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{{short description|Old language with established literature or use}}
{{For|classical languages in India|Classical languages of India}}

A '''classical language''' is any [[language]] with an independent literary tradition and a large and ancient body of written [[literature]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hart|first1=George|title=Statement on the status of Tamil as a Classical Language|url=https://southasia.berkeley.edu/statement-status-tamil-classical-language|publisher=Institute for South Asia Studies, UC Berkeley|access-date=18 October 2021}}</ref> Classical languages are typically [[Extinct language|dead languages]], or show a high degree of [[diglossia]], as the spoken varieties of the language diverge further away from the classical written language over time.

== Classical studies ==
{{Main|Classics}}
In the context of traditional European [[classical studies]], the "classical languages" refer to [[ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[classical Latin|Latin]], which were the literary languages of the Mediterranean world in [[classical antiquity]].

Greek was the language of [[Homer]] and of [[Classical Athens|classical Athenian]], [[Hellenistic]] and [[Byzantine]] historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to the vocabulary of English and many other European languages, and has been a standard subject of study in Western educational institutions since [[the Renaissance]]. [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] forms of Ancient Greek roots are used in many of the scientific names of species and in other scientific terminology. [[Koine Greek]], which served as a [[lingua franca]] in the Eastern Roman Empire, remains in use today as a sacred language in some [[Eastern Orthodox churches]].

Latin became the lingua franca of the early [[Roman Empire]] and later of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. Despite the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Latin language continued to flourish in the very different social and economic environment of [[Middle Ages|the Middle Ages]], not least because it became the official language of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. In Western and Central Europe and in parts of northern Africa, Latin retained its elevated status as the main vehicle of communication for the learned classes throughout the Middle Ages and subsequently; witness especially the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This language was not supplanted for scientific purposes until the 18th century, and for formal descriptions in [[zoology]] as well as [[botany]] it survived to the later 20th century. The modern international [[binomial nomenclature]] holds to this day: taxonomists assign a Latin or Latinized name as the scientific name of each [[species]].

== Outside of western civilization ==

In terms of worldwide cultural importance, [[Edward Sapir]] in his 1921 book ''Language'' extends the list to include [[classical Chinese]], [[Classical Arabic|Arabic]], and [[Classical Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]:

<blockquote>When we realize that an educated [[Japanese people|Japanese]] can hardly frame a single literary sentence without the use of Chinese resources, that to this day [[Thai language|Siamese]] and [[Burmese language|Burmese]] and [[Cambodian Language|Cambodgian]] bear the unmistakable imprint of the Sanskrit and [[Pali language|Pali]] that came in with Hindu Buddhism centuries ago, or that whether we argue for or against the teaching of Latin and Greek [in schools,] our argument is sure to be studded with words that have come to us from [[Rome]] and [[Athens]], we get some indication of what early Chinese culture and [[Buddhism]], and classical [[Mediterranean civilization]] have meant in the world's history. There are just five languages that have had an overwhelming significance as carriers of culture. They are classical Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. In comparison with these, even such culturally important languages as [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[French language|French]] sink into a secondary position.<ref>{{cite book | last =Sapir| first=Edward| author-link =Edward Sapir | title =Language: An introduction to the study of speech | publisher =Harcourt, Brace and Company| date =1921| location =New York| page =164| url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12629| isbn =4-87187-529-6| access-date=February 17, 2006}}</ref></blockquote>

In this sense, a classical language is a language that has a broad influence over an extended period of time, even after it is no longer a [[Colloquialism|colloquial]] [[Mother-tongue|mother tongue]] in its original form. If one language uses roots from another language to coin words (in the way that many [[European languages]] use Greek and Latin [[Root (linguistics)|roots]] to devise new words such as "telephone", etc.), this is an indication that the second language is a classical language.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

In comparison, [[living language]]s with a large sphere of influence are known as [[world language]]s.

== General usage ==
{{Original research|date=November 2022}}
The following languages are generally taken to have a "classical" stage. Such a stage is limited in time and is considered "classical" if it comes to be regarded as a literary "golden age" retrospectively.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Thus, [[Ancient Greek language|Classical Greek]] is the language of 5th to 4th century BC [[History of Athens#Classical Athens|Athens]] and, as such, only a small subset of the varieties of the [[Greek language]] as a whole. A "classical" period usually corresponds to a flowering of literature following an "archaic" period, such as [[Classical Latin]] succeeding [[Old Latin]], [[Sumerian language|Classical Sumerian]] succeeding Archaic Sumerian, Classical Sanskrit succeeding [[Vedic Sanskrit]], [[Classical Persian]] succeeding [[Old Persian]]. This is partly a matter of terminology, and for example [[Old Chinese]] is taken to include rather than precede [[Classical Chinese]]. In some cases, such as those of [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Tamil language|Tamil]], the "classical" stage corresponds to the earliest attested literary variant.<ref>{{Citation| last=Ramanujan|first= A. K.|author-link = A. K. Ramanujan|title=Poems of Love and War: From the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Long Poems of Classical Tamil|publisher= New York: Columbia University Press. Pp. 329|year = 1985|isbn=0-231-05107-7|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=nIybE0HRvdQC}}Quote (p.ix–x) "Tamil, one of the four classical languages of India, is a Dravidian language ... These poems (''[[Sangam literature]]'', 1st century BC to 3rd century AD) are 'classical,' i.e. early, ancient; they are also 'classics,' i.e. works that have stood the test of time, the founding works of a whole tradition. Not to know them is not to know a unique and major poetic achievement of Indian civilization."</ref>

===Antiquity===
* [[Sumerian language|Classical Sumerian]] (literary language of [[Sumer]], c. 26th to 23rd centuries BC)
* [[Egyptian language#Middle Egyptian|Middle Egyptian]] (literary language of [[Ancient Egypt]] from c. the 20th century BC to the 4th century AD)
* [[Akkadian language#Development|Old Babylonian]] (the Akkadian language from c. 20th to 16th centuries BC, the imitated standard for later literary works)
* [[Akkadian language#Development|Middle Assyrian]] (the Akkadian language from c. 16th to 13th centuries BC)
* [[Vedic Sanskrit]] (the form of Sanskrit before Classical standardization was used in Vedic texts from c. 15th to 10th centuries BC)
* [[Biblical Hebrew|Classical Hebrew]] (the language of the [[Hebrew Bible|Tanakh]], in particular of the [[Nevi'im|prophetic books]] of c. the 7th and 6th centuries BC)
* [[Old Persian]] (court language of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], 6th to 4th centuries BC)
* [[Classical Chinese]] (based on the literary language, [[Yayan]], used in the capital [[Luoyang]] of the [[Eastern Zhou|Eastern Zhou Dynasty]] from c. the 5th century BC)
* [[Ancient Greek|Classical Greek]] ([[Attic Greek|Attic dialect]] of the 5th century BC)
* [[Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit|Classical Sanskrit]] (described by [[Pāṇini|Pāṇini's]] [[Aṣṭādhyāyī|Ashtadhyayi]] of the 4th century BC)<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Panini.html Article "Panini" from ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'' (Sixth Edition) at Encyclopedia.com]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C&pg=PA21 |title= The Sanskrit epics, Part 2| volume = 12|first= J. L. |last= Brockington|page = 28|publisher = BRILL| year=1998|isbn=978-90-04-10260-6}}</ref>
* [[Old Tamil|Classical Tamil]] ([[Sangam literature]] c. 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD, defined by [[Tolkāppiyam]])<ref>{{Citation|last=Zvelebil|first=Kamil|year = 1997|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India: On Tamil Literature of South India|publisher=BRILL Academic Publishers. p. 378|isbn=90-04-03591-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF2VMUoY_okC&q=smile+of+murugan}} Quote: "Chart 1 literature: 1. the "Urtext" of the ''Tolkappiyam'', i.e. the first two sections, ''Eluttatikaram'' and ''Collatikaram'' minus later interpolations, '''ca. 100 BC''' 2. the earliest strata of bardic poetry in the so-called ''Cankam'' anthologies, '''ca. 1 Cent. BC–2 Cent. AD.'''"</ref>
* [[Pali#Pali literature|Classical Pali]] (Buddhist Canon used this language from 2nd centuries BC)
* [[Classical Latin]] (literary language of the 1st century BC)
* [[Mandaic language|Classical Mandaic]] (literary [[Aramaic]] of [[Mandaeism]], 1st century AD)
* [[Syriac language#History|Classical Syriac]] (literary [[Aramaic]] of the [[Syriac Christianity]], 3rd to 5th centuries)
* [[Middle Persian]] (court language of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid Empire]], 3rd to 7th centuries)
* [[Coptic language|Classical Coptic]] (language of Egypt and the [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]], 3rd to 13th centuries, liturgical language to the present day)

===Middle Ages===
* [[Geʽez|Ge'ez]] (language of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]], the Garima Gospels are dated from the 5th century to the 10th century by various scholars)
* [[Classical Armenian]] (oldest attested form of [[Armenian language|Armenian]] from the 5th century and literary language until the 18th century)
* [[Classical Arabic]] (based on the language of the [[Quran|Qur'an]], 7th century to present)
* [[Kannada|Classical Kannada]] (court language of [[Rashtrakuta dynasty|Rashtrakuta empire]], earliest available literary work is the ''[[Kavirajamarga|Kavirājamārga]]'' of 850 AD)<ref name=BritannicaLit>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2008. "Kannada literature" Quote: "''The earliest literary work is the ''Kavirājamārga'' (c. AD 850), a treatise on poetics based on a Sanskrit model.''"</ref>
* [[Old Saxon#Literature|Old Saxon]] (language of Saxon Christian literature, 9th to 12th centuries)
* [[Old English]] (language of ''[[Beowulf]]'' and the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' with many divergent written dialects, but partially standardized in [[West Saxon dialect (Old English)|West Saxon]] form)
* [[Old French]] (language of Chivalric romance, 8th to 14th centuries)
* [[Old Georgian]] (language of Georgia, 5th to 11th centuries.)
* [[Old East Slavic]] (language of the [[Kievan Rus']], 9th to 13th centuries)
* [[New Persian#Classical Persian|New Persian]] (language of classical [[Persian literature]], 9th to present)
* [[Old Nubian]] (language of [[Nubia]], 9th or 10th to 15th centuries)
* [[Old Javanese]] (language of [[Javanese literature|Old Javanese]] literature, used primarily during [[Javanese people#Ancient Javanese kingdoms and empires|Hindu-Buddhist]] Javanese kingdom era from 10th to 15th centuries)<ref name="H.Cresse">{{cite journal |last1=Cresse |first1=Helen |title=Old Javanese Studies: A Review of the Field |journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde |date=2001 |volume=1 |issue=157 |pages=3–33 |doi=10.1163/22134379-90003816 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43472268 |access-date=23 February 2020|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Ogloblin">{{cite book |last=Ogloblin |first=Alexander K. |year=2005 |chapter=Javanese |title=The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAShwSYLbUYC&pg=PA590 |editor1=K. Alexander Adelaar |editor2=Nikolaus Himmelmann |location=London dan New York |publisher=Routledge |pages=590–624 |isbn=9780700712861 }}</ref>
* [[Old Church Slavonic]] (language of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] during its Golden Age, 10th century, earliest manuscript is ''Freising manuscripts'')
* [[Classical Tibetan]] (religious and literary language of Tibet, 10th century to present)
* [[Classical Japanese]] (language of [[Heian period]] literature, 10th to 12th centuries)
* [[Middle Korean]] (language of [[Goryeo]] and [[Joseon]], 10th to 16th centuries)
* [[Old Occitan]] (language of the [[troubadour]]s, 11th to 14th centuries)
* [[Middle High German]] (language of [[Middle High German literature|Medieval German literature]], 11th to 14th centuries)
* [[Old Church Slavonic#Serbian recension|Old Serbian]] (language of [[Serbia]] before its conquest by the Ottoman Empire, 11th to 14th centuries)
* [[Telugu language|Classical Telugu]] (The earliest available literary work is the Telugu Mahabharata, 1067 AD)
* [[Malayalam|Classical Malayalam]] (The earliest extant prose work is the ''Ramacharitam'', 12th century)<ref name="charitam">K. Ramachandran Nair in Ayyappapanicker (1997), p.301</ref>
* [[Odia language|Classical Odia]] (language of [[Odia literature]], 12th to 18th centuries)
* [[Old Norse]] (language of the [[Viking Age]], from the 12th century)
* [[Middle Bulgarian]] (language of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], 12th to 15th centuries)
* [[Middle Low German]] (language of the [[Hanseatic League]], 12th to 17th centuries)
* [[Old Uyghur]] (Turkic language which was spoken in Qocho from the 9th–14th centuries and in Gansu)
* [[Sagas of Icelanders|Classical Icelandic]] (the language of the [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic sagas]], 13th century)
* [[Old Catalan|Classical Catalan]] (language of literature in the [[Crown of Aragon]], 13th to 14th centuries)
* [[Mandinka language|Classical Manding]] (language of the [[Mali Empire]], 13th to 16th centuries)
* [[Ruthenian language|Old Ruthenian]] (one language of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], 13th to 16th centuries)
* [[Old Anatolian Turkish]] (11th to 15th centuries)
* [[Geʽez#13th to 14th centuries|Classical Ge'ez]] (language of [[Golden Age of Ge'ez literature]], 13th to 16th centuries)
* [[Early Modern Irish|Classical Irish]] or [[Classical Gaelic]] (language of the 13th to 18th centuries Scottish and Irish Gaelic literature)
* [[Wolof language|Classical Wolof]] (language of the [[Jolof Empire|Wolof Empire]], 13th to 19th centuries)
* [[Middle English]] (language of [[The Canterbury Tales]], 14th to 15th centuries, with many divergent written dialects, but partially standardized based on London speech)
* [[Middle French]] (language of the [[French Renaissance]], 14th to 17th centuries)
* [[History of the Hungarian language#Old Hungarian (10th to 15th centuries)|Classical Hungarian]] (language of [[Hungarian literature]], 14th to 15th centuries)
* [[Songhay languages|Classical Songhai]] (lingua franca of the [[Songhai Empire]], 14th to 16th centuries)
* [[Early New High German]] (language of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the [[German Renaissance]], and the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]], 14th to 17th centuries)
* [[History of the Malay language#Classical Malay|Classical Malay]] (language of [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], 14th to 18th centuries)
* [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]] (classical Turkic language of Central Asia and the Volga, 14th to early 20th centuries)
* [[Old Khmer|Angkorian Old Khmer]] (language of the [[Khmer Empire]], from 14th century)

===Pre-Colonial Americas===
* [[Classic Maya language|Classical Maya]] (the language of the mature [[Maya civilization]], 3rd to 9th centuries)
* [[Classical Nahuatl]] (lingua franca of 16th-century central Mexico)
* [[Classical Quechua]] (lingua franca of the 16th-century [[Inca Empire]])
* [[Classical Kʼicheʼ]] (a [[Mayan languages|Mayan language]] of 16th-century [[Guatemala]])
* [[Tupi language|Classical Tupi]] (language of 16th to 18th centuries [[Brazil]])

===Early modern period===
{{verify|section|date=March 2023}}
* [[Awadhi language|Awadhi]] (lingua franca of Northern India during Mughal rule led to its use by poets, 14th to 18th centuries)
* [[Italian language#Renaissance|Renaissance Italian]] (language of the [[Italian Renaissance]], 15th to 16th centuries)
* [[History of Portuguese|Late Old Portuguese]] (language of [[History of Portugal (1415–1578)|Portuguese Golden Age]], 15th to 16th centuries)
* [[Early Modern Spanish]] (language of the [[Spanish Golden Age]], 15th to 17th centuries)
* [[Azerbaijani literature#Classical era|Classical Azeri]] (lingua franca of the Caucasus Mountain region and language of Azeri literature, 15th to 18th centuries)
* [[Lithuanian language#Old Lithuanian|Old Lithuanian]] (the other language of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], 16th to 17th centuries)
* [[Early Modern English]] (language of [[King James Version|King James Bible]] and [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], 16th to 17th centuries)
* [[Middle Polish]] (language of the [[Polish Golden Age]], 16th to 18th centuries)
* [[Ottoman Turkish|Classical Ottoman Turkish]] (language of poetry and administration of the [[Ottoman Empire]], 16th to 19th centuries)
* [[Manchu language]] (language of the Manchus who ruled China, 16th–20th centuries)
* [[History of the Dutch language#Standardization and Modern Dutch|Early Modern Dutch]] (language of the [[Dutch Golden Age]], 17th century)
* [[History of French#Modern French|Early Modern French]] (language of [[France]] under [[Louis XIV]] to [[Napoleon]], 17th to 18th centuries)
* [[Judaeo-Spanish#History|Classical Ladino]] (language of [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic Jewish literature]], 17th to 19th centuries)
* [[History of the Russian language#Empire (18th–19th centuries)|Classical Russian]] (language of the [[Russian Empire]], 18th to 19th centuries)
* [[Classical Mongolian language]] (the language of Mongolian literature and translations of Tibetan Buddhist religious texts from 1700–1900)
* [[Sadhu bhasha|Sadhu Bhasha]] (the modern language Bengali from 1820s to 1940s)
* [[Yiddish#Secularization|Classical Yiddish]] (language of the [[Yiddishist movement|Yiddish Renaissance]], 19th–20th centuries)
* [[Classical Newar|Classical Newari]] (language of Malla kingdom and lingua franca in India-Tibet trade)

== See also ==
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Classical language
|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
*[[Ancient language]]
*[[Aureation]], an aspect of the influence of a classical language on a later language
*[[Classical Languages of India|Classical languages of India]]
*[[Classicism]]
*[[Classics]]
*[[Golden age (metaphor)]]
*[[Lingua franca]]
*[[List of lingua francas]]
*[[List of languages by first written account|List of languages by first written accounts]]
*[[Literary language]]
*[[Sacred language]]
*[[Official language]]
*[[Standard language]]
*[[World language]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

*{{citation |last=Flood |first=Gavin |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-43878-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo }}
* {{cite book |title=A study on Kāmrūpī: a dialect of Assamese |last=Goswami |first=Upendra Nath |year=1970 |publisher=Dept. of Historical Antiquarian Studies, Assam}}
*{{cite book |last=Nair|first=K. Ramachandran|editor=Ayyappapanicker|title=Medieval Indian Literature:An Anthology |year= 1997|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=81-260-0365-0|chapter= Malayalam}}
* {{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |first=Mathew W S |last=Toulmin |title=Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan |url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/45743 |publisher=The Australian National University |year=2006}}

==Further reading==
*Ashdowne, Richard. 2009. "Accidence and Acronyms: Deploying electronic assessment in support of classical language teaching in a university context." ''Arts and Humanities in Higher Education'' 8, no. 2: 201–16.
*Beach, Adam R. 2001. "The creation of a classical language in the eighteenth century: standardizing English, cultural imperialism, and the future of the literary canon." ''Texas Studies in Literature and Language'' 43, no. 2: 117+.
*Coulson, Michael. 1976. ''Sanskrit: An Introduction to the Classical Language.'' Sevenoaks, Kent: Hodder and Stoughton.
*Crooker, Jill M., and Kathleen A. Rabiteau. 2000. "An interwoven fabric: The AP latin examinations, the SAT II: Latin test, and the national "standards for classical language learning." ''The Classical Outlook'' 77, no. 4: 148–53.
*Denizot, Camille, and Olga Spevak. 2017. ''Pragmatic Approaches to Latin and Ancient Greek.'' Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
*Eschbach-Szabo, Viktoria, and Shelley Ching-yu Hsieh. 2005. "Chinese as a classical language of botanical science: Semiotics of transcription." ''Kodikas/Code. Ars Semeiotica: An International Journal of Semiotics'' 28, nos. 3–4: 317–43.
*Gruber-Miller, John. 2006. ''When Dead Tongues Speak: Teaching Beginning Greek and Latin.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Hymes, Robert. 2006. "Getting the Words Right: Speech, Vernacular Language, and Classical Language in Song Neo-Confucian 'Records of Words'." ''Journal of Song-Yuan Studies'' 36: 25–55. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23496297.
*Koutropoulos, Apostolos. 2011. "Modernizing classical language education: communicative language teaching & educational technology integration in classical Greek." ''Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge'' 9, no. 3 (2011): 55–69.
*Tieken, Herman. 2010. "Blaming the Brahmins: Texts lost and found in Tamil literary history." ''Studies in History'' 26, no. 2: 227–43.
*Watt, Jonathan M. 2003. "Classical language instruction: A window to cultural diversity." ''International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities, and Nations'' 3: 115–24.
*Whitney, William Dwight. 1971. ''Sanskrit Grammar: Including Both the Classical Language, and the Older Dialects, of Veda and Brahmana.'' 12th issue of the 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline|Classical languages}}

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