What is the relationship between the Meroitic and Nubian
languages? This is an important question because Griffith and other researchers
over the years, have claimed that the Nubian languages were not related to Meroitic.
They reached this conclusion when they compared the words Griffith claimed
were Meroitic words to Nubian vocabulary
items. My decipherment of Meroitic indicates that the Nubian and Meroitic
languages share a linguistic genetic relationship.
Welsby in The
Kingdom of Kush wrote, "Early scholars of the [Meroitic]
language hoped that it may have been related to Old Nubian but this has been
shown not to be the case, although both are agglutinative, lack gender and the
place of inflexions taken by post-positions and suffixes. Whether it was
related to the language of the Kerma culture is another unknown, as no
inscriptions in Kerman have come to light"(p.190).
Lazlo Torok, in The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the
Napatan-Meroitic Civilization , wrote
"Since so far no bilingual text has been discovered nor any related
language found, very little of Meroitic can be understood. Some linguists see a
relationship between Berber and Chadic on the one hand and Meroitic, on the
other. Others regard it as related to Nubian. On geographical grounds, it has
been suggested that Meroitic may be related to the following language groups
(in describing order of probability). Eastern Sudanic; Nilo-Saharan;
Cushitic/Omotic; Kordofanian. The efforts based on such assumptions produced,
however, very few results, if any. While the linguistic classification of
Meroitic remains obscure, there is hardly any doubt that it was originally
spoken in the northern Butana" (p.50).
As you can see, using Griffith’s alleged Meroitic
words, Meroitic has not been found to be
related to Nubian, other languages in the Nilo-Saharan family ,or any other
language spoken in the Sudan. The Nubian speakers that belonged to the Meroitic
Confederation were absorbed into the Confederation.
Although Nubian was not related to the Meroitic words
recovered by Griffith, it is related to Meroitic. In this paper I will outline
the relationship between Nubian and Meroitic , based on my decipherment of the
Meroitic language.
My decipherment of Meroitic has allowed me to publish
Meroitic Vocabularies that we can compare to languages spoken in the Sudan and
West Africa. Griffith (1911a) has divided the Meroitic writing into two
different forms according to the shape of Meroitic signs at various points in
history. The two stages of Meroitic writing were called Archaic and late. In
deciphering Meroitic inscriptions it is important that you refer to Giffith
(1911a) so you can learn how each Meroitic symbol appeared at various stages in
the evolution of the Meroitic writing.
During my research I learned that the Dravidian and Nubian
languages were related. I thought this was an aberration, because the
historical data suggested that the Nubians appeared in the Nile Valley during
Roman Times. If the Nubian term for god is Ku, and Nubian is related to
Dravidian indicated that the Nubians had to have been in the Nile Valley 5000
years ago, and that these Nubians probably migrated into Eurasia.
The historical evidence finds first mention of the Beja, in
Kerma literature 700BC. This is interesting because the earliest literature of
the Buddhists mention Beja. This means that the Beja were in Asia thousands of
years ago.
The climate in the Southern Sahara and Sahel has been fluctuating.
Between 5000-2000 BC, there were expanding Lakes in this region. A dry period
developed between 2500-1500 BC. At this time most lakes in the southern Sahara
and Sahel were at low levels. During this period the Nubians, Beja and other Nile Valley
nomadic tribes migrated into Arabia and thence Eurasia.
The evidence of the Beja and Nubians in Eurasia indicate to
me , at least, that the Nubians and Beja were among the Nile Valley people that
settled Tihama in Arabia.
It further, suggests,
that the Beja and Nubians migrated from
Tihama into India and beyond. Although remnants of the Beja and Nubians never
migrated out of the Nile Valley, after 1000 BC, as the Indo Aryans began to
expand into Eurasia Nubian and Beja speakers proibably began to migrant back
into Africa. Because the Horn was highly populated the Beja and Nubians from
Eurasia had to invade the Nile Valley that would explain the conflicts between
the Beja and Meroites, and Nubians and Meroites. The Nubians and Beja, who did
not migrate out of Africa were probably considered to be Kushites, that might
explain the word Kushiab, which implies that anyone who was the descendant of
the Kushites could be enslaved.
My opinion about the relationship between Old Nubian and
Meroitic is under development. It is under development because I believe there
was formerly a dichotomy between nomadic and urban Nubians. I believe that
shortly before the Romans took control of Egypt nomadic Nubians driven out of
Eurasia returned to the Nile Valley and began to fight the Meroites for control
of the Meroitic Empire, which would have included Nubian speakers that had not
migrated into Eurasia. Since Meroitic was a lingua franca it may include some
Nubian terms because of the Nubian-Meroites being members of the Confederation.
Anas Elbashir discovery of cognate Colloquial Sudanese Arabic and Meroitic
terms suggest that, we may find some cognate Nubian and Meroitic terms in the
future.
There appears to have been a dichotomy between nomadic rural
and urban Nubian populations. There is a genetic relationship between the Tamil
and Nubian languages. This suggest that the Nubian speakers may have migrated
into Eurasia and formerly lived among Dravidian speakers.
This is the best
explanation to explain why Nubian elements are found in the Meroitic language.
The existence of Nubian elements in Meroitic means that Nubian speakers
belonged to the Meroitic Empire. The rural Nubians that were in major conflicts
with the Meroites, were probably Nubians who had migrated back into the Sudan
around the time Romans were advancing into ancient Egypt.
There are some representations of Nubian or Noba prisoners,
in Meroitic art that suggest that Nubian speakers were enemies of the Meroites.
The Noba are believed to have spoken a Nubian language.
The rural Nubians or Nobatai lived in the area from Aswan to
Maharraqa called the Dodekaschoenas which was first under the rule of the
Ptolemies and later the Romans. Most researchers believe that by 200 BC most of
the region was occupied by Nubians. Ptolemy, noted that in the mid-2nd Century
AD that the Nubae lived on the Westside of the Nile, and that they were not
subjects of the Kushites. These Nubian speakers, were probably Nubian speakers
that were not part of the Merowe Confederation
The Meroitic language was a lingua franca. As a result it
includes many words from the languages spoken in the Meroitic Empire.
For a long time we were unable to recover the languages
spoken during the Meroitic period because Meroitic was not deciphered. Since my
decipherment of Meroitic now we can recover some of the languages spoken by the
Meroites.
Brother Anas Elbashir, after comparing Colloquial Sudanese
Arabic to words in my Meroitic Word List, has illustrated the continued use of
classical Meroitic terms among contemporary Sudanese.
1.1To determine the past of man, scientists use historical
and comparative linguistics. Historical linguistics seeks to describe the way
languages change or maintain their structure over a period of time. The present
state of a language is its synchronic state; whereas the transition from one
state to the next is the diachronic state. Comparative linguistics is that
branch of linguistics which discloses and studies similarities and difference
between related languages.
1.2There are two
types of relatedness between languages: genetic and typological. The closeness of languages depends on the
number of rules the languages have in common. A genetic relationship means that
a group of languages descend from a common ancestor. A typological relationship
means that languages have a few common structural features. The closeness of
languages depends on the number of rules the languages have in common.
1.3There is an ethnic
relationship behind a genetic relationship of languages because a genetic
relationship suggests a family relationship. The basic objective of the
comparative linguist is to isolate words with common or similar meanings that
have systematic consonantal agreement with little regard for the location of
the vowels. Consonantal agreement is the regular appearance of consonants at
certain locations in words having similar meanings and representing similar
speech sounds.
1.4Meroitic and Nubian share a genetic linguistic
relationship. These two languages share many kinship terms, nouns and verbs. The
Nubian terms are from Dongolawi, Modern Nubian, and Old Nubian.
1.5 In Tables 1 and Tables 1a, we see 34 cognate Meroitic
and Nubian terms. Analogy exist between Nubian and Meroitic terms. In relation to Meroitic
and Nubian terms 41% show full correspondence and 59% had partial
correspondence.
1.6There is Nubian and Meroitic Consonantal Correspondence
Nubian
Meroitic
t=/=t
tak 'to
cover' te 'to put. To lay'
t'a 'to
come'
tña 'come into being'
tok, tuk 'leave, set in motion tk
tay
'girl' to 'feminine suffix
b=/=b
aba, abo
father ab
s=/=š
essi
sister šr
s=/=s
samil chief,king sr, sl
r=/=l
ur
king
wl,wr
toud
son
mte
wel dog
wle
d=/=d
*den,tir to
give
d
d=/=t
diya
'place'
te
diya 'village'
to 'to dwell'
da country'
t
k=/=k
ker pick
up'
kd 'to bear'
n=/=ñ
nukt glory'
ñt ‘honor’
n=/=n
unn 'to give
birth' tn 'to be born'
Ƞ=/= ḫ
uȠur 'to know' aḫ 'to learn
ɛ=/= e
ɛrri, έrr
'new' er
'produce, evoke'
d=/=t
dawi 'road'
ato down the road'
r=/=r
ursέ 'root'
ro 'foundation'
n=/=n
n'al 'see'
ni ' to shine,to illuminate
en 'women' -ñ '3rd
per promoun 'her'
m=/=m
Ƞ=/=n
Ƞul 'white'
in-ne 'radiance'
Š=/=š
màša 'sun' mš 'Sun God'
1.7Nubian and Meroitic also share vowel correspondence
a/e u/w
a/I i/i
e/e o/u
1.8In conclusion, the Meroitic Empire was made of diverse
African nations speaking a variety of African languages. Some of the speakers
of these languages migrated into West Africa, while other Meroites remained in
the Nile Valley. This comparison of
Meroitic and Nubian illustrates that Nubia was spoken in the Meroitic Empire.
1.9Some linguists would question the ability to compare
Meroitic to modern Nubian languages. We can compare these languages due to the linguistic
continuity theory .
1.10The rate at which
languages change is variable. It appears that linguistic change is
culture specific. Consequently, the social organization and political culture
of a particular speech community can influence the speed at which languages
change.
1.11 Based on the history of language change in Europe most
linguists believe that the rate of change for all languages is both rapid and
constant (Diagne, 1981,238). The idea
that all languages change rapidly is not valid for all the World's languages.
1.12Dr. Clyde Winters,
( 1996), explained that the rate
at which languages change is variable. It appears that linguistic change is
culture specific. Consequently, the social organization and political culture
of a particular speech community can influence the speed at which languages
change. Based on the history of language change in Europe most linguists
believe that the rate of change for all languages is both rapid and constant
(Diagne, 1981, p.238).
1.13The idea that all languages change rapidly is not valid
for all the World's languages.The continuity of many African languages may
result from the steady state nature of African political systems, and long
standing cultural stability since Neolithic times (Diop, 1991 ; Winters 1996).
1.14This cultural stability has affected the speed at which
African languages change.The political stability of African political
institutions has caused languages to change very slowly in Africa (Winters
1996). Diop (1987, 1991) argue that a sedentary life style may account for the
conservative nature of a language.
1.15This leads to the hypothesis that linguistic continuity
exist in Africa due to the continuity or stability of African socio-political
structures and cultural systems. This relative cultural stability has led
African languages to change more slowly then European and Asian languages. Diop
(1974) observed that: First the evolution of languages, instead of moving
everywhere at the same rate of speed seems linked to other factors; such as ,
the stability of social organizations or the opposite, social upheavals.
Understandably in relatively stable societies man's language has changed less
with the passage of time (pp.153-154). In the case of Nubian languages, we know
that while some Nubian speakers migrated into Eurasia after 1500 BC, most
Nubian speakers probably remained in the Nile Valley.
1.16This comparison of Meroitic and Nubian shows a genetic
linguistic relationship exist between these two languages. The linguistic evidence
of a relationship between Nubian and Meroitic supports the African linguistic continuity concept.
References:
Diagne,P. (1981). In J. Ki-Zerbo (Ed.), General history of
Africa I: Methodology and African prehistory (233-260). London: Heinemann
Educational Books Ltd.
Diop,C.A. (1977). Parentè gènètique de l'Egyptien
Pharaonique et des languues Negro-Africaines. Dakar: Institut Fondamental
d'Afrique Noire.
Diop, C.A. (1978). Precolonial Black Africa. Wesport, Conn.
:Lawrence Hill and Company.
Diop, C.A. 1981. A methodology for the study of migrations.
In African Ethnonyms and Toponyms, by UNESCO. (Unesco: Paris) 86--110.
Diop, C.A. (1991). Civilization or Barbarism.
Brooklyn,N.Y.:Lawrence Hill Books
Griffith, F.Ll. 1909. Meroitic inscriptions. In
Areika, (ed) by MacIver, D.R. & Woolley, C.L. Vol.1. Philadelphia.
Griffith, F.L.1911a. Karanog. The Meroitic Inscriptions of
Shablul and Karanog. Philadelphia: Eckley B. Coxe Jr Expedition to
Nubia. Vol.VI.
Griffith, F. Ll. 1911b. Meroitic Inscriptions: Part I.
London: The Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
Griffith, F. Ll. 1912. Meroitic Inscriptions: Part II.
London: The Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
The Inscriptions of Tanyidamani, https://www.academia.edu/35372293/Ins_criptions_of_Tanyidamani
Meroitic is related to Niger-Congo Languages, https://bafsudralam.blogspot.com/2017/11/meroitic-relationships-to-african.html
Anas Elbashir Ahmed Musa , Old Sudanese Language and
Meroitic , https://bafsudralam.blogspot.com/2018/02/old-sudanese-language-and-meroitic.html
Clyde Winters (1996) . Linguistic Continuity and African and
Dravidian languages ,International
Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 23 (2):34-52.
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