Ancient languages in the world
There are about 6000 languages that exist today. Language began thousands of years ago and determining the oldest of them is a hot debate. Researchers continuously search for proof of the earliest existing languages even though it is a very difficult task. Therefore, many contenders make the list for the oldest languages. Let’s take a look at the top ten ancient languages in the world.
Latin
Latin is a classical language belongs to the Indo-European languages. Latin Alphabets are derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets. By late (75BC), with the power of roman republic it becomes the main language. All the roman languages are cascaded from Latin. Today many peoples speaks Latin fluently and also it is taught in Educational institutions.
Armenian
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. Latest text found makes that the Armenian alphabet, invented in 405 CE. Armenia was expressed in only one language country by the second century BC. Its language has a long literary history, with a fifth-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, which are mutually comprehensive. At present more than 5million peoples using this language.
Korean
Korean found in 600 BC and is the official language for both North Korea and South Korea, as well as one of the two official languages in China‘s. About 80 million people speak Korean worldwide. Over a millennium, Koreans wrote with adapted Chinese characters called Hanja. Historically Korean can be classified by the unity in their language.
Hebrew
Today, Hebrew is spoken by a total of 9 million people worldwide. Hebrew language survived in the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy and it had been an everyday spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE. The United States has the second largest Hebrew speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, mostly from Israel. For many years, Hebrew was a written language mostly for sacred texts thereby given the name of “holy language”.
Aramaic
Aramaic is a family of languages. The Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages. Approximately 3,100 years of written history the Aramaic served as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. However, Jewish Aramaic was different from the other forms both in lettering and grammar. Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by many scattered, predominantly small, and largely isolated communities of differing Christian, Jewish, and Mandean ethnic groups of Asia.
Chinese
The Chinese language date back 3000 years to1200 BC and the Zhou Dynasty. Billions of people speak some form of Chinese language as first. All varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Other than china many countries speaking Chinese language. This is the most popular language spoken in the world.
Greek
Greek is mostly spoken in Greece, Albania, and Cyprus, by roughly 13 million people. The earliest written evidence of the Greek language dates back to 1450 BC. Greek roots are often used to coin new words for other languages. Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary. . The Greek language has a long and rich history which makes it among the oldest of European languages.
Egyptian
It comes from the Afro-Asiatic language family. Egyptian, one of the oldest recorded language and had been dating on 2690 BC. There is considerable and varied literature in Egyptian. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the form of Coptic. Today, Egyptian survives as the liturgical language of the Coptic Church.
Sanskrit
Researchers believe that Sanskrit, which heavily influenced many European languages, originated from Tamil. Sanskrit is the classical language of India, dating back to 3000 BC.Sanskrit is still one of India’s official languages, although its use in the vernacular is limited. Sanskrit has its variants as Vedic and classical.
Tamil
Tamil language is more than 5000 years old and its literature is vast and varied. Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. Just 14 years ago, a survey concluded there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil proving the language is still used today.
Many scholars believe the origins of language are not suitable for serious study due to the lack of evidence. This list hones in on the oldest known languages still in existence today. Theory has it that the need for verbal communication arose because man formed groups to better hunt, thereby creating the need to communicate with one another. Language has evolved from the grunts and sounds of ancient man to today’s more sophisticated words and phrases.
