Sanskrit, Aramaic, Tamil: what is the oldest language

Currently, people in the world speak 7,000 languages ​​that belong to different language families and have thousands of years of origin. Researchers find it difficult to determine which language is the oldest. Nevertheless, the earliest written languages ​​recorded by cuneiform were discovered in the region of Ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian writing, existing in the third millennium BC, was used for inscriptions on burials.

For a long time, people used primitive sounds and gestures as a way to communicate. The use of language as a system of signs, which has its own rules and structure, has been noted in sacred texts.

Linguists argue that the age of a language should be determined by the time when it first began to be used in texts, and by how it is used now. Since many modern languages ​​are thousands of years old, some of them can be included in the list of the oldest languages ​​in the world. Many languages ​​have died, others still exist, but have a narrow special meaning, some remain in use, but the number of their speakers has sharply decreased.

Latin language

As a written language, Latin first appeared in 75 BC. Until this moment, the so-called "old Latin" was used.
The winners of many wars that were fought on the Apennine Peninsula spoke in Latin. The Roman Empire made Latin the official language, which gave it the status of the most important means of communication of that historical period. Latin has become the source of all Romance languages ​​- Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan and Romanian, as well as many of the words that make up the modern English language. Latin remains the official language of the Vatican. It is studied by millions of people in higher education. It is actively used in science.

Armenian language

The Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European language family. The oldest text in this language that has come down to us is a translation of the Bible and dates back to the fifth century AD. Based on the latest written documents found, scientists have established that the language most likely began to form in 450 BC. The Armenian language is still a living language, and it is spoken by more than 5 million people. Representatives of the linguistic community live in Armenia, Iran, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine.

Korean

Korean is considered one of the oldest living languages ​​in the world. It came from the Praco-Korean and Ancient Korean languages. Old Korean was used at a time when the Silla Vanity united the three kingdoms. At a time when China already had a great influence on the Korean language, some ancient Korean texts used Chinese writing, which was then included in the structure of the Korean language of that period.
The phonemic Korean language of Hangul arose in the 15th century. It used unique Korean characters developed by King Sejong and his scholars. The modern Korean language was created in the 17th century.

It is currently spoken in South and North Korea, as well as in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Japan and China.

Hebrew

In the first millennium BC begins to use Hebrew writing. The language itself is over 3,000 years old. This is an old Semitic language. It is declared the official language of Israel. Hebrew was considered a sacred language, as it was used mainly for religious texts.
For some time, he disappeared from everyday life from 200 to 400 years. AD Then it was reborn again and became the written and spoken language of Jews throughout the world.

Aramaic

Aramaic has given many words to the Arabic language and Hebrew. He got into the list of the oldest languages ​​of the world on the basis of diplomatic correspondence that has come down to us, which was used in the states of South-West Asia from the 10th century BC.

Aramaic dialects are spoken today in several countries, such as Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iran, Iraq, the USA, Australia, Europe and Russia.

Chinese

Ancient Chinese was used during the period of Western Zhou - from the 11th to the 8th century BC. The treatises of the Confucian Pentateuch - Book of Changes, Book of Traditions, Spring and Autumn, Book of Songs, Book of Ceremonies were created on it. The development of language has been going on for millennia.

Today Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese are the most commonly used forms of the language.

Greek language

He first appeared in 1450 BC. About 13 million people living in Cyprus, in Albania and Greece, speak this language. Its long history makes Greek one of the oldest languages ​​in Europe. It belongs to the Indo-European language family and has about 34 centuries of existence. The Greeks adopted their alphabet from the Phoenicians. Later, the language became the basis for Gothic, Armenian, Coptic, Cyrillic and Latin scripts. It has great historical significance. The epic poems Odyssey and Iliad were written in this language. In Greek, Aristotle and Plato did. The basic concepts of philosophy, logic, mathematics, astronomy were formulated in Greek. Today it is an official language in Cyprus and Greece.

Egyptian language

Now dead, is considered one of the oldest languages ​​in the world. He is already about 4,700 years old. The records found on the walls of Egyptian tombs, according to archaeologists, were created around 2600 BC. until 2000 BC The newly discovered pillar of the gate of the temple in Phil contains hieroglyphs dating back to 396 AD. Around the same time, written monuments made in Tamil belong. The Egyptian language is still used as the liturgical language of the Coptic church.

Sanskrit

Linguists believe that Sanskrit had a very important influence on the formation of some languages ​​in Europe. Sanskrit is more than 4000 years old. But he created works related to Indian classics - the Rig Veda, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana. It is still considered the official language of India, despite its limited use in everyday life. Sanskrit first appeared in 2000 BC and was called the language of the gods. Its principles were used to create the basic computer language.

Tamil

This language is about 5000 years old. It was first discovered in 300 BC. The collection of literary sources created in Tamil is very extensive. It is a modern and vibrant language in which thousands of newspapers are published. Some historians believe that it appeared around 2500 BC.
It is an official language in Singapore, Sri Lanka.

It is actually difficult to determine which languages ​​are the most ancient, some linguists and historians cite a lack of evidence to draw final conclusions.

Watch the video: The Oldest Language (May 2024).