World’s Oldest Language
It is not possible to answer exactly how many languages of the world are there. According to an estimate, the total number of languages in the world is about 6809, out of which the number of speakers of 90 per cent of the languages is less than 100000. There are about 200 to 150 languages that are spoken by more than 1 million people. There are about 357 languages that only 50 people speak. Not only this, but there are also 46 languages whose number of speakers is only one.
But do you know which is the oldest language in the world? If you are not aware of the answer to this question then after reading this article you will know which is the oldest language in the world, because in this article we are giving the details of the 10 oldest languages of the world according to the origin.
World’s 10 oldest languages
10. Armenian Language
The Armenian language is also part of the Indo-European linguistic group, which is spoken by the Armenians. Bibles written in the fifth century exist as its earliest appearance. The Armenian language originated in 450 BC. At present, about 5 per cent of people speak this language. This language is spoken in Mesopotamia and the intermediate valleys of the caucus and in the southeastern region of the Black Sea. The region falls in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan (northwestern Iran). It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia.
9. Korean language
The Korean language is spoken from around 600 BC. At present, about 80 million people speak the Korean language. The script of this language is Hangul. In ancient times, the Chinese settled in Korea, so the Korean language is strongly influenced by the Chinese language.
8. Arabic language
This language is found in Hebrew and Arabic languages today. It was once the official language of the Armenian Republic. There is evidence of its presence even 1,000 years before Christ. Even today the Arabic language is spoken in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, Lebanon and modern Rome.
7. Chinese Language
Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. It is spoken in China and some countries of East Asia. The Chinese language belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan language-family and is actually a group of languages and dialects. Standardized Chinese is actually a language called “mandarin”. This language is 1200 years old even before the arrival of Jesus. Currently, about 1.2 billion people speak Chinese.
6. Greek Language
The Greek language is the oldest language in Europe, spoken since 1450 years before Christ. Currently Greek is spoken in Greece, Albania and Cyprus. About 13 million people still speak Greek today.
5. Egyptian Language
The Egyptian language is the oldest known language in Egypt. This language belongs to the Afro-Asian linguistic family. it is 2600–2000 years old from Christ. This language is still keeping its nature alive.
4. Hebrew Language
Hebrew is the language falling under the Semitic branch of the Sami-Hami language-family. The Hebrew language is about 3000 years old. It is currently the official language of Israel, after its extinction, the Israeli people revived it. The Jewish community considers it to be ‘holy language’ and the Old Testament of the Bible was written in it. The Hebrew language is written in the Hebrew script, read and written from right to left. Studies of Hebrew are relatively popular nowadays in Western universities. The official language of Palestine after the First World War is also modern Hebrew.
3. Latin Language
Greek is the third oldest language in the world. Latin was the official language of the ancient Roman Empire and ancient Roman religion. It is currently the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and the official language of the Vatican City. Like Sanskrit, it is a classical language. Latin comes in the romance branch of the Indo-European language family. From this, French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese and the most popular language of the present time, English has originated. Due to the dominance of Christianity in Europe, Latin language in medieval and pre-modern times was the international language of almost all Europe, in which books of all religions, science, higher literature, philosophy and mathematics were written.
2. Tamil Language
The Tamil language is recognized as the oldest language in the world and it is the oldest language of the Dravidian family. This language had a presence even around 5,000 years ago. According to a survey, 1863 newspapers are published in the Tamil language only every day. At present, the number of speakers of Tamil language is around 7.7 crores. This language is spoken in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.
1. Sanskrit Language
World’s oldest language is Sanskrit. The Sanskrit language is called Devbhasha. All European languages seem inspired by Sanskrit. All the universities and educational institutions spread across the world consider Sanskrit as the most ancient language. It is believed that all the languages of the world have originated from Sanskrit somewhere. The Sanskrit language has been spoken since 5,000 years before Christ. Sanskrit is still the official language of India. However, in the present time, Sanskrit has become a language of worship and ritual instead of the language of speech. All the auspicious works performed in Hindu religion are recited by Veda Mantra, whose language is Sanskrit.
