List of Languages by first written accounts - wikipedia List of Languages by first written accounts This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2012 ) This is a list of languages arranged by the approximate dates of the oldest existing texts recording a complete sentence in the language. It does not include undeciphered scripts, though there are various claims without wide acceptance, which, if substantiated, would push backward the first attestation of certain languages. It also does not include inscriptions consisting of isolated words or names from a language. A written record may encode a stage of a language corresponding to an earlier time, either as a result of oral tradition, or because the earliest source is a copy of an older manuscript that was lost. An oral tradition of epic poetry may typically bridge a few centuries, and in rare cases, over a millennium. An extreme case is the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda : the earliest parts of this text may date to c. 1500 BC, while the oldest known manuscript dates to the 11th century AD, a gap of over 2,500 years. Similarly the oldest Avestan texts, the Gathas, are believed to have been composed before 1000 BC, but the oldest Avestan manuscripts date from the 13th century AD. Because of the way languages change gradually, it is usually impossible to pinpoint when a given language began to be spoken. In many cases, some form of the language had already been spoken ( and even written ) considerably earlier than the dates of the earliest extant samples provided here. For languages that have developed out of a known predecessor, dates provided here are subject to conventional terminology. For example, Old French developed gradually out of Vulgar Latin, and the Oaths of Strasbourg ( 842 ) listed are the earliest text that is classified as `` Old French ''. Similarly, Danish and Swedish separated from common Old East Norse in the 12th century, while Norwegian separated from Old West Norse around 1300. Contents 1 Before 1000 BC 2 First millennium BC 3 First millennium AD 4 1000 -- 1500 AD 5 After 1500 6 By family 7 Constructed languages 8 See also 9 References Before 1000 BC Further information : Bronze Age writing 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 '' ) the Cypro - Minoan syllabary Date Language Attestation Notes c. 2690 BC Egyptian Egyptian hieroglyphs in the tomb of Seth - Peribsen ( 2nd Dynasty ), Umm el - Qa'ab `` proto - hieroglyphic '' inscriptions from about 3300 BC ( Naqada III ; see Abydos, Egypt, Narmer Palette ) 26th century BC Sumerian Instructions of Shuruppak, the Kesh temple hymn and other cuneiform texts from Shuruppak and Abu Salabikh ( Fara period ) `` proto - literate '' period from about 3500 BC ( see Kish tablet ) ; administrative records at Uruk and Ur from c. 2900 BC. c. 2400 BC Akkadian A few dozen pre-Sargonic texts from Mari and other sites in northern Babylonia Some proper names attested in Sumerian texts at Tell Harmal from about 2800 BC. Fragments of the Legend of Etana at Tell Harmal c. 2600 BC. c. 2400 BC Eblaite Ebla tablets c. 2250 BC Elamite Awan dynasty peace treaty with Naram - Sin 21st century BC Hurrian Temple inscription of Tish - atal in Urkesh c. 1700 BC Hittite Anitta text in Hittite cuneiform Isolated Hittite words and names occur in Assyrian texts found at Kültepe, from the 19th century BC. 16th century BC Palaic Hittite texts CTH 751 -- 754 c. 1450 BC Mycenaean Greek Linear B tablet archive from Knossos These are mostly administrative lists, with some complete sentences. c. 1400 BC Luwian Hieroglyphic Luwian monumental inscriptions, Cuneiform Luwian tablets in the Hattusa archives Isolated hieroglyphs appear on seals from the 18th century BC. c. 1400 BC Hattic Hittite texts CTH 725 -- 745 c. 1300 BC Ugaritic Tablets from Ugarit see Ugaritic alphabet c. 1200 BC Old Chinese Oracle bone and bronze inscriptions from the reign of Wu Ding 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 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. The North Picene language of the Novilara Stele from c. 600 BC has not been deciphered. The earliest examples of the Central American Isthmian script date from c. 500 BC, but a proposed decipherment remains controversial. Date Language Attestation Notes c. 1000 BC Phoenician Ahiram epitaph 10th century BC Aramaic royal inscriptions from Aramean city - states 10th century BC Hebrew or Phoenician Gezer calendar Paleo - Hebrew employed a slightly modified Phoenician alphabet, hence the uncertainty between which is attested to here. c. 850 BC Ammonite Amman Citadel Inscription c. 840 BC Moabite Mesha Stele c. 800 BC Phrygian Paleo - Phrygian inscriptions at Gordion 8th century BC Sabaean ( Old South Arabian ) mainly boustrophedon inscriptions from Yemen 8th century BC Old North Arabian inscriptions from north and central Arabia c. 700 BC Etruscan proto - Corinthian vase found at Tarquinia 7th century BC Latin Vetusia Inscription and Fibula Praenestina c. 600 BC Umbrian c. 600 BC Lydian inscriptions from Sardis c. 600 BC Carian inscriptions from Caria and Egypt c. 600 BC Faliscan Ceres inscription found at Falerii c. 550 BC South Picene Warrior of Capestrano late 6th century BC Venetic inscriptions at Este c. 500 BC Old Persian Behistun inscription c. 500 BC Lepontic inscriptions CO-48 from Pristino ( Como ) and VA - 6 from Vergiate ( Varese ) Inscriptions from the early 6th century consist of isolated names. c. 500 BC Gaulish c. 400 BC Oscan 3rd century BC Volscian Tabula Veliterna c. 260 BC Middle Indo - Aryan ( Prakrit ) Edicts of Ashoka Pottery inscriptions from Anuradhapura have been dated c. 400 BC. c. 200 BC Tamil cave inscriptions and potsherds in Tamil Nadu 2nd century BC Meroitic graffiti on the temple of Amun at Dukki Gel, near Kerma c. 100 BC Celtiberian Botorrita plaques 1st century BC Parthian ostraca at Nisa and Qumis 1st century BC Sanskrit stone inscriptions from Ayodhyā and from Hāthībādā and Ghosuṇḍī ( both near Chittorgarh ) The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman I ( shortly after 150 AD ) is the oldest long text. 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 c. 292 Mayan Stela 29 from Tikal A brief undeciphered inscription at San Bartolo is dated to the 3rd century BC. c. 312 -- 313 Sogdian Ancient Letters, found near Dunhuang c. 328 Arabic Namara inscription c. 350 Ge'ez inscriptions of Ezana of Aksum c. 350 Cham Đông Yên Châu inscription found near Tra Kiêu 4th century Gothic Gothic Bible, translated by Wulfila A few problematic Gothic runic inscriptions may date to the early 4th century. c. 430 Georgian Bir El Qutt inscriptions c. 450 Kannada Halmidi inscription Kavirajamarga ( c. 850 ) is the oldest literary work. c. 500 Armenian Inscription at the Tekor Basilica Saint Mesrob Mashtots is traditionally held to have translated an Armenian Bible in 434. c. 510 Old Dutch Formula for freeing a serf in the Malbergse Glossen on the Salic law A word in the mid-5th century Bergakker inscription yields the oldest evidence of Dutch morphology, but there is no consensus on the interpretation of the rest of the text. 6th century Tocharian manuscripts from Kucha, Karasahr and Dunhuang Some Tocharian names and words have been found in Prakrit documents from Krorän dated c. 300 AD. second half of 6th century Old High German Pforzen buckle c. 575 Telugu Erragudipadu inscription Telugu place names are found in Prakrit inscriptions from the 2nd century AD. c. 591 Korean Sinseong ( 新城 ) Stele in Namsan ( Gyeongju ) c. 611 Khmer Angkor Borei inscription c. 650 Tibetan Tibetan Annals c. 650 -- 700 Old Udi Sinai palimpsest M13 c. 683 Old Malay Kedukan Bukit Inscription 7th century Tumshuqese and Khotanese Saka manuscripts mainly from Dunhuang Some fragments of Khotanese Saka have been dated to the 5th and 6th centuries 7th century Beja ostracon from Saqqara late 7th century Pyu Hpayahtaung funeral urn inscription of kings of Sri Ksetra c. 700 Old English runic inscription on the Franks Casket The Undley bracteate ( 5th century ) and West Heslerton brooch ( c. 650 ) have fragmentary runic inscriptions. c. 711 -- 712 Japanese poems in the Kojiki c. 732 Old Turkic Orkhon inscriptions c. 750 Old Irish Würzburg glosses Primitive Irish Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century consist of personal names, patronymics and / or clan names. c. 750 Persian c. 750 -- 900 Old Frisian Westeremden yew - stick c. 769 Old Hindi Dohakosh by Saraha late 8th century Breton Praecepta medica ( Leyden, Codex Vossianus Lat. F. 96 A ) A botanical manuscript in Latin and Breton c. 800 Old Norse runic inscriptions c. 804 Javanese initial part of the Sukabumi inscription 9th century Malayalam Rajasekhara inscription at Vazhappally Maha Siva Temple Ramacaritam ( 12th century ) is the oldest literary work. 9th century Old Welsh Cadfan Stone ( Tywyn 2 ) c. 842 Old French Oaths of Strasbourg c. 862 Old Church Slavonic religious literature translated by Cyril and Methodius Developed in the Preslav Literary School and Ohrid Literary School, the two major cultural centres of the Bulgarian Empire. c. 882 Balinese dated royal inscription c. 900 Old Occitan Tomida femina c. 959 -- 974 Leonese Nodicia de Kesos c. 960 -- 963 Italian Placiti Cassinesi The Veronese Riddle ( c. 800 ) is considered a mixture of Italian and Latin. c. 986 Khitan Memorial for Yelü Yanning late 10th century Konkani / Marathi inscription on Bahubali statue at Shravanabelagola inscription on Bahubali statue at Shravanabelagola are in Devanagari script, but the language has been in dispute between Marathi and Konkani scholars. 1000 -- 1500 AD This list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it. Date Language Attestation Notes c. 972 -- 1093 Slovene Freising manuscripts c. 1000 Old East Slavic Novgorod Codex c. 1000 Basque, Aragonese and Spanish Glosas Emilianenses c. 1028 Catalan Jurament Feudal c. 1050 Middle High German by convention c. 1066 Middle English by convention 11th century Mozarabic kharjas appended to Arabic and Hebrew poems Isolated words are found in glossaries from the 8th century. c. 1100 Croatian Baška tablet c. 1100 Danish by convention c. 1100 Ossetian Zelančuk inscription c. 1100 Swedish by convention ; the Rök Stone ( c. 9th century ) is often cited as the beginning of Swedish literature c. 1106 Irish Lebor na hUidre ( `` Book of the Dun Cow '' ) c. 1113 Burmese Myazedi inscription c. 1114 Newari palm - leaf manuscript from Uku Bahah c. 1160 -- 1170 Middle Dutch Het Leven van Sint Servaes ( `` Life of Saint Servatius '' ) by Heinrich von Veldeke c. 1175 Galician - Portuguese Notícia de Fiadores The Notícia de Torto and the will of Afonso II of Portugal, dated 1214, are often cited as the first documents written in Galician - Portuguese. A date prior to 1175 has been proposed for the Pacto dos Irmãos Pais. c. 1186 -- 1190 Serbian Miroslav Gospel c. 1189 Bosnian Charter of Ban Kulin c. 1192 Old Hungarian Funeral Sermon and Prayer There are isolated fragments in earlier charters such as the charter of Veszprém ( c. 1000 ) and the charter of Tihany ( 1055 ). c. 1200 Finnic Birch bark letter no. 292 Finnish proper : 1543, Abckiria. c. 1200 -- 1230 Czech founding charter of the Litoměřice chapter c. 1224 -- 1225 Mongolian Genghis stone early 13th century Punjabi poetry of Fariduddin Ganjshakar early 13th century Cornish prophesy in the cartulary of Glasney College A 9th century gloss in De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boethius : ud rocashaas is controversially interpreted. c. 1250 Kashmiri Mahanayakaprakash ( `` Light of the supreme lord '' ) by Shitikantha c. 1270 Old Polish Book of Henryków c. 1272 Yiddish blessing in the Worms mahzor c. 1274 Western Lombard Libro de le tre scritture, by Bonvesin de la Riva c. 1292 Thai Ramkhamhaeng stele Some scholars argue that the stele is a forgery. 13th century Tigrinya a text of laws found in Logosarda c. 1300 Old Norwegian c. 1300 Batak c. 1350 Oghuz Turkic ( including Azeri and Ottoman Turkish ) Imadaddin Nasimi c. 1369 Old Prussian Basel Epigram c. 1372 Komi Abur inscriptions early 15th century Bengali poems of Chandidas and Vidyapati The 10th - century Charyapada are written in a language ancestral to Bengali, Assamese and Oriya. c. 1440 Vietnamese Quốc âm thi tập Isolated names in Chữ nôm date from the early 13th century. c. 1462 Albanian Formula e Pagëzimit, a baptismal formula in a letter of Archbishop Pal Engjëll Some scholars interpret a few lines in the Bellifortis text ( 1405 ) as Albanian. c. 1470 Maltese Il Cantilena c. 1470s Early Modern English by convention c. 1485 Yi bronze bell inscription in Dafang County, Guizhou 15th century Tulu inscriptions in an adaptation of Malayam script After 1500 This list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it. Date Language Attestation Notes c. 1503 Lithuanian Hand - written Lord 's Prayer, Hail Mary and Creed Katekizmas ( 1547 ) by Martynas Mažvydas was the first printed book in Lithuanian. c. 1517 Old Belarusian Psalter of Francysk Skaryna c. 1521 Romanian Neacșu 's Letter The Cyrillic orthographic manual of Constantin Kostentschi from 1420 documents earlier written usage. Four 16th century documents, namely Codicele Voronetean, Psaltirea Scheiana, Psaltirea Hurmuzachi and Psaltirea Voroneteana, are arguably copies of 15th century originals. c. 1530 Latvian Nicholas Ramm 's translation of a hymn c. 1535 Estonian Wanradt - Koell catechism c. 1536 Modern Portuguese Grammatica da lingoagem portuguesa by Fernão de Oliveira. by convention. c. 1543 Modern Finnish Abckiria by Mikael Agricola. c. 1550 Classical Nahuatl Doctrina cristiana en lengua española y mexicana The Breve y mas compendiosa doctrina cristiana en lengua mexicana y castellana ( 1539 ) was possibly the first printed book in the New World. No copies are known to exist today. c. 1550 Standard Dutch Statenbijbel The Statenbijbel is commonly accepted to be the start of Standard Dutch, but various experiments were performed around 1550 in Flanders and Brabant. Although none proved to be lasting they did create a semi-standard and many formed the base for the Statenbijbel. c. 1554 Wastek A grammar by Andrés de Olmos c. 1557 Kikongo A catechism c. 1561 Old Ukrainian Peresopnytsia Gospel c. 1593 Tagalog Doctrina Cristiana c. 1600 Buginese c. 1610 Manx Book of Common Prayer c. 1619 Old Swedish Sami A primer Early literary works were mainly based on dialects underlying modern Ume Sami and Pite Sami. First grammar and dictionary in 1738. c. 1639 Guarani Tesoro de la lengua guaraní by Antonio Ruíz de Montoya c. 1650 Ubykh, Abkhaz, Adyghe and Mingrelian Travel Book of Evliya Çelebi c. 1651 Pashto copy of Xayru ' l - bayān in the library of the University of Tübingen The Pata Khazana, purporting to date from the 8th century, is considered by most scholars to be a forgery. c. 1693 Tunisian Arabic Copy of a Tunisian poem written by Sheykh Hassan el - Karray Before 1700, lyrics of songs were not written in Tunisian Arabic but in Classical Arabic. Even though Tunisian Arabic existed before, it was only used orally. c. 1695 Seri Grammar and vocabulary compiled by Adamo Gilg No longer known to exist. c. 1728 Northern Sami Catechism An early wordlist was published in 1589 by Richard Hakluyt. First grammar in 1743 c. 1728 Swahili Utendi wa Tambuka c. 1736 Greenlandic Grönländische Grammatica by Paul Egede A poor - quality wordlist was recorded by John Davis in 1586. c. 1743 Chinese Pidgin English sentence recorded in Macau by George Anson c. 1800 Inuktitut `` Eskimo Grammar '' by Moravian missionaries A list of 17 words was recorded in 1576 by Christopher Hall, an assistant to Martin Frobisher. c. 1806 Tswana Heinrich Lictenstein -- Upon the Language of the Beetjuana First complete Bible translation in 1857 by Robert Moffat c. 1819 Cherokee Sequoyah 's Cherokee syllabary c. 1820 Maori Grammar by Thomas Kendall and Samuel Lee Kendal began compiling wordlists in 1814. c. 1820 Aleut Description by Rasmus Rask A short word list was collected by James King in 1778. c. 1823 Xhosa John Bennie 's Xhosa reading sheet Complete Bible translation 1859 c. 1833 Vai Vai syllabary created by Momolu Duwalu Bukele. c. 1833 Sotho Reduced to writing by French missionaries Casalis and Arbousset First grammar book 1841 and complete Bible translation 1881 c. 1837 Zulu First written publication Incwadi Yokuqala Yabafundayo First grammar book 1859 and complete Bible translation 1883 c. 1839 Lule Sami Pamphlet by Lars Levi Laestadius Dictionary and grammar by Karl Bernhard Wiklund in 1890 - 1891 c. 1844 Afrikaans Letters by Louis Henri Meurant ( published in Eastern Cape newspaper -- South Africa ) Followed by Muslim texts written in Afrikaans using Arabic alphabet in 1856. Spelling rules published in 1874. Complete Bible published 1933. c. 1851 Sakha ( Yakut ) Über die Sprache der Jakuten, a grammar by Otto von Böhtlingk Wordlists were included in Noord en Oost Tartarije ( 1692 ) by Nicolaas Witsen and Das Nord - und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia ( 1730 ) by Philip Johan von Strahlenberg. c. 1854 Inari Sami Grammar by Elias Lönnrot Primer and catechism published in 1859. c. 1856 Gamilaraay Articles by William Ridley Basic vocabulary collected by Thomas Mitchell in 1832. c. 1872 Venda Reduced to writing by the Berlin Missionaries First complete Bible translation 1936 c. 1878 Kildin Sami Gospel of Matthew c. 1882 Mirandese O dialecto mirandez by José Leite de Vasconcelos The same author also published the first book written in Mirandese : Flores mirandezas ( 1884 ) c. 1884 Skolt Sami Gospel of Matthew In Cyrillic. c. 1885 Carrier Barkerville Jail Text, written in pencil on a board in the then recently created Carrier syllabics Although the first known text by native speakers dates to 1885, the first record of the language is a list of words recorded in 1793 by Alexander MacKenzie. c. 1885 Motu Grammar by W.G. Lawes c. 1891 Galela grammatical sketch by M.J. van Baarda c. 1893 Oromo Translation of the New Testament by Onesimos Nesib, assisted by Aster Ganno c. 1901 Guugu Yimithirr Description by Walter Roth Several words were recorded by James Cook 's crew in 1770. c. 1903 Lingala c. 1940 Kamoro materials by Peter Drabbe A Kamoro wordlist recorded in 1828 by Modera and Müller, passengers on a Dutch ship, is the oldest record of any of the Papuan languages. c. 1968 Southern Ndebele Small booklet published with praises of their kings and a little history Translation of the New Testament of the Bible completed in 1986 -- translation of Old Testament ongoing c. 1982 Gooniyandi survey by William McGregor By family Attestation by major language family : Afro - Asiatic : since about the 27th century BC 27th century BC : Egyptian 24th century BC : Semitic ( Eblaite, Akkadian ) 7th century AD : Cushitic ( Beja ) Hurro - Urartian : c. 21st century BC Indo - European : since about the 17th century BC 17th century BC : Anatolian : Hittite 15th -- 14th century BC : Greek 7th century BC : Italic 6th century BC : Celtic 6th century BC : Indo - Iranian 4th century AD : Germanic 9th century AD : Balto - Slavic Sino - Tibetan : c. 1200 BC roughly 1200 BC : Old Chinese 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 12th century : Hungarian 13th century : Finnic 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 Constructed languages Further information : Constructed language Date Language Attestation Notes 1879 Volapük created by Johann Martin Schleyer 1887 Esperanto Unua Libro created by L.L. Zamenhof 1907 Ido based on Esperanto 1917 Quenya created by J.R.R. Tolkien 1928 Novial created by Otto Jespersen 1935 Sona Sona, an auxiliary neutral language created by Kenneth Searight 1943 Interglossa Later became Glosa created by Lancelot Hogben 1951 Interlingua Interlingua - English Dictionary created by the International Auxiliary Language Association 1955 Loglan created by James Cooke Brown 1985 Klingon created by Marc Okrand Lojban based on Loglan, created by the Logical Language Group 2005 -- 6 Na'vi created by Dr. Paul Frommer and James Cameron 2009 Dothraki created by George R.R. Martin and David J. Peterson for Game of Thrones See also History of writing List of writing systems Undeciphered writing systems References Notes Jump up ^ Jamison, Stephanie W. ( 2008 ). `` Sanskrit ''. In Woodward, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6 -- 32. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68494 - 1. Jump up ^ Hale, Mark ( 2008 ). `` Avestan ''. In Woodward, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas. Cambridge University Press. pp. 101 -- 122. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68494 - 1. Jump up ^ Woodard ( 2008 ), p. 2. Jump up ^ `` Linear A -- Undeciphered Writing System of the Minoans ''. Archaeology.about.com. 2013 - 07 - 13. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 17. Jump up ^ Woodard ( 2008 ), p. 3. Jump up ^ Allen, James P. ( 2003 ). The Ancient Egyptian Language. Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978 - 1 - 107 - 66467 - 8. Jump up ^ Hayes, John ( 1990 ). A Manual of Sumerian : Grammar and Texts. Malibu, CA. : UNDENA. pp. 268 -- 269. ISBN 0 - 89003 - 197 - 5. Jump up ^ Woods ( 2010 ), p. 87. Jump up ^ Hasselbach, Rebecca ( 2005 ). Sargonic Akkadian : A Historical and Comparative Study of the Syllabic Texts. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 8. ISBN 978 - 3 - 447 - 05172 - 9. Jump up ^ Andrew George, `` Babylonian and Assyrian : A History of Akkadian '', In : Postgate, J.N., ( ed. ), Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern. London : British School of Archaeology in Iraq, pp. 31 -- 71. Jump up ^ Clay, Albert T. ( 2003 ). Atrahasis : An Ancient Hebrew Deluge Story. Book Tree. p. 34. ISBN 978 - 1 - 58509 - 228 - 4. Jump up ^ Huehnergard, John ; Woods, Christopher ( 2008 ). `` Akkadian and Eblaite ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. Cambridge University Press. pp. 83 -- 145. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68497 - 2. Jump up ^ Stolper, Matthew W. ( 2008 ). `` Elamite ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. Cambridge University Press. pp. 47 -- 82. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68497 - 2. Jump up ^ Potts, D.T. ( 1999 ). The Archaeology of Elam : Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 56496 - 0. Jump up ^ van Soldt, Wilfred H. ( 2010 ). `` The adaptation of Cuneiform script to foreign languages ''. In De Voogt, Alexander J. ; Finkel, Irving L. The Idea of Writing : Play and Complexity. BRILL. pp. 117 -- 128. ISBN 978 - 90 - 04 - 17446 - 7. Jump up ^ Watkins, Calvert ( 2008 ). `` Hittite ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6 -- 30. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68496 - 5. Jump up ^ Melchert, H. Craig ( 2008 ). `` Palaic ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40 -- 45. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68496 - 5. Jump up ^ Shelmerdine, Cynthia. `` Where Do We Go From Here ? And How Can the Linear B Tablets Help Us Get There ? '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 2008 - 03 - 27. Jump up ^ Olivier ( 1986 ), pp. 377f. Jump up ^ `` Clay tablets inscribed with records in Linear B script ''. British Museum. Retrieved 7 May 2015. Jump up ^ Bennett, Emmett L. ( 1996 ). `` Aegean scripts ''. In Daniels, Peter T. ; Bright, William. The World 's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. pp. 125 -- 133. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 507993 - 7. ^ Jump up to : Baldi ( 2002 ), p. 30. Jump up ^ Pardee, Dennis ( 2008 ). `` Ugaritic ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Syria - Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 5 -- 35. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68498 - 9. Jump up ^ Bagley ( 1999 ), pp. 181 -- 182. Jump up ^ Keightley ( 1999 ), pp. 235 -- 237. Jump up ^ DeFrancis, John ( 1989 ). `` Chinese ''. Visible Speech. The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 89 -- 121. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8248 - 1207 - 2. Jump up ^ Woodard ( 2008 ), pp. 4, 9, 11. Jump up ^ Woodard ( 2008 ), p. 4. Jump up ^ Robinson, Andrew ( 2008 ). Lost Languages : The Enigma of the World 's Undeciphered Scripts. Thames & Hudson. p. 263. ISBN 978 - 0 - 500 - 51453 - 5. Jump up ^ Cook, Edward M. ( 1994 ). `` On the Linguistic Dating of the Phoenician Ahiram Inscription ( KAI 1 ) ''. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 53 ( 1 ) : 33 -- 36. JSTOR 545356. doi : 10.1086 / 373654. Jump up ^ Creason, Stuart ( 2008 ). `` Aramic ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Syria - Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 108 -- 144. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68498 - 9. Jump up ^ Silvan, Daniel ( 1998 ). `` The Gezer Calendar and Northwest Semitic Linguistics ''. Israel Exploration Journal. 48 : 101 -- 105. JSTOR 27926502. Jump up ^ Fulco, William J. ( 1978 ). `` The Ammn Citadel Inscription : A New Collation ''. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 230 : 39 -- 43. JSTOR 1356612. Jump up ^ Nebes, Norbert ; Stein, Peter ( 2008 ). `` Ancient South Arabian ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Syria - Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 145 -- 178. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68498 - 9. Jump up ^ Macdonald, M.C.A ( 2008 ). `` Ancient North Arabian ''. In Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Syria - Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 179 -- 224. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68498 - 9. Jump up ^ F.W. Walbank, A.E. Astin, M.W. Frederiksen, eds. ( 1990 ). Part 2 of The Cambridge Ancient History : The Hellenistic World. Cambridge University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 23446 - 7. CS1 maint : Uses editors parameter ( link ) Jump up ^ Clackson, James ( 2011 ). A Companion to the Latin Language. John Wiley & Sons. p. 13. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4443 - 4336 - 6. Jump up ^ Bakkum, Gabriël C.L.M. ( 2009 ). The Latin dialect of the Ager Faliscus : 150 years of scholarship, Volume 1. University of Amsterdam Press. pp. 393 -- 406. ISBN 978 - 90 - 5629 - 562 - 2. Jump up ^ Clackson, James ; Horrocks, Geoffrey ( 2007 ). The Blackwell History of the Latin Language. Blackwell. p. 49. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4051 - 6209 - 8. Jump up ^ Lexicon Leponticum, by David Stifter, Martin Braun and Michela Vignoli, University of Vienna. Jump up ^ Stifter, David ( 2012 ). `` Celtic in northern Italy : Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 24 October 2016. Jump up ^ Baldi ( 2002 ), p. 140. 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( 2012 ). `` The Earliest Greenlandic Bible : A Study of the Ur - Text from 1725 ''. In Elliott, Scott S. ; Boer, Roland. Ideology, Culture, and Translation. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 113 -- 137. ISBN 978 - 1 - 58983 - 706 - 5. Jump up ^ Baker, Philip ; Mühlhäusler, Peter ( 1990 ). `` From Business to Pidgin ''. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. 1 ( 1 ) : 87 -- 116. Jump up ^ Austin, Peter K. ( 2008 ). `` The Gamilaraay ( Kamilaroi ) Language, northern New South Wales -- A Brief History of Research '' ( PDF ). In McGregor, William. Encountering Aboriginal languages : studies in the history of Australian linguistics. Australian National University. pp. 37 -- 58. ISBN 978 - 0 - 85883 - 582 - 5. Jump up ^ Ferreira, M. Barros. `` A descoberta do mirandês -- Marcos principais ''. Sítio de l Mirandés ( in Portuguese ). Lisbon : Universidade de Lisboa. Archived from the original on 2016 - 03 - 09. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ LUSA ( 2015 - 06 - 20 ). `` Portugueses e espanhóis assinam protocolo para promoção das línguas mirandesa e asturiana ''. Expresso ( in Portuguese ). ^ Jump up to : Voorhoeve, C.L. ( 1975 ). `` A hundred years of Papuan Linguistic Research : Western New Guinea Area '' ( PDF ). In Wurm, Stephen A. New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study, Volume 1 : Papuan Languages and the New Guinea Linguistic Scene. Australian National University. pp. 117 -- 141. Jump up ^ Foley, William A. ( 1986 ). The Papuan Languages of New Guinea. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 28621 - 3. Jump up ^ McGregor, William ( 1990 ). A Functional Grammar of Gooniyandi. John Benjamins. p. 26. ISBN 978 - 90 - 272 - 3025 - 6. Works cited Bagley, Robert ( 1999 ), `` Shang Archaeology '', in Loewe, Michael ; Shaughnessy, Edward L., The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 124 -- 231, ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 47030 - 8. Baldi, Philip ( 2002 ), The Foundations of Latin, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978 - 3 - 11 - 017208 - 9. Keightley, David N. ( 1999 ), `` The Shang : China 's first historical dynasty '', in Loewe, Michael ; Shaughnessy, Edward L., The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 232 -- 291, ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 47030 - 8. Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju ( 2003 ), The Dravidian Languages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 77111 - 0. Olivier, J. - P. ( 1986 ), `` Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium B.C. '', World Archaeology, 17 ( 3 ) : 377 -- 389, doi : 10.1080 / 00438243.1986. 9979977. Pollock, Sheldon ( 2003 ), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men : Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India, University of California Press, ISBN 0 - 520 - 24500 - 8. Woodard, Roger D. ( 2008 ), `` Language in ancient Europe : an introduction '', in Woodard, Roger D., The Ancient Languages of Europe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1 -- 13, ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 68495 - 8. Woods, Christopher ( ed. ) ( 2010 ), Visible Language : Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond ( PDF ), Chicago : The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, ISBN 978 - 1 - 885923 - 76 - 9. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Writing systems Overview History of writing History of the alphabet Graphemes Scripts in Unicode Lists Writing systems Languages by writing system / by first written account Undeciphered writing systems Inventors of writing systems Types Featural Alphabets Abjads Alphasyllabaries / Abugidas Syllabaries Semi-syllabaries Ideogrammic Pictographic Logographic Numeral Types of writing systems Overview History of writing Grapheme Lists Writing systems undeciphered inventors constructed Languages by writing system / by first written accounts Types Abjads Numerals Aramaic Hatran Arabic Pitman shorthand Hebrew Ashuri Cursive Rashi Solitreo Tifinagh Manichaean Nabataean Old North Arabian Pahlavi Pegon Phoenician Paleo - Hebrew Proto - Sinaitic Psalter Punic Samaritan South Arabian Zabur Musnad Sogdian Syriac ʾEsṭrangēlā Serṭā Maḏnḥāyā Teeline Shorthand Ugaritic Abugidas Brahmic Northern Asamiya ( Ôxômiya ) Bānglā Bhaikshuki Bhujinmol Brāhmī Devanāgarī Dogri Gujarati Gupta Gurmukhī Kaithi Kalinga Khojki Khotanese Khudawadi Laṇḍā Lepcha Limbu Mahajani Meitei Mayek Modi Multani Nāgarī Nandinagari Odia ' Phags - pa Newar Ranjana Sharada Saurashtra Siddhaṃ Soyombo Sylheti Nagari Takri Tibetan Uchen Umê Tirhuta Tocharian Zanabazar Square Zhang - Zhung Drusha Marchen Marchung Pungs - chen Pungs - chung Southern Ahom Balinese Batak Baybayin Bhattiprolu Buhid Burmese Chakma Cham Grantha Goykanadi Hanunó'o Javanese Kadamba Kannada Kawi Khmer Kulitan Lanna Lao Leke Lontara Malayalam Maldivian Dhives Akuru Eveyla Akuru Thaana Mon Old Makassarese Old Sundanese Pallava Pyu Rejang Rencong Sinhala Sundanese Tagbanwa Tai Le Tai Tham Tai Viet Tamil Telugu Thai Tigalari Vatteluttu Kolezhuthu Malayanma Visayan Others Boyd 's syllabic shorthand Canadian syllabics Blackfoot Déné syllabics Fox I Ge'ez Gunjala Gondi Japanese Braille Jenticha Kayah Li Kharosthi Mandombe Masaram Gondi Meroitic Miao Mwangwego Sorang Sompeng Pahawh Hmong Thomas Natural Shorthand Alphabets Linear Abkhaz Adlam Armenian Avestan Avoiuli Bassa Vah Borama Carian Caucasian Albanian Coorgi -- Cox alphabet Coptic Cyrillic Deseret Duployan shorthand Chinook writing Early Cyrillic Eclectic shorthand Elbasan Etruscan Evenki Fox II Fraser Gabelsberger shorthand Garay Georgian Asomtavruli Nuskhuri Mkhedruli Glagolitic Gothic Gregg shorthand Greek Greco - Iberian alphabet Hangul IPA Kaddare Latin Beneventan Blackletter Carolingian minuscule Fraktur Gaelic Insular Kurrent Merovingian Sigla Sütterlin Tironian notes Visigothic Luo Lycian Lydian Manchu Mandaic Medefaidrin Molodtsov Mongolian Mru Neo-Tifinagh New Tai Lue N'Ko Ogham Oirat Ol Chiki Old Hungarian Old Italic Old Permic Orkhon Old Uyghur Osage Osmanya Pau Cin Hau Rohingya Hanifi Runic Anglo - Saxon Cipher Dalecarlian Elder Futhark Younger Futhark Gothic Marcomannic Medieval Staveless Sidetic Shavian Somali Tifinagh Vagindra Visible Speech Vithkuqi Wancho Zaghawa Non-linear Braille Maritime flags Morse code New York Point Semaphore line Flag semaphore Moon type Ideograms / Pictograms Adinkra Aztec Blissymbol Dongba Ersu Shaba Emoji IConji Isotype Kaidā Míkmaq Mixtec New Epoch Notation Painting Nsibidi Ojibwe Hieroglyphs Siglas poveiras Testerian Yerkish Zapotec Logograms Chinese family of scripts Chinese Characters Simplified Traditional Oracle bone script Bronze Script Seal Script large small bird - worm Hanja Idu Kanji Chữ nôm Zhuang Chinese - influenced Jurchen Khitan large script Sui Tangut Cuneiform Akkadian Assyrian Elamite Hittite Luwian Sumerian Other logo - syllabic Anatolian Bagam Cretan Isthmian Maya Proto - Elamite Yi ( Classical ) Logo - consonantal Demotic Hieratic Hieroglyphs Numerals Hindu - Arabic Abjad Attic ( Greek ) Muisca Roman Semi-syllabaries Full Celtiberian Northeastern Iberian Southeastern Iberian Khom Redundant Espanca Pahawh Hmong Khitan small script Southwest Paleohispanic Zhuyin fuhao Somacheirograms ASLwrite SignWriting si5s Stokoe Notation Syllabaries Afaka Bamum Bété Byblos Cherokee Cypriot Cypro - Minoan Ditema tsa Dinoko Eskayan Geba Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics Iban Japanese Hiragana Katakana Man'yōgana Hentaigana Sogana Jindai moji Kikakui Kpelle Linear B Linear Elamite Lisu Loma Nüshu Nwagu Aneke script Old Persian Cuneiform Vai Woleai Yi ( Modern ) Yugtun Braille ⠃ ⠗ ⠁ ⠊ ⠇ ⠇ ⠑ Braille cell 1829 braille International uniformity ASCII braille Unicode braille patterns Braille scripts French - ordered scripts ( see for more ) Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Belarusian Bharati Devanagari ( Hindi / Marathi / Nepali ) Bengali Punjabi Sinhalese Tamil Urdu etc. Bulgarian Burmese Cambodian Cantonese Catalan Chinese ( Mandarin, mainland ) Czech Dutch Dzongkha ( Bhutanese ) English ( Unified English ) Esperanto Estonian Faroese French Georgian German Ghanaian Greek Guarani Hawaiian Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Inuktitut ( reassigned vowels ) Iñupiaq IPA Irish Italian Kazakh Kyrgyz Latvian Lithuanian Maltese Mongolian Māori Nigerian Northern Sami Persian Philippine Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Samoan Scandinavian Slovak South African Spanish Tatar Taiwanese Mandarin ( largely reassigned ) Thai & Lao ( Japanese vowels ) Tibetan Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Welsh Yugoslav Reordered scripts Algerian Braille ( obsolete ) Frequency - based scripts American Braille ( obsolete ) Independent scripts Japanese Korean Two - Cell Chinese Eight - dot scripts Luxembourgish Kanji Gardner -- Salinas braille codes ( GS8 ) Symbols in braille Braille music Canadian currency marks Computer Braille Code Gardner -- Salinas braille codes ( GS8 / GS6 ) International Phonetic Alphabet ( IPA ) Nemeth braille code Braille technology Braille e-book Braille embosser Braille translator Braille watch Mountbatten Brailler Optical braille recognition Perforation Perkins Brailler Refreshable braille display Slate and stylus Braigo Persons Louis Braille Charles Barbier Valentin Haüy Thakur Vishva Narain Singh Sabriye Tenberken William Bell Wait Organisations Braille Institute of America Braille Without Borders Japan Braille Library National Braille Association Blindness organizations Schools for the blind American Printing House for the Blind Other tactile alphabets Decapoint Moon type New York Point Night writing Vibratese Related topics Accessible publishing Braille literacy RoboBraille Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_languages_by_first_written_accounts&oldid=806858454 '' Categories : Earliest known manuscripts by language Lists of languages Language histories Historical linguistics Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Uses editors parameter Articles with French - 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Question: which is most old language in the world
Answer: Egyptian