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 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 1500 BC, while the oldest known manuscripts date to 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 end of the 4th 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.

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:

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
2690 BC	Egyptian	Egyptian hieroglyphs constituting the earliest complete sentence known, found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen, 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.
	Sumerian	Instructions of Shuruppak, the Kesh temple hymn and other cuneiform texts from Shuruppak and Abu Salabikh	"Proto-literate" period from about 3500 BC ; administrative records at Uruk and Ur from 2900 BC. Various texts from Ur during the Early Dynastic I–II period show syllabic elements with clear signs of the Sumerian language.
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 2600 BC. A few dozen pre-Sargonic texts from Mari and other sites in northern Babylonia.
2400 BC	Eblaite	Ebla tablets
	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, 1300 BC.
2250 BC	Elamite	Awan dynasty peace treaty with Naram-Sin	The Proto-Elamite script attested from 3100 BC remains undeciphered; the identity of the language communicated thereby is unknown. The date of 2250 BC is based off the advent of Linear Elamite.
	Hurrian	Temple inscription of Tish-atal in Urkesh
1800 BC	Amorite	Bilingual Amorite-Akkadian vocabulary	See also tablet
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.
	Palaic	Hittite texts CTH 751–754
1450 BC	Mycenaean Greek	Linear B tablet archive from Knossos	These are mostly administrative lists, with some complete sentences.
1400 BC	Luwian	Hieroglyphic Luwian monumental inscriptions, Cuneiform Luwian tablets in the Hattusa archives	Isolated hieroglyphs appear on seals from the 18th century BC.
1400 BC	Hattic	Hittite texts CTH 725–745
1300 BC	Ugaritic	Tablets from Ugarit
1250 BC	Old Chinese	Oracle bone and bronze inscriptions from the reign of Wu Ding

First millennium BC

The earliest known alphabetic inscriptions, at Serabit el-Khadim, 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 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 500 BC, but a proposed decipherment remains controversial.

Date	Language	Attestation	Notes
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.
850 BC	Ammonite	Amman Citadel Inscription
840 BC	Moabite	Mesha Stele
820 BC	Urartian	Inscriptions in Assyrian cuneiform script
800 BC	Phrygian	Paleo-Phrygian inscriptions at Gordion
8th century BC	Sabaean	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 and Canaanite which remains undeciphered.
700 BC	Etruscan	Proto-Corinthian vase found at Tarquinia
7th century BC	Latin	Vetusia Inscription and Fibula Praenestina
600 BC	Lydian	Inscriptions from Sardis
600 BC	Carian	Inscriptions from Caria and Egypt
600 BC	Faliscan	Ceres inscription found at Falerii
	Umbrian	Text painted on the handle of a krater found near Tolfa
550 BC	Taymanitic	Esk 168 and 177	The Taymanitic script is mentioned in an 8th-century BC document from Carchemish.
550 BC	South Picene	Warrior of Capestrano
mid-6th century BC	Venetic	Funerary inscriptions at Este
late 6th century BC	Lemnian	Lemnos Stele
500 BC	Old Persian	Behistun Inscription
500 BC	Lepontic	Inscriptions CO-48 from Pristino and VA-6 from Vergiate	Inscriptions from the early 6th century consist of isolated names.
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
260 BC	Ashokan Prakrit	Edicts of Ashoka	Potsherds inscribed with Brahmi letters from Anuradhapura have been dated 400 BC, and range from isolated letters to names in the genitive case.
200 BC	Elu	Brahmi inscription at Mihintale
	Old Tamil	Rock inscription ARE 465/1906 at Mangulam caves, Tamil Nadu	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. An inscription of 7 symbols from Adichanallur, tentatively dated 5th century BC, has been claimed as rudimentary Tamil-Brahmi.
2nd century BC	Meroitic	Graffiti on the temple of Amun at Dukki Gel, near Kerma
146 BC	Numidian	Punic-Libyan Inscription at Dougga
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	The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman is the oldest long text.