The Aryan race is an idea that was formed in the 19th and early 20th century. The term "Aryan" comes from the Rig Veda and is the name of an ancient group of people in ancient Persia and India, who spoke an Indo-European language. It has been used to describe people of Iranian and Indian descent, but there was no record of Aryans in European history. Later it was used for Germanic peoples because of new ideas about the Aryans.