Buzz
Languages are the product of human creativity and, like living things, follow a natural cycle. While some 'extinct' languages have evolved into new ones, others have simply disappeared, leaving us with little understanding of their pronunciation and structure.
10. Proto-Indo-European
Languages like English, Russian, Farsi, Bengali, Albanian, and Kurdish trace their origins to Proto-Indo-European (PIE), a language that has been reconstructed through the study of its descendants. This family of languages is the largest and most widespread across the globe.
The challenge with PIE is that it's so ancient that it predates written records, leaving much of its phonetics and vocabulary open to educated guesses. There are even three distinct phonemes whose exact pronunciation remains unknown. Some theories suggest these sounds resemble certain phonemes in Arabic, though this remains a topic of debate. Despite its mysterious nature, PIE is still an important part of the linguistic heritage of all modern Indo-European languages.
9. Hattic
Distinct from the Indo-European Hittite language, Hattic is a mysterious language of uncertain origins. The people who spoke it didn't leave behind a name for it, so we refer to it as 'Hattic'—a term likely derived from Egyptian or Assyrian references to the people in ancient texts.
The Hattians lived in the Anatolian plateau, located in present-day Turkey. Their language likely disappeared when they assimilated with the Indo-European groups who later invaded the region. There have been attempts to connect Hattic to Caucasian languages, like Abkhaz, Ubykh, and even Georgian, but concrete evidence remains scarce, mostly due to the lack of written records. Additionally, the cuneiform script used by these ancient languages struggles to capture some of the distinct Hattian sounds.
8. Iberian
The exact origins of the language spoken by the ancient people of the Iberian Peninsula (today's Spain and Portugal) before the Roman conquest remain uncertain. Some scholars connect it to Berber languages, others to modern Basque, and still others suggest it was of Celtic origin. There are even more speculative theories, linking Iberian to Etruscan or certain Caucasian tongues.
This language was written using not one, but three different variations of a script derived from Phoenician. The rarest of these is the Southwestern version, known as Tartessic, which is believed to have been the language of the kingdom of Tartessos mentioned by Herodotus. Iberian vanished after the Roman conquest, but some place names and words are believed to have been preserved in modern Spanish.
7. Etruscan
The final known fluent speaker of the Etruscan language was Caesar Claudius, who compiled a history of the Etruscans that has unfortunately been lost to time. It marked a tragic but fitting conclusion for the language that had once dominated central Italy for centuries, often in fierce rivalry with Latin.
One of the main challenges in reconstructing Etruscan lies in its isolation and the scarcity of texts longer than brief inscriptions. The only substantial piece discovered so far is a linen book repurposed as wrappings for a mummy. What is known is that the Etruscans developed their own alphabet based on Euboean Greek and possessed a rich literary culture. However, since much of it is lost to history, much of their legacy remains speculative. The Etruscans also contributed place names such as Rome from the period when they ruled over the Latins.
6. Maypure
Maypure was spoken by a tribe of indigenous people in the Orinoco Basin, within the territory of modern-day Venezuela. The tribe was wiped out by a neighboring Carib tribe, but their language persisted through the efforts of the renowned German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who documented the language by recording words from a Maco native who was familiar with Maypure.
Oddly enough, a rumor spread that the language had been preserved by the parrots once owned by the deceased natives and their descendants. The myth took on a strange form of truth when conceptual artist Rachel Berwick, inspired by the tale, taught the language to a group of parrots. David Crystal later used this myth to illustrate the concept of language extinction.
5. Harappan
At its height, the language spoken by the Indus Valley civilization in what is now the Middle East is estimated to have been used by over five million people. This surprisingly advanced society, which boasted plumbing systems, sewers, and a sophisticated economy, flourished from approximately 3300–1300 B.C.
The language, along with the Indus Valley civilization itself, entered a period of decline that remains unexplained, leaving its script undeciphered with no known linguistic descendants. Theories linking it to the Indo-European or Dravidian language families, among others, are still contentious, often driven by political agendas. Hindu nationalists are strong proponents of the Indo-European connection, while Tamil nationalists favor the Dravidic theory, as Tamil is a Dravidic language.
4. Meroitic
Meroitic, also known as Kushitic, was the language of the ancient Nubian civilization of Kush, located in modern-day Sudan. It is primarily known through Egyptian records and clearly influenced by Egyptian culture, yet the Kushites developed their own script distinct from Egyptian hieroglyphs or Demotic.
Although the script was decoded in 1911, translating it remains an impossible task. Attempts to associate it with modern Sudanese languages, primarily from the Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan families, have not yielded results. These connections are still debated, but if it is indeed a Nilo-Saharan language, it would be the earliest in the family to develop a script and a literary tradition.
3. Hunnic
One might assume that wreaking havoc across Europe and much of Asia, causing the Roman Empire to collapse, and earning the title 'God’s scourge' would make people eager to understand your language. Sadly, the Huns never bothered to document their tongue. Only a handful of words have survived, collected by Roman scholars. As a result, there is an ongoing debate about how to reconstruct the Hunnic language.
The dominant theories link the Huns to the Xiongnu, nomadic people who lived to the north of the Han Chinese. Like the Huns, the Xiongnu were likely illiterate, and all knowledge of them comes from their settled neighbors, who feared them. The question remains whether Hunnic was a Turkic, Altaic, Indo-European language, or even a language isolate, despite the widespread belief among Hungarians that they are connected to the Huns.
2. Dacian
Dacia, which is roughly equivalent to present-day Romania, was the birthplace of a warrior society that fell under Roman rule during Emperor Trajan's reign in the first century A.D. Although the Romans did not completely erase the language, the people of Dacia and Moesia gradually embraced Latin. While some place names and Romanian words seem to have Dacian origins, the language had vanished by the sixth or seventh century.
The Dacians spoke a form of Indo-European language, but most of it has been lost. Reconstruction is challenging, as only one inscription remains. There have been attempts to link Dacian to Thracian or Phrygian languages and even to modern Albanian, but it appears that Albanian descends from Illyrian, making Dacian a dead offshoot of the Indo-European family tree.
1. Eteocretan
We’ve previously mentioned the Minoans of Crete, an island in present-day Greece, and their mysterious Linear A script. Eteocretan was most likely the language of those who used Linear A and the Cretan hieroglyphic system. At the very least, it is a definite descendant of Old Minoic.
Despite numerous attempts, no one has been able to decipher the Eteocretan alphabet, leaving its connections to modern languages a mystery. The few available clues have all led to dead ends. Some have tried to link the Phaistos disk with Eteocretan, but their efforts were unsuccessful. A probable offshoot of Eteocretan, known as Eteocypriot, has been identified, but it too is now extinct.
