3,000 Years of Sign Languages: Ancient Egypt, Turkish Harems, Monks & More

Vlog | Destiny Yarbro | November 25, 2025 | 10 min watch

What connects an Egyptian schoolboy, Ottoman harems, and a Deaf god in Indonesia? 3,000 years of visual, gestural language! Come, let's unearth the timeline of sign language history.

ANCIENT EGYPT 1,200 BC. First, we have Egypt (signed this or this) going way back to 1,200 BC. B.C.! Absolutely incredible. This record is found on a papyrus scroll which says: "Thou art one who is deaf and does not hear to whom men make signs with the hand." A man, either a business owner or a school teacher is reprimanding a boy saying, you wave your hands like Deaf people who can't hear and with whom others sign.

ANCIENT GREECE ~3rd Century B.C. The next record is in Ancient Greece around the 3rd or 4th century. Socrates wrote the following: "Suppose that we had no voice or tongue and wanted to communicate with one another should we not, like the deaf and dumb, make signs with the hands and head and the rest of the body?"

OTTOMAN EMPIRE 15th-19th Centuries. The next record is in Turkey, specifically the Ottoman Empire back in the 15th to 19th centuries. They used a sign called Harem Sign Language. European visitors noted that they would gesture to each other. The women of the harem "spoke little and expressed much by sign."

OLD KENT, BRITAIN 1666. Our next record is from England, specifically Britain about Old Kentish Sign Language in the 17th century specifically 1666 where a man recorded how he watched Sir Downing (yes, the same man the street is named after) chatting with a Deaf servant. The two of them were chatting about the recent Great Fire in London. "there comes in the dumb boy... who is mightily acquainted here and with Sir Downing; and he made strange signs of the fire and how the King was abroad, and many things they understood, but I could not which I wondering at, and discoursing with Downing about it "Why," says he, "it is only a little use, and you will understand him and make him understand you with as much as ease as may be."

AFRICAN ORAL HISTORIES. The next records are African oral histories, passed down through generations. We don't know exact years of these histories but we do know that Deaf are mentioned again and again in the records. Typically as Deaf servants who were useful because they couldn't overhear confidential or private conversations. So it was common for rulers to have Deaf servants.

NATIVE AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGES. Next, are the many indigenous Native American sign languages. Again, we don't know specific years that these came to be because we have no records until 1930 when a man filmed about 30 tribal chiefs who were discoursing of which you can watch a part here:

MONASTIC SIGN SYSTEMS 10th Century to present. Next mainly during the 7th to 15th centuries many Catholic monks in Europe showed their devotion and gratitude to God, how? silence, by taking vows of silence for some until the end of their lives. So how did they communicate with each other? Gestures, which over time become more of signed systems. There were many of these monastic sign systems in places like Spain, Ireland, and France.

DEAF VILLAGES. Next we have the worldwide phenomena of "Deaf village sign languages" that have most likely existed from the beginning of time. For example, in Thailand there is a temple with paintings on the walls that show Deaf how to worship their gods, giving visual directions. So cool, yes? Another Deaf Village sign language is in Mexico where they count by ... well, you know how we count typically by 10s? Our number system is based on 10? In this village, their number system is based on what number? 20! Why you may ask? Well, they use both their 10 fingers and their 10 toes, so counting both hands and feet, there is 20 digits to use. So their system is based on 20. The next Deaf village is in Ghana where up to 11% of the community was Deaf due to inherited genetics. 11%! That is, until 1975 when a law was established that made Deaf and Deaf marriages illegal. And the result was the number was significantly reduced. Another village was on Martha's Vineyard which is an island here in the U.S. (Martha's Vineyard is such a long name that it's usually abbreviated MV) where a Deaf man moved to the island from Europe, specifically from Kent in England, remember the year 1666? I mentioned Old Kentish sign earlier? Anyway, he moved to the island in the year 1694 and he had many children so that "deaf gene" spread and there they developed a sign language.

INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SIGN LANGUAGES 18th century. The 18th century was when Deaf schools were established starting with a priest named Abbe de l'Épée (his sign name like a fencing "epee"). He established the first known Deaf school ever. 

It's interesting because he already knew many monks who signed so it was not a new idea, a new concept, to teach through sign but then he met two women, two sisters who were deaf, who knew Old French Sign Language. He learned their language and added elements of French like grammar and words. He taught Deaf children and that became what today is now French Sign Language. 

The idea to set up a Deaf school spread worldwide leading to many Deaf schools being established. I'll make a video about this topic later. But that idea spread around the world from 18th century to the modern century.

DISPLACEMENT OF LOCAL SIGN LANGUAGES. So with the establishment of Deaf schools, which was a good thing, but it meant that local, indigenous, village sign languages were displaced and Deaf were taught only French Sign Language, ASL, BSL (British Sign Language). So local sign languages started going extinct. 

In Africa, schools still teach French Sign Language well, a similar sign language (often called Francophone Sign Language) or they teach ASL. 

In North America, the indigenous Native American sign languages and Black ASL is never taught. 

It's sad to see this happen worldwide. Ironically, as countries recognize sign language and set up standardized sign languages which is good for legal reasons, disability law reasons, but these standardized languages have completely displaced local languages.

THE FUTURE OF SIGN LANGUAGES. So now, what does the future of sign languages look like? We don't know, especially with technology changing right and left, but I have two predictions: 

1. More efforts will be made to preserve local, village, indigenous sign languages. How? Well, indigenous Native American sign languages are being preserved by tribes who are determined to pass down this cherished language heritage to future generations and are encouraging youth to learn it again. 

2. InterSign University. I set this program up about 12 years ago because I saw how many sign languages were going extinct and I felt so strongly that we needed to preserve them. If you want to show support for this project, buy a class that we offer. Deaf teachers worldwide want to share their sign languages with you like Nepali, Chinese, Korean, and many more sign languages. By taking these classes you show support for that language to be preserved. 

So what does the future look like? I'm guessing here but before International Sign (IS) was only used for the World Federation of the Deaf or the Deaflympics, but now as the world gets smaller and Deaf worldwide associate online everyday through YouTube, TikTok, and many other social media. International Sign is being used every day, not just at the WFD or Deaflympics, only known by a few. Now many Deaf around the world are using it to connect with each other so I.S. is being used more and more. So International Sign, which previously has been a sign system, is now one it's way to becoming more of a full sign language. That's my prediction. 

Wow! So is 3,000 years of sign language history over? Not at all! It will continue! So come, it's time to start learning and preserving sign languages for future generations!

My Videos

Sources:

Ancient Egypt (Papyrus Koller)
Miles, M. (2005). Sign languages in Africa and beyond: A historical and bibliographical survey. Independent Living Institute.
https://www.independentliving.org/docs7/miles2005a.html

Ancient Greece (Socrates)
Plato. Cratylus (c. 360 BCE).

Ottoman Empire / Harem Sign Language
Miles, M. (2000). Signing in the harem: Ottoman deaf servants and their sign language. Disability World.

Old Kentish Sign Language (1666, Samuel Pepys)
Pepys, S. The Diary of Samuel Pepys (entry from 1666, Great Fire of London).

African Oral Histories
Miles, M. (2005). Sign languages in Africa and beyond.
https://www.independentliving.org/docs7/miles2005a.html

Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL)
Groce, N. (1985). Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard.

Monastic Sign Systems
Bragg, L. (1997). Signs in the Silence: Universal Deaf Communication in the Middle Ages.
(Cluniac, Cistercian, Trappist, and other monastic sign lexicons)

Institutionalization of Deaf Education (Abbé de l’Épée)
Lane, H., Hoffmeister, R., & Bahan, B. (1996). A Journey into the Deaf-World.

Displacement of Local Sign Languages
Miles, M. (2005). Sign languages in Africa and beyond.
Lane, H. (1996). A Journey into the Deaf-World.