PIE proto-Indo-European language

PIE is used on this wiki for word origin (etymology) explanations

Indo-European Language "tree" originating in the "proto-Indo-European" base language

PIE = "proto-Indo-European" (PIE) language
PIE is the origin language for English and most languages of Europe and Central and South Asia
- its spread started around 4,000 BC
for more on the Indo-European language group and PIE origins see Indo-European word origins in proto-Indo-European (PIE) language
nobody speaks PIE today (or has for 2,000+ years)
- it shifted into other languages as the Indo-European people spread across Eurasia
- however, much of our modern English can be derived (has an origin) from PIE
- thus, if we know the PIE root, we can better understand the modern English word
for example, the PIE origin of the word "know" is expressed as:
- "*gno-" for "to know"
- thus we can see that the original PIE word for "to know" is "gno"
- with the "G" sound having shifted to "Kn" and then to the modern "N" sound in "know"
  - Old English would have pronounced the "K" sound, thus, "K-no"
  - the silent "K" and "W" are left over from earlier pronunciations in Old English or Old German