The Egyptian language was an Afroasiatic language that was spoken in Ancient Egypt. It has been written 5000 years, which makes it one of the oldest written languages known today. The Coptic language is the modern form of the Egyptian language. The Egyptian language changed into it over time. The Copts use it for religious purposes. Only a few people are still fluent in Coptic. While the modern variant is known, the older variants could only be translated when the Rosetta stone was found in 1799. The Rosetta stone contains the same text in three languages, one of which was known at the time.