Old and Modern English as we understand it began as an immigrant language in early Britain, and was tempered over a long period of time to be the area's native language. The language began on the part of the continent bordering the North Sea many hundreds of years before, after evolving from the prehistoric language of Indo-European, which also brought about the beginnings of many other languages. The language may have been spread through the Bronze Age area, when many nations were invading others and forcing their traditions on them.
Places where language groups began can be traced back through the words that may or may not be included in the language itself -- Apple, ash, cedar, aspen, wolf, and bear are all things that exist in the temperate climates of northern Europe, rather than olive, cypress, and palm which exist in the Mediterranean and southern Asia. If the word ocean does not exist, then it is a safe bet to say that the society was far inland. Indo-European, in this case, can be traced back to North-Central Europe and Turkey.
Similarities that occur in between languages can also be used to identify languages being of the same language tree, such as German and English are both part of the Indo-European family, and many words in both languages are very closely related. Words that sound similar in two languages are called cognates.
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