What are the origins of ancient Olmec language?

The ancient Olmec civilization was a complex society that predated both the Mayans and the Aztecs. read more

The Olmecs apparently spoke dialects of the Mixe-Zoquean ancestral language. Since none of these come to us in a written form, we have no more definite information on them. We do not know any earlier history of Mixe-Zoquean for the same reason. There is no agreement among linguists studying the languages of the Americas on groupings at a higher level. read more

The Olmec people spoke a Manding (Malinke-Bambara) language and not Zoquean. There is a clear African substratum for the origin of Maya writing (Wiener, 1922). Mayanists also agree that the Proto-Maya term for writing was *c'ihb' or *c'ib'. read more

It is not known what name the ancient Olmec used for themselves; some later Mesoamerican accounts seem to refer to the ancient Olmec as "Tamoanchan". A contemporary term sometimes used for the Olmec culture is tenocelome, meaning "mouth of the jaguar". read more