Not as easy as you might think.

 

Not as easy as you might think.

Do you mean an audio recording, or in writing? To my knowledge, the first word of the first audio recording was "Mary", for Edison's "Mary had a little lamb" recital into a wax cylinder recorder. That's what I learned when I was a kid, anyway....

 

The first recorded,wrote,in time.

 

"first recorded word in the English language was said to be "keel", which was recorded by Gildas in the 6th century. Although he was writing in Latin, he chose to tell his readers what Hengist and his men called their ships in their own language. He spelt the word as cyulae (plural).

It has changed its meaning slightly since then, in that nowadays it refers to a specific type of ship, and also part of a ship.

Tacitus, writing about AD 100, refers to the Anglii, which is derived from this tribe's native name for itself, Engle. But Tacitus used the standard Latinised form, so I'm not sure if it counts."

 

Can't tell you that but what I can tell you is a CD was made to hold 74 minutes of audio because the inventor wanted a meduim that would play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in one shot with no flipping. Thats why its 74 minutes and not 60 minutes.

 

You would probably have to go back longer still, ancient Babylonian or Sumerian. Think clay tablets.

 

somewhat open to interpretation...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/334517.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm

but I believe it is accepted that cuneiform script is the earliest form of written language:

"Cuneiform script, which evolved in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C.E. and recorded over 3,000 years of Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and other cultures, is the earliest known writing system. Unlike pictograms, such as cave paintings, writing systems are established and commonly understood codes for recording language. The complex causes that led to the development of writing included the need to remember large amounts of data and to transmit information across both time and space. Cuneiform tablets were written by scribes using styli of reed, bone, hard wood, or metal, usually on soft clay that was then either baked in an oven or left to dry in the sun. Occasionally, texts were also recorded on stone, glass, or metal. The majority of surviving cuneiform tablets are routine accounting documents of various types."

p.s. my guess, if we were to discover first recorded word, it would be either a curse word or a declaration of love, people are funny that way

 

9. April 1860...

World's first Audio Recording

Don't know if it's true, or just a scam...

A little off off topic:

The first word a baby should learn should be "Brains". It would be the cutest zoombie ever. Walking around, on unstable legs saying: "brains, brains, brains"

Got an idea, Strantor?

 

the definition of 'word' would slide the scale up and down by millineiums. Nomadic tribes marked thier territories and left directional beacons for others. Maybe not 'words', but clearly persistant communication.

 

You make a good point,you see pictures of dogs on caveman walls.

How about a uh, dah a baby sound being recorded,not much on babies.

How parents felt about there young,how about that,any word.

 

How parents felt about there young,how about that,any word.

One of the first words my daughter learned to say was: "Exclamation mark". Why? Funny to see how she said it.

One of the first phrases my former gfs son learned was "F*****g *hit". He was runnning around screaming the phrase. It's a part of the story that he has ADHD. So much that you nearly can peal it off... After his mother and I broke up, it didn't go so well with him. That's one of the reasons my daughter is living with me. This was a meaningless side note...

 

I could have been an ar-a-ark-a-lo-glist,I could have been a lot of things.

I stopped sitting on a stool with a soldering iron to live,a different healthy life.

I could start selling electronics parts tomorrow,who knows. There is going to be

a home market for health devices,are you looking in the right direction,self exams

with 4-g and above phones,new software for health exams by phone. ? Dr. no

! Dr. yes by phone.

 

I could have been an ar-a-ark-a-lo-glist,I could have been a lot of things.

I stopped sitting on a stool with a soldering iron to live,a different healthy life.

I could start selling electronics parts tomorrow,who knows. There is going to be

a home market for health devices,are you looking in the right direction,self exams

with 4-g and above phones,new software for health exams by phone. ? Dr. no

! Dr. yes by phone.

you know it's coming, but not quite yet;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPlqhw8AoQI

 

the definition of 'word' would slide the scale up and down by millineiums. Nomadic tribes marked thier territories and left directional beacons for others. Maybe not 'words', but clearly persistant communication.

I think that's why he specified "English"....

 

I think that's why he specified "English"....

my guess is that English is a second language to the OP, so I'd be surprised that he'd imply English as a default. I've missed that specification somewhere.

 

Using www.m-w.com definitions of word and record, in which the oldest usage is listed first, The first spoken word that was written down is the answer to the question.

Given that the symbols on the caves illustrates the spoken words of the cavemen, that would satisfy as the answer. Good luck on finding the first word. My personal favorite would be "OH" as in "OH $hit, did you see the size of that critter"

Of course the OP can specify which definitions fit his criteria and the search can continue.

 

my guess is that English is a second language to the OP, so I'd be surprised that he'd imply English as a default. I've missed that specification somewhere.

Oops, I accidentally combined two posts. I guess if you count "loosewire-ese" as a primary language, then you're right--I was wrong to assume he meant English. I apologize for that misunderstanding.

 

What about heiroglyphics? Technically these are words and date way way way before latin and other letters.

 

What about heiroglyphics? Technically these are words and date way way way before latin and other letters.

I think cuniform predates hieroglyphics by several thousand years (or more, depending on who you ask). For that matter, what about cave paintings? Could they be considered a form of writing?

 

I think cuniform predates hieroglyphics by several thousand years (or more, depending on who you ask). For that matter, what about cave paintings? Could they be considered a form of writing?

Thats what made me think of heiroglyphics. I was imagining cave paintings but figured what would be the next step that had some sort of structure to form a language. You can make a statement with Heiroglyphics.