According to statistics, there are currently over 7,000 languages in the world. The origins of these languages, when and where they began, and how they evolved remain a scientific mystery that needs to be solved.
How is language formed? What was the first language of humankind? I believe many people have pondered such questions without having clear answers, or they may not be entirely sure of their beliefs. Historically, ancient people were also curious about these kinds of questions. Not only that, but they even dared to conduct experiments to find answers.
According to the book “History Volume II” by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, around 2,600 years ago, there was a Pharaoh named Psammetichus in ancient Egypt who was very curious about the world, especially about the origins of language. He often asked, “What is the ‘primitive language’ (the first language) of the world, and which is the oldest nation on Earth?”
Of course, the Pharaoh had reasons to be skeptical; finding the answers would serve to prove the superiority of his nation and legitimizing claims to rule over other nations.
Ancient Egyptians always believed their language was the source of human language.
Ancient Egyptians believed they were the oldest nation among all human races at that time, and their language was the origin of human language. Other surrounding nations and political forces were considered descendants of ancient Egyptians. They regarded themselves as having the oldest history in the world, which is why Pharaoh Psammetichus sought to prove this.
If proven…
So how could this be proven? According to the Pharaoh’s idea, people use language to distinguish and identify their nationality. As long as it could be shown that ancient Egyptian was the “root language” – the first language in the world, it could be proven that ancient Egyptians were the oldest nation on Earth, and that their language was the first language of humankind and the source of all peoples. This would greatly enhance their national pride.
Additionally, if this could be proven, ancient Egypt could claim that people from other ethnic groups evolved from ancient Egyptians, and they could also demand legitimacy over the rule of other ethnic groups.
Thus, the Pharaoh could assert that even though people from other ethnic groups no longer spoke Egyptian, they were also descendants of ancient Egyptians, which would give the Pharaoh the right to rule them “legally”.
Pharaoh Psammetichus conducting an experiment to find the first language in the world. (Illustrative image).
In order to achieve these goals, the Pharaoh first had to prove that his hypothesis was correct; thus, he ordered an experiment to begin.
First, they would find two newborns and assign them to a shepherd to raise in isolation, far from the crowd. One of the children was to be cared for by a woman who had her tongue cut out previously.
The shepherd was instructed to raise these two children without teaching them to speak, without speaking in their presence, and without any outside contact, completely isolating them from the outside world to ensure they could not access any human language before they learned to speak.
During this time, the children had to live in a hut without any humans, being fed by the shepherd. The shepherd would then monitor their behavior and report to the Pharaoh as soon as the two children could say anything.
This was because Psammetichus wanted to know if the first words a child could say, without being taught or having heard any language, would be ancient Egyptian.
This Pharaoh believed that the language spoken by the children who had not been taught any language must surely be the original language.
Why is that? This Pharaoh believed that the language spoken by children who had not been taught any language was certainly the original language, the first language bestowed by the divine to humans. If the child spoke Egyptian, it would certainly mean that Egyptian was the oldest language in the world! Accordingly, Egyptians would be the ones with the oldest history in the world! This would indirectly prove that other nations in the world were descendants of ancient Egyptians.
Over time, gradually, the two children grew up together in a world without language; they ate, slept, and played together. A few years later, the two children grew, and could walk, but they did not know how to speak until one day when the shepherd opened the door for them to eat; both children ran towards him, arms wide open, and shouted a word: “Bekos” (βεκόϛ).
Years later, the child grew up, and its first words were: “Bekos” (βεκόϛ).
Upon hearing the children speak their first words, the shepherd immediately reported the incident and swore that he had never spoken to the two children nor had he allowed them to come into contact with any other language.
When Psammetichus learned of this, he was very pleased and asked the shepherd to bring the two children to him so he could hear firsthand what the children had said. The main purpose was to find out what the word “bekos” (βεκόϛ) meant, which language it belonged to, and exactly where it came from.
Linguistic experts at that time had to search day and night through ancient books and sought prophecies from various ethnic groups.
In the end, their efforts were rewarded. However, this result disappointed the Pharaoh of Egypt, as the experiment did not prove that his nation’s language was the source of human language, but rather showed that the word spoken by the two children meant “bread” and that the language of the Phrygians was the oldest primitive language of humanity, at least according to this Pharaoh’s understanding.
This Pharaoh’s experiment was entirely wrong because language cannot arise naturally.
However, from a scientific and modern linguistic perspective, the Pharaoh’s experiment and his views are completely incorrect because language cannot arise naturally. The creation of language requires humans to live in groups, and it also necessitates a long process of evolution and accumulation.
If a child were to grow up in a silent environment from the moment of birth, even if it had companions, it would still not be able to create a new language!.
