Writing system Baybayin | Glottolog None | |
Region Philippines, particularly Southern Tagalog (Calabarzon and Mimaropa) Era 10th century AD (developed into Classical Tagalog in c. 16th century) Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Proto-Phlippine
Old Tagalog | ||
Old Tagalog (Filipino: Lumang Tagalog; Baybayin: ᜎᜓᜋᜅ᜔ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔, Pre-Kudlit: ᜎᜓᜋᜆᜄᜎᜓ ) is the earliest form of the Tagalog language and was the language of Central and Southern Luzon during the Classical period in Luzon. It is the language of the Tondo Dynasty, Namayan, state of Ma-i, Kingdom of Maynila, and other regions of the northern Philippines. The language originated from the Proto-Philippine language and evolved to Classical Tagalog, which was the basis for Modern Tagalog.
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Etymology
The word Tagalog is derived from the endonym ᜆᜄ ᜁᜎᜓᜄ᜔ taga-ilog ("river dweller"), composed of ᜆᜄ (tagá-) ("native of" or "from") and ᜁᜎᜓᜄ᜔' (ílog) ("river"). Very little is known about the ancient history of the language; linguists such as Dr. David Zorc and Dr. Robert Blust speculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups had originated in Northeastern Mindanao or the Eastern Visayas.
The Language
Old Tagalog is one of the Central Philippine languages, which evolved from the Proto-Philippine language, which comes from the Austronesian peoples who settled in the Philippines, 2000 years ago. This is the language of the Wangdom of Ma-i, the Tondo Dynasty, Kingdom of Maynila, Namayan, and other regions of Central Luzon.
The early history of the Tagalog language remains relatively obscure, and a number of theories exist as to the exact origins of the Tagalog peoples and their language. Most scholars suggest that the Tagalog people originated in North-eastern Mindanao or the Eastern Visayas. The first written record of Tagalog is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription which dates to 900 CE, and exhibits fragments of the language along with Sanskrit, Malay, Javanese and Old Tagalog. The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Christiana (Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593.
Writing system
Old Tagalog was written in Baybayin, which belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts. Loanwords from Malay and Sanskrit were written in the Kawi script because these words could not be represented in Baybayin.