Akkadian ( akkadû, ak-ka-du-ú; logogram: URI^KI ) is an extinct East Semitic language (part of the greater Afroasiatic language family) that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system, which was originally used to write ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate. The language was named after the city of Akkad by linguists, a major center of Semitic Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (ca. 2334–2154 BC), although the language itself predates the founding of Akkad by many centuries.