Old Khmer

Along with Brahmi and Indian influence on Cambodia, Old Khmer saw an influx of Sanskrit loanwords in the domains of religion, philosophy, and to a lesser extent, in politics.

Despite this, Old Khmer retained a prototypical Austroasiatic typology in phonology, syntax, and morphology, being sesquisyllabic, analytic, having a rich system of derivational affixes.

[3] Old Khmer entered into the historical period rather abruptly in 611, with all earlier inscriptions in present-day Cambodia and the Mekong Delta being written in Sanskrit.

[1] Their contents, like later inscriptions, tend to concern legal matters such as land and property, donations to temples, and genealogies and lineages, suggesting a society already deeply entrenched in lower Cambodia.

Nonetheless, they provide important documentary evidence of the language's phonology, morphology, and syntax as well as clues about the natural and sociopolitical environments surrounding its speakers.

The Sambor Inscription, containing the earliest dateable usage of the numeral zero as a decimal value. Written in Old Khmer, it is dated to 683 CE, and describes a list of gifts donated to a temple. Found in Kratié province , Cambodia