Tamil (/ˈtæmɪl/; தமிழ் Tamiḻ [t̪amiɻ], 
pronunciation (help·info)) is a classical Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore,[10][6] and the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by the Tamil diaspora found in many countries, including Malaysia, Myanmar, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Mauritius. Tamil is also natively spoken by Sri Lankan Moors. One of 22 scheduled languages in the Constitution of India, Tamil was the first to be classified as a classical language of India.
Tamil is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world.[11][12][13] A. K. Ramanujan described it as "the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past".[14] The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led to it being described as "one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world".[15] Recorded Tamil literature has been documented for over 2000 years.[16] The earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from c. 300 BC until AD 300.[17][18] It has the oldest extant literature among Dravidian languages.[12] The earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and 'hero stones' date from around the 3rd century BC.[19][20] About 60,000 of the 100,000 odd inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India in India are in Tamil Nadu. Of them, most are in Tamil, with only about 5 percent in other languages.[21] Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt.[22][23] The two earliest manuscripts from India,[24][25] acknowledged and registered by the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, were written in Tamil.
History
According to Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Tamil, as a Dravidian language, descends from Proto-Dravidian, a proto-language. Linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the culture associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India.[35] The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from 905 BC to 696 BC in Adichanallur.[36][37][38]
Among Indian languages, Tamil has the most ancient non-Sanskritic Indian literature.[39] Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods: Old Tamil (600 BC–AD 700), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present).[40] In November 2007, an excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim revealed Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BC with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.[22] There are a number of apparent Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew dating to before 500 BC, the oldest attestation of the language.[41] John Guy states that Tamil was the lingua franca for early maritime traders from India.[42]
In 2004, a number of skeletons were found buried in earthenware urns in Adichanallur. Some of these urns contained writing in Tamil Brahmi script, and some contained skeletons of Tamil origin.[38]
Between 2017 and 2018, 5,820 artifacts have been found in Keezhadi. These sent to Beta Analytic in Miami, Florida for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. One sample containing Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions was claimed to be dated to around 580 BC.[43][44]
Legend
According to Hindu legend, Tamil or in personification form Tamil Thāi (Mother Tamil) was created by Lord Shiva. Murugan, revered as the Tamil God, along with sage Agastya, brought it to the people.[49]
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