8 Oldest Languages In The World Still Widely Used!

Once upon a time, before civilizations were formed, kingdoms were established, and before the norms of society were created,
humans used to communicate using hand gestures and primitive oral sounds. The concept of languages emerged about 10,000
years ago and it changed the course of humanity. It is the use of languages that led to the development of human race and took
us where we are today. Though the origin of the first-ever language is highly debated throughout the world, certain ancient
scriptures and cave carvings reveal some of the oldest languages in the world.

1. Tamil (5000 years old) - Oldest Living Language in India

Spoken by 78 million people and official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore, Tamil is the only ancient language that has
survived all the way to the modern world. Part of the Dravidian family, which comprises of some native southern and eastern
Indian languages, Tamil is the most widely spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu and is also one of the official languages of
India. Inscriptions dating back to 3rd century B.C have been found in Tamil.
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2. Sanskrit (5000 years old) - Oldest Language in India

Unlike Tamil, which is still a widely spoken language, Sanskrit is the ancient Indian language that fell out of common usage
around 600 B.C and is now a liturgical language. Found in the scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, this classical
language is one of the oldest known languages in the world. The first written record of Sanskrit can be found in Rigveda, a
collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, which was written in somewhere around 2nd millennium B.C. According to studies, Sanskrit
forms the base for many European languages and is still one of India's official languages.

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3. Egyptian (5000 years old)

Egypt is considered to be one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and Egyptian Coptic is the oldest indigenous language of
Egypt. Written records of its usage date back to 3400 BC, making it an ancient language. Coptic was the most widely spoken
language in Egypt till the late 17th century AD until it was replaced by Egyptian Arabic, post-Muslim invasion. Coptic is still used
as the liturgical language at the Coptic Church in Egypt. Only a handful of people fluently speak the language today.
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4. Hebrew (3000 years old)

Hebrew lost common usage around 400 CE and is now preserved as a liturgical language for Jews across the world. With the
rise of Zionism in the 19th and 20th century, Hebrew underwent a revival age and became the official language of Israel. Though
the Modern Hebrew differs from the Biblical version, native speakers of the language can completely comprehend what is written
in the ancient texts. Modern Hebrew in many ways is influenced by other Jewish languages.

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5. Greek (2900 years old)

Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and was first spoken in Greece and Asia Minor, which is now a part of
Turkey. Greek has an uninterrupted history of being used as a written language for over 3,000 years, which is longer than any
other Indo-European languages spoken today. This history is divided into three stages, Ancient Greek, Medieval Greek, and
Modern Greek. Over 15 million people, mostly residing in Greece and Cyprus, speak Greek today. Countries like the United
States and Australia also have large Greek-speaking communities.
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6. Basque
Basque is spoken natively by a small population of people residing in Spain and France. However, it is completely unrelated to
French and Spanish, or any other languages in the world. Linguists have contemplated for centuries about the roots of this
mysterious language, but none of the theories has been able to hold water. One thing that's clear is that Basque existed in
Europe way before the arrival of Romance languages and has survived through ages in tiny nook and corners of the area.

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7. Lithuanian
Lithuanian forms a part of the Indo-European languages group, which gave birth to various modern languages like German,
Italian and English. Lithuanian is closely related to Sanskrit, Latin and Ancient Greek, and has retained the sounds and grammar
rules from the ancient era in a far better way than any of its linguistic cousins. It is thus considered amongst one of the oldest
languages in the world. Today, Lithuanian serves as the official language of the Republic of Lithuania and is also one of the
official languages of the European Union. It is protected by special institutions and linguistic laws.
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8. Farsi (2500 years old)

Farsi is the common language spoken in modern day Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Farsi is the direct descendant of Old
Persian language, which was the official language of the Persian Empire. Modern Persian emerged around 800 CE, and it has
changed sparsely since then. Speakers of Persian language could pick up a piece of writing from 900 CE and read it with
comparatively less difficulty than an English speaker could read the English texts from the times of Shakespeare for instance.

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Thousands of languages came into existence ever since the creation of the first-ever language. Many languages among them are
lost in time and are now only found in legends; having survived through ages and are still used in different parts of the world.
These are nothing but a testament to the human spirit and the fact that some things never die.