Numidian was a language spoken in ancient

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

. The script in which it was written, the

Libyco-Berber alphabet The Libyco-Berber alphabet is an abjad writing system that was used during the first millennium BC by various Berbers, Berber peoples of North Africa and the Canary Islands, to write ancient varieties of the Berber language like the Numidian lang ...

(from which

Tifinagh Tifinagh ( Tuareg Berber language: ; Neo-Tifinagh: ; Berber Latin alphabet: ; ) is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifi ...

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 transcribed 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 The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berbers, Berber communities, ...

, spoken at the start of the breakup of the Proto-Berber language.

Dialects and relation to other ancient languages

Dialects and foreign influences

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 Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and western parts of

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

used the east Libyan writing system, while the regions to the west all the way to approximately the Moulouya river in modern-day

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

spoke the western Numidian dialect and used the larger and still undecoded west Libyan writing system. The East-Numidian dialect was much more influenced by the

Punic language The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, is an extinct variety of the Phoenician language, a Canaanite languages, Canaanite language of the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages. An ...

than the West-Numidian, and West-Numidian is thought to be more ancient than East-Numidian. Numidian was influenced mostly by Punic and then

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, although Numidian and even some modern Berber vocabulary seem to have been also slightly influenced by the

Paleohispanic languages The Paleo-Hispanic or Paleo-Iberian languages are the languages of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, excluding languages of foreign colonies, such as Greek in Emporion and Phoenician in Qart Hadast. After the Roman conquest of H ...

and possibly by other

Pre-Indo-European languages The pre-Indo-European languages are any of several ancient languages, not necessarily related to one another, that existed in Prehistoric Europe, Asia Minor, Ancient Iran and United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern_Asia, Southern Asia before ...

Other ancient Berber or Berber-like languages

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 A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

none of the various Old Libyc writings have been interpreted. It may be possible that the language of the neighbouring

Mauri Mauri (from which derives the English term "Moors") was the Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, located in the west side of North Africa on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesarien ...

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. If Numidian was a Berber language then it is known that by that stage the breakup of

Proto-Berber Proto-Berber or Proto-Libyan is the reconstructed proto-language from which the modern Berber languages descend. Proto-Berber was an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language, and thus its descendant Berber languages are cousins to the Egyptian ...

into various

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. In circa 500 B.C various nomadic Berber groups penetrated the Sahara from the north, corresponding the area of the later

Gaetuli Gaetuli was the Romanised name of an ancient Berber tribe inhabiting ''Getulia''. The latter district covered the large desert region south of the Atlas Mountains, bordering the Sahara. Other documents place Gaetulia in pre-Roman times along the M ...

ans. Although the area where these nomads lived yielded no writing and thus is incomparable to Numidian, it is known that

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

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. 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 Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

contained many Greek

loanwords A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

according to

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

. It is also unknown whether the language of the neighbouring

Kingdom of Mauretania Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchic state or realm ruled by a king or queen. ** A monarchic chiefdom, represented or governed by a king or queen. * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and me ...

in what is approximately modern day

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.

Classification and reconstruction

As the

Massylii The Massylii or Maesulians ( Neo-Punic: , ) were a Berber federation in eastern Numidia (central and eastern Algeria), which was formed by an amalgamation of smaller tribes during the 4th century BC.Nigel Bagnall, The Punic Wars, p. 270. They were ...

, who spoke the language, were ethnically

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

, it is supposed that Numidian was therefore a

Berber language The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who ar ...

. The Berber branch of Afro-Asiatic is sometimes called ''Libyco-Berber'' since it is not certain whether Numidian would fall within the modern Berber languages or form a sister branch to them. Some theorize that it constituted a group of its own, as there is no trace of the noun-case system shared by the modern Berber languages.Robert Martin Kerr, 2010 However,

is theorized to have no grammatical case either, which would also imply a later addition of the system. The Lybico-Berber tifinagh and the

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) used across the Mediterranean civilization of Phoenicia for most of the 1st millennium BC. It was one of the first alphabets, attested in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions fo ...

being

abjad An abjad ( or abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introd ...

s without vowels complicates the matter even more. Work on deciphering the language has not been decisive, although especially recently some tried to reconstruct words by comparing Numidian script to proto and modern Berber languages. Most remaining scripts are funerary, and follow the formula of "''X w-Y''" (X son of Y). BNS is also an often returning words in this script, which probably meant "tomb of". Many words had an H at the end of them, the function of which is unclear. A few gravestones show a different word between the two personal names, plausibly interpreted as a kinship term based on Berber comparisons: ''wlt'' "daughter (of)" (modern Berber ''wəlt''), and, more rarely, ''mt'' "mother (of)" (modern Tuareg ''ma''). Similar to the modern berber languages, the ta-...-t circumfix signified feminine version of the word with a silent h added to the end. In the Dougga inscriptions some political positions are mentioned, such as "gld" (lord) which based on this technique, can be translated into the modern berber word "agellid" which originates from the proto-berber word "''*a-gəllid".'' A few verbs have been unambiguously identified in the various inscriptions. Comparison with modern Berber suggests that ṣkn, probably read as "eṣ(ə)k-n based on modern berber comparison which means"built" is to be analysed as ṣk "build" plus -n, marking 3pl subject agreement (''-ən).'' An example of translation using this method can be demonstrated on a part of a Numidian inscription which is read as "''Msnsn. gldt. w-gjj''." "Msnsn" is the name of king

Massinissa Masinissa (''c.'' 238 BC – 148 BC), also spelled Massinissa, Massena and Massan, was an ancient Numidian king best known for leading a federation of Massylii Berber tribes during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), ultimately uniting th ...

while "gldt" is the word for king''.'' Finally, "w-gjj" means "son of

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

". Thus by attempting to translate the Numidian text through modern and proto-Berber the inscription would read "''Massinissa the king, son of Gaia''". Numidian also featured and shared most or all of its prepositions "n" (of) and "d" (and) with modern Berber, along with various prefixes, such as "ta...-t", "m-" etc. with modern Berber. These facts would strongly suggest that Numidian is a now extinct branch of the

, although some linguists believe that Numidian is not an ancestor but an extinct sister branch to the modern surviving Berber languages. If the translations of "SBS" (asebbas) in the Thugga inscription as "year" is correct then that would mean the

form "ww" which evolved into "gg" or "gʷ" in most modern Berber languages was "bb" or "bʷ" in Numidian. This is only found in the

Zenaga language Zenaga (autonym: ' or ') is a Berber language spoken in Mauritania and northern Senegal by thousands of people. Zenaga Berber is spoken as a mother tongue from the town of Mederdra in southwestern Mauritania to the Atlantic coast and in norther ...

of Mauritania and a few instances of Kabyle in modern times. As Zenaga was one of the first Berber languages to split off from the Proto-Berber group and thus still possesses many ancient characteristics, along with the Numidian usage of this form, could suggest that in the evolution of Berber languages "ww" turned into "bʷ" and then into "gʷ".

Naming conventions

Numidian names generally often followed a complicated, but well documented naming convention of Berber antiquity and medieval times. While this wasn't always the case, this was especially true for nobles or higher leaders. The way it worked was simple: Verb in the 3rd person + personal pronouns as an affix (direct or indirect) in 3rd person plural form (he/she-X-they/of them). For example, the actual name of Jughurta most likely sounded as "''y-uger-ten''" (he who surpasses them), while the name of king

(MSNSN in Libyco-Berber) was "''mas-nsen''" (their seignor). Much of the

onomastic Onomastics (or onomatology in older texts) is the study of proper names, including their etymology, history, and use. An ''alethonym'' ('true name') or an ''orthonym'' ('real name') is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onom ...

work on the Numidian language was done by

Salem Chaker Salem Chaker (; born 1950 in Nevers) is a French linguist. A specialist in Berber linguistics (syntax, diachrony, sociolinguistics), he is recognized as the "dean" of modern Berber studies. Biography Salem Chaker was born in 1950 in Nevers, Fr ...

, who through his work also help in decoding a few words in the language through dissecting known names.

Known words

Here is a comparison of the few known Numidian words to modern Northern Berber languages and the Tamashek language. Normalized words with vowels added are written in the brackets. Underlined words are based on etymologic or onomastic reconstructions from Numidian names. This comparison suggests that Numidian may be closest to the modern Northern Berber languages such as the

Zenati languages The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (19 ...

Shilha language ( ; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, ), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt or Tachelhit ( ; from the endonym , ), is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the ...

, and the

Kabyle language Kabyle () or Kabylian (; native name: ''Taqbaylit'' ) is a Berber languages, Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria. It is spoken primarily in Kabylia Estimating the number of Berber speakers is very ...

although the modern northern Berber languages have gone through grammatical changes, and they have also taken loanwords from Arabic, Latin, and French. Kabyle may be the closest to Numidian, but has absorbed loanwords and phrases from the other languages mentioned. According to many linguists the H at the end of many numidian words were either silent or disappeared by modern times, or that in many cases such as MSWH or MWSNH was possibly used as a replacement for, or possibly was the ancestor of the modern berber '' ɣ sound.''

Thugga inscription

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•'' 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'' 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.

Example texts

These texts are examples of bilingual inscriptions with known meanings, most of which are funerary texts

Bilingual texts

Cenotaph inscription

Punic '' n��bt š'ṭbn bn ypmṭt bn plw'' ''hbnm š'bnm ʕb'rš bn ʕbdštrt'' ''zmr bn 'ṭbn bn ypmṭt bn plw'' ''mngy bn wrsbn'' ''wb'zrt šl' **t* zzy wṭmn wwrskn'' ''hḥršm šyr msdl bn nnpsn w'nkn b 'šy'' ''hnskm šbrzl špṭ bll wppy bn bby'' Punic to English translation ''The monument of 'ṭbn son of Ypmṭt son of Plw. '' ''Builders of the stones: ʕb'rš son of ʕbdštrt;'' ''Zmr son of 'ṭbn son of Ypmṭt son of Plw;'' ''Mngy son of Wrsbn. '' ''And for its ???, Zzy son of Ṭmn and Wrskn. '' ''Workers of the wood: Msdl son of Nnpsn and 'nkn son of 'šy.'' ''Casters of the iron: Šfṭ son of Bll and Ppy son of Bby.'' Numidian ''****N WYFMṬT W*******DRŠ WWDŠTR'' ''*****BN WYFMṬṮ WFLW'' ''MNGY WWRSKN'' ''KSLNS ŻŻY WṬMN WRSKN'' ''NBBN NŠ H MSDL WNNFSN NKN WŠY'' ''NB*N NZLH ŠFṬ WBLL FFY WBBY'' Normalization and adding of known or possible vowels ''Aṭeban w-Yefmaṭat w-Falu****D'rš w-Wadaštar'' ''Zamir w-Aṭeban w-Yefmaṭat w-Falu'' ''Mangy w-Wareskan'' ''KSLNS Żaży w-Ṭaman w-Raskn'' ''inababen n a-šɣarh Masdil w-Nanafsen Naken w-šy'' ''inababen (?) n uzzal Šufeṭ w-Balil Fafy W-Beby''

Kef Beni Fredj inscriptions

Latin ''SACTUT•IHIMIR F•VIXIT•ANORVM•LXX H E' Latin to English Sactut son of Ihimir lived 70 years. e is buried here. Numidian ''ZKTT WYMR MTYBLH MSWH MNKDH'' Normalization and adding of known or possible vowels ''Zaktut w-Iymir MTYBLH amsiweɣ amenkad'' Possible Numidian to English translation Zaktut son of Iyimir MTYBLH soldier of the emperor.

Notes

Meaning either "the good one" or the "resting one".

References

*Aikhenvald & Militarev, 1991. 'Livijsko-guanchskie jazyki', ''Jazyki Azii i Afriki'', vol. 4, pp. 148–266. {{Languages of Tunisia Extinct languages of Africa Languages of Africa Languages of Algeria Languages of Morocco Languages of Tunisia Numidia Unclassified languages of Africa