Скачать или смотреть Ancient Language Debate

The world's oldest language still spoken today—or at least the one with the longest continuous written record—is indeed a fascinating topic. Based on historical evidence, Tamil and Sumerian (though extinct) are often discussed, but Egyptian (Coptic) and Sanskrit also have strong claims.

Strong Candidates:
Tamil (3000+ years old, still spoken)

Oldest written records: 5th–3rd century BCE (Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions).

Classical Tamil literature (Sangam texts) dates back to 300 BCE–300 CE.

Still spoken by 80+ million people today.

Sanskrit (3500+ years old, liturgical use)

Oldest form: Vedic Sanskrit (Rigveda, ~1500 BCE).

Classical Sanskrit (Panini’s grammar, ~500 BCE).

Not widely spoken as a native language but used in Hindu rituals and scholarly contexts.

Egyptian → Coptic (5000+ years old, liturgical use)

Oldest hieroglyphs: ~3200 BCE.

Coptic (latest stage) was spoken until the 17th century and is still used in Coptic Christian liturgy.

Some revival efforts exist, but not a living vernacular.

Chinese (Old Chinese, 3200+ years old, still spoken)

Oracle Bone Script (~1250 BCE).

Modern Chinese dialects evolved from Old Chinese.

Conclusion:
If considering only living native languages, Tamil has the strongest claim.

If including liturgical/longest-recorded languages, Egyptian (Coptic) and Sanskrit are strong contenders.

tags:

Language & History Tags:
#OldestLanguage #Linguistics #AncientLanguages #LanguageHistory #Tamil #Sanskrit #Coptic #Egyptian #Chinese #Sumerian

Archaeology & Writing Tags:
#Epigraphy #AncientScripts #Hieroglyphs #Cuneiform #Brahmi #OracleBoneScript

Revival & Liturgical Use Tags:
#LiturgicalLanguage #LanguageRevival #CopticChurch #VedicSanskrit #ClassicalTamil