Languages Referenced by this Site
- African
- This term refers to any one of the related languages that are spoken in central Africa. More specifically, it refers to languages belonging to the Niger-Congo language family. African languages referred to on this website include: Akan (Ghana and Togo), Igbo (Nigeria), Luganda (Uganda), Mwera (Tanzania), Ndebele (Zimbabwe), Shona (Zimbabwe), Swahili (eastern Africa), Tiv (Nigeria), Tswana (Botswana and South Africa), Xhosa (South Africa), and Yoruba (Nigeria).
- Arabic
- The Semitic language that is spoken in the Middle East and northern Africa.
- Aramaic
- A Semitic language that was spoken in southwest Asia beginning about 1000 BC.
- Armenian
- The Indo-European language spoken in the Caucasus by the Armenian peoples. Its closest relations were the exinct languages Thracian and Phrygian.
- Assyrian
- A Semitic language that was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia.
- Australian Aborigine
- This term refers to any of the several languages spoken by the original peoples of Australia.
- Avestan
- An extinct Indo-European language spoken in ancient Iran. It was related to Old Persian.
- Babylonian
- An extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Babylonia.
- Basque
- A language spoken in northern Spain and southern France. Its origins are uncertain.
- Breton
- The Celtic language that was spoken by the Celts of southeast Britain and Brittany (Bretons).
- Bulgarian
- The south Slavic language spoken in Bulgaria.
- Catalan
- The language spoken northern and eastern Spain, southern France, Andorra, and the Balearic Islands. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Celtic
- This term is used to refer to any of the related Indo-European languages that were spoken by the Celtic peoples who inhabited Europe. The modern Celtic tongues are only spoken in western Europe and can be grouped into two branches: Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) and Brythonic (Welsh and Breton).
- Chinese
- This term is used to refer to any of the related languages spoken in China, including Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese. Unless otherwise noted, the Chinese names on this website are in Mandarin and they are transcribed using the Pinyin system.
- Coptic
- The language descended from Egyptian.
- Cornish
- The Celtic language that was spoken in Cornwall. It is no longer in common use.
- Croatian
- The south Slavic language spoken by the Croatian people. It is similar to Serbian except for its use of the Latin alphabet.
- Czech
- The west Slavic language spoken in the Czech Republic.
- Danish
- The language spoken in Denmark. It is one of the Scandinavian languages.
- Dutch
- The Germanic language spoken in Holland (and also parts of Belgium, where it is typically called Flemish and is sometimes regarded as a separate language).
- Egyptian
- The ancient language spoken in Egypt until about the third century.
- English
- This term refers to modern English. It is descended from Middle English.
- Ethiopic
- The Semitic language that was formerly spoken in Ethiopia. It is still used by the Christian church in Ethiopia.
- Etruscan
- This was the language of the ancient Etruscan peoples of Italy. It is now extinct.
- Finnish
- The language spoken in Finland. It is a member of the Uralic language family.
- French
- This term refers to the French language at any of its stages from Old French to modern French. French is one of the Romance languages that are descended from Latin.
- Frisian
- A Germanic language spoken in northern Holland and the Frisian Islands.
- Gaelic
- The languages spoken by the Celts of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a branch of Celtic.
- Galician
- A language spoken in northwestern Spain, closely related to Portuguese. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Gaulish
- The ancient Celtic language spoken by the Celts who lived in France (Gauls).
- German
- This term is used to refer to the German language at any of its stages from Old High German to modern German. It is one of the Germanic languages.
- Germanic
- This term refers the ancient Indo-European language spoken by the Germanic tribes many centuries ago. Descended from it are Old English, German, Old Norse, Gothic and others. Also called Teutonic.
- Gothic
- The extinct language that was spoken by the Goths. It is descended from Germanic.
- Greek
- The language of Greece. This term refers to the language of both ancient and modern Greece.
- Hawaiian
- The Polynesian language spoken on the Hawaiian islands.
- Hebrew
- The ancient Semitic language of the Israelites. This term refers primarily to ancient Hebrew. Hebrew has been revived and is used today in modern Israel.
- Hungarian
- The language of Hungary. It is a member of the Uralic family and therefore unrelated to the majority of other European languages.
- Icelandic
- The language of Iceland. It is one of the Scandinavian languages.
- Inuit
- The languages spoken by the peoples of northern North America. Also called Eskimo.
- Irish
- The Gaelic language of the Celts of Ireland.
- Italian
- The language spoken in modern day Italy. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Japanese
- The language spoken in modern day Japan, probably related to the Altaic languages.
- Khmer
- The language spoken in Cambodia.
- Korean
- The Altaic language spoken in Korea.
- Latin
- The Indo-European language spoken in Rome in the time of the Roman empire. It is no longer spoken but it has many descendents including French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
- Latvian
- The Baltic language spoken in Latvia.
- Lithuanian
- The Baltic language spoken in Lithuania.
- Manx
- The Gaelic language that was spoken on the Isle of Man.
- Maori
- The Polynesian language spoken by the original peoples of New Zealand.
- Middle English
- The language descended from Old English, but strongly influenced by French. It was spoken from about the twelfth century to the fifteenth century.
- Nahuatlan
- The language that was spoken by the Aztec people of Mexico, belonging to the Uto-Aztecan language family.
- Native American
- This term refers to any of the several languages spoken by the original peoples of North and South America. Native American languages referred to on this website include: Algonquin (eastern Canada), Choctaw (Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana), Comanche (central United States), Cree (central Canada), Creek (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida), Dakota (Mississippi Valley), Iroquoian (eastern North America), Nahuatlan (Mexico), Taino (Bahamas), and Zapotec (Mexico).
- Norwegian
- The Scandinavian language spoken in Norway.
- Old English
- A language from the Germanic language sub-family. It was spoken in England from about the seventh century to the twelfth century. Also called Anglo-Saxon.
- Old Norse
- A language descended from the Germanic language sub-family. It was spoken in Scandinavia until about the fourteenth century. It spawned the Scandinavian languages.
- Persian
- This term is used to refer to either Old Persian or its descendent, modern Persian. Old Persian forms the basis for the languages spoken today in parts of Iran, Iraq and the surrounding regions. The modern language is also called Farsi.
- Phoenician
- The Semitic language of ancient Phoenicia.
- Polish
- The west Slavic language spoken in Poland.
- Portuguese
- The language that developed in Portugal, also now spoken in Brazil. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Provençal
- The language spoken in the Provence region in France. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Quechua
- This term refers to the group of languages used by the Native Americans (including the Inca) of Peru and surrounding countries.
- Romanian
- The language spoken in Romania. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Russian
- One of the east Slavic languages. It is spoken in Russia and other places in the former Soviet Union.
- Sanskrit
- An ancient Indo-European language that formed the basis for many of the languages spoken today in India.
- Scandinavian
- A group of languages descended from Old Norse. In this document the term Scandinavian can refer to either Old Norse or the modern Scandinavian languages.
- Scottish
- The Gaelic language spoken in Scotland.
- Semitic
- This term is used to refer to all of the ancient Semitic languages (Aramaic, Assyrian, Hebrew, Akkadian, etc.) as a whole.
- Serbian
- The south Slavic language spoken by the Serbian people.
- Slavic
- This term refers to any of the Slavic languages which are spoken in Europe and parts of Asia. It includes Russian, Czech, Ukrainian, Polish and other languages. Also called Slavonic.
- Slovak
- The west Slavic language spoken in Slovakia.
- Slovene
- The south Slavic language spoken in Slovenia.
- Spanish
- The language spoken in modern day Spain and Latin America and other places. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin.
- Swahili
- The language spoken over much of East Africa and the Congo region. It is also called Kiswahili.
- Swedish
- The Scandinavian language spoken in Sweden.
- Turkish
- The group of Altaic languages spoken in Asia, including modern Turkish. Also called Turkic.
- Ukrainian
- The east Slavic language of the Ukrainian people, closely related to Russian.
- Urdu
- The language spoken in Pakistan and parts of India. It is descended from Sanskrit.
- Vietnamese
- The language of Vietnam.
- Welsh
- The Celtic language that was spoken in Wales. It is still widely spoken there.
- Yiddish
- A language spoken by Jews of eastern Europe. It is descended from Germanic and Hebrew.
- Yoruba
- A language of western Africa, spoken in Nigeria and some surrounding countries.
