What is the origin/history of Tamil language All languages that have been around for more than a 1000 years do not have a very clear history beyond this point. Linguists speculate that most languages arose from one or the other Proto languages that developed at different parts of the world. Tamil was born from the Proto Dravidian language that is thought to have existed before 500 BC. At this time, the Proto Dravidian separated out into Proto South Dravidian, Proto North Dravidian, and Proto Central Dravidian. Then, there was a further branch called Proto Central South Dravidian that Proto Telugu branched off into. Tamil and Kannada later separated into Proto Tamil and Proto Kannada somewhere around 3 BC. Old Tamil then split into Middle Tamil and Malayalam somewhere during the middle ages. Tamil experienced a huge cultural burst starting approximately in the 2nd Century BC ...