Languages by Date Before 1000 BC

Home , 10th century BC, 16th century BC, 17th century BC, 19th century BC, 200 BC, 21st century BC

Writing first appeared in the Near East at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. A very limited number of languages are attested in the area from before the Bronze Age collapse and the rise of alphabetic writing:

 the Sumerian, Hurrian, Hattic and Elamite language isolates,  Afro-Asiatic in the form of the Egyptian and Semitic languages and  Indo-European (Anatolian languages and Mycenaean Greek).

In East Asia towards the end of the second millennium BC, the Sino- Tibetan family was represented by Old Chinese.

There are also a number of undeciphered Bronze Age records:

 Proto-Elamite script and Linear Elamite  the Indus script (claimed to record a "Harappan language")  Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A (encoding a possible "Minoan language")[3][4]  the Cypro-Minoan syllabary[5]

Earlier symbols, such as the Jiahu symbols, Vinča symbols and the marks on the Dispilio tablet, are believed to be proto-writing, rather than representations of language.

Date Language Attestation Notes "proto-hieroglyphic" Egyptian hieroglyphs inscriptions from in the tomb of Seth- about 3300 BC c. 2690 BC Egyptian Peribsen (2nd (Naqada III; see Dynasty), Umm el- Abydos, Egypt, Qa'ab[6] Narmer Palette) Instructions of "proto-literate" period Shuruppak, the Kesh from about 3500 BC

26th century BC Sumerian temple hymn and (see Kish tablet); other cuneiform texts administrative

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from Shuruppak and records at Uruk and Abu Salabikh (Fara Ur from c. 2900 BC. period)[7][8] Some proper names attested in Sumerian A few dozen pre- texts at Tell Harmal Sargonic texts from from about 2800 c. 2400 BC Akkadian Mari and other sites BC.[10] Fragments of in northern the Legend of Etana Babylonia[9] at Tell Harmal c. 2600 BC.[11] [12] c. 2400 BC Eblaite Ebla tablets Awan dynasty peace

c. 2250 BC Elamite treaty with Naram- Sin[13][14] Temple inscription of

21st century BC Hurrian Tish-atal in Urkesh[15] Isolated Hittite words and names occur in Anitta text in Hittite c. 1700 BC Hittite Assyrian texts found cuneiform[16] at Kültepe, from the 19th century BC. Hittite texts CTH

16th century BC Palaic 751–754[17] These are mostly Linear B tablet Mycenaean administrative lists, c. 1450 BC archive from

Greek with some complete Knossos[18][19][20] sentences.[21] Hieroglyphic Luwian monumental Isolated hieroglyphs inscriptions, appear on seals from c. 1400 BC Luwian Cuneiform Luwian the 18th century tablets in the BC.[22] Hattusa archives[22] Hittite texts CTH c. 1400 BC Hattic 725–745 Tablets from c. 1300 BC Ugaritic see Ugaritic alphabet Ugarit[23]

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Oracle bone and Old bronze inscriptions c. 1200 BC

Chinese from the reign of Wu Ding[24][25][26]

 Seal impression from the tomb of Seth-Peribsen, containing the oldest known complete sentence in Egyptian, c. 2690 BC

 Letter in Sumerian cuneiform sent by the high-priest Lu'enna, informing him the king of Lagash of his son's death in battle, c. 2400 BC

 Greek Linear B tablet from Pylos, recording the distribution of hides, c. 1200 BC



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Ox scapula inscribed with three records of divinations in the reign of Wu Ding of the Chinese Shang dynasty, c. 1200 BC

First millennium BC

The Ahiram epitaph is the earliest substantial inscription in Phoenician.

The earliest known alphabetic inscriptions, at Serabit el-Khadim (c. 1500 BC), appear to record a Northwest Semitic language, though only one or two words have been deciphered. In the Early Iron Age, alphabetic writing spread across the Near East and southern Europe. With the emergence of the Brahmic family of scripts, languages of India are attested from after about 300 BC.

There is only fragmentary evidence for languages such as Iberian, Tartessian, Galatian, Thracian and Messapian.[27] The North Picene language of the Novilara Stele from c. 600 BC has not been deciphered.[28] The earliest examples of the Central American Isthmian script date from c. 500 BC, but a proposed decipherment remains controversial.[29]

Date Language Attestation Notes [30] c. 1000 BC Phoenician Ahiram epitaph royal inscriptions

10th century BC Aramaic from Aramean city- states[31] Paleo-Hebrew employed a slightly modified Phoenician Hebrew or [32] 10th century BC Gezer calendar alphabet, hence the Phoenician uncertainty between which is attested to here. Amman Citadel c. 850 BC Ammonite [33] Inscription

c. 840 BC Moabite Mesha Stele Paleo-Phrygian

c. 800 BC Phrygian inscriptions at Gordion

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mainly Sabaean boustrophedon 8th century BC (Old South inscriptions from Arabian) Yemen[34] inscriptions from Old North 8th century BC north and central

Arabian Arabia[35] proto-Corinthian

c. 700 BC Etruscan vase found at Tarquinia[36] Vetusia Inscription and

7th century BC Latin Fibula Praenestina[37]

c. 600 BC Umbrian inscriptions from c. 600 BC Lydian Sardis[22] inscriptions from c. 600 BC Carian Caria and Egypt[22] Ceres inscription c. 600 BC Faliscan found at Falerii[38] South Warrior of c. 550 BC [39] Picene Capestrano

late 6th century BC Venetic inscriptions at Este Behistun c. 500 BC Old Persian

inscription inscriptions CO-48 Inscriptions from from Pristino the early 6th c. 500 BC Lepontic (Como) and VA-6 century consist of from Vergiate isolated names. (Varese)[40][41]

c. 500 BC Gaulish

c. 400 BC Oscan [42] 3rd century BC Volscian Tabula Veliterna Pottery inscriptions Middle Edicts of from Anuradhapura c. 260 BC Indo-Aryan [43][44] Ashoka have been dated c. (Prakrit) 400 BC.[45][46]

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cave inscriptions

c. 200 BC Tamil and potsherds in Tamil Nadu[47][48] graffiti on the temple of Amun at

2nd century BC Meroitic Dukki Gel, near Kerma[49]

c. 100 BC Celtiberian Botorrita plaques ostraca at Nisa and

1st century BC Parthian Qumis[50] stone inscriptions The Junagadh rock from Ayodhyā and inscription of from Hāthībādā Rudradaman I

1st century BC Sanskrit and Ghosuṇḍī (shortly after 150 (both near AD) is the oldest Chittorgarh)[51] long text.[52]

First millennium AD

From Late Antiquity, we have for the first time languages with earliest records in manuscript tradition (as opposed to epigraphy). Thus, Old Armenian is first attested in the Armenian Bible translation.

The Vimose inscriptions (2nd and 3rd centuries) in the Elder Futhark runic alphabet appear to record Proto-Norse names. Some scholars interpret the Negau helmet inscription (c. 100 BC) as a Germanic fragment.

Date Language Attestation Notes

c. 150 Bactrian Rabatak inscription A single word in Proto-Norse Inscription NITHIJO language is TAWIDE on shield found on the

c. 200 Proto-Norse grip from the Øvre Stabu Illerup Ådal spearhead dated weapon deposit to the second half of the 2nd century. 6 | P a g e Languages by Date

A brief undeciphered Stela 29 from inscription at

292 Mayan Tikal[53] San Bartolo is dated to the 3rd century BC.[54] Ancient Letters,

312–313 Sogdian found near Dunhuang[55]

328 Arabic Namara inscription inscriptions of c. 350 Ge'ez Ezana of Aksum[56] Đông Yên Châu

c. 350 Cham inscription found near Tra Kiêu[57] A few problematic Gothic Bible, Gothic runic

4th century Gothic translated by inscriptions Wulfila[58] may date to the early 4th century. Bir El Qutt c. 430 Georgian [59] inscriptions Kavirajamarga Halmidi (c. 850) is the c. 450 Kannada [60] inscription oldest literary work.[60] Saint Mesrob Mashtots is traditionally Inscription at the c. 500 Armenian held to have Tekor Basilica[61] translated an Armenian Bible in 434. A word in the Formula for freeing mid-5th century a serf in the c. 510 Old Dutch Bergakker Malbergse Glossen inscription yields on the Salic law[62] the oldest 7 | P a g e Languages by Date

evidence of Dutch morphology, but there is no consensus on the interpretation of the rest of the text.[62] Some Tocharian names and manuscripts from words have been

6th century Tocharian Kucha, Karasahr found in Prakrit and Dunhuang[63] documents from Krorän dated c. 300 AD. second half of Old High [64] Pforzen buckle

6th century German Telugu place names are found Erragudipadu in Prakrit c. 575 Telugu inscription[60] inscriptions from the 2nd century AD.[60] Sinseong (新城)

591 Korean Stele in Namsan (Gyeongju)[65][66] Angkor Borei

611 Khmer inscription

c. 650 Tibetan Tibetan Annals Sinai palimpsest c. 650–700 Old Udi M13 Kedukan Bukit c. 683 Old Malay

Inscription Some fragments manuscripts Tumshuqese and of Khotanese 7th century mainly from

Khotanese Saka Saka have been Dunhuang[67] dated to the 5th

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and 6th centuries ostracon from

7th century Beja Saqqara[68][69] Hpayahtaung funeral urn late 7th century Pyu inscription of kings of Sri Ksetra The Undley bracteate (5th century) and runic inscription on West Heslerton c. 700 Old English the Franks Casket brooch (c. 650) have fragmentary runic inscriptions.

711–712 Japanese poems in the Kojiki Orkhon

732 Old Turkic

inscriptions Primitive Irish Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century Würzburg c. 750 Old Irish consist of glosses[70] personal names, patronymics and/or clan names.[71][72]

c. 750 Persian Westeremden yew- c. 750–900 Old Frisian

stick Dohakosh by

769 Old Hindi Saraha Praecepta medica A botanical (Leyden, Codex late 8th century Breton manuscript in Vossianus Lat. F. Latin and Breton 96 A)[73]

c. 800 Old Norse runic inscriptions

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initial part of the

804 Javanese Sukabumi inscription[74] Rajasekhara Ramacaritam inscription at (12th century) is

9th century Malayalam Vazhappally Maha the oldest Siva Temple[48] literary work.[48] Cadfan Stone

9th century Old Welsh (Tywyn 2)[75] Oaths of c. 842 Old French

Strasbourg Developed in the Preslav Literary School and religious literature Ohrid Literary Old Church c. 862 translated by Cyril School, the two

Slavonic and Methodius major cultural centres of the Bulgarian Empire. dated royal

882 Balinese inscription[76]

c. 900 Old Occitan Tomida femina

c. 959–974 Leonese Nodicia de Kesos The Veronese Riddle (c. 800) is [77] c. 960–963 Italian Placiti Cassinesi considered a mixture of Italian and Latin.[78] Memorial for Yelü

986 Khitan

Yanning inscription on Bahubali statue inscription on at late 10th centur Konkani/Marath Bahubali statue at Shravanabelagol y i Shravanabelagola[79 a are in ] Devanagari script, but the language has

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been in dispute between Marathi and Konkani scholars.[80][81]

1000–1500 AD

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. Date Language Attestation Notes

972–1093 Slovene Freising manuscripts

Old East [82] c. 1000 Novgorod Codex

Slavic Basque,

c. 1000 Aragonese Glosas Emilianenses and Spanish [83] c. 1028 Catalan Jurament Feudal Middle High 1050 by convention

German Middle 1066 by convention

English Isolated words are kharjas appended to found in glossaries

11th century Mozarabic Arabic and Hebrew from the 8th poems[84] century.[85]

c. 1100 Croatian Baška tablet

c. 1100 Danish by convention [86] c. 1100 Ossetian Zelančuk inscription by convention; the Rök Stone (c. 9th

c. 1100 Swedish century) is often cited as the beginning of Swedish literature Lebor na hUidre ("Book c. 1106 Irish of the Dun Cow")

1113 Burmese Myazedi inscription palm-leaf manuscript

1114 Newari from Uku Bahah[87] Middle Het Leven van Sint 1160–1170

Dutch Servaes ("Life of Saint 11 | P a g e Languages by Date

Servatius") by Heinrich von Veldeke[88] The Notícia de Torto and the will of Afonso II of Portugal, dated 1214, are often cited as the first documents Galician- c. 1175 Notícia de Fiadores[89] written in Galician-

Portuguese Portuguese.[90] A date prior to 1175 has been proposed for the Pacto dos Irmãos Pais.[91]

1186–1190 Serbian Miroslav Gospel

1189 Bosnian Charter of Ban Kulin There are isolated fragments in earlier charters such as the Old Funeral Sermon and 1192 charter of Veszprém

Hungarian Prayer (c. 1000) and the charter of Tihany (1055). Birch bark letter no. Finnish proper: 1543, c. 1200 Finnic

292 Abckiria. c. 1200– founding charter of the

Czech 1230 Litoměřice chapter

1224–1225 Mongolian Genghis stone early poetry of Fariduddin

Punjabi 13th century Ganjshakar A 9th century gloss in De Consolatione prophesy in the Philosophiae by early

Cornish cartulary of Glasney Boethius: ud 13th century College[92] rocashaas is controversially interpreted.[93][94] Mahanayakaprakash c. 1250 Kashmiri ("Light of the supreme

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lord") by Shitikantha[95]

c. 1270 Old Polish Book of Henryków blessing in the Worms

1272 Yiddish mahzor Western Libro de le tre scritture, c. 1274

Lombard by Bonvesin de la Riva Some scholars argue

c. 1292 Thai Ramkhamhaeng stele that the stele is a forgery. a text of laws found in

13th century Tigrinya Logosarda Old c. 1300

Norwegian

c. 1300 Batak Oghuz Turkic (including c. 1350 Imadaddin Nasimi Azeri and Ottoman Turkish) Old c. 1369 Basel Epigram[96]

Prussian

1372 Komi Abur inscriptions The 10th-century Charyapada are early 15th poems of Chandidas written in a language

Bengali century and Vidyapati[97] ancestral to Bengali, Assamese and Oriya.[97] Isolated names in Chữ [98] c. 1440 Vietnamese Quốc âm thi tập nôm date from the early 13th century. Formula e Pagëzimit, a Some scholars baptismal formula in a interpret a few lines in

1462 Albanian letter of Archbishop the Bellifortis text Pal Engjëll (1405) as Albanian.[99]

c. 1470 Maltese Il Cantilena

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Early 1470s Modern by convention

English bronze bell inscription

1485 Yi in Dafang County, Guizhou[100] inscriptions in an

15th century Tulu adaptation of Malayam script[101]

After 1500

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. Date Language Attestation Notes Katekizmas (1547) by Hand-written Lord's Martynas Mažvydas was the c. 1503 Lithuanian Prayer, Hail Mary first printed book in and Creed[102] Lithuanian. Old Psalter of Francysk 1517 Belarusian Skaryna The Cyrillic orthographic manual of Constantin Kostentschi from 1420 documents earlier written usage.[103] Four 16th century documents, namely Codicele

1521 Romanian Neacșu's Letter Voronetean, Psaltirea Scheiana, Psaltirea Hurmuzachi and Psaltirea Voroneteana, are arguably copies of 15th century originals.[104] Nicholas Ramm's

1530 Latvian translation of a hymn Wanradt-Koell

1535 Estonian catechism Modern Grammatica da 1536 by convention.[105] Portuguese lingoagem

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portuguesa by Fernão de Oliveira. Modern Abckiria by Mikael 1543 Finnish Agricola. The Breve y mas compendiosa doctrina cristiana en lengua mexicana Doctrina cristiana en Classical y castellana (1539) was 1550 lengua española y

Nahuatl possibly the first printed mexicana[106] book in the New World. No copies are known to exist today.[106] The Statenbijbel is commonly accepted to be the start of Standard Dutch, but various experiments were performed Standard around 1550 in Flanders and c. 1550 Statenbijbel

Dutch Brabant. Although none proved to be lasting they did create a semi-standard and many formed the base for the Statenbijbel. A grammar by

1554 Wastek Andrés de Olmos [107] 1557 Kikongo A catechism Old Peresopnytsia 1561

Ukrainian Gospel

1593 Tagalog Doctrina Cristiana

1600 Buginese Book of Common c. 1610 Manx Prayer[108] Early literary works were mainly based on dialects Old Swedish underlying modern Ume 1619 A primer

Sami Sami and Pite Sami. First grammar and dictionary in 1738.

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Tesoro de la lengua

1639 Guarani guaraní by Antonio Ruíz de Montoya Ubykh, Abkhaz, Travel Book of c. 1650 Adyghe and Evliya Çelebi[109] Mingrelian The Pata Khazana, copy of Xayru 'l- purporting to date from the bayān in the library

1651 Pashto 8th century, is considered by of the University of most scholars to be a Tübingen[110] forgery.[110] Before 1700, lyrics of songs were not written in Tunisian Copy of a Tunisian Arabic but in Classical Tunisian poem written by 1693 Arabic. Even though

Arabic Sheykh Hassan el- Tunisian Arabic existed Karray [111] before, it was only used orally.[111] Grammar and

vocabulary [112] c. 1695 Seri No longer known to exist. compiled by Adamo Gilg An early wordlist was Northern published in 1589 by Richard 1728 Catechism

Sami Hakluyt. First grammar in 1743

1728 Swahili Utendi wa Tambuka Grönländische A poor-quality wordlist was

1736 Greenlandic Grammatica by Paul recorded by John Davis in Egede[113] 1586.[114] Chinese sentence recorded 1743 Pidgin in Macau by George [115] English Anson A list of 17 words was "Eskimo Grammar" recorded in 1576 by

1800 Inuktitut by Moravian Christopher Hall, an missionaries[113] assistant to Martin Frobisher.[113][114]

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Heinrich Lictenstein First complete Bible – Upon the

1806 Tswana translation in 1857 by Robert Language of the Moffat Beetjuana Sequoyah's Cherokee

1819 Cherokee syllabary Grammar by Kendal began compiling

1820 Maori Thomas Kendall wordlists in 1814. and Samuel Lee A short word list was Description by

1820 Aleut collected by James King in Rasmus Rask 1778. John Bennie's Complete Bible translation

1823 Xhosa Xhosa reading sheet 1859 Vai syllabary created by c. 1833 Vai Momolu Duwalu Bukele. Reduced to writing First grammar book 1841 by French

1833 Sotho and complete Bible missionaries Casalis translation 1881 and Arbousset First written First grammar book 1859 publication Incwadi

1837 Zulu and complete Bible Yokuqala translation 1883 Yabafundayo Dictionary and grammar by Pamphlet by Lars

1839 Lule Sami Karl Bernhard Wiklund in Levi Laestadius 1890-1891 Letters by Louis Followed by Muslim texts Henri Meurant written in Afrikaans using (published in Arabic alphabet in 1856.

1844 Afrikaans Eastern Cape Spelling rules published in newspaper – South 1874. Complete Bible Africa) published 1933. Wordlists were included in Über die Sprache Noord en Oost Tartarije (1692) Sakha der Jakuten, a 1851 by Nicolaas Witsen and Das

(Yakut) grammar by Otto Nord-und Ostliche Theil von von Böhtlingk Europa und Asia (1730) by

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Philip Johan von Strahlenberg. Grammar by Elias Primer and catechism

1854 Inari Sami Lönnrot published in 1859. Articles by William Basic vocabulary collected by

1856 Gamilaraay Ridley[116] Thomas Mitchell in 1832. Reduced to writing First complete Bible

1872 Venda by the Berlin translation 1936 Missionaries

1878 Kildin Sami Gospel of Matthew The same author also O dialecto mirandez published the first book

1882 Mirandese by José Leite de written in Mirandese: Flores Vasconcelos[117] mirandezas (1884)[118]

1884 Skolt Sami Gospel of Matthew In Cyrillic. Barkerville Jail Although the first known text Text, written in by native speakers dates to pencil on a board in 1885, the first record of the

1885 Carrier the then recently language is a list of words created Carrier recorded in 1793 by syllabics Alexander MacKenzie. Grammar by W.G.

1885 Motu Lawes grammatical sketch

1891 Galela by M.J. van Baarda[119] Translation of the New Testament by

1893 Oromo Onesimos Nesib, assisted by Aster Ganno Several words were recorded Guugu Description by 1901 by James Cook's crew in

Yimithirr Walter Roth 1770.

1903 Lingala A Kamoro wordlist recorded materials by Peter in 1828 by Modera and c. 1940 Kamoro Drabbe[119] Müller, passengers on a Dutch ship, is the oldest 18 | P a g e Languages by Date

record of any of the Papuan languages.[119][120] Small booklet Translation of the New published with Testament of the Bible Southern 1968 praises of their completed in 1986 –

Ndebele kings and a little translation of Old Testament history ongoing survey by William

1982 Gooniyandi McGregor[121]

By family

Attestation by major language family:

 Afro-Asiatic: since about the 27th century BC o 27th century BC: Egyptian o 24th century BC: Semitic (Eblaite, Akkadian) o 7th century AD: Cushitic (Beja)  Hurro-Urartian: c. 21st century BC  Indo-European: since about the 17th century BC o 17th century BC: Anatolian: Hittite o 15th–14th century BC: Greek o 7th century BC: Italic o 6th century BC: Celtic o 6th century BC: Indo-Iranian o 4th century AD: Germanic o 9th century AD: Balto-Slavic  Sino-Tibetan: c. 1200 BC o roughly 1200 BC: Old Chinese o 7th century AD: Tibeto-Burman (Tibetan)  Dravidian: c. 200 BC  Mayan: 3rd century AD  Austronesian: 4th century AD  South Caucasian: 5th century (Georgian)  Northeast Caucasian: 7th century (Udi)  Austroasiatic: 7th century (Khmer)  Turkic: 8th century (Old Turkic)  Japonic: 8th century  Nilo-Saharan: 8th century (Old Nubian)  Basque: 10th century  Uralic: 11th century

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o 12th century: Hungarian o 13th century: Finnic o 14th century: Permic (Komi)  Mongolic: 13th century (apparently related Khitan language: 10th century)  Tai–Kadai: 13th century  Uto-Aztecan: 16th century  Quechuan: 16th century  Niger–Congo (Bantu): 16th century  Northwest Caucasian: 17th century (Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh)  Indigenous Australian languages: 19th century  Iroquoian: 19th century  Hmong-Mien: 20th century  Papuan languages: 20th century

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