The Language Tree

Alex


Larger Picture at jonathan.beaton

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the common ancestor of hundreds of related languages and dialects spoken in Europe, northern Indian subcontinent, Iranian plateau and most of Central Asia. Though its existence is accepted by most linguists, they couldn't decide on exactly when PIE was spoken (some said in the Early to Middle Bronze Age whereas others placed it as early as the Late Stone Age).

This neat "language tree," illustrates the evolution of modern languages from PIE. What's even neater is that PIE is supposed to be a just one branch in an even larger language tree.


Comments (19)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

I have a paper copy of this diagram and the heading reads "The Indo-European Language Family (449 languages)"

I think, therefore, Portugese will find itself quite happily in one of the many smaller twigs.
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Yeah like Phil said... the reality is way more complex.
English inherits from many of those and even at it's core... it takes a lot from Old and Modern French. France itself was a vast melting pot, took from many sources... and became the original "Lingua franca" and in return influenced those languages back. Much like modern English today.
English's core comes from Germanic roots but much of the vocabulary is from old French, when not directly Latin.
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It's a neon electrode housing. It is mounted into a hole in a (usually) metal sign. The neon is mounted to the face and the electrode protrudes into this housing making an electrical connection to the neon transformer.
Neatoramabot T-Shirt, M, Ash Grey
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Where you heat a glass container and prove whether frogs jump out when submerged in hot water or not (or which gets burnt first, the frog or your hand)

Schrodinger's Cat: it's a trap, medium, ladies' fit
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It looks like a device for preparing absinthe in a bar... Put the whole thing on a glass of absinthe, place the burning sugar cube in the coil, and pour the ice water over it into the glass below. Pirate Bear M!
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It's an insulated ground connnection for an old motorized axle... likely part of a grain mill, where static electricity could be explosive. The glass insulator works as a bushing, where it can ride on the axle... and the coiled spring maintains contact to the end of the axle for electrical connection. A copper ground line is connected to the nut at the top. I made this up, but it works in my head...

Mosaic Skull, Dark Chocolate, 2XL
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A vintage Edwardian ocular-orb-extractor for use by barbers and physicks for the removal of the eye. This was not done, as one might suppose, for medical necessity, but for aesthetic reasons associated with contemporary fashion trends. The removal of the ocular orb allowed sirs and madams genuine need for a stylish ocular patch. The patches were very in-vogue, but there was disdain for any person donning one for mere stylistic reasons. If one was to sport such eye accessories and be acceptable for refined society, they would necessarily need to extract one, if not both eyes, like a sir.

Metal Neatorama, Black, XL
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Its a Neon spring socket.

Neon tubes are fragile and must be fastened to a sign face. You insert the ends into the sign so they are not visible. Once inside, they are greeted by the copper spring.

Sign Tech here.

Blinded Me with Science in Medium please.
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It is a part of a WAF "Woman's Acceptance Factor" determination set:
It comprises 10 more or less technically looking items of different size and uselessness to be placed by a man in the living room. There are two values to be determined, the number of items required for the first comment (to remove this stuff), and the number of items required to to get into an argument lasting at least 10 minutes...

The average value may indicate how many strange technical devices a wife may accept in the future such as Computers, PS3, beamers or the like

Fuel vs. wallet ladie's fit in M... (in the suggested colour)
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