Eblaite (also known as Eblan
ISO 639-3) is an extinct
Semitic language which was used during the third millennium by the
East Semitic speaking populations of Northern Syria. It was named after the ancient city of
Ebla, in western modern
Syria. Variants of the language were also spoken in
Mari and
Nagar. According to
Cyrus H. Gordon, although scribes might have spoken it sometimes, Eblaite was probably not spoken much, being rather a written lingua franca with East and West Semitic features.