Spoken words leave no physical mark on the world, so investigating the origins of human language is a difficult task. Language is also in a state of constant change; words and their meanings transform and change with each generation. Therefore, to cite a single language as the world’s oldest would be to miss out on many details.
However, there are a number of languages from antiquity that are still spoken today, all of which illuminate a fascinating chapter in human history. Below we take a look at 8 of the world’s oldest languages still spoken today…
Hebrew
Hebrew is the language of Jewish scriptures, dating back more than 3,000 years. Early forms of the language It appeared in texts around 1200.
Around AD 400, Hebrew ceased to be a regularly spoken language and became an almost dead language. However, the rise of Zionism in the modern era has brought about a revival of the language, and it is now spoken by nine million people.
Modern Hebrew differs from Holy Hebrew, but it is possible to find direct links between the two.
Sanskrit
Sanskrit is another language that originated from religion in ancient times. It is the language of the sacred texts of Hinduism, as well as the historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. Hindu texts It dates back to around 1,200, which means the language has a history of more than 3,000 years.
It is still being talked about today. Usually by Hindu priests during religious ceremonies… It is estimated that only less than 1% of Indians can speak this language.
However, the influence of this language still continues today. Sanskrit belongs to a large family of languages known as Indo-European languages. This means it is linked to English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and many other languages commonly spoken in Europe.
Tamil
Impressively, around 80 million people continue to use Tamil in their daily life. The oldest Tamil literature, Tolkāppiyam, dates back to the 4th century BC. It is thought to date back to 300. Tamil is still common in Sri Lanka and the southern states of India.
Greek
Greek in one way or another at least BC. It has been used since 1300. Its classical form is significantly different from the language spoken in Greece today. However, most fluent speakers can understand Hellenistic or Koini Greek spoken in the past.
However, forms such as the Attic dialect, one of the earliest forms spoken by the likes of Socrates, are far from the present-day version.
Arabic
Arabic has an extremely important role in world history. Early forms of Arabic dates back to the eighth century. However, the language underwent significant changes, especially between the third and sixth centuries AD.
Arabic first appeared in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula. A member of the Semitic language family, like Hebrew and Aramaic. It is estimated that today, an estimated 371 million people are the mother tongue. Also, many people speak it as a second language because of its importance in Islam.
Chinese
Chinese has a very wide dialect. But most people in China speak Mandarin Chinese, a modern standardized form. It has many regional dialects such as Yue (Cantonese), Xiang (Hunan), Min, Gan, Wu, and Kejia.
The earliest known Chinese inscriptions date back to BC. It was discovered in turtle shells dated 1123. This proves that written language has existed for more than 3,000 years. The influence of this ancient language system can still be seen today, although it has diversified and developed considerably since then.
Latin
Latin is another language of great historical importance. This italic language It evolved into Old Latin between 750 and 100 AD and became Classical Latin, last used until 450 AD. In the sixth to ninth centuries AD, Italian evolved into modern languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Although Latin is no longer spoken as a mother tongue, it has managed to avoid being a dead language thanks to the intense interest in ancient texts and its widespread influence in Latin European culture.
Basque
Basque is considered the oldest living language in Western Europe. About 700,000 people still speak this language in the Basque Country, an autonomous community in the Pyrenees mountains between the borders of France and Spain.
How old Basque is is still a mystery, because it has no relation to any other language. This makes it even more interesting to linguists. Because it is one of the rare languages that survived before Europe was flooded with Indo-European languages.
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