Oldest Languages of the World
It is believed that languages were formed when human beings started to be civilized. At that time, they started to feel the need to communicate. And for establishing better communication among them, they developed languages. Because of the development of languages, civilization also started to make progress and now, we are a proud part of human society that has its glorious history of culture and civilization to share with other people. It will also excite you to know about the famous festivals of India.
If you want to know the oldest languages in the world, you should read this article till the end as it will arouse curiosity in your mind to know more about the oldest languages. Know about the famous Hindi writers and poets of India with their interesting writes ups, novels, poems, books, and more.
1. Sanskrit Language
Do you know about the world’s ancient scriptures Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, etc? If yes, then, you also know that these scriptures were written in the world’s oldest language i.e. Sanskrit language. It is believed in Hindu mythology that this is the language of the Gods (dev bhasha). All other languages were inspired by the Sanskrit language across the world. If you read the scriptures written in the Sanskrit language, you will be astonished to read about the in-depth philosophies, psychology, advanced technology, medical science, the art of life, etc.
2. Tamil Language
The Tamil language is the official language of Sri Lanka, India, and Singapore. This is the only language of the Dravidian family that has survived in the modern world. If you start exploring literature in the Tamil language, you will get a rich treasure of Tamil literature to read. At present, it is found that there are about 78 million people who speak the Tamil language as their main language to communicate across the world.
3. Egyptian Language
As we know very well that the civilization of Egypt is known as the world’s ancient civilization. Therefore, the language of Egypt i.e. Egyptian is one of the oldest languages in the world. According to the ancient shreds of evidence regarding the Egyptian language, the first complete sentence in the ancient Egyptian language was written more than 4700 years ago. Coptic was the most widely spoken language in Egypt till the 17th century AD. But later on, it was replaced by the Egyptian Arabic language.
4. Hebrew Language
Hebrew is 3000 years old language. But over a long period, the language got extinct. But it was revived in Israel and now it has become the official language of Israel. It is believed to be one of the holy languages in the world. The Old Testament of the Bible was written in the Hebrew language. The distinctive feature of the Hebrew language is that this language is written from the right-hand side to the left-hand side. Since the Hebrew language was revived again, therefore, it got modernization. Though this language is different from the ancient Hebrew language, the Jewish community can understand the meaning of the Jewish text easily.
5. Greek Language
Though the modern Greek language evolved from the ancient Greek language, its significance was not lessened. It is still one of the most spoken languages in the world. Its speakers reside in Greek, Cyprus, the USA, and Albania. The Greek communities who live there feel proud of their rich history. Greek language history is divided into three stages: ancient Greek, Medieval Greek, and Modern Greek. In Western universities, this language is taught by Greek scholars.
6. Basque Language
Not much can be said about the Basque language. This language is spoken by only a small group of the population across the world. This small group of the population resides in small parts of Spain and France. If you are thinking that it is related to French and Spanish language in any way, then, we must tell you that this language is completely different from Spanish and French language. Some linguistics believe that this language came into existence before the introduction of the Romance languages in Europe. But with the advent of the Romance languages, it lost its existence.
7. Lithuanian Language
Presently the country Lithuania and the European Union have made the Lithuanian language the official language. In this way, the counties are protecting this language from being extinct. It is believed that this language was inspired by many other ancient languages such as Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Afterward, it gave birth to many modern languages like German, Italian, and English. Therefore, linguistic laws are trying to save its existence.
8. Farsi Language
The official language of the Persian empire is believed to be the Persian language. Farsi language is known as the descendant language of the Persian family. It belongs to the languages of the Iranian family. If you want to know about those most populated areas where the Farsi language is widely spoken, then we will tell you that this language is chiefly spoken in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In these countries, Iranian communities are found who speak the Farsi language.
9. Chinese Language
Another oldest language that is spoken in the world is the Chinese language. This is one of the most spoken languages in the world. Due to the use of many complex dialects in the language, the Chinese language has a wide scope to learn. There are many renowned universities worldwide that teach students the Chinese language as an important language. Currently, around 1.2 billion people are speakers of the Chinese language. You will get a rich treasure of Chinese literature as well.
10. Korean Language
Another oldest language in the world is the Korean language. Linguistics believe that this language is spoken since around 600 BC. presently, the speakers of the Korean language are found in North Korea and South Korea. Since some Chinese people migrated to Korea in ancient times, therefore, the Korean language was influenced by the Chinese language.
11. Arabic Language
How can the list of the oldest languages be completed without the Arabic language? The Arabic language is the sacred language of the scripture Quran. It is said that Urdu and Malay languages evolved from the ancient language Arabic.
