What was the first word that humans ever said?

The origins of language, including the first words spoken by humans, is a matter of much speculation and debate, as the emergence of language predates any written records by tens of thousands of years, and probably more. That said, there are several theories and hypotheses about how language might have started:

Bow-wow. The bow-wow or cuckoo theory, which Müller attributed to the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, saw early words as imitations of the cries of beasts and birds. This theory, believed to be derived from onomatopoeia, relates the meaning of the sound to the actual sound formulated by the speaker.

Pooh-pooh. The Pooh-Pooh theory saw the first words as emotional interjections and exclamations triggered by pain, pleasure, surprise and so on. These sounds were all produced on sudden intakes of breath, which is unlike any other language. Unlike emotional reactions, spoken language is produced on the exhale, so the sounds contained in this form of communication are unlike those used in normal speech production, which makes this theory a less plausible one for language acquisition.

Ding-dong. Müller suggested what he called the Ding-Dong theory, which states that all things have a vibrating natural resonance, echoed somehow by man in his earliest words. Words are derived from the sound associated with their meaning; for example, “crash became a word for thunder, boom for explosion.” This theory also heavily relies on the concept of onomatopoeia.

Yo-he-ho. The yo-he-ho theory saw language emerging out of collective rhythmic labor, the attempt to synchronize muscular effort resulting in sounds such as heave alternating with sounds such as ho. Believed to be derived from the basis of human collaborative efforts, this theory states that humans needed words, which might have started off as chanting, to communicate. This need could have been to ward off predators, or served as a unifying battle cry.

Ta-ta. This did not feature in Max Müller's list, having been proposed in 1930 by Sir Richard Paget.[95] According to the ta-ta theory, humans made the earliest words by tongue movements that mimicked manual gestures, rendering them audible.

[kongianna]

Imagine a caveman having a conversation with only chants with other people in a place with echo

[AnnoyD]

The primal urge to make deep gutteral noises in tandem with others

[AlliSinned]

I like the idea that every word is just a variation of "this" because then you can just imagine "that" as a *long-range* "this"

[Jupiter_planet]

"Ooga oga? "
"Booga boog. "
"Hey fellas i can speak now"
"YOOOO"

[thairinkhudr]

I didn't know that the O-REE-O O-REE-O in Wreck-it-Ralph was a reference to Wizard of Oz

[chickennuggetpaw]

I used to think they were chanting “oreo” as a kid 💀

[suffix_affix]

imagine having nostalgic chills hearing "o-ee-yoh"

[laserman]

The masculine urge to make random unintelligible noises with the homies while doing work:

[foxxyle]

i like to imagine that a cave man dropped a rock on his foot and just went “FUCK!” and it’s stuck ever since

[OldLadyMapleSeed]

I think I imagine the first word or word-adjacent noise with dedicated meaning to have been equivalent to the modern “Oi!” Since a way to quickly draw someone’s attention to you is a more fundamental part of communication than describing things. Even before being able to reference the thing we need help with, we would need to be able to tell someone to look at us and put themselves in our shoes so they understand that we need help and why.

Oh gosh, I can't believe how much attention this comment got. I had just made this account when wrote it and I've never had much of an online presence, so I try to comment thoughtfully, and it makes me really happy to see when people have read and liked what I have to say.

[yoyoyosquiji]

I like the idea that the first word was either a greeting or a baby assigning a name or a sound to their caretakers

[australopithecus_lucis]

I've been reading Umberto Eco's "The search for the perfect language" lately. The book does touch the topic of how this very question was faced throughout history. If you manage to find the book, I absolutely recommend it

[beladendron]

According to the theatrical version, that chant is how they kept in step (after the witch broke their drum) and means just what they say.

[lydiastarling]

Actually, many theologians believe the first few chapters of genesis are a poem

[aspwned]

i'm not religious, but i love the way you include both religious origins and scientific origins without shaming. it's interesting to hear both!

[Morfeusm]

IDK about other humans but my first word was: “amp” (as I couldn’t say lamp) while pointing at the object that utterly fascinated me.

[onurerman]

I read somewhere that speaking started with using gestures instead of meaningless sounds and one of the reasons we started speaking is that we cannot use this gestures at night and that makes us vulnerable at night times.

[iamhugry]

Sea shanties and work shanties being the real first Language is wild

[kevcopo]

Please keep posting your stuff is SO interesting my favorite daily dopamine by far

[alexsmith]

Dave Matthews talks about his time visiting the Khoisan people in Africa; one night they all began singing and dancing and he asked their interpreter “What is this song about? What are the words?”
And the interpreter responded with “We have been singing this song since before there were words.” They were the same sounds as their ancestors sang the same song, but there are no words to it.