<p><a href="https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9951681003506421" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Baleybelen (~14c?)</a> is often considered as the oldest well-documented a priori conlang. Much older than Solresol (1827). Unfortunately, I know no Turkish so I can't really tell what the content. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaibalan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiki page</a> say that, akin to Lingua Ignota, Baleybelen is thought to be a religion-motivated or language for poetry (maybe related to Sufism?). But unlike Lingua Ignota which borrowed most of its structure and vocabulary from Latin, Baleybelen is thought to be an a priori language.</p>

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2023-06-12T12:55:08.383Z
2023-06-12T12:55:30.990Z
2023-06-12T12:55:30.990Z
Andre
<p>By serious I mean somewhat complete, with a working grammar. So the examples in Gulliver's Travels are probably not really &quot;languages&quot; (or are they, I'm not sure).</p>

<history><list-of-languages><artlangs>
Were there serious a priori fictional languages before Tolkien?
# Were there serious a priori fictional languages before Tolkien?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-09-15)

By serious I mean somewhat complete, with a working grammar. So the examples in Gulliver's Travels are probably not really "languages" (or are they, I'm not sure).

**Tags:** history, list-of-languages, artlangs


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-06-12. Score: 4

[Baleybelen (~14c?)](https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9951681003506421) is often considered as the oldest well-documented a priori conlang. Much older than Solresol (1827). Unfortunately, I know no Turkish so I can't really tell what the content. The [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaibalan) say that, akin to Lingua Ignota, Baleybelen is thought to be a religion-motivated or language for poetry (maybe related to Sufism?). But unlike Lingua Ignota which borrowed most of its structure and vocabulary from Latin, Baleybelen is thought to be an a priori language.


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