What Is the Oldest Language in Human History?

One of the most fascinating and complex questions in human history is the oldest language in the world. Simple as it may seem, the question turns deep into multiple layers. Are we talking about the very first language to be spoken? Or languages with the earliest records of initiation? Or have the languages been spoken with minimal change for thousands of years? 

This blog will examine such perspectives, highlight the key contestants for the title, and explain where things begin to become confusing and anything but straightforward.

Defining “Oldest”: What Are We Really Asking?

Before we can name a winner, defining what is meant by “oldest” is necessary. Traditionally, linguists have handled this question using two main lines:

1. The First Language (Origin of Language): This addresses the question, “What was the first language spoken by humans?”. A topic of great speculation but little proof. Language as speech leaves no fossils. Scientists believe modern humans developed the potential for complex language between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. Beyond this, how did that first language sound? What words were there in it? What was its grammar? These questions are impossible to answer. It was a spoken language before writing was ever invented. So, the actual “first language” is lost in prehistory.
2. The Oldest Written Language: This is another, and much more real question. We wonder, “Which ancient language is the oldest in the world that we can physically prove exists?” Such proof comes in the form of inscriptions, clay tablets, or scrolls that have survived millennia. Using this method, one can pick specific languages and then archaeologically date their first written record.

For the rest of this article, we will focus on the second, more evidence-based approach: the languages with the oldest known written records.

Ancient Languages That Shaped Civilization

Several ancient languages have left records tracing their respective histories’ development. Here are the most famous candidates.

1. Sumerian: The Oldest Script Known

The Sumerian language is almost always cited among the oldest written languages.

• Earliest Evidence: The so-called first type of writing, cuneiform, was developed by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) around 3200 BCE. The earliest examples are not of literature or poetry but records of business transactions, inventories, and administrative documents.
• Why it’s Important: Sumerian cuneiform is the world’s first known writing system. While Akkadian eventually replaced the language as a spoken tongue, it remained a language of scholarship and religion for centuries, similar to Latin in medieval Europe.
• Status Today: Sumerian is an isolated language unrelated to any other language. It became extinct and has no native speakers today.

2. Egyptian: Hieroglyphs and a Long Legacy

It rivals Ancient Egyptian, perhaps the oldest sequentially written language.

• Earliest Evidence: The oldest Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is said to date to about 3200 BCE. It appears mainly on labels and pottery found in tombs. It is almost impossible to give a definite answer on the oldest writing due to the closeness in timelines between Sumerian and Egyptian writing. Some scholars even speculate on a connection, although that remains far from proven.
• Why it’s Important: This language has one of the longest hierarchic histories documented among languages, being documented for over 4,000 years. It proceeded in at least a few stages: Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Demotic, and Coptic.
• Status Today: Over time, it evolved into Coptic, which is entirely extinct as a daily spoken language but still exists and is performed as the liturgical language of the Coptic Christian Church.

3. Akkadian: The Lingua Franca of an Empire

Akkadian was spoken by the Akkadian Empire and then by the Babylonians and Assyrians.

• Earliest Evidence: Texts of Akkadian origin date back to perhaps 2500 BCE, composed in cuneiform (script) borrowed from the Sumerians.
• Why it’s Important: Since the second millennium BCE, Akkadian has been considered the diplomatic and trade language of the Middle East. The famous Code of Hammurabi was rendered in Akkadian.
• Status Today: Akkadian has become extinct since it has no native speakers.

4. Tamil: The Oldest Language Still in Use?

The languages referred to so far are all extinct. Now, what about living languages? This is where Tamil enters the discourse.

• Earliest Evidence: Tamil, a Dravidian language spoken in South India and Sri Lanka, has a literary tradition of 2,000 years. The oldest known Tamil text, Tolkāppiyam (a treatise on grammar and poetics), is dated circa 300 BCE. Some scholars and traditions, however, allege that Sangam literature, a corpus of ancient Tamil works, is older.
• Why it’s Important: There is an unbroken record of use of the Tamil language. While present-day usage is definitely unlike ancient usage, the tie is unbroken. So, this is a strong candidate for being considered the world’s oldest living language, a vastly recorded language with millions of people claiming it as their mother tongue.
• Status Today: Tamil is alive and healthy, with over 80 million mother tongue speakers. It is an official language in India, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.

5. Sanskrit: The Language of the Vedas

History: This ancient language has a long history and a religious aura, especially in South Asia.

• Earliest Evidence: The oldest Sanskrit is called Vedic Sanskrit, by means of which the Hindu religious texts, the Vedas, were composed. The oldest is called the Rigveda, which is said to have been composed between 1500 and 1200 BCE. It was orally very strictly transmitted for centuries before finally being written down.
• Why it’s Important: It is and has been the sacred language of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The Sanskrit language undoubtedly has the most beautiful and scientific system of grammar ever evolved by human intellect, an intellectual formulation set forth by the great sage Pāṇini in about 500 BCE. It is also the root origin of many of the modern languages of the Indian subcontinent.
• Status Today: Through the eyes of the common man, Sanskrit today is much like Latin: it is not cultivated as a vernacular language but used primarily in academic or liturgical circles. There are efforts to revive it as a spoken language.

Oldest Language in the World: Explained

Like everything else, the answer to “which is the oldest language in the world” depends wholly upon how the inquiry is constructed.

• If the query stipulates the first language to have any written record, two languages fight for recognition in the title: Sumerian and Ancient Egyptian, both first known circa 3200 BCE.
• The strongest candidate could be Tamil if it refers to a language with a continuous recorded and spoken tradition.
• If it is the “first language” ever spoken, the chances are you can never find the answer, and it remains one of the great mysteries of humanity.

An understanding of language evolution is also essential. Languages do evolve through the ages. Modern English differs greatly from Shakespearean English, which differs from Old English, and its speakers may not find it intelligible today. The same applies to Tamil, Chinese, or Greek. No community speaks the same language as their ancestors did three thousand years ago. So, when referring to a language as “old,” we mean the language that can be traced to the written form at an ascertainable time in the past and whose speakers have followed an uninterrupted line of descent; that is, the language has not literally remained stationary in time.

The Importance of Preserving and Understanding Language History

Why does this matter? The study of ancient languages is akin to linguistic archaeology. Once deciphered, ancient writings provide a view into ancient minds. We hear about their laws, trade, beliefs, poetry, and day-to-day activities. It helps us understand how human civilization has traveled this far, with some deep-rooted urge to communicate amongst all species.

This work is important for translating ancient discoveries across modern language barriers, and it is especially so now in our globalized world. Knowing language history and its complexity will lead to an appreciation of culture and the richness of human expression.

From Ancient Tablets to Modern Translation

The search for the world’s oldest language is a journey that will take us from the clay tablets of Sumer to the palm-leaf manuscripts of Tamil Nadu. It reminds us that language is the most precious and enduring invention that humans have made. While we might never reproduce the sounds of that first language, let us celebrate the ancient languages we have rediscovered and the living ones that connect a soul to its past.

That deep respect for language, its history, subtlety, and power is precisely what lies at the heart of any professional translation. As scholars try to interpret the meaning within ancient texts, translation services today try to convey the true meaning and intent behind modern messages.

The Spanish Group offers certified translation services to bridge language gaps with the same rigor and respect for detail that a linguist would apply to an ancient inscription. By ensuring that your message is understood as intended, they pay tribute to what is arguably the oldest and deepest-rooted human language tradition.