# List of languages by first written account

This is a list of languages arranged by age of the oldest existing text recording a complete sentence in the language. It does not include undeciphered writing systems, 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. In most 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.
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 date to c. 1500 BC, while the oldest known manuscripts date to c. 1040 AD. 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.

## Before 1000 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, Hattic and Elamite language isolates,
* Hurrian from the small Hurro-Urartian family,
* 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:
* the Proto-Elamite script
* the Indus script (speculated to record a "Harappan language")
* Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A (encoding a possible "Minoan language")
* the Cypro-Minoan syllabary
Earlier symbols, such as the Jiahu symbols or Vinča symbols, are believed to be proto-writing, rather than representations of language.
| Date | Language | Attestation | Notes |
| c. 2690 BC | Egyptian | Egyptian hieroglyphs constituting the earliest complete sentence known, found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen (2nd Dynasty), Umm El Qa'ab. This sentence refers to the entombed king's father and translates as, "He has united the Two Lands for his son, Dual King Peribsen." | So-called "proto-hieroglyphic" inscriptions, such as those on the Narmer Palette, are known from 3300 BC on, although these instances of written Egyptian are rebus-like and confined to semi-grammatical captions, labels, and proper names. See also, Naqada III and Abydos, Egypt. |
| c. 2600 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. Various texts from Ur during the Early Dynastic I–II period (c. 2800 BC) show syllabic elements with clear signs of the Sumerian language. |
| c. 2600 BC | Akkadian | A hymn to the sun-god Šamaš found at Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ. | 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. A few dozen pre-Sargonic texts from Mari and other sites in northern Babylonia. |
| c. 2400 BC | Eblaite | Ebla tablets | |
| 24th century BC | Northwest Semitic | Protective spells in Pyramid Texts 235, 236, 281, 286 from the Pyramid of Unas, written in hieroglyphic script but unintelligible as Egyptian | Ugaritic is the earliest Northwest Semitic language to be unambiguously attested within its native context, c. 1300 BC. |
| c. 2250 BC | Elamite | Awan dynasty peace treaty with Naram-Sin | The Proto-Elamite script attested from c. 3100 BC remains undeciphered; the identity of the language communicated thereby is unknown. The date of c. 2250 BC is based off the advent of Linear Elamite. |
| 21st century BC | Hurrian | Temple inscription of Tish-atal in Urkesh | |
| c. 1800 BC | Amorite | Bilingual Amorite-Akkadian vocabulary | See also tablet CUNES 50-11-020 (P411253) |
| 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 | |
| c. 1250 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 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 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 and Messapian. The North Picene language of the Novilara Stele from c. 600 BC has not been deciphered. The few brief inscriptions in Thracian dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC have not been conclusively 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 language is attested here. |
| c. 850 BC | Ammonite | Amman Citadel Inscription | |
| c. 840 BC | Moabite | Mesha Stele | |
| c. 820 BC | Urartian | Inscriptions in Assyrian cuneiform script | |
| 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 Arabic | Prayer inscription at Bayir, Jordan | It is a bi-lingual inscription written in Old Arabic which was written in the undifferentiated North Arabian script (known as Thamudic B) and Canaanite which remains undeciphered. |
| c. 700 BC | Etruscan | Proto-Corinthian vase found at Tarquinia | |
| 7th century BC | Latin | Vetusia Inscription and Fibula Praenestina | |
| 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 | |
| early 6th century BC | Umbrian | Text painted on the handle of a krater found near Tolfa | |
| c. 550 BC | Taymanitic | Esk 168 and 177 | The Taymanitic script is mentioned in an 8th century BC document from Carchemish. |
| c. 550 BC | South Picene | Warrior of Capestrano | |
| mid-6th century BC | Venetic | Funerary inscriptions at Este | |
| late 6th century BC | Lemnian | Lemnos Stele | |
| 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. 300 BC | Oscan | Lovilae from Capua | Coin legends date from the late 5th century BC. |
| 3rd century BC | Gaulish | Transalpine Gaulish inscriptions in Massiliote Greek script | |
| 3rd century BC | Volscian | Tabula Veliterna | |
| c. 260 BC | Ashokan Prakrit | Edicts of Ashoka | Potsherds inscribed with Brahmi letters from Anuradhapura have been dated c. 400 BC, and range from isolated letters to names in the genitive case. |
| c. 200 BC | Elu (Sri Lankan Prakrit) | Brahmi inscription at Mihintale | |
| early 2nd century BC | Old Tamil | Rock inscription ARE 465/1906 at Mangulam caves, Tamil Nadu (Other authors give dates from late 3rd century BC to 1st century AD.) | Pottery inscribed with personal names has been found at Keeladi, a site that was occupied between the 6th century BC and 1st century AD. 5th century BC inscriptions on potsherds found in Kodumanal, Porunthal and Palani have been claimed as Tamil-Brahmi, but this is disputed. |
| 2nd century BC | Meroitic | Graffiti on the temple of Amun at Dukki Gel, near Kerma | |
| c. 146 BC | Numidian | Punic-Libyan Inscription at Dougga | |
| c. 100 BC | Celtiberian | Botorrita plaques | |
| 1st century BC | Parthian | Ostraca at Nisa and Qumis | |
| 1st century BC | Sanskrit | Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana, and Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions (both near Chittorgarh) | The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman (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, Classical 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. 200 | Proto-Norse | inscription NITHIJO TAWIDE on shield grip from the Illerup Ådal weapon deposit | Single Proto-Norse words are found on the Øvre Stabu spearhead (second half of the 2nd century) and the Vimose Comb (c. 160). |
| 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. 400 | Tocharian B | THT 274 and similar manuscripts | Some Tocharian names and words have been found in Prakrit documents from Krorän dated c. 300. |
| c. 430 | Old Georgian | Bir el Qutt inscription #1 | Inscription #2, made around the same time, is currently missing. |
| c. 450 | Old Kannada | Halmidi inscription | A date of 350 has been claimed for the Tagarthi inscription found in Shivamogga district, but this is disputed. Kavirajamarga (c. 850) is the oldest literary work. |
| c. 478-490 | Classical Armenian | inscription at the Tekor Basilica | Mesrop Mashtots is traditionally held to have translated an Armenian Bible in 434. |
| 5th century | Frankish/Old Dutch | Bergakker inscription | There is no consensus on the interpretation of the text, leading to the language uncertainty. |
| c. 510 | Old Dutch | formula for freeing a serf in the Malbergse Glossen on the Salic law | Some scholars consider the formula to be in Frankish instead. |
| 6th century | Vandalic | A sentence in the Collatio beati Augustini cum Pascentio ariano (Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, MS G.V. 26) | Copy of a text originally written in the first half of the 5th century. |
| second half of 6th century | Old High German | Pforzen buckle | |
| mid-6th century | Old Korean | Mokgan No. 221 | |
| c. 575 | Telugu | Erragudipadu inscription | Telugu place names are found in Prakrit inscriptions from the 2nd century AD. |
| c. 611 | Old Khmer | Angkor Borei inscription K. 557/600 | |
| c. 650 | Old Japanese | mokkan wooden tablets | Poems in the Kojiki (711–712) and Nihon Shoki (720) have been transmitted in copied manuscripts. |
| c. 650–700 | Old Udi | Sinai palimpsest M13 | |
| c. 683 | Old Malay | Kedukan Bukit Inscription | |
| 7th century | Bailang | commentary on the Book of the Later Han by Li Xian citing the mostly lost Dongguan Hanji |
| 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 | Franks Casket | The Undley bracteate (5th century) and West Heslerton brooch (c. 650) have fragmentary runic inscriptions. |
| 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. 765 | Old Tibetan | Lhasa Zhol Pillar | Dated entries in the Tibetan Annals begin at 650, but extant manuscripts postdate the Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang in 786. |
| late 8th century | Breton | Praecepta medica (Leyden, Codex Vossianus Lat. F. 96 A) | A botanical manuscript in Latin and Breton |
| c. 750–900 | Old Frisian | Westeremden yew-stick | |
| c. 800 | Old Norse | runic inscriptions | |
| c. 804 | Old Javanese | initial part of the Sukabumi inscription (id), found near Kediri | |
| early 9th century | Old Saxon | Heiland and Old Saxon Genesis, found in Palatinus Latinus 1447 | The 9th century Old Saxon Baptismal Vow appears to be a copy from the 8th century; however, scholars dispute whether it is in Old Saxon or another Germanic language |
| 9th century | Old Malayalam | Vazhappally copper plate | The status of the Edakkal-5 inscriptions dating back to 3rd or late 4th century is contested.Ramacaritam (12th century) is the oldest literary work. |
| 9th century | Old Welsh | Cadfan Stone (Tywyn 2) | |
| late 9th century | Old French | Sequence of Saint Eulalia | The earliest surviving manuscript with the text for the Oaths of Strasbourg (842), traditionally considered the first Old French text, dates from the 11th century. |
| c. 882 | Balinese | dated royal inscription | |
| c. 900 | Old Occitan | Tomida femina | |
| c. 959–974 | Old 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 | Old Church Slavonic | Kiev Missal | Cyril and Methodius translated religious literature from c. 862, but only later manuscripts survive. |
| late 10th century | Konkani/Marathi | inscription on the Gommateshwara statue | The inscription is in Devanagari script, but the language has been disputed between Marathi and Konkani scholars. |
| 10th century | Romansh | a sentence in the Würzburg manuscript |

## 1000–1500 AD

| Date | Language | Attestation | Notes |
| c. 972–1093 | Slovene | Freising manuscripts | |
| c. late 10th–early 11th century | Serbian | Hilandar Fragments, Temnić inscription | |
| c. 1000 | Faroese | inscription at Kirkjubøur | |
| c. 1000 | Old East Slavic | Novgorod Codex | |
| c. 1000 | Navarro-Aragonese (Aragonese) and Basque | Glosas Emilianenses | The first word on the Hand of Irulegi (1st century BC) has been claimed as Basque. |
| c. 1028 | Catalan | Jurament Feudal | |
| c. 1058 | Burmese | a dated inscription | A brief Burmese inscription appears in a copper-gilded umbrella also inscribed in Sanskrit dated 1035 found near the Mahabodhi Temple, but only a name and some numerals can be made out in certainty due to damage. An 18th century copy of a stone inscription made in 984 also exists. |
| 11th century | Mozarabic | kharjas appended to Arabic and Hebrew poems | Isolated words are found in glossaries from the 8th century. |
| c. 11th century | Croatian | Humac tablet (variously dated to between the 10th and 12th century), Inscription of Krk, Inscription of Župa Dubrovačka, Plomin tablet, Valun tablet | |
| c. 1100 | Ossetian | Zelančuk inscription | |
| c. 1114 | Newar | palm-leaf manuscript from Uku Baha, Patan | |
| c. 1127 | Jurchen | inscription found on the bank of the Arkhara River | |
| 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. 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). Some scholars believe that the language of the Szarvas inscription (8th century) is Old Hungarian. |
| mid-12th century | Icelandic | AM 237 a fol. manuscript | |
| late 12th century | Old Norwegian | AM 655 IX 4to manuscript | |
| c. late 12th century | Bosnian | copies A,B, and C of the Charter of Ban Kulin | Originally created in 1189 |
| c. 1200 | Spanish | Cantar de mio Cid | Previously the Glosas Emilianenses and the Nodicia de kesos were considered the oldest texts in Spanish; however, later analyses concluded them to be Aragonese and Leonese, respectively. |
| c. 1200 | Finnic | Birch bark letter no. 292 | |
| c. 1200–1230 | Czech | founding charter of the Litoměřice chapter | |
| c. 1224–1225 | Mongolian | Stele of Genghis Khan | |
| 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 | Old Swedish | fragments of the elder Westrogothic law in Codex Holm. B 193 | |
| c. 1250 | Kashmiri | Mahanayakaprakash ("Light of the supreme lord") by Shitikantha | |
| c. 1270 | Old Polish | a sentence in the Book of Henryków | |
| c. 1272 | Yiddish | blessing in the Worms mahzor | |
| c. 1274 | Western Lombard | Liber di Tre Scricciur, by Bonvesin de la Riva | |
| c. 1292 | Thai | Ramkhamhaeng stele | Some scholars argue that the stele is a forgery. The next oldest inscription is the Wat Sri Chum inscription from the early 14th century. |
| late 13th century | Old Danish | manuscripts AM 37 4to, AM 24 4to, SKB C 37, SKB B 74 | |
| 13th century | Tigrinya | a text of laws found in Logosarda | |
| c. 1350 | Oghuz Turkic (including Azeri and Ottoman Turkish) | works of Imadaddin Nasimi | |
| c. 1350 | Old Gutnish | Gutasaga and Gutalagen, found in Codex Holm. B 64 | |
| c. 1369 | Old Prussian | Basel Epigram | |
| c. 1372 | Komi | Abur inscriptions | |
| c. 1386 | Slovak | Rhymed sentence in Latin codex | Toponyms, personal names and glosses are found from 11th century. |
| early 15th century | Bengali, Assamese and other Bengali-Assamese languages | poems of Chandidas | The 10th-century Charyapada are written in a language ancestral to Bengali, Assamese and Oriya. |
| c. 1440 | Vietnamese | Quốc âm thi tập | List of 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 | Finnish | single sentence in a German travel journal | The first printed book in Finnish is Abckiria (1543) by Mikael Agricola. |
| c. 1470 | Maltese | Il Cantilena | |
| c. 1485 | Yi | bronze bell inscription in Dafang County, Guizhou | |
| 15th century | Tulu | inscriptions in an adaptation of Malayalam script | |

## After 1500

| 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 | Belarusian | Psalter of Francysk Skaryna | |
| c. 1521 | Romanian | Neacșu's Letter | 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. 1540s | Old Tupi | Jehan Lamy's Le langaige du Bresil | |
| c. 1549 | Sylheti | Talib Husan by Ghulam Husan | earliest extant manuscript found using the Sylheti Nagri script. |
| 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. 1554 | Extremaduran (mixed with Sayaguese Leonese) | works of Diego Sánchez de Badajoz, published as edited by his nephew as Recopilación en metro | |
| c. 1554 | Wastek | grammar by Andrés de Olmos | |
| c. 1557 | Kikongo | a catechism | |
| c. 1561 | Ukrainian | Peresopnytsia Gospel | |
| c. 1589 | Crimean Gothic | 1562 letter from Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq that was published later | 9th century Gothic graffiti in Crimea show some Crimean Gothic influence in spelling. |
| c. 1593 | Tagalog | Doctrina Cristiana | |
| c. 1600 | Classical Quechua | Huarochirí Manuscript by a writer identified only as "Thomás" | Paraphrased and annotated by Francisco de Ávila in 1608. |
| c. 1600 | Buginese | | |
| c. 1610 | Manx | Book of Common Prayer | |
| c. 1619 | Pite Sami | primer and missal by Nicolaus Andreaus | Early literary works were mainly based on dialects underlying modern Ume Sami and Pite Sami. First grammar and dictionary in 1738. |
| c. 1638 | Ternate | treaty with Dutch governor | |
| c. 1639 | Guarani | Tesoro de la lengua guaraní by Antonio Ruíz de Montoya | |
| c. 1639 | modern Asturian | Cuando examen les abeyes by Antón de Marirreguera | |
| 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. 1663 | Massachusett | Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God | Also known as the Eliot Indian Bible or the Algonquian Bible |
| 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. |
| c. 1695 | Seri | grammar and vocabulary compiled by Adamo Gilg | No longer known to exist. |
| 17th century | Hausa | Riwayar Annabi Musa by Abdallah Suka | |
| late 17th century | Basque–Icelandic pidgin | Vocabula Gallica | |
| 18th century | Língua Geral of São Paulo | Vocabulário da Língua Geral dos Índios das Américas (anonymous) | Another source is the dictionary by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1867) and the vocabulary (1936) by José Joaquim Machado de Oliveira. The language is now extinct. |
| c. 1711 | Swahili | letters written in Kilwa | |
| c. 1718 | Sranan Tongo | Herlein fragment | |
| c. 1728 | Northern Sami | Catechism | An early wordlist was published in 1589 by Richard Hakluyt. First grammar in 1743 |
| 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. 1747 | Borgarmålet | Beskrifning öfwer Sweriges Lapmarker by Pehr Högström | |
| c. 1757 | Haitian Creole | Lisette quitté la plaine by Duvivier de la Mahautière | |
| c. 1788 | Sydney language | notebooks of William Dawes | |
| c. 1795 | Afrikaans | doggerel verses | |
| 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 | The first complete Bible translation was published 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 | 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. 1845 | Santali | A Santali Primer by Jeremiah Phillips | |
| c. 1849 | Solombala English | Ocerki Arxangel'skoj Gubernii by Vasilij Vereščagin |
| 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. 1864 | Français Tirailleur | letter by P. Durpatz | |
| 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. 1886 | Guugu Yimidhirr | notes by Johann Flierl, Wilhelm Poland and Georg Schwarz, culminating in Walter Roth's The Structure of the Koko Yimidir Language in 1901. | A list of 61 words recorded in 1770 by James Cook and Joseph Banks was the first written record of an Australian language. |
| 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. 1900 | Qaqet | grammar by Matthäus Rascher | |
| c. 1903 | Lingala | grammar by Egide de Boeck | |
| c. 1905 | Istro-Romanian | Calindaru lu rumeri din Istrie by Andrei Glavina and Constantin Diculescu | Compilation of Istro-Romanian popular words, proverbs and stories. |
| 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 non-Austronesian languages of New Guinea. |
| c. 1968 | Southern Ndebele | small booklet published with praises of their kings and a little history | A translation of the New Testament of the Bible was completed in 1986; translation of the Old Testament is ongoing. |
| c. 1984 | Gooniyandi | survey by William B. 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 (Blemmyan)
* Hurro-Urartian: c. 21st century BC
* Indo-European: since about the 17th century BC
** 17th century BC: Anatolian (Hittite)
** 15th century BC: Greek
** 7th century BC: Italic (Latin)
** 6th century BC: Celtic (Lepontic)
** c. 500 BC: Iranian (Old Persian)
** c. 260 BC: Indo-Aryan (Ashokan Prakrit)
** 4th century AD: Germanic (Gothic)
** 4th century AD: Tocharian (Tocharian B)
** 4th century AD: Armenian (Classical Armenian)
** 10th century AD: Slavic (Old Church Slavonic)
** c. 1370: Baltic (Old Prussian)
** c. 1460: Albanian
* Sino-Tibetan: c. 1250 BC
** c. 1250 BC: Old Chinese
** 8th century AD: Tibeto-Burman (Tibetan)
* Dravidian: c. 200 BC (Tamil)
* Mayan: 3rd century AD
* Austronesian: 4th century AD (Cham)
* 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: c. 1000
* Uralic: 12th century
** 12th century: Hungarian
** c. 1200: Finnic
** 14th century: Permic (Komi)
* Mongolic: 13th century (Possibly related Khitan language: 10th century)
* Kra–Dai: 13th century (Thai)
* Uto-Aztecan: 16th century (Classical Nahuatl)
* Quechuan: 16th century
* Niger–Congo (Bantu): 16th century (Kikongo)
* Northwest Caucasian: 17th century (Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh)
* Indigenous Australian languages: 18th century
* Iroquoian: 19th century (Cherokee)
* Hmong-Mien: 20th century

## Constructed languages

| 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 |
| 1921 | Interlingue (as Occidental) | Transcendent Algebra by Estonian linguist Jacob Linzbach. | created by Edgar de Wahl |
| 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 |
| 1984 | Klingon | Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | created by Marc Okrand |
| 1987 | Lojban | | based on Loglan, created by the Logical Language Group |
| 1999 | Slovio | | created by Mark Hučko |
| 2001 | Atlantean | Atlantis: The Lost Empire | created by Marc Okrand |
| 2004 | Ithkuil | | created by John Quijada |
| 2005 | Na'vi | Avatar | created by Dr. Paul Frommer and James Cameron |
| 2009 | Dothraki | | created by George R. R. Martin and David J. Peterson for Game of Thrones |
| 2013 | Kiliki | Baahubali: The Beginning, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion | created by Madhan Karky for Baahubali: The Beginning |