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The evolution of Indo-European languages in Europe is a complex and fascinating journey that spans thousands of years. Originating from a common ancestral language, the Indo-European language family gradually diversified as groups of people migrated and settled across the European continent. The historical linguistic landscape witnessed the emergence of major branches such as Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, and others.
Throughout antiquity and the medieval period, the expansion of empires, cultural interactions, and trade routes played pivotal roles in shaping linguistic patterns. Latin, as the language of the Roman Empire, profoundly influenced the evolution of Romance languages, including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. Similarly, Germanic languages like Old English underwent transformations due to contact with Latin, Old Norse, and other languages.
The medieval period also saw the emergence of the Church as a significant cultural and linguistic influence. Ecclesiastical Latin was a unifying factor, connecting scholars and religious communities across diverse regions. The impact of the Renaissance further fueled linguistic developments, fostering the standardization and codification of languages.
The map of Europe below created by Reddit user Iownthat shows migrations and evolution of Indo-European languages (500 b.c.- 1200 a.d).
In more recent centuries, the age of exploration and colonization introduced European languages to new territories, contributing to the linguistic diversity observed today. The socio-political landscape of the 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the standardization and revival of certain languages, along with the rise of linguistic nationalism.
The modern detailed map of Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages in Europe is as follows.
According to this map created by Reddit user Longjumping_Care, most of the population of Europe speaks Indo-European languages. Nevertheless, non-Indo-European languages contribute to the linguistic diversity of Europe’s landscape.
Notable instances include the Basque language in the Basque Country (spanning parts of Spain and France), where Basque stands as an isolated language with no clear linguistic relatives. In Finland and parts of Sweden, Finnish, a Uralic language, coexists with Swedish. Hungarian, another Uralic language, is spoken in Hungary. Malta is home to Maltese, a Semitic language influenced by Arabic.
Want to learn more about languages? Then you might like to read:
I’m sure there are a lot of mistakes but 2 that I found was 1 : how you represented the Roumanians ! There where a Slavic people who came during the 7century not before .They got the Latin alphabet Before or during WW1 and Historicly they spoke with a Cyrilic alphabet they are the first slavic people who where called Sclaveni meaning Slaves because they got conquered and enslaved by the Romans hence the name for every one who spoke the language and adopbted the cyrilic alphabet they never spoke Latin or anything related to the Dacians or Illyrians because after after 270 Because the Dacian province couldn’t be held and Aurelian evacuated ALL the Dacian Tribes outside the Danube river and made them integrate the Dardanian Province of Moesia at that same Time Constantine was Born , If roumanians think that they are Dacians there supposed to be inside the danube river not outside very logical but to hard to swallow (Truth is hard) anyway Vlacht and Moldave are slavic even the name gives it away Lmao ! 2. You represented the Proto albanian in green very Wrong there where no Proto Albanian they spoke Koine but not Greek Koine But Albanian Koine as spoke the Entire Empire research have been made and Illiro Hellens had the same language just had different dialect and had the same Origines as the Myceans or Phoenicians ! This Documatery should be enough but then again Truth is hard to swallow https://youtu.be/CDLDflmEPS0 For exemple the name Greece and Greek or Greacia where never used generealy or over all at all for the people ! the name that existed was the Hellens o rHellas who had Illiro Helen Origine again just same people to be Hellene meant only to belive in the Patheon of the Gods ect not the Origine Both had the same and thats why until thy end of the Ottoman Empire the south Balkan spoke albanian Arvanite and where the ones who made Greece a think and changed they names and slowy but surely didn’t teach Albanain to there kids but instead they learn the old Hellen language witch is like a old dialect that wasn’t in used for 5000 years !
I’m sure there are a lot of mistakes but 2 that I found was 1 : how you represented the Roumanians ! There where a Slavic people who came during the 7century not before .They got the Latin alphabet Before or during WW1 and Historicly they spoke with a Cyrilic alphabet they are the first slavic people who where called Sclaveni meaning Slaves because they got conquered and enslaved by the Romans hence the name for every one who spoke the language and adopbted the cyrilic alphabet they never spoke Latin or anything related to the Dacians or Illyrians because after after 270 Because the Dacian province couldn’t be held and Aurelian evacuated ALL the Dacian Tribes outside the Danube river and made them integrate the Dardanian Province of Moesia at that same Time Constantine was Born , If roumanians think that they are Dacians there supposed to be inside the danube river not outside very logical but to hard to swallow (Truth is hard) anyway Vlacht and Moldave are slavic even the name gives it away Lmao ! 2. You represented the Proto albanian in green very Wrong there where no Proto Albanian they spoke Koine but not Greek Koine But Albanian Koine as spoke the Entire Empire research have been made and Illiro Hellens had the same language just had different dialect and had the same Origines as the Myceans or Phoenicians ! This Documatery should be enough but then again Truth is hard to swallow https://youtu.be/CDLDflmEPS0 For exemple the name Greece and Greek or Greacia where never used generealy or over all at all for the people ! the name that existed was the Hellens o rHellas who had Illiro Helen Origine again just same people to be Hellene meant only to belive in the Patheon of the Gods ect not the Origine Both had the same and thats why until thy end of the Ottoman Empire the south Balkan spoke albanian Arvanite and where the ones who made Greece a think and changed they names and slowy but surely didn’t teach Albanain to there kids but instead they learn the old Hellen language witch is like a old dialect that wasn’t in used for 5000 years !