Elam

:For biblical characters named Elam, see Elam (Hebrew Bible).

Elamite language

:Main article: Elamite language

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Elamite is unrelated to the neighboring Semitic, Sumerian and Indo-European languages. It was written in a cuneiform adapted from Akkadian script, although the very earliest documents were written in the quite different "Linear Elamite" script. This seems to have developed from an even earlier writing known as "proto-Elamite", but scholars are not unanimous on whether or not this script was used to write Elamite or another language, and it has not yet been deciphered.

Related Topics:
Semitic - Sumerian - Indo-European

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Some linguists believe Elamite may be related to the living Dravidian languages (of southern India, and Brahui in Pakistan). The hypothesized family of Elamo-Dravidian languages may further prove to be connected with the Indus Valley Civilization somewhat to the East, possibly corresponding to Meluhha in Sumerian records. However, such links are at best conjectural, and Harappan pictographs have also yet to be deciphered.

Related Topics:
Dravidian languages - Brahui - Elamo-Dravidian languages - Indus Valley Civilization - Meluhha - Harappan pictographs

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Several stages of the language are attested; the earliest date back to the third millennium BC, the latest to the Achaemenid Empire.

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The Elamite language may have survived as late as the early Islamic period. Ibn al-Nadim among other Arab medieval historians, for instance, wrote that "The Iranian languages are Fahlavi (Pahlavi), Dari, Khuzi, Persian and Suryani", and Ibn Moqaffa noted that Khuzi was the unofficial language of the royalty of Persia, "Khuz" being the corrupted name for Elam. See Origin of the name Khuzestan for details.

Related Topics:
Ibn al-Nadim - Ibn Moqaffa - Origin of the name Khuzestan

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