Old Tagalog

Old Tagalog (Tagalog: Lumang Tagalog; Baybayin: pre-virama: ᜎᜓᜋ ᜆᜄᜎᜓ, post-virama [krus kudlit]: ᜎᜓᜋᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔; post-virama [pamudpod]: ᜎᜓᜋᜅ᜕ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜕), also known as Old Filipino, is the earliest form of the Tagalog language during the Classical period. It is the primary language of pre-colonial Tondo, Namayan and Maynila. The language originated from the Proto-Philippine language and evolved to Classical Tagalog, which was the basis for Modern Tagalog. Old Tagalog uses the Tagalog script or Baybayin, one of the scripts indigenous to the Philippines.

Etymology

The word Tagalog is derived from the endonym ᜆᜄ ᜁᜎᜓᜄ᜔ or ᜆᜄ ᜁᜎᜓ (taga-ilog, "river dweller"), composed of ᜆᜄ (tagá-, "native of" or "from") and ᜁᜎᜓᜄ᜔ or ᜁᜎᜓ (ilog, "river"). Very little is known about the ancient history of the language; linguists such as David Zorc and Robert Blust speculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups had originated in Northeastern Mindanao or the Eastern Visayas.

History

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 around 2200 BC.

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. Scholars such as Robert Blust suggest that the Tagalogs originated in northeastern Mindanao or the eastern Visayas. Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription from the 10th century, which is largely written in Old Malay. The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Christiana (Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. The book also used Baybayin script.

The question has been raised about the origin of some words in the various languages of the Philippines and their possible connection to ancient Buddhist and Hindu culture in the region, as the language is influenced by Sanskrit, Malay, Tamil and Chinese.

Writing system

Old Tagalog was written in Baybayin, a writing system formerly used in the Philippines which belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts.

Phonology

References

External links

A Handbook and Grammar of the Tagalog Language, by W.E.W. MacKinlay, 1905.
Online E-book of Doctrina Christiana in Old Tagalog and Old Spanish, the first book published in the Philippines. Manila. 1593
Online E-book of Arte de la Lengua Tagala y Manual Tagalog by Sebastián de Totanes published in Binondo, Manila in 1865