Numidian language
Numidian was a language spoken in ancient Numidia. The script in which it was written, the Libyco-Berber alphabet (from which Tifinagh descended), has been almost fully deciphered and most characters (apart from a few exceptions restricted to specific areas) have known values. Despite this, the language has barely been deciphered and only a few words are known. Libyco-Berber inscriptions are attested from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The language is scarcely attested and can be confidently identified only as belonging to the Afroasiatic family, although it was most likely part of the Berber languages, spoken at the start of the breakup of the Proto-Berber language.[2][3][4]
Numidian
ancient Numidia
Developed into, or replaced with various modern Berber languages in the 3rd century AD[1]
-
Berber ?
- Numidian
- East-Numidian †
- West-Numidian †
- ? Mauretanian †
- ? Gaetulian †
Libyco-Berber alphabet (Proto-Tifinagh)
Dialects and relation to other ancient languages[edit]
Dialects and foreign influences[edit]
It is known that there was an orthographical difference between the western and eastern Numidian language. Starting at Kabylia, which was a kind of mixed region, the regions to the east all the way to what is east of modern day Tunisia and western parts of Libya used the east Libyan writing system, while the regions to the west all the way to approximately the Moulouya river spoke the western Numidian dialect and used the larger and still undecoded west Libyan writing system.[5] The East-Numidian dialect was much more influenced by the Punic language than the West-Numidian, and West-Numidian is thought to be more ancient than East-Numidian.[6] Numidian was influenced mostly by Punic and then Latin, although Numidian and even some modern Berber vocabulary seem to have been also slightly influenced by the Paleohispanic languages and possibly by other Pre-Indo-European languages.[7][8]
Other ancient Berber or Berber-like languages[edit]
Not much is known about the variations of the old Libyc language(s) as none of them have been fully deciphered, and outside of some east-Numidian steles none of the various Old Libyc writings have been interpreted. It may be possible that the language of the neighbouring Mauri people of modern-day Morocco may have been a dialect of the larger Numidian, although there are little to no sources or researches into the language.[9] If Numidian was a Berber language then it is known that by that stage the breakup of Proto-Berber into various Berber languages was still not fully complete, and thus the ancient Berber languages of the time were very similar to each other, even more so than the modern ones.[10] In circa 500 B.C various nomadic Berber groups penetrated the Sahara from the north, corresponding the area of the later Gaetulians.[11] Although the area where these nomads lived yielded no writing and thus is incomparable to Numidian, it is known that Pliny the Elder described the Saharan Gaetulian language as very similar or the same as the Numidian one, implying that the Gaetulian language may have been a dialect of Numidian.[12]
Not much is known of the Numidian language, and even less of Berber or Proto-Berber languages and dialects at this time, although it is known that for example the language of the native Berbers of Cyrenaica contained many Greek loanwords according to Herodotus.[13] It is also unknown whether the language of the neighbouring Kingdom of Mauretania in what is approximately modern day Morocco formed a part of the Numidian language, or was a separate language from it, as there has been as of yet no major efforts into decoding it, and there are no known sources describing it.[9]
Thugga inscription[edit]
The Thugga inscription is the longest known Numidian inscription as of yet, and has served with the most clues regarding the language.
Numidian script
ṢKN•TBGG•BNYFŠ•MSNSN•GLDṮ•WGYY•GLDṮ•WZLLSN•ŠFṬ
SBSNDH•GLDṮ•SYSH•GLD•MKWSN
ŠFṬ•GLDṮ•WFŠN•MWSNG•ŠNK•WBNY•WŠNK•DŠFṬ•WM
WTNKW•MṢṢKW•MGN•WYRŠTB•WSDYLN•GẒB•MGN•WŠFṬ•MW
WŠMN•GLDṮ•GLDGMYL•ZMR•WMSNF•WŠMN•GLDMṢK•M
WŠYN•GLDṮ•WMGN•GLDṮ•ṬNYN•ŠYN•WNKKN•WFṬŠ•DR
ŠFṬ•WŠNK•
[31]
Normalization and adding of known or possible vowels
əṣk(ə)-n Tubgag BNYFŠ[?] Masnsen a-gəllidṯ u-Gayya a-gəllidṯ u-Zelalsen šufeṭ
Asəbbas NDH a-gəllidṯ(?) s-yusa a-gəllid Mikiwsan[31]
Translation from Punic
The people of Thugga built this temple for Masinissa the King son of Gaia the King son of Zilalsan the Judge, in the tenth year since Micipsa ruled, in the year of Shufet the King son of Afshan the King, The Centurion: Shanok son of Banay and Shufet son of Magon son of Tanaku. The ms s kwy Magon son of Yirashtan son of Sadyalan, and gzby: Magon son of Shufet the Centurion son of Abdeshmun the King. Erectors of this property: Ashyan son of Ankikan son of Patash and Arash son of Shufet son of Shanok.