The 10 Oldest Languages still spoken in the World Today

According to Ethnologue, 7,097 languages are spoken today. To accurately measure the number of languages spoken around the world can turn out to be a task, as these numbers are constantly in flux. Many of these languages are still living and dynamic and are being spoken by various communities of the world till date. However, out of such a huge number, roughly a third of these languages are now endangered, many of which have less than 1,000 speakers remaining.
As per the statistical data (refer statistics) provided by Ethnologue, 50% of world’s population is being covered by 23 major languages.

Poster: Hello! in different languages

While animals have their own ways of communicating, we humans have languages to express feelings, ideas, information, experiences, etc. Human language is believed to evolve and develop over a long period of time, around 100,000 years ago. Over the years just as humans have evolved, so have these languages! Some of these languages have changed in many ways: some of them have branched out, while some of them have gone extinct. Exceptionally, some languages have survived over the ages and continued to evolve over time. Here are some of the World’s oldest languages that are still spoken today. 

1. Hebrew

Year: 10th century BCE
Country/Area of Origin: Israel
Number of speakers: Over 9 million people worldwide

The Hebrew language is the only living Canaanite language that is still in use at present. The earliest Hebrew writings that have been discovered, date back to 3,000 years ago. Somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, people stopped using Hebrew as their spoken language and eventually it started dying. However, in the 19th century with rise of Zionism Hebrew went through a revival process and started being used as the modern spoken language. At present, Hebrew is the official language of Israel with 5 million native speakers. 

Hebrew writing on a scroll

 

2. Basque

Year: Unknown
Country/Area of Origin: Basque country
Number of speakers: 750,000 people approximately

Basque is one of the living languages amongst the pre-Indo-European languages that are mostly extinct today. The language holds many mysteries, as scientists till date have not been able to determine the time of its origin. It is believed that this language dates back to prehistoric Europe. Basque language is mainly spoken by the Basque people residing in parts of France and Spain and is also considered as one of the oldest languages in Western Europe.   

 

A stone cross in Basque language

 

3. Tamil

Year: 300 BCE
Country/Area of Origin: India and Sri Lanka
Number of speakers: Over 80 million approximately 

Tamil is one of the classical languages surviving till date. Tamil-Brahmin inscriptions from 300 BCE have been found, and the language is believed to be more than 2000 years old! This ‘Dravidian language’ is currently the official language of 2 countries: Sri Lanka and Singapore and the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Apart from this, Tamil language is also recognized as a minority language in Malaysia, Mauritius and South Africa. 
 

Tamil language writing

 

4. Arabic

Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with 270 million native speakers. It is also an official language of 26 states, the third most after English and French and the liturgical language of Islam. The language originated on the Arabian Peninsula, and since then has spread over the Middle East and North Africa. Many European languages have been influenced by Arabic language and has been used in their vocabulary. Additionally, Arabic has influenced numerous languages around the globe throughout its lifetime, including Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Spanish. 

Calligraphy writing in Arabic language

 

5. Farsi/ Persian

Year: 600 BCE
Country/Area of Origin: Iran
Number of speakers: 110 million people approximately

Persian (also known as Farsi) the language of the Achaemenid Empire is one of the oldest languages that is still being spoken in parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan. The Persian language that is being spoken today or the Modern Persian evolved from Old Persian around 800 CE and has mostly remained the same with small changes. Over the years, the Persian language also exerts its influence on various neighboring languages; especially on Urdu. Persian is known as Dari in Afghanistan and Tajiki in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, but both are originally Persian with minor changes.

The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom (Quote) in Persian language - Arthur Schopenhauer

 

6. Greek

Year: the earliest written evidence dates back to 1450-1350 BCE
Country/Area of Origin: Greece
Number of speakers: 13 million people approximately 

Greek language is a member of the Indo-European language family, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It is the official language of Greece and Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish) and the European Union. The language is also recognized as a minority language in parts of Italy, Albania, Armenia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine. At various times in the past, the Greek alphabet has also been adopted to write other languages as well, namely Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, etc. The Greek symbols also find their importance in mathematics, physics and other scientific fields.
It also has a long and well documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 34 centuries! 

Road signs in Greek language

 

7. Chinese

Year: 1250 BCE
Country/Area of Origin: China and parts of Southeast Asia
Number of speakers: 1.2 billion approximately

The Chinese language is a part of a language family called the Sino- Tibetan family of languages. Approximately, 1.2 billion of the people (around 16% of the World population) speak some form of Chinese as their first language. The earliest Chinese written records are believed to be from 1200 BCE from of the Shang dynasty- era. But some scholars believe that the language has roots in the Yangshao culture. At 5000-4000 BCE, remains of the pottery from Yangshao currently holds the Guinness World Record for the earliest written language. The most spoken language of the world is also one of the official languages of the United Nations, as well as the official language of China, Taiwan and Singapore.

 

A storefront in China 

 

8. Lithuanian

Year: Assumed to be 1500 AD
Country/Area of Origin: Baltic region
Number of speakers: 3 million people approximately

Lithuanian is an Indo-European language whose written text records date back to the 16th century. The language is considered the most conventional Baltic language, and is related to ancient languages, such as Sanskrit, Latin and Ancient Greek. It is the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union and has about 3 million speakers worldwide. 
 

Manuscript from the 15th century written in Lithuanian language

 

9. Icelandic

Year: oldest preserved texts were written around 1100 AD 
Country/Area of Origin: Iceland
Number of speakers: 358,000 people 

Icelandic is a North Germanic language of the Indo-European language family and the language has preserved many of the features of the Indo-European languages. The language was brought in Iceland by the Norse settlers. Later, during the Danish governance in the country from 14th to the 20th century the language did not see much influence from them. Therefore, the language mainly remains unchanged till date and the Icelandic speakers can easily read the sagas that written centuries ago.
Icelandic is the official language of Iceland spoken by nearly 358,000 people worldwide. Some speakers live in Denmark, United States and Canada. 

Road sign in Icelandic language

 

10. Irish Gaelic

Year: 4 Century AD
Country/Area of Origin: Ireland
Number of speakers: 1.2 million people approximately

Irish is a Goidelic language (Gaelic) of the Indo-European language family that existed around the 3rd or 4th century CE. Today approximately 1.2 million people speak the language, of which maximum speakers live in Ireland. Irish is the national and official language of the Republic of Ireland and is an official recognized minority language in Northern Ireland. The language is also recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. Although sadly, according to UNESCO, it is ‘definitely endangered.’

Road sign in Irish language

 

Obviously, our list of the oldest languages seems very limited. If you have more living languages that we missed, please feel free to let us know. 

By Suvarna Choudhary

Image Source: Wikipedia, Pixabay, Dribbble