Ancient history

Sumerian Language - History of the Sumerian Language

Spoken by the people of the ancient Sumerian kingdom who lived in Mesopotamia. Its vocabulary, grammar and syntax do not seem to be related to any other known language.

It is the oldest written language of which there are graphic testimonies. The first inscriptions come from 3000 BC. and its alphabet is cuneiform. The existence of this language, and the culture it reveals, remained forgotten until the 19th century, when its alphabet was deciphered. The main Sumerian dialect was the emergir or "princely language", although there were others of lesser diffusion, used by women and eunuchs.