The following languages are generally taken to have a "classical" stage. Such a stage is limited in time and is considered "classical" if it comes to be regarded as a literary "golden age" retrospectively. Thus,
Classical Greek is the language of 5th to 4th century BC
Athens and, as such, only a small subset of the varieties of the
Greek language as a whole. A "classical" period usually corresponds to a flowering of literature following an "archaic" period, such as
Classical Latin succeeding
Old Latin,
Classical Sumerian succeeding Archaic Sumerian,
Tamil for its continuous literature, Classical Sanskrit succeeding
Vedic Sanskrit,
Classical Persian succeeding
Old Persian. This is partly a matter of terminology, and for example
Old Chinese is taken to include rather than precede
Classical Chinese. In some cases, such as those of
Persian, the "classical" stage corresponds to the earliest attested literary variant.
Antiquity •
Classical Sumerian (literary language of
Sumer, c. 26th to 23rd centuries BC)
Sumerograms were used in
Cuneiform even for non-Sumerian texts until the writing system went out of use around the first century AD •
Middle Egyptian (literary language of
Ancient Egypt from c. the 20th century BC to the 4th century AD) •
Old Babylonian (the Akkadian language from c. 20th to 16th centuries BC, the imitated standard for later literary works) •
Middle Assyrian (the Akkadian language from c. 16th to 13th centuries BC) •
Vedic Sanskrit (the form of Sanskrit before Classical standardization was used in Vedic texts from c. 15th to 5th centuries BC) •
Old Avestan (the language of the
Avesta, 15th to 5th centuries BC) •
Classical Hebrew (the language of the
Tanakh, in particular of the
prophetic books of c. the 7th and 6th centuries BC) •
Old Persian (court language of the
Achaemenid Empire, 6th to 4th centuries BC) •
Classical Greek (
Attic dialect of the 5th century BC;
Koine dialect of the
Hellenistic period and
Roman era, 323 BC to 330 AD) •
Classical Chinese (based on the literary language,
Yayan, used in the capital
Luoyang of the
Eastern Zhou Dynasty from c. the 5th century BC) •
Classical Sanskrit (described by
Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi of the 4th century BC) •
Classical Tamil (
Sangam literature c. 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, defined by
Tolkāppiyam) •
Classical Pali (Buddhist canon used this language from 2nd centuries BC) •
Maharashtri Prakrit (a
Prakrit language, was the official language of the Satavahana dynasty c. 2nd century BC) •
Classical Latin (literary language of the 1st century BC) •
Classical Mandaic (literary
Aramaic of
Mandaeism, 1st century AD) •
Classical Syriac (literary
Aramaic of
Syriac Christianity, 3rd to 5th centuries) •
Middle Persian (court language of the
Sassanid Empire, 3rd to 7th centuries) •
Classical Coptic (language of Egypt and the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, 3rd to 13th centuries, liturgical language to the present day)
Middle Ages •
Geʽez, language of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; the
Garima Gospels are dated from the 5th century to the 10th century by various scholars. •
Classical Armenian, the oldest attested form of
Armenian from the 5th century and literary language until the 18th century •
Classical Arabic, based on the language of the
Qur'an, 7th century to present; liturgical language of
Islam •
Classical Kannada, court language of
Rashtrakuta empire; earliest available literary work is the
Kavirājamārga of AD 850. •
Old Saxon, language of Saxon Christian literature, 9th to 12th centuries •
Old English, language of
Beowulf and the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle with many divergent written dialects, but partially standardized in
West Saxon form •
Old French, language of
chivalric romance, 8th to 14th centuries •
Old Georgian, language of Georgia, 5th to 11th centuries •
Old East Slavic, language of the
Kievan Rus', 9th to 13th centuries •
New Persian, language of classical
Persian literature, 9th to present •
Old Nubian, language of
Nubia, 9th or 10th to 15th centuries •
Old Assamese, the earliest form of
Assamese language, attested between 7th to 12th century CE and emerged during the
Kamarupa kingdom •
Old Bengali, the earliest forms of the
Bengali Language, emerged during the
Kingdom of Gauda, 7th to 12th centuries. •
Old Javanese, language of
Old Javanese literature, used primarily during
Hindu-Buddhist Javanese kingdom era from 10th to 15th centuries •
Old Church Slavonic, language of the
First Bulgarian Empire during its Golden Age, 10th century earliest manuscript is
Freising manuscripts •
Classical Tibetan, religious and literary language of Tibet, 10th century to present •
Classical Japanese, language of
Heian period literature, 10th to 12th centuries •
Middle Korean, language of
Goryeo and
Joseon, 10th to 16th centuries •
Old Occitan, language of the
troubadours, 11th to 14th centuries •
Middle High German, language of
Medieval German literature, 11th to 14th centuries •
Old Serbian, language of
Serbia before its conquest by the
Ottoman Empire, 11th to 14th centuries •
Classical Telugu: the earliest available literary work is the Telugu Mahabharata, AD 1067. •
Classical Malayalam: the earliest extant prose work is the
Ramacharitam, 12th century. •
Classical Odia, language of
Odia literature, the earliest attested history of
Old Odia language dates back to ganga dynasty 7th to12th century CE •
Old Norse, language of the
Viking Age, from the 12th century •
Middle Bulgarian, language of the
Second Bulgarian Empire, 12th to 15th centuries •
Middle Low German, language of the
Hanseatic League, 12th to 17th centuries •
Old Uyghur, Turkic language spoken in
Qocho from the 9th–14th centuries and in Gansu •
Classical Icelandic, the language of the
Icelandic sagas, 13th century •
Classical Catalan, language of literature in the
Crown of Aragon, 13th to 14th centuries •
Classical Manding, language of the
Mali Empire, 13th to 16th centuries •
Old Ruthenian, one language of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 13th to 16th centuries •
Old Anatolian Turkish, 11th to 15th centuries •
Classical Ge'ez, language of
Golden Age of Ge'ez literature, 13th to 16th centuries •
Classical Irish or Classical Gaelic, language of the 13th to 18th centuries Scottish and Irish Gaelic literature •
Classical Wolof, language of the
Wolof Empire, 13th to 19th centuries •
Middle English, language of
The Canterbury Tales, 14th to 15th centuries, with many divergent written dialects, but partially standardized on London speech •
Middle French, language of the
French Renaissance, 14th to 17th centuries •
Classical Hungarian, language of
Hungarian literature, 14th to 15th centuries •
Classical Songhai, lingua franca of the
Songhai Empire, 14th to 16th centuries •
Early New High German, language of the
Holy Roman Empire, the
German Renaissance, and the
Protestant Reformation, 14th to 17th centuries •
Classical Malay, language of
Maritime Southeast Asia, 14th to 18th centuries •
Chagatai, classical Turkic language of Central Asia and the Volga, 14th to early 20th centuries •
Angkorian Old Khmer, language of the
Khmer Empire, from 14th century •
Rekhta, poetic language of
Delhi and the Northern/Central Indian subcontinent, 13th-18th century, became standardized as
Urdu in the 19th century.
Amerindian languages •
Classical Maya (the language of the mature
Maya civilization, 3rd to 9th centuries) •
Classical Nahuatl (lingua franca of 16th-century central Mexico) •
Classical Quechua (lingua franca of the 16th-century
Inca Empire) •
Classical Kʼicheʼ (a
Mayan language of 16th-century
Guatemala) •
Classical Tupi (language of 16th to 18th centuries
Brazil)
Early modern period •
Awadhi (one of two major literary traditions of Northern India during
Mughal rule led to its use by poets, 14th to 18th centuries) •
Braj Bhasha (the second of two major literary traditions in early modern Northern India used by poets, 15th-19th centuries) •
Renaissance Italian (language of the
Italian Renaissance, 15th to 16th centuries) •
Late Old Portuguese (language of
Portuguese Golden Age, 15th to 16th centuries) •
Early Modern Spanish (language of the
Spanish Golden Age, 15th to 17th centuries) •
Classical Azeri (lingua franca of the Caucasus Mountain region and language of Azeri literature, 15th to 18th centuries) •
Old Lithuanian (the other language of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 16th to 17th centuries) •
Early Modern English (language of the
King James Bible, the
Book of Common Prayer, and
Shakespeare, 16th to 17th centuries) •
Middle Polish (language of the
Polish Golden Age, 16th to 18th centuries) •
Classical Ottoman Turkish (language of poetry and administration of the
Ottoman Empire, 16th to 19th centuries) •
Manchu language (language of the Manchus who ruled China, 16th–20th centuries) •
Early Modern Dutch (language of the
Dutch Golden Age, 17th century) •
Early Modern French (language of
France under
Louis XIV to
Napoleon, 17th to 18th centuries) •
Classical Ladino (language of
Sephardic Jewish literature, 17th to 19th centuries) •
Classical Russian (language of the
Russian Empire, 18th to 19th centuries) •
Classical Mongolian (the language of Mongolian literature and translations of Tibetan Buddhist religious texts from 1700 to 1900) •
Sadhu Bhasha (the modern language Bengali from 1820s to 1940s) •
Classical Yiddish (language of the
Yiddish Renaissance, 19th–20th centuries) •
Classical Newar (lingua franca in India-Tibet trade) == See also ==