Which Afro-Asiatic languages have disappeared but survive in inscriptions?

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Several extinct Afro-Asiatic languages are known to us today primarily through surviving inscriptions and written records. Notable examples include:

  • Akkadian: A major language of ancient Mesopotamia, it was recorded using the cuneiform writing system as early as the 3rd millennium BCE.12
  • Eblaite: Discovered in the archives of the ancient city of Ebla, this language is also documented from the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE.12
  • Old Libyan: This language is known from inscriptions that date back as early as 139 BCE.2

While other languages, such as the Guanche language of the Canary Islands, are mentioned in historical records, they are not primarily characterized by a corpus of inscriptions in the same manner as those listed above. Additionally, while Coptic is an extinct language that survived for centuries in religious use, it is distinct from these ancient, inscription-based languages because it was a living, spoken language until the 16th or 17th century CE.23