Editing Sacred language (section)

{{Short description|Language that is cultivated for religious reasons}}
{{redirect|Holy Language|the language so called by John Dee|Enochian|the concept of a divine language|Divine language}}
[[File:Devimahatmya Sanskrit MS Nepal 11c.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The oldest surviving manuscript in the sacred [[Sanskrit]] language: [[Devi Mahatmya|Devi Māhātmya]], [[Palm-leaf manuscript|on palm-leaf]], in an early [[Bhujimol]] script, [[Bihar]] or [[Nepal]], 11th century.]]
{{Anthropology of religion}}
A '''sacred language''', '''liturgical language''' or '''holy language''' is a [[language]] that is [[literary language|cultivated]] and used primarily for [[religion|religious]] reasons (like [[church service]]) by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.

Some religions, or parts of them, regard the language of their [[sacred texts]] as in itself sacred. These include [[Ecclesiastical Latin]] in [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] in [[Judaism]], [[Arabic]] in [[Islam]], [[Avestan]] in [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Sanskrit]] in [[Hinduism]], and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] in [[Sikhism]]. By contrast [[Buddhism]] and [[Christianity|Christian denominations]] outside of Catholicism do not generally regard their sacred languages as sacred in themselves.