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An extinct or dead language is one that is no longer spoken by anyone as their main language; in other words, it's no longer used for ordinary communication.
Source: Cambridge, Image: wikipedia.org/public domain
Humans have been speaking languages for at least 300,000 years and only started writing about 5,000 years ago.
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While we may never know how many languages have become extinct or were spoken throughout human history, there are 573 known extinct languages.
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Here is a list of five of the most significant languages that have gone extinct.
Note: This is not a comprehensive list, Image: Pexels
Spoken: 1150-1350 AD
Old Norse, spoken in Scandinavia during the Viking Age, evolved into Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, etc.
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Spoken: 300-1200 AD
Coptic, the final form of Ancient Egyptian, was replaced by Arabic after the Arabs conquered Egypt in the middle of the seventh century.
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Spoken: 1100-1500 AD
Middle English was a stage in the development of English. It was linguistically influenced by Old Norse (from the Viking population) and Norman French.
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Spoken: 700 BC- 900 AD
It evolved over the centuries from Archaic, to Classical and Late Latin, before developing into Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish, etc).
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Spoken: 1100 BC- 600 AD
Ancient Greek was spoken and written in many dialects depending on the time and place. It eventually evolved into contemporary Greek.
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