Indo-European reconstructed

To reconstruct Proto-Indo-European [F1], the languages which were supposedly related were examined to find similarities in form but also in meaning and to be able to build some regularities in the evolution. The number of instances giving evidence to the laws found supports and validates them. This is called comparative method [S1] [S2] [I1] [F1], i.e. a comparison of related languages which allows to reconstruct the original form and to establish the relation degree of the languages themselves.
In the 18th century, thanks to colonialism, Sanskrit [E1] [I1] [F1], a language of ancient India, was introduced in Europe. This discovery was very important to the comparative method for the reconstruction of the proto-language, as its literature was much older than any other know literature of the same group (e.g. Latin, Greek or German). Moreover, Sanskrit preserved a full system of declensions and conjugations, which allowed to trace the system back to a common origin.
Vedas [E1] [I1] [F1] [S1], the sacred books of India, are the oldest literary texts written in an Indo-European language.

More on the Comparative method and on Grammar, Syntax and Phonology of Indo-European [F1] [E2] [E3] [E4]

Indo-European can be divided into several branches [F1] [F2] [S1], each representing languages that share particular linguistic features.
Here is a representation of the Indo-European family tree made by Jack Lynch. It is not complete with all the groups and languages, only representing the most "important" ones. The dotted line from French to Middle English represents the inluence of French on English and not a direct descent.

A more complete tree of this group. It is possible to trace the lineage of any Indo-European language from this site .

The first big division that can be made is between the Eastern and Western branch, also known as Kentum branch (Western) and Satem Branch (Eastern) from the different way of representing the word "hundred".
This distinction had already taken place in 1500 BC and refers to one distinctive difference in the treatment of Proto-Indo-European palatal /k/, which became velar [k] in the Western branch and palatal fricative [s] or [ ʃ ] in the Eastern one.
"Hundred" is Latin centum, Greek he-katon, Welsh cant, while in Sanskrit it is satam, in Ols Slavonic seto and in Modern Russian sto.

*P.I.E. = Proto-Indo-European

The table shows the comparison of some words in different Indo-European languages. The * symbol in the first row means that these words were reconstructed through the comparison, there is no written evidence of their real existence.
It is possible to see the similarities of the languages and some regularities in their evolution. It is remarkable how Latin, Greek and Sanskrit have resemblances and there are regular correspondences: Latin and Sanskrit words beginning with an s, begin with an h in Greek, while Latin and Greek o correspond to Sanscrit a; German h corresponds to Latin and Greek k or c, Germanic f is Latin and Greek p.

Grimm's Law [E1] [E2] [E3] [E4] [F1] [F2] [I1] [S1] [S2]

In 1822 the philologist Jacob Grimm gave an explanation to some regularities found in the correspondences between Germanic languages and other Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit, Latin and Greek.
In his explanation Indo-European p was preserved in Latin and Greek, but changed to f in Germanic languages. This way we can predict that the English correspondent for Latin piscis should begin by an f which is true, as the English for piscis is fish. This works for t and k, too. In short, the original voiceless stops [p], [t], [k], became fricatives [f], [ƥ], [h] in Germanic languages.
The cause of this change is unknown, probably it was due to contact with a non-Germanic population and it was still taking place in the 5th century B.C..
In 1875 Verner formulated a law (Verner's Law) [F1] [E1] [E2] [E3] [E4] [I1] which accounted for some apparent exceptions to Grimm's law, showing that when the Indo-European accent was not on the vowel immediately preceding, voiceless fricatives became voiced in Germanic, so, for example, Ð became d.

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