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Language Help
A connected home for historical languages and writing systems. The project is building dedicated study sites grounded in the evidence.
The family
Languages
Explore the Sanskrit site now. The other study sites below are being built and checked; their links will appear here as they are published. The language list describes the project’s intended coverage, not a claim that every course or tool is already complete.
Study sites
Language sites
The images are documented photographs of objects or places, except for the clearly marked Sanskrit artwork. An image may illustrate a language or region without being the witness used in a lesson.
Open site
In preparationBiblical Hebrew
Hebrew scripture, forms and reading.
A link will appear when published.Image & rights
In preparation
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In preparationEgyptian Hieroglyphic
Middle Egyptian and hieroglyphic writing.
A link will appear when published.Image & rights
In preparation
In preparation
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In preparationPhoenician & Punic
Phoenician and Punic writing and inscriptions.
A link will appear when published.Image & rights
In preparationIndus Script
Seals, signs and undeciphered evidence.
A link will appear when published.Image & rights
In preparation
In preparationIn preparation
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In preparationAnatolian
Luwian, Lycian, Lydian, Carian, Palaic, Pisidian and Sidetic.
A link will appear when published.Image & rights
In preparation
In preparation
In preparation
In preparationLinear B
Mycenaean Greek tablets and syllabic writing.
A link will appear when published.Image & rights
Immediate future
Planned language sites
These are the next parts of the Language Help family. Group entries name the languages and scripts they are intended to include.
Planned
Arabic
Arabic language and manuscript traditions.
Planned
Armenian
Armenian texts and scripts.
Planned
Canaanite
Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite.
Planned
Celtic
Celtic languages, Ogham (script), Gaulish, Celtiberian, Lepontic and Old Welsh.
Planned
Chinese
Chinese writing and historical language.
Planned
Geʽez
Geʽez language and manuscript study.
Planned
Germanic
Historical Germanic languages.
Planned
Gothic
Gothic language and manuscript witnesses.
Original artworkPlanned
Indo-European
Comparative Indo-European study.
Planned
Iranian
Sogdian, Khotanese and Bactrian, alongside the existing Avestan and Old Persian projects.
Planned
Italic
Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan and South Picene.
Planned
Meroitic
Meroitic script, inscriptions and language.
Planned
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic manuscripts and language.
Planned
Old English
Old English texts and language.
Planned
Old Irish
Old Irish texts and language.
Planned
Old Norse
Old Norse texts and runic evidence.
Planned
Old Turkic
Old Turkic inscriptions and scripts.
Planned
Prakrit
Prakrit languages and inscriptions.
Original artworkPlanned
Proto-Indo-European
A reconstructed language: comparative evidence, not an ancient manuscript.
Planned
South Arabian
Ancient South Arabian writing and languages.
Planned
Tibetan
Tibetan texts and script.
How the sites are made
The project
Text and evidence
The standard is to tie ancient forms, readings, paradigm cells and translations to named witnesses or scholarly editions. Attested text, editorial normalization, reconstruction and teaching explanation are distinguished.
Tools with limits
Each site aims to bring script study, grammar, readings and useful search or analysis tools together. A parser or lemmatiser is included only where the evidence and permitted data can support it. Undeciphered scripts remain undeciphered.
Images and rights
Object images, modern photographs, fonts and digital corpora each have their own rights. The site credits every photograph it uses, and unpublished or restricted scholarly resources are linked rather than silently copied.
Image credits and licences