subgrouping of Languages"](http://www.hjholm.de/). In Preisach, Christine; Burkhardt, Hans; Schmidt-Thieme, Lars; et al. (eds.). [*Data analysis, machine learning and applications*](https://archive.org/details/springer_10.1007-978-3-540-78246-9). Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the German Classification Society (GfKl), University of Freiburg, 7–9 March 2007. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-540-78239-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-540-78239-1).

- [Kortlandt, Frederik](/source/Frederik_Kortlandt) (1988). "The Thraco-Armenian consonant shift". *Linguistique Balkanique*. **31**: 71–74.

- Kortlandt, Frederik (1990) [1989]. ["The Spread of the Indo-Europeans"](http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art111e.pdf) (PDF). *Journal of Indo-European Studies*. **18** (1–2): 131–140.

- [Lubotsky, Alexander](/source/Alexander_Lubotsky) (1988). ["The Old Phrygian Areyastis-inscription"](https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/2660/299_011.pdf) (PDF). *Kadmos*. **27**: 9–26. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1515/kadmos-1988-0103](https://doi.org/10.1515%2Fkadmos-1988-0103). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[1887/2660](https://hdl.handle.net/1887%2F2660). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [162944161](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162944161).

- Porzig, Walter (1954). *Die Gliederung des indogermanischen Sprachgebiets*. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag.

- [Renfrew, C.](/source/Colin_Renfrew) (2001). "The Anatolian origins of Proto-Indo-European and the autochthony of the Hittites". In [Drews, R.](/source/Robert_Drews) (ed.). *Greater Anatolia and the Indo-Hittite language family*. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-941694-77-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-941694-77-3).

- [Ringe, Don](/source/Donald_Ringe) (2006). [*From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic*](https://archive.org/details/anglosaxondictionary_202001/From%20Proto-Indo-European%20to%20Proto-Germanic/mode/2up). A Linguistic History of English (1st ed.). New York City: [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-928413-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-928413-9). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [64554645](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/64554645). [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [7405151M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7405151M). [Wikidata](/source/WDQ_(identifier)) [Q131605459](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131605459).

- [Schleicher, August](/source/August_Schleicher) (1861). *Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen* (in German). Weimar: Böhlau (reprinted by Minerva GmbH, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-8102-1071-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-8102-1071-5). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

- [Schleicher, August](/source/August_Schleicher) (1874–1877). [*A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European, Sanskrit, Greek and Latin languages*](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.13063/page/n2). Part I and Part II. Translated by Bendall, Herbert. London: Trübner & Co. [Part II via Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/acompendiumcomp00schlgoog/page/n8).

- [Szemerényi, Oswald John Louis](/source/Oswald_Szemer%C3%A9nyi) (1957). "The Problem of Balto-Slav Unity: A Critical Survey". *Kratylos*. **2**. O. Harrassowitz: 97–123. - Reprinted in Szemerényi, Oswald John Louis (1991). Considine, P.; Hooker, James T. (eds.). *Scripta Minora: Selected Essays in Indo-European, Greek, and Latin*. Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft. Vol. IV: Indo-European Languages other than Latin and Greek. Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck. pp. 2145–2171. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-85124-611-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-85124-611-7). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1816-3920](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1816-3920).

- [Szemerényi, Oswald John Louis](/source/Oswald_Szemer%C3%A9nyi); Jones, David; Jones, Irene (1999). *Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics*. Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-823870-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-823870-6).

- von Bradke, Peter (1890). *Über Methode und Ergebnisse der arischen (indogermanischen) Alterthumswissenshaft* (in German). Giessen: J. Ricker'che Buchhandlung.

- Sigfried J. de Laet, ed. (1996). [*History of Humanity: From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century B.C.*](https://books.google.com/books?id=BnY0KYbJC6wC) UNESCO Publishing. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-92-3-102811-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-92-3-102811-3).

- [Witzel, Michael](/source/Michael_Witzel) (2001). ["Autochthonous Aryans? The evidence from Old Indian and Iranian texts"](https://doi.org/10.11588%2Fejvs.2001.3.830). *Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies*. **7** (3): 1–93. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.11588/ejvs.2001.3.830](https://doi.org/10.11588%2Fejvs.2001.3.830).

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia), [Cyprus](/source/Geography_of_Cyprus), [Armenian highlands](/source/Armenian_highlands) and the [Iranian plateau](/source/Iranian_plateau).

## Further reading

- Bjørn, Rasmus G. (2022). ["Indo-European Loanwords and Exchange in Bronze Age Central and East Asia"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10432883). *Evolutionary Human Sciences*. **4** e23. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/ehs.2022.16](https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fehs.2022.16). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [10432883](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10432883). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [37599704](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37599704). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [248358873](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:248358873).

- [Chakrabarti, Byomkes](/source/Byomkes_Chakrabarti) (1994). *A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali*. Calcutta: K. P. Bagchi & Co. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-81-7074-128-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-81-7074-128-2).

- [Chantraine, Pierre](/source/Pierre_Chantraine) (1968). [*Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque*](https://archive.org/details/Dictionnaire-Etymologique-Grec). Paris: Klincksieck – via Internet Archive.

- [Gimbutas, Marija](/source/Marija_Gimbutas) (1997). Robbins Dexter, Miriam; Jones-Bley, Karlene (eds.). [*The Kurgan Culture and The Indo-Europeanization of Europe*](https://www.jies.org/DOCS/monojpgs/Mon18.html). JIES Monograph. Vol. 18. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-941694-56-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-941694-56-9).

- Kroonen, Guus; Mallory, James P.; Comrie, Bernard, eds. (2018). [*Talking Neolithic: Proceedings of the Workshop on Indo-European Origins held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, December 2–3, 2013*](https://www.jies.org/DOCS/monojpgs/Mon65.html). JIES Monograph. Vol. 65. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9983669-2-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9983669-2-0).

- [Mallory, J. P.](/source/J._P._Mallory) (1989). [*In Search of the Indo-Europeans*](https://archive.org/details/insearchofindoeu00jpma). London: Thames and Hudson. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-500-27616-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-500-27616-7) – via Internet Archive.

- Markey, T. L.; Repanšek, Luka, eds. (2020). [*Revisiting Dispersions Celtic and Germanic ca. 400 BC–ca. 400 AD Proceedings of the International Interdisciplinary Conference held at Dolenjski muzej, Novo mesto, Slovenia; October 12th–14th, 2018*](https://www.jies.org/DOCS/monojpgs/Mon67.html). JIES Monograph. Vol. 67. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9845353-7-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9845353-7-8).

- [Meillet, Antoine](/source/Antoine_Meillet) (1936). [*Esquisse d'une grammaire comparée de l'arménien classique*](https://archive.org/details/esquissedunegram0000meil) (2nd ed.). Vienna: [Mekhitarist Monastery](/source/Mekhitarist_Monastery%2C_Vienna) – via Internet Archive.

- Olander, Thomas, ed. (September 2022). [*The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective*](https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/143059). Cambridge University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/9781108758666](https://doi.org/10.1017%2F9781108758666). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-108-75866-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-108-75866-6). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [161016819](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161016819).

- Ramat, Paolo; Giacalone Ramat, Anna, eds. (1998). *The Indo-European Languages*. London: Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-415-06449-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-06449-X).

- Remys, Edmund (17 December 2007). "General distinguishing features of various Indo-European languages and their relationship to Lithuanian". *Indogermanische Forschungen*. **112** (2007): 244–276. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1515/9783110192858.1.244](https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9783110192858.1.244). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-11-019285-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-11-019285-8). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0019-7262](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0019-7262). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [169996117](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:169996117).

- Strazny, Philip; [Trask, R. L.](/source/Larry_Trask), eds. (2000). *Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics* (1st ed.). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-57958-218-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-57958-218-0).

- [Watkins, Calvert](/source/Calvert_Watkins) (2000). *The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots*. Houghton Mifflin. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-618-08250-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-618-08250-6).

- Asadpour, Hiwa, and Thomas Jügel, eds. Word Order Variation: Semitic, Turkic and Indo-European Languages in Contact. Vol. 31. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2022.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Indo-European languages](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Indo-European_languages).

[Wikisource](/source/Wikisource) has the text of the [1911 *Encyclopædia Britannica*](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition) article "[Indo-European Languages](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Indo-European_Languages)".

[Library resources](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library) about
 **Indo-European languages**

- [Online books](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=wp&su=Indo-European+languages&library=OLBP)

- [Resources in your library](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=wp&su=Indo-European+languages)

- [Resources in other libraries](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=wp&su=Indo-European+languages&library=0CHOOSE0)

- [Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (1997)](https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfIndoEuropeanCulture/mode/2up)

### Databases

- Dyen, Isidore; Kruskal, Joseph; Black, Paul (1997). ["Comparative Indo-European"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100522002324/http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/). wordgumbo. Archived from [the original](http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/) on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2009.

- ["Indo-European"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171010183735/http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/group?id=4). LLOW Languages of the World. Archived from [the original](http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/group?id=4) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2009.

- ["Indo-European Documentation Center"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090903062241/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/iedocctr/ie.html). Linguistics Research Center, [University of Texas at Austin](/source/University_of_Texas_at_Austin). 2009. Archived from [the original](http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/iedocctr/ie.html) on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.

- Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). "Language Family Trees: Indo-European". [*Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Online version*](http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=2-16) (16th ed.). Dallas: SIL International..

- ["Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien: TITUS"](http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/indexe.htm) (in German). TITUS, University of Frankfurt. 2003. Retrieved 13 December 2009.

- ["Indo-European Lexical Cognacy Database (IELex)"](https://github.com/evotext/ielex-data-and-tree). Uppsala University. 2021.

- [Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online](https://spw.uni-goettingen.de/projects/aig/index.html), an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen

### Lexica

- ["Indo-European Etymological Dictionary (IEED)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20060207135952/http://www.indoeuropean.nl/). Leiden, Netherlands: Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Leiden University. Archived from [the original](http://www.indoeuropean.nl) on 7 February 2006. Retrieved 14 December 2009.

- ["Indo-European Roots Index"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090217023123/http://bartleby.com/61/IEroots.html). *The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language* (4th ed.). Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. 22 August 2008 [2000]. Archived from [the original](http://www.bartleby.com/61/IEroots.html) on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2009.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: publisher location ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_publisher_location))

- Köbler, Gerhard (2014). [*Indogermanisches Wörterbuch*](http://www.koeblergerhard.de/idgwbhin.html) (in German) (5th ed.). Gerhard Köbler. Retrieved 29 March 2015.

- Schalin, Johan (2009). ["Lexicon of Early Indo-European Loanwords Preserved in Finnish"](http://www.iki.fi/jschalin/?cat=10). Johan Schalin. Retrieved 9 December 2009.

v t e Indo-European languages (list) Albanoid Albanian Messapic Dardanian? Illyrian? Anatolian Hittite Lydian Palaic Luwic Carian Luwian Lycian Milyan Pisidian Sidetic Kalasmaic? Balto-Slavic Baltic Dnieper-Oka Golyad East Baltic West Baltic Slavic East Slavic South Slavic West Slavic Celtic Hispano-Celtic Celtiberian Gallaecian Continental Celtic Insular Celtic Germanic East Germanic North Germanic West Germanic Hellenic Ancient Macedonian Greek Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Nuristani Badeshi (unclassified) Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Osco-Umbrian Siculian Belgic? Tocharian Tocharian A Tocharian B Tocharian C Others Armenian Unclassified Dacian Dardanian Elymian Getaean Liburnian Ligurian Lusitanian Moesian Mysian Paeonian Phrygian Thracian Venetic Wusun Philistine? Sorothaptic? Proto-languages Proto-Indo-European Proto-Albanian Proto-Anatolian Proto-Armenian Proto-Balto-Slavic Proto-Baltic Proto-Slavic Proto-Celtic Proto-Germanic Proto-Norse Proto-Hellenic Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Aryan Proto-Iranian Proto-Nuristani Proto-Italic Proto-Romance Proto-Tocharian Italics indicate extinct languages

v t e Primary language families Africa Afroasiatic Austronesian Khoe–Kwadi Kxʼa Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Dogon Ijoid Katloid Kru Lafofa Mande Rashad Siamou Talodi–Heiban? Ubangian? Nilo-Saharan? Berta Bʼaga Central Sudanic Daju Eastern Jebel Furan Kadu Koman Gule Kresh Kuliak Kunama Nara Nilotic Nubian Nyima Maban Mimi of Decorse Saharan Songhay Surmic Taman Temein Tuu Isolates Bangime Hadza Jalaa Laal Meroitic? Ongota Sandawe Shabo Eurasia (Europe and Asia) Afroasiatic Ainu Austroasiatic Austronesian Chukotko-Kamchatkan Dravidian Digaro? Eskaleut Great Andamanese Hmong–Mien Hurro-Urartian Indo-European Japonic Kartvelian Kho-Bwa? Koreanic Kra–Dai Mijiic? Miju? Mongolic Nivkh Northeast Caucasian Northwest Caucasian Ongan Siangic? Sino-Tibetan Tungusic Turkic Tyrsenian Uralic Xiongnu Yeniseian Yukaghir Isolates Basque Bugun? Burushaski Digaro Mishmi? Elamite Eteocretan? Eteocypriot? Hattic Hruso? Idu Mishmi? Kenaboi? Kusunda Minoan? Nihali North Picene? Philistine? Puroik? Shompen? Songlin? Sumerian Tambora? Vedda Zakhring? New Guinea and the Pacific Arai–Samaia Austronesian Binanderean–Goilalan Border Bulaka River Central Solomons Chimbu–Wahgi Demta–Sentani Doso–Turumsa East Geelvink Bay East New Britain East Strickland Eleman Engan Fas Foja Range Gogodala–Suki Hatam–Mansim Kaure–Kosare Kiwaian Kutubuan Lakes Plain Lower Mamberamo Lower Sepik Madang Mairasi Mantion–Meax North Bougainville North Halmahera Pauwasi Ramu Senagi Senu River Sepik Skou South Bougainville Teberan–Pawaian Torricelli Trans-Fly Trans–New Guinea Turama–Kikorian Upper Yuat West Bird's Head Yam Yawan Yuat Northwest Papuan? Papuan Gulf? West New Britain? West Papuan? Isolates Abinomn Abun Anêm Ata Burmeso Kol Kuot Maybrat Mpur Porome Sulka Taiap? Tambora? Yele? Australia Bunuban Eastern Daly Eastern Tasmanian Garawan Gunwinyguan Iwaidjan Jarrakan Maningrida Mirndi Northeastern Tasmanian Northern Tasmanian Nyulnyulan Pama–Nyungan Southern Daly Tangkic Wagaydyic (Northern Daly?) Western Daly Western Tasmanian Worrorran Arnhem/Macro-Gunwinyguan? Darwin Region? Marrku–Wurrugu? Yangmanic–Wagiman? Isolates Giimbiyu Malak-Malak (Northern Daly?) Tiwi Wagiman Wardaman Gaagudju? Kungarakany? North America Algic Caddoan Chimakuan Chinookan Chumashan Comecrudan Coosan Eskaleut Iroquoian Kalapuyan Maiduan Muskogean Na-Dene Palaihnihan Plateau Penutian Pomoan Salishan Shastan Siouan Tanoan Tsimshianic Utian Uto-Aztecan Wakashan Wintuan Yuki–Wappo Yuman–Cochimí Isolates Alsea Atakapa Cayuse Chimariko Chitimacha Coahuilteco Cotoname Esselen Haida Karuk Kutenai Natchez Salinan Seri Siuslaw Takelma Timucua Tonkawa Tunica Waikuri Washo Yana Yuchi Zuni Keres? Yokuts? Mesoamerica Arawakan Chibchan Jicaquean Lencan Mayan Misumalpan Mixe–Zoque Oto-Manguean Tequistlatecan Totonacan Uto-Aztecan Xincan Isolates Cuitlatec Huave Purépecha South America Alacalufan Andoque–Urequena Araucanian Arawakan Arawan Aymaran Barbacoan Boran Bororoan Cahuapanan Cañari–Puruhá Cariban Chapacuran Charruan Chibchan Chicham Chocoan Chonan Guaicuruan Guajiboan Harákmbut–Katukinan Hibito–Cholón Huarpean Jirajaran Kakwa–Nukak Lule–Vilela Macro-Jê Mascoian Matacoan Nadahup Nambikwaran Otomákoan Pano-Tacanan Peba–Yaguan Piaroa–Saliban Quechuan Ticuna–Yuri Tiniguan Tucanoan Tupian Uru–Chipaya Witotoan Xukuruan Yanomaman Zamucoan Zaparoan Isolates Aikanã Arutani Betoi–Jirara Camsá Candoshi-Shapra Canichana Cayubaba Chimane Chiquitano Chono Cofán Culle Esmeralda Guachí Guamo Guató Hodï/Joti Iatê Irantxe Itonama Jukude (Máku) Kariri Kanoê Kunza Kwaza Leco Matanawi Mochica Movima Muniche Mura-Pirahã Omurano Otí Páez Payaguá Puinave Pumé Purian Puquina Sape Sechura Tallán Taruma Taushiro Aewa Timote Trumai Urarina Wao Terero Warao Yahgan Yuracaré Yurumangui Sign languages Arab Australian Aboriginal BANZSL Chinese Francosign Germanosign Hand Talk Indo-Pakistani Japanese Mayan Original Thai Swedish Paraguay–Uruguay? Providencia–Cayman? Sudanese? Tanzanian? Vietnamese? Isolates See list of sign languages Village sign languages See also Constructed languages Creoles Language isolates List of proposed language families Mixed languages Pidgins Spurious languages Unclassified languages Whistled languages Families with question marks (?) are disputed or controversial. Families in italics have no living members. Families with more than 30 languages are in bold.

v t e Language families of Eurasia Widespread Indo-European Mongolic Turkic Europe Uralic Afroasiatic Basque Iberian Tartessian Paleo-Corsican Paleo-Sardinian Camunic Ligurian ? North Picene ? Rutulian Sicanian Tyrsenian Eteocretan Eteocypriot Minoan West Asia Afroasiatic Elamite Gutian Hattic Hurro-Urartian Kaskian Kassite Sumerian Caucasus Kartvelian Northeast Caucasian Northwest Caucasian South Asia Dravidian Sino-Tibetan Austroasiatic Burushaski Nihali Kusunda Harappan ? East Asia Sino-Tibetan Austroasiatic Austronesian Hmong–Mien Kra–Dai Japonic Koreanic Tungusic Gaya ? Han ? Puyŏ ? Indian Ocean rim Ongan Sentinelese ? Great Andamanese Kenaboi North Asia "Paleosiberian" Chukotko-Kamchatkan Nivkh Yeniseian Yukaghir Ainu Other North Asia Uralic Tungusic Eskaleut Rouran ? Xiongnu ? Proposed groupings Alarodian Altaic Borean Nostratic Dené–Caucasian Eurasiatic Dené–Yeniseian Dravido-Korean Elamo-Dravidian Ibero-Caucasian Indo-Hittite Indo-Pacific Indo-Semitic Indo-Uralic Karasuk North Caucasian Serbi–Mongolic Pontic Ural-Altaic Uralic–Yukaghir Eskimo–Uralic Arunachal Greater Siangic Siangic Digaro Mijiic Miju Hrusish Kho-Bwa East and Southeast Asia Andamanese Austric Austro-Tai Austronesian–Ongan East Asian Sino-Austronesian Substrata Atlantic Pre-Celtic Pre-Germanic Pre-Goidelic Pre-Greek Vasconic Pre-Vedic Pre-Finno-Ugric Paleo-Laplandic Proto-Euphratean Families in italics have no living members. Families with more than 30 languages are in bold.

Authority control databases International GND National United States France BnF data Japan Czech Republic Spain Latvia Korea Sweden Poland Israel Other IdRef Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Indo-European languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.