Tamil or Sanskrit which is the most ancient indian language?
2007-09-28 22:34:27 · 9 answers · asked by ashramam 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It's of course difficult to trace the history of a language before the time it's being written down. The oldest writings in Old Tamil are a little more than 2.000 years old (around 300 BC), but the language was surely spoken a long time before this. The oldest writings in Vedic Sanskrit is comparatively far older, dating from around 1.700 BC (early parts of Rigveda from North-West India).
Both the Dravidians (from which the Tamils stem, among others) and the Indo-Aryans (who spoke the predecessor to Sanskrit, from which modern Hindi, Bengal and many other Indian languages evolved) probably came to India from the North, although a majority of the Scholars seem to think the Dravidians came earlier.
2007-09-29 01:12:37 · answer #1 · answered by juexue 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
They say Tamil is about 5000 years old. I am not sure about that, look it up in Wikipedia. But I would assume it is older than Sanskrit because I don't know how much it has changed in the last few thousand years down there in Tamil Nadu.
Sanskrit is a descendent of the Proto Indo-Europrean Language (PIE), same as Latin, Persian and other ancient langagues that would make up most of the languages of Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India
Tamil (Dravidian or Southern Indian langauge) is said to be derived from people who settlled on the Indian subcontinent from the Pacific Islands. Tamil does contain Sanskrit words but I am not sure if these are borrowed words, or words that got into Sanskrit from Tamil.
Tamil is a very complex langauge and they say the written form is almost a different langugae that its spoken form.
2007-09-29 18:25:27 · answer #2 · answered by omlick 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sanskrit is the most ancient Indian language
2007-09-30 16:23:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Tamil language is alleged to be of a Lemurian Origin Kumari Kandam is the identify for the sunken civilisation, the old textual content is destroyed via nature , a normal crisis 10 occasions worst than the rescent tsunami is the rationale for the destruction of the Kumari Kandam, that used to be the time of the 2d Sangam interval btw 10000bc to 4000bc The Dravidian or the Tamil civilisation used to be scattered in every single place India, the founding father of the indus valley civilisation. Aryans migration have impact the local Dravidian civilisation now, vice versa, the presence of the Tamil language closely prompted the beginning of sanskrit a language which used to be born within the Indian soil after the coming of the Aryans. During the Medevial interval Tamil language gotten prompted via Sanskrit on a minimal groundwork,
2016-09-05 11:21:19 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sanskrit.
2007-09-28 22:42:33 · answer #5 · answered by Lacieles 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Definitely TAMIL
2007-09-29 22:27:07 · answer #6 · answered by konkai 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
TAMIL .........ALL D WAY
THERE CANT BE ANY COMPARISON
sanskrit is new born baby LOL
VALGA TAMIL VALGA TAMILNADU
PROUD 2 BE AN INDIAN
2007-10-01 08:33:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm..... tough one. I think its Sanskrit though because that's the root of Hindi.
2007-09-28 22:38:00 · answer #8 · answered by babemagnetz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
tamil....many indian languages have evolved from it....
tamil is the first dravidian language....dravidians were the original settlers of india...they were forced by the aryans(north indians)to move towards south..
namo amitabha!!!!!!!
2007-09-28 22:48:40 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋