diff --git a/lib/linguist/language.rb b/lib/linguist/language.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8a098c8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/linguist/language.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+require 'yaml'
+
+module Linguist
+  class Language
+    @name_index = {}
+
+    def self.create(name)
+      language = new(name)
+
+      @name_index[language.name] = language
+
+      language
+    end
+
+    def self.find_by_name(name)
+      @name_index[name]
+    end
+
+    def self.[](name)
+      find_by_name(name)
+    end
+
+    attr_reader :name
+
+    def initialize(name)
+      @name = name
+    end
+  end
+
+  YAML.load_file(File.expand_path("../extensions.yml", __FILE__)).each do |name, options|
+    Language.create(name)
+  end
+end