Here's why:
* Common Ancestry: Proto-Indo-European is a hypothetical reconstructed language that is thought to be the ancestor of most of the languages spoken in Europe, as well as many in parts of Asia and the Middle East.
* Migration and Divergence: Over thousands of years, speakers of Proto-Indo-European migrated across Europe and Asia, settling in different regions and developing their own languages. This process of migration and separation led to the divergence of Proto-Indo-European into various branches, including:
* Indo-Iranian: (e.g., Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Bengali)
* Italic: (e.g., Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romanian)
* Germanic: (e.g., English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian)
* Balto-Slavic: (e.g., Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian)
* Celtic: (e.g., Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic)
* Greek: (e.g., Ancient Greek, Modern Greek)
* Armenian:
* Tocharian: (extinct languages spoken in Central Asia)
* Shared Features: Despite the divergence, these languages share similarities in vocabulary, grammar, and sound systems. This shared heritage is evident in cognates (words with similar origins) and grammatical structures.
Important Note: Not all European languages are descended from Proto-Indo-European. For example, Basque is a language isolate, meaning its origins are unclear and not connected to any other known language family. The Uralic languages (e.g., Hungarian, Finnish) are also not Indo-European but have their own distinct origins.