Did Scientists trace the English language to parent indo-European?

While scientists haven't literally "traced" the English language to its Indo-European parent, they have reconstructed its history and origins through a process of comparative linguistics.

Here's how it works:

* Linguistic similarities: Scientists noticed similarities in vocabulary, grammar, and sound patterns between English and other languages like German, French, Sanskrit, and Latin.

* Proto-Indo-European (PIE): They theorized that these languages all descended from a common ancestor, which they called Proto-Indo-European. This language is now extinct but was spoken in a geographical area around modern-day Ukraine and southern Russia.

* Reconstruction: By comparing the similarities and differences between these languages, linguists have been able to reconstruct some of the vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation of PIE.

* Branching out: Over time, PIE split into different branches, like the Germanic branch (which includes English) and the Romance branch (which includes French, Spanish, etc.).

So, while scientists haven't physically "traced" English back to PIE, they have built a strong case for its descent through linguistic evidence and reconstruction.

It's important to note that the history of language is complex and involves a lot of speculation and inference. However, the evidence for Indo-European origins of English is widely accepted in the academic community.