Tamil language

Introduction

Tamil is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world. It is stated as20th in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide. Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions from 500 BC have been found onAdichanallur and 2,200-year-old Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions have been found on Samanamalai. A study conducted by Germany's Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History found that theDravidian language family, of which Tamil is a part, may be approximately 4000-4500 years old. It has been described as "the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past."The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led to it being described as "one of the great classical traditions and literature of the world".

A recorded Tamil literature has been documented for over 2000 years. The earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca. 300 BC - AD 300. It has the oldest extant literatureamong Dravidian languages. The earliestepigraphic records found on rock edicts and 'hero stones' date from around the 3rd century BC. More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions (about 55,000) found by theArchaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil language. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt.The two earliestmanuscripts from India,acknowledged and registered by the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, were written in Tamil.

In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiraan Vanakkam, thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published.The Tamil Lexicon,published by the University of Madras, was one of the earliest dictionaries published in the Indian languages.According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies.