Indo-European languages

Group of related languages spoken in Europe, the Middle East and India, the origins of which are disputed. The prevailing view is that they derive from dialects spoken in the west Eurasian steppe region in the 4th to 3rd millennia BC, which spread as a result of population migrations. An alternative argument sees Indo-European origins in the adoption of Middle Eastern farming and associated economic and social practices, which spread throughout the Indo-European area in the Neolithic period, from about 7000 to 5000 BC.