More than 15 years ago, I came across a book called "Dictionary of Roots from Proto Indo-European (PIE) Languages". Back then I had been slightly into Greek roots, but not so much into languages as a whole. I much preferred spending time on exotic alphabets, which I believed where more harmonious and easier encompass. Languages, on the contrary, looked like immense and chaotic jungles, calling for a never ending journey... rather discouraging!

In 2006, I've met Esperanto, which became familiar to me within few days (as it would for anyone, that's the beauty of it!). Esperanto has totally changed my perception of grammar and lexicon, in a word, my perception of languages. It exemplified both a methodical construction and a harmonious simplicity. From then, languages have become a fascinating topic: Chinese, Malay, Persian, Arabic, Vietnamese, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Japanese, Spanish...

Last year I've suddenly rediscovered this dictionary and how it can wonderfully link words with unexpected connections. Here is a summary of the main PIE roots... I'm slowly preparing it and will update progressively. It's now filled until letter E!

Indo-European Roots

Some remarkable examples of kinship in English:

  • Art, harmony, arithmetic, article, arm
  • Fate, fable, infant, fame, symphony, profession
  • Physics, future, proof, be, build
  • Day, joy, divine, journal, Jupiter, Zeus
  • Educate, duct, duke, tie, team,
  • Police, dictate, index, digit, condition, avenge, attach, teach, take, toe
  • Fact, theme, thesis, difficult, factor, artificial, fashion, effect, profit, defect, facility, do, deed

In the provided DOCX document, examples are taken from these languages: Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, English, German

This Wikipedia article provides a broader spectrum of languages, covering each slice of the big PIE...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary