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Meroitic script

Meroitic
Script type with inherent vowel /a/ except on the vocalic signs: ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩ and the syllabic ⟨ne⟩, ⟨se⟩, ⟨te⟩, and ⟨to⟩ signs
Time period
300 BC – 600 AD
LanguagesMeroitic language and possibly Old Nubian
Related scripts
Parent systems
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Mero, 100: Meroitic Hieroglyphs
Merc, 101: Meroitic Cursive
Unicode
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
History of the alphabet

The Meroitic script consists of two alphasyllabic scripts developed to write the Meroitic language at the beginning of the Meroitic Period (3rd century BC) of the Kingdom of Kush. The two scripts are Meroitic Cursive, derived from Demotic Egyptian, and Meroitic Hieroglyphs, derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs. Meroitic Cursive is the most widely attested script, constituting ~90% of all inscriptions,[1] and antedates, by a century or more,[2] the earliest surviving Meroitic hieroglyphic inscription. Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (ca. 50 BC) described the two scripts in his Bibliotheca historica, Book III (Africa), Chapter 4. The last known Meroitic inscription is the Meroitic Cursive inscription of the Blemmye king, Kharamadoye, from a column in the Temple of Kalabsha (REM 0094), which has recently been re-dated to AD 410/ 450 of the 5th century.[3] Before the Meroitic Period, Egyptian hieroglyphs were used to write Kushite names and lexical items.

Though the Kingdom of Kush ended with the fall of the royal capital of Meroë, use of the language and Cursive script continued for a time after that event. During the 6th century Christianization of Nubia, the Kushite language and Cursive script were replaced by Byzantine Greek, Coptic, and Old Nubian. The Old Nubian script, derived from the Uncial Greek script, added three Meroitic Cursive letters: ⟨ne⟩, ⟨w(a)⟩, and possibly ⟨kh(a)⟩, for Old Nubian [ɲ], [w – u], and [ŋ] respectively.[4] This addition of Meroitic Cursive letters suggests that the development of the Old Nubian script began at least two centuries before its first full attestation in the late 8th century and/or that knowledge of the Kushite language and script was retained until the 8th century.[5][6][7]

The script was deciphered in 1909 by Francis Llewellyn Griffith, a British Egyptologist, based on the Meroitic spellings of Egyptian names. However, the Meroitic language itself remains poorly understood. In late 2008, the first complete royal dedication was found,[8] which may help confirm or refute some of the current hypotheses.

The longest inscription found is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

  1. ^ Claude Rilly (2011). Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan. http://www.ityopis.org/Issues-1_files/ITYOPIS-I-Rilly.pdf, p. 13. Where Rilly states, "...For all the other purposes, including royal chronicles and even some royal funerary texts, the cursive script is used, so that 90% of the current corpus is made of cursive inscriptions."
  2. ^ Claude Rilly. Arnekhamani's sistrum. New Insights on the Appearance of the Meroitic script. 12th Conference for Meroitic Studies, Sep 2016, Prague, Czech Republic. http://www.nm.cz/m/Naprstek-Museum/Events-NpM/12th-International-Conference-for-Meroitic-Studies.html?xSET=lang&xLANG=2 Archived 2017-09-05 at the Wayback Machine. <halshs-01482759>. Where Rilly states, "...For these reasons, some very early inscriptions in Meroitic cursive with signs that are more primitive than the sistrum's and that were tentatively dated to the early 2nd century must be placed now in the first half of the 3rd Cent. BC. It means that the appearance of the Meroitic script is probably linked with the rise of the Meroitic dynasty."
  3. ^ Claude Rilly (2011). Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan. http://www.ityopis.org/Issues-1_files/ITYOPIS-I-Rilly.pdf, p. 12. Where Rilly states, "The script actually outlived the fall of Meroe (ca. AD 350), for the latest known text is the inscription of King Kharamadoye from a column in the Kalabsha temple (REM 0094), which has recently been re-dated to AD 410/450 (Eide et al. 1998: 1103–1107)."
  4. ^ Satzinger, Helmut (2004). Some Peculiarities of Greek and Coptic Epigraphy from Nubia. In Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium I. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies, Leiden, 27 August – 2 September 2000. Edited on behalf of the InternationalAssociation for Coptic Studies (IACS) by Mat Immerzeel and Jacques van der Vliet with the assistance of Maarten Kersten and Carolien van Zoes. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 133. Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oosterse Studies Leuven – Paris – Dudley, MA. 2004. p. 529. https://homepage.univie.ac.at/helmut.satzinger/Texte/EpigrNubia.pdf – p. 535 of this pdf
  5. ^ Ochała, Grzegorz. "Multilingualism in Christian Nubia: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches." Dotawo 1 (2014): pp. 1–50. pp. 7, 8. "It has been pointed out many times that the Greek epitaph of (I)stephanou also called Eiñitta from Dongola (DBMNT 74), dated to 797 [CE], is the first appearance of Old Nubian, with its use of the words "Eiñitta, Maraña, choiakiššil, joknaiššil, and Puš." While this is demonstrably the first attestation of the Old Nubian alphabet, with its characteristic enchoric letters, the first Old Nubian word ever to occur in writing is "Samata", attested in the Coptic foundation inscription from Dendur (DBMNT 517), dated to the second half of the sixth century.29" Footnote 29: "…Cf. Millet, "Writing and literacy in ancient Sudan," p. 54, who supposes that the invention of the Old Nubian script might have taken place around ce 600, when the inhabitants of the Middle Nile Valley could still read and understand Meroitic. The evidence of the inscription from Dendur, so far unnoticed, may thus be seen as a 'missing linkʼ in his theory of development."
  6. ^ Rilly, C., & De Voogt, A. (2012). Introduction. In The Meroitic Language and Writing System (pp. 1–34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511920028.002. p. 8. "The oldest documents using the Old Nubian script date to the end of the eighth century AD, indicating that the Meroitic signs continued to be read at least two centuries after the Kharamadoye inscription. Perhaps one day, in Sudanese archaeology, other evidence will fill in the gaps in our understanding of this history."
  7. ^ Millet, N. B. (1974). Writing and literacy in Ancient Sudan. In Studies in ancient languages of the Sudan : papers presented at the Second International Conference on Language and Literature in the Sudan sponsored by the Sudan Research Unit, 7–12 December 1970, edited with an introd. by Abdelgadir Mahmoud Abdalla. p. 54. https://books.google.com/books?id=0B65AAAAIAAJ&q=A.D.%20600
  8. ^ "Sudan statues show ancient script" (BBC 16 December 2008)

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