Summary

Have you ever thought about what the oldest language in the world could be? It’s an interesting idea that’s enticed linguists, historians, and just plain-inquisitive folks for centuries. While we may never know the precise “first” language, we can look into some of the very earliest human languages that have influenced the way we all communicate today. From the Sumerians to Tamil, this blog post will take you through some of the history of language and hit on some surprising facts about the oldest tongues in the world.

1. What is the Oldest Language?

Determining the oldest language in the world is more complicated than it might seem. Many languages have been around for thousands of years, but the languages we usually think of as “old” often are those that were written down in early civilizations. The “oldest” obviously refers to the age of the language, but also to how long its historical record has been preserved in some form. Even if it isn’t widely known or recognized, a language’s record—its writing system and preserved texts—count for a lot when we’re talking about the “oldest languages” or when we’re trying to pin down what that even means.

The Case for Sumerian: The First Written Language

Ancient Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq) was home to one of the first known languages: Sumerian, pronunciation guide here. Sumerian was one of the first languages where a true writing system was developed, cuneiform. Cuneiform was used to write all kinds of things in Sumerian (as well as in other languages) for thousands of years. Sumerian is a pretty safe bet, therefore, for one of the oldest known languages.

Cuneiform: The writing system itself was carved into clay tablets with a reed stylus. Its use marked the beginning of written language in human history.

Language Change: Even though Sumerian ultimately disappeared around 1,800 BCE, it affected numerous other languages in its vicinity. Its most significant and direct influence was on Akkadian, which subsequently became the dominant language in the area we call the cradle of civilization.

Even if Sumerian has been all but retired from use for millennia, its effect can still be seen today in modern languages, which rely on the writing form of Sumerian for communication. Exceedingly thorough Sumerian records of their way of life, beliefs, and practices give today’s scholars a clear view into this civilization’s ancient world.

Early Human Languages: Tracing the Origins

Though Sumerian occupies an exalted status in early penned parlance, it is vital to recognize that humans were probably vocalizing tongue long before any form of writing existed. Conceivably, language sprang forth around 100,000 years ago with our nascent human ancestors.

Proto-Languages: Numerous specialists in linguistics think that ancient human languages lacked written forms, existing instead only in oral, and probably sound symbolic, formats. These languages were, as some of their modern day descendants in Papua New Guinea are, mimicking in the sounds of their words the actual sounds of the objects of the world around them.

The earliest human exchanges of information: These primitive forms of communication, called proto-forms, formed the basis for the forms of communication that we use today.

Grasping the essence of these initial communication forms offers an insight into the mental progress of our prehistoric ancestors and their capacity for the exchange of thoughts, the conveying of feelings, and the forging of sorts of friendships with one another.

2. Sumerian: The First Known Written Language

We can trace the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia to speak the oldest certifiably known language. They were among the ancient world’s first urban societies, and by 3,000 BCE, this city-dwelling people had developed the first known, well-documented, and readable writing system of any sort. The tongue of that urban society—Sumerian—is thus dated to about 3,000 BCE and holds the title of oldest-known language with a writing system.

The Rise of Cuneiform

Cuneiform, Sumer’s script of writing, was a huge step forward for humans when it came to communicating. They didn’t just use it to keep track of all the stuff they needed to count, but also to record the kinds of things that we think of as going into books and libraries—like religious, legal, or literary texts. The oldest tablets were mostly concerned with keeping track of what people owed one another and what had been done in the past that was of importance to them. But gradually, it seems, people started using cuneiform to write stories, both long and short.

One of the most illustrious examples of literary creation in Sumerian cuneiform is the Epic of Gilgamesh, a sort of interstellar bridge to the Sumerians’ future. The Sumerian king Gilgamesh was somewhat of a fictional character before the cuneiform writers got hold of him.

The influence of Sumer on education and literacy cannot be overemphasized. The Sumerians were the first to utilize a systematic approach to education. They established schools where children of the elite were instructed. The Sumerians created a vast library of works that were used to teach their students the Sumerian language, as well as the content of the many subjects that formed a part of their diverse curriculum.

The language of the Sumerians was gradually supplanted by Akkadian, a Semitic language, around 1,800 BCE. Yet Sumerian continued to be used by sacerdotal and scholarly elites for many centuries thereafter, serving as a language of religious expression and as a vehicle for scholarly works that treated a variety of subjects.

Why Sumerian Holds the Title

Sumerian was more than just a spoken language; it boasted a fully-formed writing system, with all the appearances of an easy-to-use medium of communication. That writing system took forms, mostly on clay tablets, that left a huge record of Sumerian culture. Even though the span of an entire culture—much less a single language—hardly ever figures in assessments of what it means for the history of communication, the language itself is still the best contender for the title of “oldest language.”

 3. Other Ancient Languages: Tamil and Egyptian

While the Sumerian language often gets all the publicity, other ancient tongues have stood the test of time and are still around today. They are not quite as famous as old Sumerian, but they retain a certain cachet among linguists and not a few historians. Their “living” (if moribund) presence in parts of the world, and their pride of place in the regions of their origin and affiliation, assure them of an auspicious antiquity.

Tamil: A Living Ancient Language

The oldest living language is often considered to be Tamil, with a documented history going back more than 2,000 years. It is from the Dravidian language family and is spoken by millions of people. Most of its speakers live in India and Sri Lanka.

Ancient Texts

An impressive body of literature in the Tamil language goes back to the third century before the common era, with early texts like the Tolkāppiyam providing significant glimpses into the structure of the language as it existed in those early times.

Continuity

Unlike numerous ancient languages that are no longer spoken, Tamil has continued in uninterrupted use. It has transformed into its contemporary version, while still keeping a lot of its ancient roots.

Egyptian: The Language of the Pharaohs

Various forms of the ancient Egyptian language are among the oldest known languages. The Old Egyptian language dates back to the 3rd millennium BCE, having been spoken by the ancient Egyptians.

Hieroglyphics

One of the earliest-known writing systems, the written form of ancient Egypt—hieroglyphics—was used for monumental inscriptions.

Evolution

The Coptic language in Egypt developed from the Egyptian language over many years and was used until the 17th century CE. After this point, it almost entirely disappeared from common speech.

Although modern Egyptian is no longer a living language, its impact on the contemporary world—especially in language and culture—is still abundantly clear, with assertions throughout. Archaeologists and Egyptologists might go some way toward redacting this perception.

4. How Language Evolution Influences Human History

The development of languages is closely linked with the history of humanity. When humans moved across the world and founded different societies, their languages developed to cater to freshly minted social, economic, and cultural demands.

The Spread of Indo-European Languages

One of the truly immense families of languages is the Indo-European family, which encompasses languages that include Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, along with their descendants, such as English, French, and Hindi. These languages spread with the migrations and conquests of ancient peoples.

Latin

For instance, Latin served as the language of the Roman Empire, and its presence continues to endure through the Romance languages, like Spanish, Italian, and French.

Sanskrit

In the same way, one of the oldest languages in the Indo-European family, Sanskrit, has exerted an influence on the modern languages of South Asia, including Hindi and Bengali.

The evolution of language is a constant process. When we study ancient languages, we gain an understanding of the wonderful world of the linguistic roots of today’s modern societies and cultures.

Conclusion

The world’s oldest language is a title that is not easy to pin down. It is not just the question of the first written language but the first truly linguistically ancient language that was both spoken and written, seemingly a premise lived up to either partly or fully by some combination of Sumerian, Egyptian, Tamil, Chinese, and Sanskrit. The argument for Sumerian clearly covers the first known area of writing, i.e., cuneiform in Mesopotamia around 3200 BCE. Yet, if we consider the area of true linguistically ancient written language, Sumerian must be abutted by Egyptian and Semitic languages archeologically to its southwest, together with the still extant Proto-Indo-European languages archeologically to its north.