The language of the ancient kingdom of Baekje

Baekje

Baekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....

 (18 BCE – 660 CE), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, is sparsely attested; indeed, it is not clear that what material exists is from the same language. Since Baekje was established by immigrants from Goguryeo

Goguryeo

Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....

 (the Buyeo-Baekje / Puyo-Paekche), is presumed that they spoke the Goguryeo language

Goguryeo language

The Goguryeo language was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo , one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The language is also known as Old Koguryo, Koguryoic, and Koguryoan....

, and several attested words support this idea; however, even if that is true, it is not known which language the indigenous Samhan

Samhan

The Samhan period of Korean history comprises confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan in central and southern Korean peninsula, during the final century BCE and the early centuries CE....

 people (Han-Baekje) spoke, or if the attested material may be a mix of Goguryeo and Samhan. The Gaya confederacy

Gaya confederacy

Gaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period.The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42–532 CE...

, however, was founded by one of the Samhan tribe

Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

s, so it's possible that the old Baekje language was related to Gaya

Gaya language

Gaya , also transliterated Kara, is the presumed language of the Gaya confederacy in southern Korea. It is supposedly attested from thirteen toponyms, but it cannot be certain that these reflect the Gaya language itself rather than an earlier language...

; based on toponymic evidence, it may be then that Buyeo-Baekje was related to Korean, and Han-Baekje, despite the name, to Japanese.

See also

• History of the Korean language
  History of the Korean language
  The Korean language is attested from the early centuries of the Common Era in Chinese script. The featural hangul script is only introduced in the Middle Korean period, in the 15th century.The periodization of the historical stages of Korean is as follows:...
  
  
• Buyeo languages
  Buyeo languages
  Buyeo or Fuyu languages are a hypothetical language family that consists of ancient languages of the northern Korean Peninsula and southern Manchuria and possibly Japan. According to Chinese records, the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Dongye, Okjeo, Baekje—and possibly Gojoseon—were similar...
  
  
• Old Korean
  Old Korean
  Old Korean corresponds to the Korean language from the beginning of Three Kingdoms of Korea to the latter part of the Unified Silla, of which period is roughly from 1 AD to 1000 AD. There are many theories to differentiate the Korean language histories. It is distinct from Proto-Korean , which is...
  
  
  • Goguryeo language
    Goguryeo language
    The Goguryeo language was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo , one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The language is also known as Old Koguryo, Koguryoic, and Koguryoan....
    
    
  • Silla language
    Silla language
    The Silla language, was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Silla , one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.It is unclear if Silla was related to other languages of the Korean peninsula, such as Baekje and Goguryeo, which are sometimes grouped together as the Buyeo languages...