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Language Family

Indo-European

Also Known As Indo-Germanic Historical synonym, still the standard scientific term in German (indogermanisch); now dated or less common than "Indo-European" in most other languages.
Eurasian Language Families

Indo-European is the largest language family by number of speakers, comprising most of the languages of Europe together with a broad band running through Iran and South Asia. Its branches include Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian, Hellenic, Baltic, Armenian and Albanian, along with extinct branches such as Anatolian (Hittite) and Tocharian. The family was recognized in the late eighteenth century when Sanskrit, Greek and Latin were shown to share systematic correspondences too regular to be coincidence, founding the comparative method that historical linguistics still uses. Whether Anatolian split off before or alongside the rest of the family, the Indo-Hittite question, remains debated among specialists.

Facts
Region
Originating across Europe and southern and central Asia; today spoken on every inhabited continent through colonization and migration 1
Speaker Count
3,238,000,000 2
Aggregate across all Indo-European languages, the largest of any family by number of speakers; mid-2020s estimate.
Proto-Language Status
Proto-Indo-European is among the most thoroughly reconstructed proto-languages, established via the comparative method beginning with observations by Sir William Jones on the shared ancestry of Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, and refined over two centuries by Bopp, Grimm, Saussure and their successors. 3
Indo-European
Filter Results5 entries

Albanian

Indo-European

Ancient Greek

Indo-European

Armenian

Indo-European

Lithuanian

Indo-European

Proto-Indo-European

Indo-European
FAQs

How many languages belong to the Indo-European family?

Glottolog counts more than 500 languages in the Indo-European family.

Glottolog, the open catalogue of the world's languages and language families, states on its Indo-European family page that the family has more than 500 languages. The same page asks readers to select an appropriate sub-family to see a more specific list of references, so the family is usually studied branch by branch.
Connections

Ancestor Of

Anatolian, Language Families

Anatolian (Hittite, Luwian and their relatives) is a primary branch of Indo-European, the first to split from the rest of the family.

Balto-Slavic, Language Families

Balto-Slavic, grouping the Baltic and Slavic languages, is a primary branch of Indo-European under the mainstream Balto-Slavic hypothesis.

Celtic, Language Families

Celtic is a primary branch of Indo-European, once spoken across much of western and central Europe.

Graeco-Phrygian languages, Language Families

Why this is disputed. Graeco-Phrygian is a proposed primary branch of Indo-European uniting Greek and the extinct Phrygian language on shared phonological and morphological innovations; the grouping is accepted by many Indo-Europeanists but not universal.

Hellenic, Language Families

Hellenic (Greek and its ancient relatives) is a primary branch of Indo-European.

Indo-Iranian, Language Families

Indo-Iranian, grouping the Indic and Iranian languages, is a primary branch of Indo-European.

Italic, Language Families

Italic is a primary branch of Indo-European, ancestral to Latin and the modern Romance languages.

Associated With

Antoine Meillet, Linguists

The dominant figure in early twentieth-century Indo-European comparative studies.

Source Wikipedia: Antoine Meillet
August Schleicher, Linguists

Schleicher produced an early systematic reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European and modeled its descendant languages as a family tree.

Source Wikipedia: August Schleicher
Berthold Delbrück, Linguists

Pioneered the comparative syntax of the Indo-European languages, extending the Neogrammarian method beyond phonology and morphology.

Calvert Watkins, Linguists

Specialized in Indo-European poetics and the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European verbal morphology, with particular attention to Hittite and Anatolian.

Emile Benveniste, Linguists

His comparative study of Indo-European institutions and vocabulary is a landmark of the field.

Source Wikipedia: Emile Benveniste
Ferdinand de Saussure, Linguists
Source Memoire sur le systeme primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-europeennesFerdinand de Saussure
Jacob Grimm, Linguists
Source Deutsche GrammatikJacob Grimm
Jerzy Kuryłowicz, Linguists

A leading Indo-Europeanist whose reconstructions of Proto-Indo-European ablaut and accentuation shaped mid-twentieth-century comparative linguistics.

Karl Brugmann, Linguists

Co-authored the Neogrammarian Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen, the standard comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages.

Michel Bréal, Linguists

A comparative philologist of the Indo-European languages who coined the term semantics in his 1897 Essai de semantique.

William Jones, Linguists
Source The Third Anniversary Discourse to the Asiatic SocietyWilliam Jones

Includes

Albanian, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Albanian Language
Ancient Greek, Languages
Source Glottolog
Armenian, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Armenian Language
Bengali, Languages
Source The Cambridge Encyclopedia of LanguageDavid Crystal (editor)
Bhojpuri, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Bhojpuri Language
Catalan, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Catalan Language
English, Languages
Source Glottolog
French, Languages
Source Wikipedia: French Language
German, Languages
Source Ethnologue: Languages of the World
Germanic, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Germanic Languages
Gujarati, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Gujarati Language
Hindi, Languages
Source Glottolog
Iranian Persian, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Iranian Persian
Irish, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Irish Language
Italian, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Italian Language
Latin, Languages
Source Glottolog
Lithuanian, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Lithuanian Language
Marathi, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Marathi Language
Nepali, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Nepali Language
Pashto, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Pashto
Portuguese, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Portuguese Language
Prakrit, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Prakrit
Proto-Indo-European, Languages

Proto-Indo-European is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European family, not a coordinate daughter classified alongside its member languages; recorded as associated rather than holds because this atlas has no dedicated ancestor-of relation type yet.

Source Wikipedia: Proto-Indo-European Language
Romanian, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Romanian Language
Sanskrit, Languages
Source Glottolog
Scottish Gaelic, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Scottish Gaelic
Slavic, Language Families
Source The Cambridge Encyclopedia of LanguageDavid Crystal (editor)
Spanish, Languages
Source Glottolog
Urdu, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Urdu
Welsh, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Welsh Language
Western Punjabi, Languages
Source Wikipedia: Lahnda

Long-Form Articles

The Student's Guess a Forgotten Language Later Confirmed, Articles
In the Other Atlases

Includes

Ancient Greek

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Ancient Greeks

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Ancient Romans

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Anglo-Saxons

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Archaic Latin

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Avestan

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Balts

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Bengali

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Byzantine Greek

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Celts

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Church Slavonic

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Classical Armenian

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Classical Persian

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

English

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Finnish

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Franks

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

French

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Gauls

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

German

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Germanic Peoples

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Gorani

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Gothic

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Greek Language

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Gujarati

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Hindi

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Hittite Language

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Hittites

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Italian

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Koine Greek

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Kurmanji Kurdish

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Latin

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Marathi

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Middle English

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Middle Irish

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Middle Welsh

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Modern English

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Modern French

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Modern German

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Modern Greek

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Modern Hindi

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old Avestan (Gathic)

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old Church Slavonic

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old English

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old French

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old Georgian

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old Irish

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Old Norse

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Persian Language

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Persians

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Phrygians

Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.

Showing 1 to 50 of 65 in Includes, page 1 of 2.

Found In

Asia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Central Asia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Europe

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
David Crystal (editor), Cambridge University Press, 2010
2. Ethnologue: Languages of the World
SIL International, 2024View the Source
3. The Third Anniversary Discourse to the Asiatic Society
William Jones, 1786
  • The Third Anniversary Discourse to the Asiatic Society, 1786, on the Hindus; cross checked against Wikipedia, primary 1786 text not independently located this session
    The Sanscrit 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.
  • Associated With: William Jones
Wikipedia: Indo-European Languages (Family Article)
Wikipedia
  • lead section
    A synonym is Indo-Germanic (Idg. or IdG.), specifying the family’s southeasternmost and northwesternmost branches.
  • History of Indo-European linguistics section
    A synonym is Indo-Germanic (Idg. or IdG.), specifying the family's southeasternmost and northwesternmost branches.
View the Source
Wikidata: Indo-European
Wikidata Q19860, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Glottolog
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
  • Includes: English
  • Includes: Spanish
  • Includes: Hindi
  • Includes: Latin
  • Includes: Sanskrit
  • Includes: Ancient Greek
View the Source
Memoire sur le systeme primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-europeennes
Ferdinand de Saussure, 1878Associated With: Ferdinand de Saussure
Deutsche Grammatik
Jacob Grimm, 1822Associated With: Jacob Grimm
Wikipedia: August Schleicher
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: August Schleicher, Career sectionView the Source
Wikipedia: Antoine Meillet
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Antoine MeilletView the Source
Wikipedia: Armenian Language
WikipediaIncludes: Armenian, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Armenian, Lead section
Armenian (endonym: հայերեն, hayeren, pronounced [hɑjɛˈɾɛn] ) is the sole member of an independent branch in the Indo-European language family.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Emile Benveniste
WikipediaAssociated With: Emile Benveniste, Notable Works sectionView the Source
Wikipedia: Germanic Languages
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Germanic, Introduction
Quote, Includes: Germanic, Introduction
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Proto-Indo-European Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Proto-Indo-European, Lead section, statement that PIE is the reconstructed common ancestor of the familyView the Source
Wikipedia: French Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: French, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: French, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latinic Romance Italo-Western Western Romance Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Romance Gallo-Rhaetian Arpitan-Oil Oil Francien zone French
View the Source
Wikipedia: Portuguese Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Portuguese, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Portuguese, Lead section
Portuguese (endonym: português) is a Western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, written in the Latin script.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Urdu
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Urdu, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Urdu, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Indo-Aryan > Central Zone > Western Hindi > Hindustani > Urdu
View the Source
Wikipedia: Marathi Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Marathi, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Marathi, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Indo-Aryan > Southern > Marathi-Konkani > Marathi
View the Source
Wikipedia: Lahnda
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Western Punjabi, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Western Punjabi, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Indo-Aryan > Northwestern > Lahnda
View the Source
Wikipedia: Iranian Persian
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Iranian Persian, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Iranian Persian, Lead section
Iranian Persian (فارسی ایرانی, Fârsi-ye Irâni; Iranian Persian pronunciation: [fɒːɾˈsiːje ʔiː.ɹɒːˈníː]), Western Persian or Western Farsi, is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Iran and by others in neighboring countries, as well as by Iranian communities throughout the world.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Italian Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Italian, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Italian, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Italic > Latino-Faliscan > Latin > Romance > Italo-Western > Italo-Dalmatian > Italo-Romance > Tuscan > Northern Tuscan > Florentine > Italian
View the Source
Wikipedia: Gujarati Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Gujarati, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Gujarati, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Indo-Aryan > Western Indo-Aryan > Gujarati languages > Gujarati
View the Source
Wikipedia: Bhojpuri Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Bhojpuri, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Bhojpuri, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Indo-Aryan > Eastern > Bihari > Bhojpuri
View the Source
Wikipedia: Prakrit
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Prakrit, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Prakrit, Lead section
Prakrit ( PRAH-krit) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Catalan Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Catalan, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Catalan, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European languages; immediate parent branch: Occitano-Romance languages.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Irish Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Irish, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Irish, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European; immediate parent branch: Goidelic (within Insular Celtic).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Welsh Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Welsh, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Welsh, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European; immediate branch: Brittonic (within Celtic, Insular Celtic).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Albanian Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Albanian, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Albanian, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European; immediate branch: Albanoid.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Romanian Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Romanian, Article text
Quote, Includes: Romanian, Article text
Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, having much in common with languages such as Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Scottish Gaelic
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Scottish Gaelic, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Scottish Gaelic, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European; immediate branch: Goidelic (within Insular Celtic).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Pashto
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Pashto, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Pashto, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European languages; immediate branch: Southeastern Iranian languages.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Lithuanian Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Lithuanian, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Lithuanian, Lead section
Lithuanian (lietuvių kalba, pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ]) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Nepali Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Nepali, Infobox, Language family
Quote, Includes: Nepali, Infobox, Language family
Top family: Indo-European; immediate branch: Indo-Aryan languages (Northern Zone, Eastern Pahari group).
View the Source
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