Indo-Germanic

English

Etymology

Coined in 1810 by French-Danish geographer Conrad Malte-Brun (as "langues indo-germaniques") and popularized in German (as indogermanisch),[1][2] especially following J. Klapproth's 1823 Asia Polyglotta. At the time the term was coined, the Celtic languages were not yet considered Indo-European, and the Tocharian languages were not yet discovered; even after the inclusion of Celtic, Germanic remains the northwesternmost family (thanks to Icelandic).[1]

Proper noun

Indo-Germanic

  1. (dated, Indo-European studies) Indo-European (major language family)
  2. (dated, Indo-European studies) Proto-Indo-European (hypothetical language)

Adjective

Indo-Germanic (not comparable)

  1. (dated, Indo-European studies) Indo-European

References
  1. Winfred P. Lehmann, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction (2013, →ISBN, page 67: "Since the Germanic family is located farthest to the north and west, many scholars, especially in Germany, label the family Indo-Germanic by the designation proposed in 1810 by Conrad Malte-Brun."
  2. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European (2006, →ISBN
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