Modern English has many word roots in Latin and Greek, but where did the Latins and Greeks get those word roots in the first place? Did somebody just make it up out of the blue? Or did they get it from an earlier language, and if that’s true, where did they get it from?

Question

Modern English has many word roots in Latin and Greek, but where did the Latins and Greeks get those word roots in the first place? Did somebody just make it up out of the blue? Or did they get it from an earlier language, and if that’s true, where did they get it from?

In: Culture

Answer 1

Most languages (with a few exceptions which we call Isolates) are part of wider group of languages which diverged in the past, but were originally very similar.

So there is Proto Indo European, Old Indo Aryan…..etc.

It’s easier to trace the origins of written language because….it’s written so something is left behind. With verbal communication it’s more difficult to understand some of the history simply because there are no records. So it’s educated guesses.

It’s likely we would never know what the “first” language ever was, we can just see which ones are newer/older.