New Latin Grammar

Book Excerpt: ants of India weregeographically close to the original seat of the Indo-European Family.Hence the home was sought in the elevated plateau to the north. To-day itis thought that central or southeastern Europe is much more likely to havebeen the cradle of the Indo-European parent-speech, though anything like alogical demonstration of so difficult a problem can hardly be expected.As to the size and extent of the original tribe whence the Indo-Europeanlanguages have sprung, we can only speculate. It probably was not large, and very likely formed a compact racial and linguistic unit for centuries, possibly for thousands of years.The time at which Indo-European unity ceased and the various individuallanguages began their separate existence, is likewise shrouded inobscurity. When we consider that the separate existence of the Sanskrit mayantedate 2500 B.C., it may well be believed that people speaking theIndo-European parent-speech belonged to a period as far back as 5000 B.C., or possibly earlier.Read M