List of extinct languages and dialects of Europe
This is a list of extinct languages of Europe, languages which have undergone language death, have no native speakers and no spoken descendant. As the vast majority of Europeans speak Indo-European languages, a result of the westward portion of the prehistoric Indo-European migrations, the bulk of the indigenous languages of Europe became extinct thousands of years ago without leaving any record of their existence as they were superseded by Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Balto-Slavic, Hellenic, and Iranian Indo-European languages. A small minority of these extinct languages, however, survived long enough to be attested.
Language Endangerment Status | |
---|---|
Extinct (EX) | |
|
|
Endangered | |
|
|
Safe | |
| |
Other categories | |
Related topics | |
UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger categories | |
On the other hand, many European Indo-European languages themselves, such as Gothic, have also become extinct. In some cases however, it is not known whether a language has a spoken descendant or not. For example, because of the uncertain origin of the Albanian language—aside from its being an Indo-European language—and because little remains of the ancient languages in question, it is disputed whether Dacian, Thracian or Illyrian have a spoken descendant, Albanian.
Eastern Europe
Caucasus
Northern and Central Europe
Southeast Europe
Southern Europe
Iberian Peninsula
- Paleohispanic
- Celtic
- Classical Greek
- Germanic
- Romance
- Mozarabic
- Romance-Jewish languages:
- Semitic
- Basque
- Unclassified