Turned Roots
Turned Roots

Where did this word come from?

Trace a word through its documented linguistic history, cultural journeys, and earlier known forms.

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How to use this

  1. Type one word in the search box.
  2. Select “Look it up.”
  3. Wait a few seconds while it looks.
  4. Read the five short sections, one at a time.

🏺 What's the oldest known language?

It's a genuine split answer, and this app touches both sides of it:

Oldest written language

Sumerian — the earliest known writing, cuneiform pressed into clay, dates to around 3200 BCE. Try to see it firsthand.

Oldest living language (debated)

Strong candidates include Tamil (try ), Chinese (try or ), Hebrew (try ), Greek (try ), Sanskrit (try ), and Basque, a language isolate related to nothing else on Earth (try ).

"Oldest written" is fairly settled among historians. "Oldest living" genuinely isn't — it depends on how you define an unbroken language, and linguists disagree.

Timeline viewFollow each language step.
Journey storySee each handoff and how the word changed.
Personal librarySave words to revisit.
Explore the whole human language story

World Language Paths

Start with a region, language family, or cultural pathway. Turned Roots follows evidence across every continent and ocean.

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Choose a region to see suggested language paths.