Image: Wikimedia Commons

Sumerian

Language of ancient Sumer

Languagedead language ancient languageQ36790

Also known as Sumerian language · Emegir · Emesal · Udgalnun

Speakers: 0
Subclass of: human language
Script: cuneiform
Indigenous to: Sumer

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Sumerian was the language of ancient Sumer. It is the oldest attested language, dating back to at least 3100 BC, perhaps earlier. It is a local language isolate, thus unrelated to any other known language, that was spoken exclusively in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is now modern-day Iraq.

Overview

Works in this language

597 linked to Sumerian in Wikidata

Show all 597

All data

73 statements · 22% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Linguistic typology: subject–object–verb
agglutinative language
1
Sources
1.sumerios.info/escritura-sumeria/
View statement on Wikidata ↗
language isolate
ergative–absolutive language
Has grammatical case: equative case
Short name: şumercə
шумерӣ
Country: Sumer
Akkadian Empire
Native label: 𒅴𒂠

On other databases

55 identifiers linking Sumerian across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

22%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 13, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). Sumerian (Q36790). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/sumerian-Q36790