Important Note: While the language of the Medes is often referred to as Old Persian, it's crucial to understand that Old Persian was the official language of the Achaemenid Empire, which succeeded the Median Empire. While the Medes likely spoke a dialect of Old Persian, it was not the same language as the official Old Persian of the Achaemenids.
Here's what we know about the Median language:
* Limited Evidence: We have very limited evidence about the actual language spoken by the Medes. There are a few Median words preserved in later sources, but these are not enough to reconstruct the entire language.
* Closely Related to Old Persian: The evidence suggests that the Median language was very closely related to Old Persian, probably a dialect of it.
* Influenced by Other Languages: Like many languages of the time, the Median language likely borrowed words and grammatical features from neighboring languages, including Elamite and Akkadian.
In summary, while the Medes likely spoke a language closely related to Old Persian, our knowledge about it remains limited due to the lack of extensive written records.