Language List
Names are assigned to languages based on their usage (if they are used in countries where people speak the given language) or based on their origin (if the oldest known form of the name is from the given language).
The list of 129 languages and language groups occuring in the database:
| Language | Description |
|---|---|
| African group | group of the languages that are spoken in Black Africa |
| Akan | Akan, a language spoken in the African country of Ghana |
| Akkadian | Akkadian, the oldest of the Semitic languages, from around 2500 BC until 600 AD, with Babylonian as a variant |
| Albanian | modern Albanian, the language of the European country Albania on the Balkans |
| Arabic | modern Arabic |
| Aramaic | Aramaic, a Semitic language, since around 1200 BC, e.g. the mother tongue of Jesus, widely used in the Middle East until around 700 AD, today still spoken in some parts of Syria |
| Armenian | modern Armenian, the language of Armenia |
| Australian | Australian, here used for the various languages of the Australian Aborigines |
| Avestan | Avestan, a language of Old Persia, related to Sanskrit |
| Azerbaijani | modern Azerbaijani, the language of Azerbaijan, related to Turkish |
| Basque | modern Basque, spoken in the Basque region between France and Spain, a very old language predating the arrival of Indoeuropean languages |
| Breton | Breton, a language of Celtic origin spoken in the Brittany (Bretagne) in France, probably brought there by Celts from England around the 6th century AD |
| Bulgarian | modern Bulgarian |
| Catalan | modern Catalan, a language closely related to Spanish |
| Celtic | Celtic, the language of the Celts, since around 1000 BC, widely spoken in Europe around 300 BC; today few speakers remain in regions like Ireland, Scottland and Wales |
| Celtic family | family of the Celtic languages |
| Czech | modern Czech |
| Dakota | Dakota, the language of an Indian nation in North America |
| Dutch | modern Dutch |
| Egyptian | Egyptian, the language of old Egypt, since around 3000 BC until around the year 0 |
| English | modern English |
| Estonian | modern Estonian, the language of Estonia, related to Finnish |
| Ethiopian | modern Ethiopian, the language of the African country of Ethiopia |
| Etrusk | the language of the Etrusk, an old people once living next to the Romans, around 600 BC |
| Finnish | modern Finnish |
| French | modern French |
| Frisian | Frisian, a language spoken in Frisia (a province of the Netherlands) and Northern Germany, related to Dutch |
| Georgian | modern Georgian, the language of Georgia, an Asian country in the Caucasus |
| German | modern German |
| Germanic | Germanic as the original language of the Germanic tribes, since around 500 BC until around 750 AD, e.g. spoken during the time of the Roman Empire, ancestor of Old High German |
| Germanic family | family of the Germanic languages, i.e. Germanic and all languages that are its descendants |
| Gikuyu | Gikuyu, also called Kikuyu, one of the main languages of Kenya in Africa |
| Gothic | Gothic, the language of the Visigoths, a Germanic people, e.g. around 400 AD in Spain |
| Greek | modern Greek |
| Greenlandic | Greenlandic, also called Kalaallisut, the language of the Inuit in Greenland |
| Hausa | Hausa, one of the main languages of Nigeria in Africa |
| Hawaii | Hawaii, the native language of Hawaii, member of the large Austronesian language family |
| Hebrew | Hebrew, an old Semitic language, since around 2000 BC, from around 200 AD until the end of the 19th century only used as a written language, later revived as spoken language, today the language of Israel |
| Hindi | Hindi, the most widely spoken language in India and one of the two official languages, descendant of Sanskrit |
| Hungarian | modern Hungarian |
| Icelandic | Icelandic, the language of Iceland, the island |
| Igbo | Igbo, one of the main languages of Nigeria in Africa |
| Indian | Indian in general, from one of the several modern languages of India |
| Indian group | group of the languages that are spoken by native Indians in North America |
| Indoeuropean | Indoeuropean, the origin of nearly all European languages, since around 4000 BC |
| Inuktitut | Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit (Eskimos) |
| Irish | the native language of Ireland (spoken before the arrival of English and still today), a celtic language, also called Gaelic |
| Italian | modern Italian |
| Japanese | modern Japanese |
| Kamba | Kamba, the language of a people in Kenya |
| Kanji symbol | Kanji symbols, the originally Chinese writing symbols in use in Japan, where each symbol stands for a complete word |
| Kikongo | Kikongo, also called Kongo, a Bantu language spoken in Congo and in Angola |
| Kimbundu | Kimbundu, one of the languages of Angola, a country in Africa |
| Kurdish | Kurdish, the language of the Kurds, a people living in Turkey and other countries |
| Latin | Latin, the language of the Romans, since around 600 BC until around 500 AD, ancestor of all Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French etc), after 500 AD widely used as the language of the European scholars |
| Latinized | Latinized, according to the habit of medieval scholars to modify names of various languages (e.g. German) into Latin-sounding forms, e.g. by appending -us |
| Latvian | modern Latvian, the language of Latvia, a member of the Baltic family of languages (related to the Slavic family) |
| Lithuanian | modern Lithuanian, the language of Lithuania, a member of the Baltic family of languages (related to the Slavic family) |
| Low German | Low German, also called Platt, a group of distinct dialects spoken in Northern Germany |
| Macedonian | modern Macedonian, closely related to Bulgarian |
| Malay | Malay, a language with variants spoken in several South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore |
| Maltese | modern Maltese, the language of Malta, descended from a dialect of Arabic |
| Mandarin | modern Mandarin, often simply called Chinese, the most frequently spoken language in China by far |
| Maori | Maori, the language of the Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun, often also called Mapuche, the language of the Mapuche, an Indian people in South America (Chile and Argentina) |
| Maya | Maya, the language of the Maya, an Indian people in South America |
| Mongolian | Mongolian, the language of the Mongols in Central Asia |
| Nahuatl | Nahuatl, a language of Indian natives of Mexico, the language of the former Aztecs |
| Navajo | Navajo, the language of the Indian nation of the Navajo in North America |
| Ndau | Ndau, a dialect of the Shona language spoken in East Zimbabwe, Africa |
| Ojibway | Ojibway, the language of an Indian nation in North America |
| Old English | Old English, ancestor of modern English, since around 500 AD until around 1100 AD |
| Old French | Old French, ancestor of modern French, descendant of Latin, from around a 900 AD until around 1400 AD |
| Old Greek | Old Greek, the language of classic Greece, ancestor of modern Greek, since around 1000 BC until around 300 AD |
| Old High German | Old High German, ancestor of modern German, from around 750 AD until around 1050 AD, descendant of Germanic |
| Old Icelandic | Old Icelandic, the original language of Iceland, a variant of Old Norse, since around 900 AD |
| Old Irish | Old Irish, a Celtic language, ancestor of modern Irish, since around 800 AD until around 1200 AD |
| Old Norse | Old Norse, the ancestor of the Scandinavian languages, since around 1000 AD, among others the language of the Vikings |
| Old Persian | Old Persian, the Indoeuropean language of old Persia, since around 1000 BC, ancestor of the modern language of Iran |
| Old Provençal | Old Provençal, ancestor of Provençal, a Romance language closely related to French and Spanish, spoken in the Provence (a part of France) |
| Old Saxon | Old Saxon, the oldest form of Old German, spoken at the same time as Old High German |
| Old Slavic | Old Slavic, also called Old Slavonic, the origin of all Slavic languages, since around 300 BC until around 1000 AD, later split into the various Slavic languages |
| Persian | Persian, also called Farsi, the modern language of Iran, a language of the Indoeuropean family (in contrast to Arabic) |
| Phoenician | Phoenician, a Semitic language related to Hebrew, spoken from around 1000 to 100 BC in the region that is Lebanon today |
| Polish | modern Polish |
| Portuguese | modern Portuguese |
| Provençal | Provençal, a Romance language closely related to French and Spanish, spoken in the Provence (a part of France) |
| Pulaar | Pulaar, one of the main languages of Senegal in Africa |
| Punjabi | Punjabi, a language spoken in the Punjab (a region in India and Pakistan); many Sikhs speak this language |
| Rhaeto-Romanic | Rhaeto-Romanic, a Romance language, spoken in some regions of the Swiss Alps |
| Romance family | family of the Romance languages, i.e. Latin and all languages that are its descendants |
| Romanian | modern Romanian, the language of Romania in Eastern Europe |
| Russian | modern Russian |
| Sanskrit | Sanskrit, the Indoeuropean language at the root of many of today's languages of India, since about 1000 BC |
| Scandinavian | Scandinavian in general, i.e. either from Swedish, Norwegian or Danish, not further specified here because these languages are all closely related |
| Scottish | Scottish, or Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language still spoken in parts of Scottland, closely related to Irish |
| Semitic family | family of the Semitic languages |
| Serbo-Croatian | modern Serbo-Croatian, depending on country also called Serbian or Croatian |
| Sesotho | Sesotho, also called Sotho, a Bantu language spoken in Lesotho and in South Africa |
| Slavic | Slavic in general, i.e. from one of the Slavic languages like Russian, Polish, Czech etc, often not further specified here specified these languages are all closely related |
| Slavic family | family of the Slavic languages |
| Slovak | modern Slovak |
| Slovenian | modern Slovenian |
| South-American group | group of the languages that are spoken by various indigenous people in Middle and South America |
| Spanish | modern Spanish |
| Sumerian | Sumerian, a language spoken from around 3000 BC to 1 AD in Mesopotamia, a region that today mostly belongs to Iraq |
| Swahili | Swahili, also called Kiswahili, a Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa (e.g. Tanzania, Kenya) |
| Swiss German | Swiss German, the German dialect spoken in Switzerland |
| Tagalog | Tagalog, one of the major languages of the Philippines, among others the language of the capital, Manila |
| Tahitian | Tahitian, the native language of the island of Tahiti, member of the large Austronesian language family |
| Taino | Taino, the language of an Indian nation in North America |
| Tatar | modern Tatar, the language of the Tatars, related to Turkish |
| Thai | modern Thai, the language of Thailand |
| Tibetan | Tibetan, i.e. the group of dialects spoken in the Himalayan country of Tibet |
| Tswana | Tswana, also called Setswana, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana and in South Africa |
| Tumbuka | Tumbuka, a Bantu language spoken e.g. in Malawi, an African country |
| Tupi | Tupi, a family of languages of Indian natives of Brasil |
| Turkish | modern Turkish |
| Turkmen | modern Turkmen, the language of Turkmenistan, related to Turkish |
| Unknown | language of origin unknown (either really unknown, or unknown because the author of this database could not find out the language) |
| Urdu | Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, also spoken in some provinces of India |
| Uzbek | modern Uzbek, the language of Uzbekistan, related to Turkish |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese, the modern language of Vietnam |
| Welsh | the native language of Wales (spoken before the arrival of English and still today), a Celtic language |
| Wolof | Wolof, the national language of the African country of Senegal |
| Xhosa | Xhosa, also called isiXhosa, a Bantu language spoken in Zimbabwe and in South Africa |
| Yiddish | Yiddish, a language of the European jews, originated from a mix of Hebrew and German, since around the 13th century |
| Yoruba | Yoruba, one of the main languages of Nigeria in Africa |
| Zulu | Zulu, a Bantu language mostly spoken by the Zulu people in South Africa |