CARENG, SEAN ANDREI R.

AEN1
The Indo-European family of languages was established as a scientific term by Franz
Bopp in 1813, but the study and continuous growth of discoveries in the field can be
traced back thousands of years prior. Different sources claim that the Indo-European or
Proto-Indo-European people that can be traced to have been the root of the English
language were living in either, Eastern Europe or Central Asia from anywhere between
the 3rd and 7th millennium BC (The History of English - Before English (Prehistory - C.
500AD), n.d.). This is not to say that breakthroughs in the history of the English
language were purely through the study of Indo-European languages, and their subsets,
but rather, it gives a clear idea of how English was shaped and formed through
hundreds of thousands of years of evolution of the humankind. Indo-European is not the
only language that was brought down from generations, but it is one of, if not the most
prominent in the field of this certain study.
The Indo-European culture and language were being spread out far and wide by 8000-
5000 BCE (1320: Section 7: The Indo-Europeans and Linguistics, n.d.). The people of
Indo-European heritage had made their moves to immigrate to the different continents
of the world mainly because of environmental factors such as climate change, water
droughts, and natural disasters, which forced the people in those times to migrate from
their primary living conditions in Europe to Asia, Africa, and other continents. (Anthony,
2010). Due to the widespread people that brought their culture, norms, and beliefs to
different nations, this caused an upheaval of the nation’s culture and the Indo-European
culture to clash which resulted in minor to major conflicts, citing an example where the
establishment of the caste system in India was indirectly caused by Indo-European
immigration. In total, there were at least three massive waves of immigration to be noted
by historians which shaped the culture, language, and traditions that most continents
uphold today.
About 3 billion humans today speak languages that are descended from the Indo-
European family of languages (A Massive Migration From the Steppe Brought Indo-
European Languages to Europe, n.d.). It can be said that without the huge migration
efforts of the Indo-Europeans, our modern language would be far from what we
recognize today. The cultural transmission and genealogy of the languages that were
passed down are still in effect today, with most of the words that we use, and even in
this very essay are etymologically based on the Indo-European or Proto-Indo European
languages that were used thousands of years prior to the convention of the proper
English language.
References:
The History of English - Before English (Prehistory - c. 500AD). (n.d.). Retrieved
September 27, 2022, from
https://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_before.html

1320: Section 7: The Indo-Europeans and Linguistics. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27,
2022, from https://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320hist&civ/chapters/07ie.htm
Anthony, D. W. (2010, August 15). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-
Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (Illustrated).
Princeton University Press.

A Massive migration from the steppe brought Indo-European languages to Europe.

(n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2022, from
https://www.mpg.de/9005184/humans-migration-indo-european-languages