Germanic language
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Germanic languages are a branch of Indo-European languages, originally spoken in northern Europe and now in other parts of the world settled by northern Europeans. The Germanic language branch divides into the two extant branches North and West Germanic and an extinct third branch, East Germanic. All Germanic languages derive from the Proto-Germanic language which was spoken from c. 500 BC in Iron Age Scandinavia, north Germany and along the North Sea and Baltic coasts.
The Germanic languages are among the most widely spoken worldwide, with over 2 million native speakers. The most widely spoken are the Western Germanic languages English, with 400 million native speakers, German, with 100 million, and Dutch, with 24 million.