Ancient Egyptian Language and Literature: From the Old Kingdom to the New Introduction When you think of Ancient Egyptian as a language, you probably think of the famous hieroglyphs (such as those pictured left) drawn or engraved all over Egypt’s ancient tombs, but did you know that there was another, less formal writing system that…
Old Chinese, or Archaic Chinese, is the oldest known variation of the Chinese language. It’s the language that was used on oracle bones (pictured above), pieces of ox scapula or turtle shell that were exposed to heat and interpreted based on the cracks that formed. The ancestors were asked a series of yes or no…
Hello! Welcome to my update on what I have learned about Sanskrit throughout the month of February. This is truly a beautiful, intricately-structured language that I would love to dive into more deeply someday, but for now I’ll sum up what I know. (Image from Wikipedia: Excerpt from a 19th-century Illustrated Bhagavad Gita) Sanskrit is…
Hello! Welcome to my first Sanskrit post. I’m so excited to learn about this fascinating South Asian language! To begin with, here is what I already know: Sanskrit dates back over 3,000 years as part of the Indo-European language family and, thanks to its religious and ceremonial use in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, it is…
As the first month of my World LiteraTour project nears its end, I have to be honest – I very quickly reached the end of my journey with learning Sumerian. There’s only so far you can go without committing to it entirely. However, I don’t consider that a fail at all, because I really enjoyed…
Hello! Welcome to my first post about the ancient language of the Sumerians. I’ve been watching some lessons and doing some research this month, and I thought I would share what I’ve learned so far. (If you would like to watch the lessons I’ve gleaned most of this information from, you can find them here.…