Egyptian

Egyptian is an extinct branch of the Afroasiatic language family that was spoken in Egypt, and one of the earliest known written languages, with a written record spanning over 5,000 years from the late fourth millennium BC into the nineteenth century AD. The branch evolved through five major stages: Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Demotic Egyptian, and Coptic. It ceased being a spoken vernacular by the nineteenth century following the earlier Arab conquest, which introduced Arabic as the dominant language of Egypt, though Bohairic Coptic remains in use today as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches.