Indo-European Languages
The language family with the most speakers in the world, stretching from Iceland to India.
- Branches
- Including Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Greek
- Speakers
- Close to half of humanity
A shared ancestor
In 1786 a British judge in India pointed out that Sanskrit, Greek and Latin were too similar to be coincidence. Linguists have since reconstructed much of their common ancestor, Proto-Indo-European.
Where it began
Most researchers place the homeland on the steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas; a rival view places it in Anatolia. The question links linguistics with archaeology and ancient DNA.