Yelling was not “invented” at a specific moment in history; humans have probably been raising their voices in loud cries for as long as speech and social communication have existed, so we’re talking deep prehistory rather than a date like 1900.

Quick Scoop: So… when was yelling invented?

  • There’s no official invention date for yelling, because it’s a basic human (and animal) vocal behavior tied to strong emotion, danger, and long‑distance communication.
  • The word “yelling” in English goes back to at least the mid‑13th century , from Middle English yellen and Old English giellan/gellan , rooted in a Proto‑Germanic verb meaning “to call.”
  • Long before modern languages, people would have used loud calls, screams, and shouts for survival (warning others, calling across distance, herding animals), so the behavior is as old as early humans—even if we can’t put a year on it.
  • Modern jokes or memes that say “yelling was invented in 1900” are just that: jokes , popular in shorts and skits online, not actual history.

In other words, “when was yelling invented?” is like asking “when was breathing invented?” It gradually emerged with human (and animal) communication, not on a specific date.

Mini history: the word “yelling”

Linguists can track the word more easily than the behavior.

  • “Yelling” (noun: “the act or noise of one who yells”) is attested in English from the mid‑1200s.
  • It comes from the verb “to yell,” Middle English yellen , from Old English giellan/gellan , meaning “to cry out with a sharp, loud noise.”
  • This traces back to a Proto‑Germanic root related to “to call,” and has cousins in Old Norse gjalla (“to resound”) and German gellen (“to yell/resound”).

So while people were yelling long before that, the English word “yelling” as we recognize it has medieval roots.

Yelling as a human behavior

Anthropology and history show loud vocal calls popping up everywhere:

  • Herding and mountain cultures used loud calls or semi‑sung yells to reach animals or people across valleys (similar to Alpine yodeling , which is a stylized, musical form of loud calling).
  • Many traditional societies developed specific types of cries for warning , celebration , or ritual —think war cries, mourning wails, or long‑distance field calls.
  • Even animals “yell” in the broad sense: birds scream, dogs howl, and humans have likely always used a similar range of loud vocalizations for urgent communication.

All of that makes yelling far older than writing, cities, or recorded history.

Why the internet says “yelling was invented in 1900”

You might see memes or clips claiming things like “apparently yelling was invented in 1900, so this is how people were in 1899,” usually for comedic effect.

  • These are joke premises , often in short videos where creators imagine a world where no one has discovered yelling yet.
  • They play off the absurd idea that a very basic behavior must have a precise invention date, like a gadget or an app.

They’re fun bits of internet humor—but they have no basis in linguistic or historical research.

Multi‑view: how to answer this in a nerdy way

If someone asks you “when was yelling invented?” you can answer at a few levels:

  1. Science/linguistics answer
    • Yelling as a loud vocalization is as old as early humans, so prehistoric and unknowable as a specific date.
  1. Language/history answer
    • The English noun “yelling” shows up by the 13th century , from older Germanic roots meaning “to call or resound.”
  1. Pop‑culture answer
    • Any claim like “it was invented in 1900” is a meme , not a real historical fact.

A fun, precise formulation might be:

Yelling the behavior is prehistoric; “yelling” the English word is medieval.

Tiny TL;DR

  • Yelling itself is as old as humans (or earlier) , with no exact invention date.
  • The English word “yelling” appears by the 1200s , from older Germanic roots meaning “to call or cry out.”
  • Claims that it was “invented in 1900” come from internet jokes and skits , not real history.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.