Man has been around for 200,000 years. Many languages have been spoken since, but what was the first language spoken by man?
What first language spoken by man is a difficult question to answer. Whilst there were undoubtedly languages before. We just don’t know their names or what they sounded like. They have simply been lost to history.
The first languages were likely those in the cuneiform script, dating back to the 8 millennium BCE. However, other linguists claim that Sumerian or Egyptian are the oldest- simply because they have the oldest writing systems.
What are the first languages spoken by man that we still use?
- Tamil (5000 years old)– Tamil was first spoken Sri Lanka. It is also the official language of both Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is spoken by 78 million people, and is the only ancient language to survive into the modern era.
- Sanskrit (4900 years old)– Unlike Tamil, Sanskrit isn’t well spoken. Sanskrit was once we’ll spoken, although it fell out of use in 600 BC. However, Sanskrit is an ancient holy language, being used in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.