PIE
Proto-Indo European
PIE
Proto-Indian Europe

http://www.proto-english.org/o3.html
Time table
8000-7000 BC : PIE tribes in northwest Anatolia adopt agriculture, but as they are strong and well organised, they did not take over the language of the Syrian farmers. The new PIE farmers migrate to Greece and spread over the Greek east coast. The technology spreads to the northwest, following the Black Sea coastline. The population in that region speaks a similar language (PIE), so the acceptance of agriculture happens without problems. The PIE language itself becomes more uniform.
7000-5800 BC : spread to the west; most of the Balkan, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia accept agriculture and the new PIE language. Each new farmer generation follows the Danube upstream in search of new land. They bring PIE to populations situated to the west of the Hungarian plain. There PIE and agriculture is adopted without hindrance and quickly evolves into proto-German. In Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and Albania, the precursor of Occitan develops. Proto-German and proto-Occitan are at that stage new but strong dialects of PIE. Both populations can still understand each other with some difficulty.
5800-4800 BC : using the Danube/Rhine axis the farmers arrived in the Moselle valley in 5000 BC and a bit later on the shores of the North Sea. Germany preceded France in adopting agriculture by 1000 years. The east coasts of Italy, Spain and the southeast of France also discovered agriculture around 5000 BC. This spread happened probably by boat. Farmers in boats came from a certain spot on the east Adriatic coast where a sort of proto-Albanian was spoken (in white on the map). Mixed with local languages, this gave birth to the Occitan-Romance languages in the west Mediterranean region.
4800-1800 BC : West Spain, France, Britain, Scandinavia eventually followed. Although its origin is still mysterious, Brythonic developed probably in Portugal where PIE imposed itself upon an unknown language. This local language influenced Brythonic and gave it its typical sounds. Farmers, always looking for new land, exported the language while sailing north, following the Atlantic coast, eventually ending in west Britain. Once settled on these coasts, Brythonic began slowly to diversify into Breton, Cornish, Welsh, Gaelic, etc.
In eastern Europe, the Slavonic PIE variant spread to the north (Poland) and on the Pontic steppe (Ukraine and south Russia). Much later the Slavonic language would also fan out to the west, into Serbia and the Balkan region. The Germanic-like languages in the Balkan gradually disappeared.
Around 4000 BC, the horse is domesticated in the Pontic steppe. The horse, cart and wheel brought a great wealth. This horse folk is called today 'Kurgan people' and expanded around 3000 BC in all directions, eventually up to northern Pakistan and northern India. They brought with them a variant of proto-Slavonic.
Human migrations in Europe Here is my personal attempt to pull European pre-history into a coherent narrative.
First wave
Between 43000 and 41000 years ago (approx.), a first wave of migrating people from the Middle East colonized all Mediterranean coasts. It was a brief interstadial event, about as warm as present-day. These Cro-Magnon people spoke languages which were not related to Proto-Indo-European (PIE). Initially, they colonized most of Western Europe, up to Scandinavia. But then (± 39000 BC) the climate deteriorated and they were forced to abandon the North and to stay around the warmer Mediterranean Sea. The Ice Age would reach its full depth.
Second wave
As soon as the climatic conditions allowed it (start of the pre-Younger Dryas), a new, second wave hit Europe. Most of Continental Europe was recolonised by PIE-hunter-gatheres who came from the shores of the Black Sea. They had learned how to deal with the ice-cold conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum. In fact, their technology to withstand the ice-cold conditions had reached such a level that they could have colonized northwest Europe much earlier. But the scarcity of food, especially wild game, severely limited this possibility. They just occasionally wandered to the west. As soon as the climatic conditions in western Europe improved, the quantity of wild game increased considerably. PIE-people were then able to colonize northwestern Europe in larger, more substantial groups, and to remain at the beginning of the Holocene more or less on the spot. Southern France, southern Germany, the warmest relatively empty places became overwhelmed. When they reached the Atlantic coasts, they found the place already colonized by people who had migrated from northern Spain. All populations eventually merged completely.
Over the following millennia, the oldest PIE languages in northwest Europe diversified. What were at first dialects evolved into separate languages. But the language family background remained more or less intact.
Third phase
Around ±7000-4500 BC, the spread of agriculture reintroduced the PIE language, especially in the less populated northern regions. The language base in the north was already present, but was now completely renewed. This was not a third wave of human migrants. It was a technological and linguistic wave.
We suppose that agriculture eventually always prevailed. Where local hunter-gatherers resisted strongly the new way of life, their language faded out and left very little substrate words in the new local PIE language. Where locals accepted the new technology without much of a problem, they were able to keep an important part of their native vocabulary. We think that for instance the Maglemosian people who lived to the west of the valley of the Danube, close to modern Austria, were open minded people. PIE became mixed with local words, which gave birth to proto-German in the north and west of the valley and proto-Occitan (later: Latin) in the southwest of the valley. We think that the Azelian people who lived in Portugal and Galicia were at first reluctant to accept agriculture and its language, but eventually accepted it without much afterthought. The local language changed in Brythonic. We think that most of France refused agriculture for a long time, so nothing of their language is left. Winners were the Brythonic speakers.
Languages like the non-PIE Etruscan, who previously had adopted agriculture without its language, died out (this eventually happened during the Roman republic). We think that there were more such non-PIE populations around the Mediterranean Basin who had adopted agriculture without the PIE language. Only one from this period survived: Basque.
Britain was together with Scandinavia one of the last European regions where agriculture was imported. Farmers went to Britain from the south Atlantic fringe and settled in west-Britain. They brought Brythonic. Earlier, Belgic farmers had crossed the Channel and had imported proto-German in England. Both events happened around 4500 BC.
The relative remoteness of Scandinavia caused the conservation of the original proto-German language. That explains why the Scandinavian languages show many features of the the oldest German. In Britain, proto-English evolved roughly at the same pace as Low-German on the other side of the North Sea. Later, the relative isolation of the island caused the divergence of the English language.
In conclusion, the origin of the English language must go back to at least some 6000 years ago, and was certainly not introduced by the Anglo-Saxons.
Time table
8000-7000 BC : PIE tribes in northwest Anatolia adopt agriculture, but as they are strong and well organised, they did not take over the language of the Syrian farmers. The new PIE farmers migrate to Greece and spread over the Greek east coast. The technology spreads to the northwest, following the Black Sea coastline. The population in that region speaks a similar language (PIE), so the acceptance of agriculture happens without problems. The PIE language itself becomes more uniform.
7000-5800 BC : spread to the west; most of the Balkan, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia accept agriculture and the new PIE language. Each new farmer generation follows the Danube upstream in search of new land. They bring PIE to populations situated to the west of the Hungarian plain. There PIE and agriculture is adopted without hindrance and quickly evolves into proto-German. In Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and Albania, the precursor of Occitan develops. Proto-German and proto-Occitan are at that stage new but strong dialects of PIE. Both populations can still understand each other with some difficulty.
5800-4800 BC : using the Danube/Rhine axis the farmers arrived in the Moselle valley in 5000 BC and a bit later on the shores of the North Sea. Germany preceded France in adopting agriculture by 1000 years. The east coasts of Italy, Spain and the southeast of France also discovered agriculture around 5000 BC. This spread happened probably by boat. Farmers in boats came from a certain spot on the east Adriatic coast where a sort of proto-Albanian was spoken (in white on the map). Mixed with local languages, this gave birth to the Occitan-Romance languages in the west Mediterranean region.
4800-1800 BC : West Spain, France, Britain, Scandinavia eventually followed. Although its origin is still mysterious, Brythonic developed probably in Portugal where PIE imposed itself upon an unknown language. This local language influenced Brythonic and gave it its typical sounds. Farmers, always looking for new land, exported the language while sailing north, following the Atlantic coast, eventually ending in west Britain. Once settled on these coasts, Brythonic began slowly to diversify into Breton, Cornish, Welsh, Gaelic, etc.
In eastern Europe, the Slavonic PIE variant spread to the north (Poland) and on the Pontic steppe (Ukraine and south Russia). Much later the Slavonic language would also fan out to the west, into Serbia and the Balkan region. The Germanic-like languages in the Balkan gradually disappeared.
Around 4000 BC, the horse is domesticated in the Pontic steppe. The horse, cart and wheel brought a great wealth. This horse folk is called today 'Kurgan people' and expanded around 3000 BC in all directions, eventually up to northern Pakistan and northern India. They brought with them a variant of proto-Slavonic.
Human migrations in Europe Here is my personal attempt to pull European pre-history into a coherent narrative.
First wave
Between 43000 and 41000 years ago (approx.), a first wave of migrating people from the Middle East colonized all Mediterranean coasts. It was a brief interstadial event, about as warm as present-day. These Cro-Magnon people spoke languages which were not related to Proto-Indo-European (PIE). Initially, they colonized most of Western Europe, up to Scandinavia. But then (± 39000 BC) the climate deteriorated and they were forced to abandon the North and to stay around the warmer Mediterranean Sea. The Ice Age would reach its full depth.
Second wave
As soon as the climatic conditions allowed it (start of the pre-Younger Dryas), a new, second wave hit Europe. Most of Continental Europe was recolonised by PIE-hunter-gatheres who came from the shores of the Black Sea. They had learned how to deal with the ice-cold conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum. In fact, their technology to withstand the ice-cold conditions had reached such a level that they could have colonized northwest Europe much earlier. But the scarcity of food, especially wild game, severely limited this possibility. They just occasionally wandered to the west. As soon as the climatic conditions in western Europe improved, the quantity of wild game increased considerably. PIE-people were then able to colonize northwestern Europe in larger, more substantial groups, and to remain at the beginning of the Holocene more or less on the spot. Southern France, southern Germany, the warmest relatively empty places became overwhelmed. When they reached the Atlantic coasts, they found the place already colonized by people who had migrated from northern Spain. All populations eventually merged completely.
Over the following millennia, the oldest PIE languages in northwest Europe diversified. What were at first dialects evolved into separate languages. But the language family background remained more or less intact.
Third phase
Around ±7000-4500 BC, the spread of agriculture reintroduced the PIE language, especially in the less populated northern regions. The language base in the north was already present, but was now completely renewed. This was not a third wave of human migrants. It was a technological and linguistic wave.
We suppose that agriculture eventually always prevailed. Where local hunter-gatherers resisted strongly the new way of life, their language faded out and left very little substrate words in the new local PIE language. Where locals accepted the new technology without much of a problem, they were able to keep an important part of their native vocabulary. We think that for instance the Maglemosian people who lived to the west of the valley of the Danube, close to modern Austria, were open minded people. PIE became mixed with local words, which gave birth to proto-German in the north and west of the valley and proto-Occitan (later: Latin) in the southwest of the valley. We think that the Azelian people who lived in Portugal and Galicia were at first reluctant to accept agriculture and its language, but eventually accepted it without much afterthought. The local language changed in Brythonic. We think that most of France refused agriculture for a long time, so nothing of their language is left. Winners were the Brythonic speakers.
Languages like the non-PIE Etruscan, who previously had adopted agriculture without its language, died out (this eventually happened during the Roman republic). We think that there were more such non-PIE populations around the Mediterranean Basin who had adopted agriculture without the PIE language. Only one from this period survived: Basque.
Britain was together with Scandinavia one of the last European regions where agriculture was imported. Farmers went to Britain from the south Atlantic fringe and settled in west-Britain. They brought Brythonic. Earlier, Belgic farmers had crossed the Channel and had imported proto-German in England. Both events happened around 4500 BC.
The relative remoteness of Scandinavia caused the conservation of the original proto-German language. That explains why the Scandinavian languages show many features of the the oldest German. In Britain, proto-English evolved roughly at the same pace as Low-German on the other side of the North Sea. Later, the relative isolation of the island caused the divergence of the English language.
In conclusion, the origin of the English language must go back to at least some 6000 years ago, and was certainly not introduced by the Anglo-Saxons.