The Meroitic Language - Winters

7/28/2019 The Meroitic Language - Winters

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By

Dr . Cl yde Wi nt er s

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Copyr i ght 2012

Cl yde Wi nt ers

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Dedi cat i on

Thi s book i s dedi cat ed t o my wi f e Susan Di ane Wi nt er s. She

i s t he Love of My Li f e and ever ythi ng t hat makes l i vi ng i n

t hi s wor l d al l r i ght .

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Tabl e of Cont ent s Page

Dedi cat i on 5

Chapt er One: The Deci pherment of Meroi t i c 7

Chapt er Two: Mer oi t i c Wr i t i ng 39

Chapt er Thr ee: Pronounci at i on of Mer oi t i c 48

Chapt er Four : Meroi t i c Nouns 51

Chapt er Fi ve: Pronouns 69

Chapt er Si x: Mer oi t i c Synt ax 74

Chapter Seven: Adverbs 78

Chapt er Ei ght : The Ver bs and Af f i xes 81

Chapt er Ni ne: Mort uar y Pract i ces 94

Chapt er Ten: Mer oi t i c Rel i gi on 107

Chapt er El even: Egypt i an and Meroi t i c 121

Chapt er Twel ve Af r i can Languages & Meroi t i c 126

Chapt er Thi r t een: Mer oi t i c I nscri pt i ons 132

Chapt er Four t een: Mer oi t i c Text 134

End Not es 151

I ndex 153

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Chapter 1: The Decipherment of Meroitic

There ar e many myst er i es concer ni ng t he Mer oi t es of t he

Mer oi t i c ci vi l i zat i on of Nubi a and t he Sudan. Thi s anci ent

ci vi l i zat i on l ast ed f or hundr eds of year s and has l ef t us

many wonder f ul monument s.

I n addi t i on t o many gr and monument s t he Meroi t es l ef t usa wr i t t en l anguage. Al t hough schol ar s had been abl e t o r ead

t he l et t er s of t hi s anci ent Kushi t e wr i t i ng f or many year s

up t o now t he f ul l meani ng of t he Meroi t i c t ext s had el uded

us.

I n t hi s book we wi l l exami ne t he hi st or y and st r uct ur e

of t he Mer oi t i c l anguage. Thi s l anguage was used t o wr i t e

admi ni st r at i ve and f uner ar y t ext f or over 500 year s. Today

we can r ead t he Mer oi t i c t ext i n t hei r ent i r et y usi ng t he

cognat e l anguage f or Mer oi t i c: Tokhar i an (Wi nt er s

1984, 1989, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c) .

The peopl e of Mer oe, t he Kushi t es had t hei r own

al phabet of 23 si gns. Thi s was a wonder f ul i mpr ovement over

hi erogl yphi c wr i t i ng, whi ch was made up of numerous

i deogr aphi c and phonet i c si gns. Pr i or t o t he i nt r oduct i on

of Mer oi t i c, t he Mer oi t es used Egypt i an hi er ogl yphi cs.

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Fr anci s Ll ewel l yn Gr i f f i t h, an Egypt ol ogi st was abl e t o

deci pher t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt over 60 year s ago. Al t hough

Gr i f f i t h deci pher ed Mer oi t i c, we wer e unabl e to read t hi s

wr i t i ng because we di d not know t he cognat e l anguage.

Cont r over sy has surr ounded t he or i gi ns of Mer oi t i c.

Meroi t i st s compared Meroi t i c t o many l anguages over t he year s t o

t r y and f i nd t he cognat e l anguage of Mer oi t i c i n Af r i ca and

Asi a. As a r esul t of t hi s r esear ch schol ar s wor ki ng on Mer oi t i c

ar r i ved at t he concl usi on t hat Mer oi t i c was not an Af r o- Asi at i c

l anguage, t he f ami l y of l anguages spoken i n t he ar ea f or mer l y

occupi ed by t he Meroi t es .

Gr i f f i t h and B. G. Haycock ( 1973) , t r i ed t o r ead Mer oi t i c

usi ng Nubi an. Pr i ese t r i ed t o read East er n Sudani c i n Mer oi t i c;

and Fr . Hi nt ze compar ed Mer oi t i c wi t h t he Ur al Al t ai c l anguages.

Al l of t hese at t empt s t o r ead t he Mer oi t i c t abl et s f ai l ed.

These schol ar s f ai l ed t o f i nd a mat ch bet ween Mer oi t i c and

t he vernacul ar l anguages of Nubi a and t he Sudan. Thi s made i t

necessar y to t ur n t o t he hi st or i cal l i t er at ur e concer ni ng t he

Kushi t es t o f or m a new hypot hesi s r el at ed t o possi bl e sour ces of

t he Mer oi t i c l anguage.

The hi st or i cal l i t er at ur e of t he Kushi t es comes f r om

Egypt i an and cl assi cal sour ces. The cl assi cal l i t er at ur e and t he

devel opment of a gr ammar f or Meroi t i c l ed t o the hypothesi s t hat

t he cognat e l anguage of Meroi t i c was pr obabl y Tokhar i an.

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Werner Vyci hl e ( 1957) has provi ded us wi t h many l exi cal

i t ems r el at i ng t o t he Sudanese. The peopl e of Upper Nubi a and

t he Sudan wer e known i n Egypt i an as k-'-s and k-'-s-i . The

Hebr ew peopl e cal l ed t he Kushi t es kus. I n t he cunei f or m

i nscr i pt i ons t he Sudanese wer e cal l ed Kusiya. I n t he Et hi opi c

i nscr i pt i ons of Ezana, t he Kushi t es wer e cal l ed Kashi or Kasu.

I n Sumer i an t he Kushi t es wer e cal l edMelukha = Kasi and Kasi =

Kush.

The best evi dence f or Mer oi t i c ci vi l i zat i on and hi st or y

comes f r om t he cl assi cal l i t er at ur e. Thi s vi ew i s suppor t ed by

t he f act t hat Lepsi us used t he cl assi cal l i t er at ur e t o f i nd ol d

Mer oe.

Fol l owi ng t he Egypt i an and ot her anci ent peopl es t he

cl assi cal schol ar s cal l ed t he Sudanese: Et hi opi ans or Kushites.

The cl assi cal schol ar s made i t cl ear t hat t he Kushi t es l i ved not

onl y i n Af r i ca but al so Asi a. Homer al l uded t o t he t wo Kushi t e

empi r es when he wr ote "A race di vi ded, whom t he sl opi ng rays;

t he r i si ng and t he set t i ng sun sur veys". Her odot us

( L. xi i ; C. l xx. ) sai d t hat t her e wer e t wo Et hi opi as. The Roman

St r abo al so cl ai med t hat t her e wer e t wo Et hi opi as.


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I ndi ans i n Mer oe, an i mpor t ant sour ce f or t he const r uct i on of

al t er nat i ve t heor i es about t he possi bl e l ocat i on of t he cognat e

l anguage f or Mer oi t i c.

There was ext er nal evi dence, t hat suppor t ed t hi s t heory. A

t heor y expl ai ns obser ved phenomena and has pr edi ct i ve power . I

have theor i zed t hat due to the cl ai ms of t he Cl assi cal wr i t er s

t hat some of t he Mer oi t es came f r om I ndi a (Conybeare, Vol . 1,

1950, p. 271) .

Phi l ost r at us: The Li f e of Apol l oni us of Tyana makes i t cl ear t hat

t he Gymnosophi st l i ved i n Upper Egypt and t he Meroi t i c Empi r e.


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The Gymnosophi st s wer e Buddhi st s.

There wer e Gymnosophi st communi t i es i n Upper Egypt and t he

Meroi t i c Sudan. The Gymnosophi st s used Tochar i an and t he

Khar ost hi scri pt t o wr i t e t hei r scri pt ur es. Thi s makes i t cl ear

t hat Tochar i an and Kharost hi were i mpor t ant means of

communi cat i on f or t hi s Mer oi t e popul at i on. Tochar i an was

t her ef or e pr obabl y a maj or l anguage i n the Mer oi t i c Sudan.

The hi st or i cal evi dence makes i t cl ear t hat t here was probabl y

t wo mi gr at i ons of Buddhi st Gymnosophi st s t o Egypt and t he

Meroi t i c Empi r e. Asoka was a support er of Buddhi sm. Zachar i as P.

Thundy, i n Buddha and Chr i st make i t cl ear t hat t he edi t s of

Asoka ( c. 274- 236 BC) i ndi cat e t hat t hi s r ul er sent mi ssi onar i es

t o Egypt t o pr each t he Buddhi st Dharma( pp. 242- 243) .

Thundy mai nt ai ns t hat ar chaeol ogi cal evi dence exi st f or a

communi t y of I ndi an sages l i vi ng i n Memphi s as ear l y as 200 BC

( p. 243) . We know t hat decendent s of t hese mi ssi onar i es wer e st i l l

i n Egypt over t wo hundr ed years l ater because t hey were vi si t ed

by Apol l oni us of Tyana.

Asoka used Khar ost hi t o wr i t e hi s edi t s. The Buddhi st al so used

t hi s wr i t i ng syst em t o r ecor d t hei r scri pt ur es. Thi s means t hat


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t he Gymnosophi st s woul d have had a l ong t r adi t i on of empl oyi ng

Kharost hi t o communi cat e t hei r i deas. The Gymnosophi st s were

pr obabl y wel l r espected by t he Meroi t es and some Meroi t es

pr obabl y had knowl edge of Buddhi st t eachi ngs and l i t eracy.

Some Meroi t es may have pl ayed an i mpor t ant r ol e i n Buddhi st

because Bl emmyae, a pr omi nent group i n t he Meroi t i c Sudan are

ment i oned i n Pal i t ext Ti pi t aka ( see: J DM Der r et t , ( 2002) A

Bl emmya i n I ndi a, Numen 49: 460- 474) . Dr . Derr et t wr ote t hat i n

ear l y Pal i t ext " wehave a Bl emmya ( an Af r i can) i n f r ont r ank

Buddhi st t ext s of ver y r espect abl e age ( p. 465) . The Buddhi st t ext

where Bl emmya were ment i oned are ver y ol d. The Vi naya pi t aka, i s

dat ed t o t he 4t h cent ur y B. C. E.

I f Bl emmya ar e ment i oned i n Buddhi st s t ext we can be sure t hat

Mer oi t es wer e not i gnor ant of Khar ost hi . Thi s woul d expl ai n why

many of t he Meroi t i c symbol s agr ee wi t h Kharost hi . They agr ee

because some Mer oi t es wer e pr obabl y al r eady l i t er ate i n

Khar ost hi due to the i nf l uence of Buddhi sm i n t he Mer oi t i c

Empi r e.

There seems t o have been a second mi grat i on of Buddhi st s t o t he

Mer oi t i c Empi r e many year s af t er Asoka sent mi ssi onar i es t o

Egypt . These mi gr ant s came t o t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e af t er t hei r

ki ng was murdered.


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Fl avi us Phi l ostr at us, t he wr i t er of t he Vi t a Apol l oni i , Vol . 1 ,

cl ai med t hat t he Gymnosophi st s of Meroe or i gi nal l y came f r om

I ndi a ( see F. C. Conybear e, Phi l ost r at us: The Li f e of Apol l oni us

of Tyana(p. 45) , 1950) . Gi ven the f act t hat t he Kushana had

f or mer l y rul ed I ndi a ar ound t he t i me t hat t he Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng

was i nt r oduced t o t he Kushi t e ci vi l i zat i on, l ed t o t he

hypot hesi s t hat t he ancest ors of t he Gymnosophi st may have been

Kushana phi l osopher s. The hi st or i cal evi dence of t he Kushana

havi ng r ul ed I ndi a made t he Cl assi cal r ef er ences t o I ndi ans, t he

Gymnosophi st s i n Mer oe, an i mpor t ant sour ce f or t he const r uct i on

of al t er nat i ve t heor i es about t he possi bl e l ocat i on of t he

cognat e l anguage of Mer oi t i c.

There i s ext er nal evi dence, whi ch suppor t s my t heory. A t heory

expl ai ns obser ved phenomena and has predi ct i ve power . I have

t heor i zed t hat due t o t he cl ai ms of t he Cl assi cal wr i t er s t hat

some of t he Mer oi t es came f r om I ndi a ( F. C Conybear e ( Tr ans. ) ,

Phi l ost r at us: The l i f e of Apol l oni us of Tyana Vol . 2, ( 1950)

pg. 271) . Accor di ng t o t he Li f e of Apol l oni us, t he I ndi an Mer oi t es

were f ormer l y l ed by a Ki ng Ganges, who had " r epul sed the

Scyt hi ans who i nvaded t hi s l and [ I ndi a f r om] acr oss t he

Caucasus" ( Conybear e, Vol . 1, Pg. 273) . Pi l ost r at us al so made i t


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cl ear t hat t he I ndi ans of Mer oe came t o t hi s count r y af t er t hei r

ki ng was ki l l ed.

The presence of t hi s t r adi t i on of an I ndi an Ki ng of t he I ndi an-

Mer oi t es conquer i ng t he Scyt hi ans pr edi ct s t hat t he I ndi an

l i t er at ur e shoul d r ecor d t hi s hi st or i cal epi sode. Thi s

pr edi ct i on i s suppor t ed by a J ai na t ext cal l ed t he Kalakeharya-

Kathanaka , whi ch report s t hat when t he Scyt hi ans i nvaded Mal wa,

t he Ki ng of Mal wa, cal l ed Vi kr amadi t ya def eat ed t he Scythi ans

( H. Kul ke & D. Rot her mund, Hi st or y of I ndi a( London, Rout l edge:

1990, pg. 73) . Thi s ki ng Vi kr amadi t ya may be t he Ganges ment i oned

i n t he Li f e of Apol l oni us. Conf i r mat i on of t he Ganges

st or y, suppor t s t he Cl assi cal l i t er ar y evi dence t hat t hei r wer e

I ndi ani zed - Mer oi t es t hat coul d have i nt r oduced t he Tochar i an

t r ade l anguage t o t he Mer oi t es.

I n addi t i on t o t he cl assi cal ment i on of t he I ndi ans set t l i ng

Mer o, and Asoka' s edi t sendi ng mi ssi onar i es t o Egypt , we al so

have a horde of Kushana coi ns t hat were f ound on t he f l oor of a

cave at t he present monast ery- shi ne at Debr a Demo i n modern

Et hi opi a i n 1940.

Mor eover , t her e wer e ot her I ndi ans i n Egypt i n addi t i on

Gymnosophi st / Buddhi st communi t i es i n Upper Egypt and Kush/ Meroe.

For exampl e, at Qusei r al - Qadi m t her e was a l ar ge I ndi an


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speaki ng communi t y ( see: R. Sal omon, "Epi gr aphi c r emai ns of

I ndi an t r ader s i n Egypt ", J our nal of t he Amer i can or i ent al

Soci ety, ( 1991) pp. 731- 736; and R. Sal omon, Addenda, J our nal of

t he Amer i can Or i ent al Soci et y, ( 1993) pg. 593) . These I ndi ans

were i n Egypt wr i t i ng messages i n t hei r own l anguage, around t he

t i me we see a swi t ch f r om Egypt i an hi er ogl yphi cs t o t he Mer oi t i c

wr i t i ng syst em. Al l of t hi s suppor t ed t he t r adi t i ons of t he

Meroi t es t hat speak of a knowl edge of t he Kushana/ I ndi ans among

t he Mer oi t es.

The evi dence t hat t he Cl assi cal r ef er ences t o an I ndi an- Mer oi t e

Ki ng who conquered t he Scyt hi ans i s support ed by t he I ndi an

l i t er at ur e, pr ovi des ext er nal cor r obor at i on of t he t r adi t i on

t hat some of t he Mer oi t es wer e of I ndi an or i gi n.

The presence of I ndi an t r aders and set t l er s i n Mer oe ( and

Egypt ) , makes i t al most i mpossi bl e t o deny t he possi bi l i t y t hat

I ndi ans, f ami l i ar wi t h t he Tokhar i an t r ade l anguagedi d not

i nt r oduce thi s wr i t i ng t o the Mer oi t es who needed a neut r al

l anguage t o uni f y t he di ver se et hni c groups who made up t he

Mer oi t e st at e. I n r el at i on t o t he hi st or y of l i ngui st i c change

and bi l i ngual i sm, i t i s a mi st ake t o bel i eve t hat l i ngui st i c

t r ansf er had t o t ake pl ace f or t he Mer oi t es t o have used


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Tokhar i an, when i t di d not t ake pl ace when t hey wr ot e i n

Egypt i an hi er ogl yphi cs.

I n summar y the cl assi cal l i t er at ur e makes i t cl ear t hat t her e

was a connect i on bet ween t he Gymnosophi st s ( of Mer oe) and t he

I ndi ans. The f act t hat hi st or i cal event s ment i oned i n t he

cl assi cal sour ces ar e f ound i n t he I ndi an l i t er at ur e conf i r m t he

vi ew t hat t here were I ndi an- Meroi t es who coul d have i nt r oduced

t he Tokhar i an t r ade l anguage t o t he Mer oi t es. The f act t hat t he

Nubi ans who wer e pr obabl y not par t of t he"Mer oi t i c st at e" , used

hi er ogl yphi cs and Copt i c t o wr i t e t hei r l anguage wi t hout

abandoni ng thei r nat i ve l anguage suppor t t he vi ew t hat t he

Mer oi t es coul d have al so used Tokhar i an t o wr i t e Mer oi t i c. And

t hat event hough t he Kushi t es wr ot e Mer oi t i c i nscr i pt i ons i n

Tokhar i an, t heywoul d not have had t o abandon t hei r own l anguage.

My deci pher ment of Meroi t i c i s based on t he Kushana t heor y. The

Kushana t heor y i s t hat a gr oup of East I ndi an schol ar s

i nt r oduced t he Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng syst em t o t he Mer oi t es. The

Kushana hypothesi s was based on t he f ol l owi ng evi dence, 1) no

Af r i can l anguage has been f ound t o be a cognat e l anguage of

Mer oi t i c 2) t he Cl assi cal l i t er at ur e says t hat t he Kushi t es


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l i ved i n Asi a and Af r i ca; 3) t he Gymnosophi st s/ Buddhi st s, or

"naked sages" of Meroe came f r om I ndi a.

Bef or e I began wor k on Mer oi t i c, ot her r esear cher s had al r eady

f al si f i ed t he Af r i can t heor y f or Mer oi t i c' s cognat e l anguage.

Mer oi t i c i s not r el at ed t o l anguages spoken i n t hi s ar ea.

Gr i f f i t h and Haycock t r i ed t o read Mer oi t i c usi ng Nubi an and

f ai l ed. K. H. Pr i ese t r i ed t o r ead t he Mer oi t i c text usi ng

East er n Sudani ; he al so f ai l ed. The f act t hat not even Nubi an, a

l anguage spoken by a peopl e who were engaged i n const ant l y

conf l i ct wi t h t he Mer oi t es , f ai l ed t o be t he cognat e l anguage

of Mer oi t i c made i t cl ear t hat we must l ook el sewher e f or t he

cognat e l anguage spoken by t he Meroi t es.

The evi dence present ed above provi des i nt er nal and ext er nal

val i di t y f or my theor y based upon t he sour ces I have ci t ed

pr evi ousl y. The sour ces I have used ar e i mpar t i al , t o di sconf i r m

my hypot hesi s someone needs t o show t hat my proposi t i ons are not

f ul l y i nf or med[ i . e. , t her e wer e no I ndi ans Nor t h Af r i ca and Kush

when t he Cl assi cal wr i t ers mai nt ai ned t hey were] and pr esent

r i val expl anat i ons based on t he evi dence.

The f act t hat t he cl ai ms made by t he Cl assi cal wr i t er s

i ssuppor t ed by t he I ndi ans t hemsel ves i f f ur t her st r ong

conf i r mat i on of t he Kushana hypothesi s. The hypothesi s based on


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t he cl assi cal l i t er at ur e, was enough t o suppor t t he or i gi nal

Kushana Hypot hesi s. The pr edi ct i ng power of t he or i gi nal t heor y,

mat ches t he obser ved nat ural phenomena whi ch was conf i r med

el sewhere by cognat e pl ace names, et hononyms, l exi cal i t ems and

gr ammat i cal f eat ur es, i ndi cat e t hat my t heor y has not be

f al si f i ed.

The abi l i t y t o r el i abl y predi ct a l i ngui st i c r el at i onshi p

bet ween Kushana and Mer oi t i c, was f ur t her conf i r mat i on of t he

Kushana Hypot hesi s, because t he l i ngui st i c connect i ons wer e

deduci bl e f r om pr edi ct i on. I cont r ol l ed t he Kushana Hypot hesi s

by compar i ng t he st at ement s of t he cl assi cal wr i t er s, wi t h

hi st or i cal , l i ngui st i c ant hr opol ogi cal and t oponymi c evi dence

f ound not onl y i n Af r i ca, but al so I ndi a and Cent r al Asi a [wher e

t he peopl e al so used Tokhar i an as a t r ade l anguage t o uni f y t he

var i ous peopl e i n Cent r al Asi a] .

I const r uct ed t hr ee t est abl e hypot heses i n suppor t of t he

Kushana t heor y, and i t seems onl y f ai r t hat t hese var i abl es must

be di sconf i r med, t o f al si f y t he Kushana Hypot hesi s.

Hypot hesi s 1: I f t he mer oi t es used a wr i t i ng syst em of non-

Af r i can or i gi n a t r adi t i on ment i oni ng t hi s f act wi l l exi st .

( Hypot hesi s conf i r med. Cl assi cal l i t er at ur e ment i ons I ndi an

schol ar s i n anci ent Mer oe. )


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Hypot hesi s: 2. I f t he cl assi cal l i t er at ur e ment i ons I ndi ans who

l i ved i n Egypt i nf l uenci ng t he Mer oi t es t hei r shoul d be

hi st or i cal evi dence r el at i ng t o t hi s t r adi t i on. ( Hypot hesi s

conf i r med . Cl assi cal l i t er at ur e ment i ons a Ki ng who l ef t hi s

count r y i s ment i oned i n t he J ai na t ext cal l ed t he Kalakeharya-

Kathanaka. )

Hypot hesi s: 3. I f Cl assi cal l i t er at ur e i s t r ue about t he I ndi an

or i gi n of t he Gymnosophi st s I ndi ans wi l l be f ound l i vi ng near

t he Mer oi t es around t he t i me the Mer oi t i c i nscr i pt i ons appear .

( Hypot hesi s conf i r med. Ar t i f act s and coi ns wi t h I ndi an

i nscr i pt i ons have been f ound i n Egypt and Et hi opi a. ) Fai l ur e to

di sconf i r m t hi s t heor em, i mpl i es val i di t y of my pr edi ct i on.

My confirmation of the above , and 1) the presence of Kushites

in Africa and Asia; 2) Asoka sent many Buddhist missionaries to

Egypt who wrote their scriptures in Kharosthi and Tocharian; 3)

a Blemmya--native to the Meroitic empire, is mentioned in

numerous Buddhist Pali text; 4)the presence of Kushana sages in

India who may have migrated to Meroe;5) cognate lexical items;

6)cognate verbs and 7) cognate grammatical features; indicates

systematic controlled, critical and empirical investigation of

the question of Kushana representing the Meroitic cognate

language. As a result of these facts we can now use Tocharian or


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Kushana to read the Meroitic text. The historical evidence make

it clear that the Meroites were probably not strangers to

Kharosthi literacy since the Gymnosophists had been in Upper

Egypt and Meroitic Empires hundreds of years.

The evi dence i s cl ear Tochar i an and Khar ost hi was a popul ar

medi a among Upper Egypt i ans and Meroi t es. As a resul t , i t was a

nat i vi zed Meroi t i c l anguage spoken by a maj or gr oup of Meroi t es.

Eust at hi us al so sai d t hat t he Kushi t es ( Mer oi t es) came f r om

I ndi a. We can al so be sur e t hat t he Kushan were known i n

nort heast Af r i ca because a horde of Kushan coi ns were f ound i n

t he f l oor of a cave at t he pr esent monast er y- shr i ne at Debr a

Demo i n moder n Et hi opi a i n 1940.

The hi st or i cal evi dence suppor t ed t he vi ew t hat t he Kushi t es

of Meroe may be rel ated t o t he Kushana of Asi a. Thi s was a f i ne

hypot hesi s but i t had t o be t est ed.

To t est t hi s hypot hesi s and f i nd mor e i nf or mat i on on how t he

Kushi t es i n Af r i ca may have obt ai ned an Asi an l anguage t o wr i t et hei r r el i gi ous and admi ni st r at i ve r ecor ds f or ced us t o r et ur n

t o t he Cl assi cal l i t er at ur e. I n t he Cl assi cal l i t er at ur e


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Herodotus and St r abo cl ai med t hat t he Egypt i ans had set t l ed

Et hi opi ans i n Asi a.

The Roman St r abo, i n hi s Geography, sai d, "Egypt i ans set t l ed

i n Et hi opi a and i n Col choi " . Ammi anus Mar cel l i nus, who l i ved i n

t he f i r st cent ur y AD, wr ot e t hat "Beyond t hese l ands ar e t he

hear t l ands of t he Camar i t ae and t he Phasi s wi t h i t s swi f t er

st r eams bor der s t he count r y of t he Col choi , an anci ent r ace of

Egypt i an or i gi n".

Mar t i n Ber nal , i n Bl ack At hena ( 1991) made i t evi dent

t hat t he Col chi s wer e bl acks ( pp. 251- 255) . He makes i t cl ear

t hat t he name Col chi s < Kol chi s may have come f r om t he Egypt i an

name f or Upper Nubi a dur i ng t he Mi ddl e Ki ngdom ( p. 253) .

I f t he Col chi s came f r om Kush, we woul d t hen be abl e t o

expl ai n why t he anci ent schol ar s cal l ed much of Asi a Kush, and

t he peopl e l i vi ng t her e cal l ed t hemsel ves Kushi t es. Thi s al so

gave us t he pr oper t heor et i cal st r uct ur e t o deci pher / t r ansl at e

Mer oi t i c, i . e. , t he Kushana l anguage was possi bl y r el at ed t o

Mer oi t i c.

LI NGUI STI C SUPPORT

Once we had est abl i shed a possi bl e hi st or i cal r el at i onshi p

bet ween t he Kushana who pr obabl y used Tokhar i an t o wr i t e t hei r

l anguage i n Karost hi and Br ahmi si gns, and t he Kushi t es of


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Mer oe. We next had t o det er mi ne i f a l i ngui st i c r el at i onshi p

exi st ed between Tokhar i an and Meroi t i c.

Usi ng t he comparat i ve met hod r ecommended by Dr . Ant a Di op,

I was abl e t o di scover t hat Tokhar i an i s cognat e t o Mer oi t i c.

Thi s l ed t o t he f ul l deci pher ment of t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt . We can

now r ead Meroi t i c usi ng Tokhar i an ( Wi ndekens 1941, 1979) .

Maur i ce Pope i n THE STORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL

DECIPHERMENT, has made i t cl ear t hat bef ore an unknown l anguage

can be deci pher ed you must have t he r i ght t heor et i cal st r uct ur e

t o base your i nqui r y upon ( p. 191) . Pope ( 1975) f ound t hat i n

t he hi st or i cal deci pher ment s of anci ent l anguages t hr ee

pr el i mi nary condi t i ons must be met :

1) conf i dence t hat a scr i pt can be deci pher ed;

2) l ocat i on of pr oper names must be det ermi ned;

3) t he gr ammat i cal r ul es of t he tar get l anguage/

scr i pt must be f ound ( pp. 186- 187) .

We were abl e t o f ul l y deci pher and r ead Meroi t i c because

t hese pr el i mi nary condi t i ons were met , and we were abl e t o

devel op new hypothesi s based on hi st or i cal evi dence to determi ne

t he cognate l anguage of Mer oi t i c. Gr i f f i t h when he deci pher ed

t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt i n 1910, and hi s di scover y of t he pr oper

names of t he Mer oi t i c gods and i ndi vi dual s i n Mer oi t i c t ext met


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Pope s ( 1975) condi t i ons number one and t wo. Gr i f f i t h al so

di scover ed t he di r ect i on t he Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng was wr i t t en.

Recogni t i on by Gr i f f i t h of t he sol ubi l i t y of t he Mer oi t i c

t ext was r ei nf or ced i n 1978, wi t h publ i cat i on of UNESCO' s The

Peopl i ng of Anci ent Egypt and t he Deci pherment of t he Meroi t i c

Scr i pt . Thi s was an i mpor t ant publ i cat i on because i t pr ovi ded

r esear cher s wi t h up- t o- dat e i nf or mat i on on t he st at us of

Mer oi t i c.

Condi t i on number t hr ee f or t he deci pherment of Meroi t i c was

met i n 1979 when Fr i t z Hi nt ze publ i shed hi s Bei t r age zur

meroi t i schen Gr ammat i k . The r esearch of F. Hi nt ze ( 1979) and

I . Hof f mann ( 1981) have made i t possi bl e f or us t o f i nd t he

cognat e l anguage of Mer oi t i c: Tokhar i an (Wi nt er s 1984 , 1989) .

The wor k of Gr i f f i t h and Hi nt ze f ul f i l l ed al l t he r equi r ement s

f or t he deci pher ment of t he Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng.

The cl assi cal l i t er at ure suppor t ed t he vi ew t hat we mi ght

be abl e t o f i nd t he Mer oi t i c cognat e l anguage t hr ough a

compar i son of t he Mer oi t i c t erms and Kushan l exi cal i t ems. To

t est t he Kushana hypot hesi s we had t o t hen:

1) f i nd agr eement bet ween Kushana and Mer oi t i c t erms;

2) compar e Cent r al Asi an and Egypt o- Sudanese

t oponomi es;


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3) compar e Kushana and Meroi t i c grammat i cal f orms.

I n r ecent years r esear cher s were abl e t o devel op a gr ammar

of Mer oi t i c, wi t hout bei ng abl e t o r ead Mer oi t i c. The r esear ch

of Hi nt ze ( 1979) and Hof f man ( 1981) made i t possi bl e f or us t o

f i nd t he cognat e l anguage of Mer oi t i c: Tokhar i an ( Wi nt er s 1984

, 1989) .

Hi nt ze ( 1979) gr ammar of Meroi t i c pr ovi ded t he necessary

mat er i al t o compar e Mer oi t i c wi t h ot her l anguages t o f i nd i t s

cognate l anguage. Hi nt ze ( 1979) r ecogni zed t hr ee appr oaches t o

t he st udy of Mer oi t i c: 1) phi l ol ogi cal , 2) compar at i ve, and 3)

str uct ur al ( i . e. , t he mor phol ogi cal - synt act i cal ) . The

phi l ol ogi cal methods of Hi nt ze ( 1979) were i nf ormed guesses

based upon cont ext .

I n t he comparat i ve method t he st r uct ur es of t wo or more

l anguages are compared t o det ermi ne t he r el at i onshi p bet ween

l anguages. Hi nt ze' s ( 1979) di scussi on of t he Mer oi t i c af f i xes

pr ovi ded us wi t h t he l i ngui st i c mat er i al t o compar e Mer oi t i c

successf ul l y wi t h Tochar i an. Li ngui st t o det er mi ne the

r el at edness of l anguages, and t o r econst r uct ear l i er l anguage

st at es uses t he comparat i ve met hod.


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The compar at i ve l i ngui st l ooks f or pat t er ns of

cor r espondence, i . e. , t he i sol at i on of wor ds wi t h common or

si mi l ar meani ngs t hat have syst emat i c consonant al agr eement wi t h

l i t t l e r egar d f or l ocat i on and/ or t ype of vowel . Consonant al

agr eement i s t he regul ar appear ance of consonant s at cer t ai n

l ocat i ons i n words havi ng anal ogous meani ngs.

Usi ng t he compar at i ve met hods proposed by Hi nt ze we have

f ound t hat t he Mer oi t i c i nscri pt i ons ar e wr i t t en i n Tochar i an, a

l anguage used as a l i ngua f r anca i n Cent r al Asi a by t he Kushana

or Kush peopl e. The Kushana peopl e rul ed Cent r al Asi a and

I ndi a. Li ngui st pr ef er s t o cal l t he Kushana l anguage Tochar i an,

af t er t he Sanskri t t er m f or Kushana: Tu- kar a. ( Wi nt er s 1984,

1989, 1996a, 1996b) .

There i s st r uct ural , mor phol ogi cal and t oponymi c evi dence

whi ch suppor t t he vi ew t hat Tokhar i an i s cognat e t o Mer oi t i c

( Wi nt ers 1984, 1989) . There ar e many Cent r al Asi an pl ace names

t hat agr ee wi t h t oponomi es i n Nubi a/ Sudan. Bel ow we l i st a f ew

of t hese common t oponomi es:

Cent r al Asi a Sudan

Pap Pap

Kar nak Kar nak

Kukushka Kurush


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Shaur Sar ur

Kandi Kandi

Ur ban Bor gan

Khar a Kara-

Kupur i Gabur , Capur

These pl ace names can be compared wi t h t he maps of Cent r al Asi a

and the Sudan suppl i ed publ i shed by Dr . Vamos- Tot h Bator i n hi s

Tamana st udi es .

My deci pherment of Meroi t i c i ndi cates t hat many t erms

al l eged t o be Mer oi t i c by Gr i f f i t h and ot her s must be di scar ded.

I am f orced t o i gnore t he pr oposed meani ng f or some pr oposed

Mer oi t i c l exi cal i t ems because t hey do not agr ee wi t h my

r esear ch i nt o Mer oi t i c. But I accept some of t he al l eged

Meroi t i c t erms as bei ng ver i f i ed by my deci pherment both due t o

t hei r Egypt i an or i gi n, or af f i ni t y t o Tokhar i an t er ms.

I t must be remembered t hat most of t he al l eged Meroi t i c

l exi cal i t ems wer e si mpl y guesses by t he resear chers. These

t erms become val i d onl y when t hey can be read i n al l t he

Meroi t i c t ext and have consi st ent meani ng. I f ound t hat some of

t hese t erms ar e homonyms, whi l e ot her t erms " di scovered " by

Gr i f f i t h and ot her s wer e good guesses t hat do not pr ove val i d

gi ven our di scover y of t he cognat e l anguage of Mer oi t i c.


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Ther e ar e sever al r ecogni zed Mer oi t i c wor ds ( Hi nt ze 1979) .

The f ol l owi ng wor ds cor r espond t o Tokhar i an wor ds:

Mer oi t i c Tokhar i an

0 kadke / ktke # queen 0 katak # mast er of t he house

0 ato # wat er 0 ap #

0 s # ' r ace' 0 sah # ' man'

0 wide # yout h 0 wir #

0 qor # monar ch 0 oroce # ' t he gr and ki ng'

0 parite # agent 0 parwe # ' f i r s t '

0 apote # ' envoy' 0 ap # ' f at her '

I t i s obvi ous t hat apote andparite do not r el at e t o Tokhar i an

because t hese ar e Egypt i an l oan words adopt ed by t he Meroi t es.

But around 57% of t hese t erms show agr eement . Thi s made i t

hi ghl y pr obabl e t hat Mer oi t i c and Tokhar i an wer e cognat e

l anguages.

The gr ammar of Mer oi t i c det er mi ned by Hi nt ze ( 1979) al l owed

us t o al so make compar i sons wi t h Tochar i an t o t est t he Kushana

hypot hesi s f or r eadi ng Mer oi t i c. Thi s compar i son of gr ammat i cal

st r uct ur es showed cogni t i on between t hi s l anguage and Meroi t i c.

Hi nt ze was sur e that t her e were a number of Mer oi t i c af f i xes

i ncl udi ng:

p


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ye

-te

-to

-o

B. G. Tr i gger i n hi s " Comment ary" ( Hi nt ze 1979)

ment i oned sever al ot her possi bl e Mer oi t i c af f i xes

i ncl udi ng:

-n

-te

-b

I n addi t i on , A. M. Abdal l a i n hi s " Comment ar y" ( Hi nt ze

1979) ment i oned t hr ee possi bl e ver bal suf f i xes , i ncl udi ng:

-

-t

-y

These al l eged Mer oi t i c grammat i cal el ement s encouraged me

t o seek out a l anguage t hat cont ai ned t hese t ypol ogi cal

f eat ur es as t he possi bl e cognat e l anguage f or Mer oi t i c. The

Kushana l anguage i ncl udes al l of t hese af f i xes.

Researchers worki ng on Meroi t i c det ermi ned sever al

possi bl e pr ef i xes: p, p- s and y. I n Tokhar i an we f i nd t hese

pr ef i xes: p( ) , t he i mper f ect pr ef i x and i mper at i ve, y- t he

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Tokhar i an el ement j oi ned t o demonst r at i ves, and yopsa i n

bet ween .

There ar e ot her af f i xes t hat r el at e t o t he Mer oi t i c

suf f i xes i ncl udi ng t e, t he demonst r at i ve t hi s, et c. ; - o,

t he suf f i x used t o change nouns i nt o adj ect i ves. For

exampl e: aiame knowl edge , asimo knowi ng; klyom nobi l i t y , klyomo nobl e .

Ot her Tokhar i an af f i xes, whi ch agr ee wi t h Mer oi t i c,

i ncl ude t e and - l . The Tokhar i an l ocat i ve suf f i x i s t e.

The endi ng par t i cl e i n Tokhar i an i s l .

The Mer oi t i c t , cor r esponds t o t he t you . I n

Tokhar i an t he pr onouns ar e pl aced at t he end of wor ds: nas-

a-m I am , t r k- s he says , t r k- t you say . The t

el ement i n Tokhar i an can al so be used t o repr esent t he

t hi r d per son si ngul ar e. g. , kl pa- t he f ound .

The p- , el ement used t o f or m t he i mperat i ve i n

Tokhar i an and i mper f ect i . Thi s af f i x i s used i n bot h

Tokhar i an A and B. For exampl e,

Tokh. A kl yos " t o hear , t o l i st en"

p( a) kl yos "You l i st en"p( a) kl yossu "s/ he l i st ens"

Tokh. B kl yaus

p( a) kl yaus ' you l i st en"

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A. t a, t as, "t o l ay, t o put "

pt as ' you l ay'

B. t es, t as ' t o put , t o l ay'

pt es ' you put '

The Tokhar i an - n- , has many uses i n Tokhar i an. I t can be

used t o f or m t he subj unct i ve, e. g. , yam ' t o do' , yaman

' s/ he do( es) . I t i s al so used t o f or m t he pl ur al

se ' son' , pl . sewan ' sons;

ri ' ci t y' , pl . r i n ' ci t i es' .

The pl ural i n Tokhar i an i s f or med by t he . For exampl e,

ar e pl ough , pl . ar e pl oughs

r i c i t y , p l . r i c i t i e s .

Recogni t i on of anal ogous st r uct ur al el ement s i n

r el at i on t o Kushana and Mer oi t i c al l owed us t o di vi de t he

Meroi t i c phonemes i nt o words.

Gr i f f i t h pr ovi ded us wi t h evi dence f or sel ect ed

Mer oi t i c nouns. Abdal l a ( Hi nt ze 1979, 149) was sure t hat he

det ect ed sever al common ver bs i n Mer oi t i c i ncl udi ng: hr,

the, tk, we, pl, do, mde and yi mde.

Fol l owi ng t hi s l ead we sear ched t he Kushan l anguage t o

determi ne i f i t possessed any verbs t hat mi ght match t he

pr oposed hypot het i cal ver bs of Abdal l a. A compar i son of

Kushan and Meroi t i c pr oved t o be successf ul . We now know

t hat he was absol ut el y r i ght about hi s i nt er pr et at i on of

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possi bl e Mer oi t i c ver bs. Bel ow i s t he i nt er pr et at i on of

t hese Mer oi t i c ver bs:

hr t o have di gni t y

the t o move

tk t o set i n mot i on, t o i nvest i gat e

w-e t o gi ve escor t

pl t o boast , t o pr ai se

m-de measur e the of f er i ng

y i m-de go make ( f ul l ) measur e of t he of f er i ng

Recogni t i on of t hese Meroi t i c t erms as ver bs gave us even

more conf i r mat i on t hat Kushana was pr obabl y t he Meroi t i c

cognat e l anguage. Thi s di scover y of Mer oi t i c ver bs and

nouns, and cognat e t oponomi es i n Cent r al Asi a and Upper -

Nubi a- Sudan pr oved t hat Meroi t i c coul d pr obabl y be r ead

usi ng Kushana l exi cal i t ems.

The di scover y t hat Tokhar i an i s cognat e t o Mer oi t i c has

l ed t o t he f ul l deci pher ment of t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt . We can

now t r ansl at e Mer oi t i c usi ng Tokhar i an. Thi s al l ows us t o

obt ai n new i nf or mat i on about t he Mer oi t i c ci vi l i zat i on.

My r esear ch i nt o Kushana or Tokhar i an has l ed me t o

r ecogni ze t hat t hi s l anguage was probabl y used as a l i ngua

f r anca or t r ade l anguage i n Cent r al Asi a by t he di ver se

peopl es l i vi ng t her e i n an i nt ense bi l i ngual envi r onment

( Wi nt ers 1996a, 1996b) .

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C. A. Wi nt ers ( 1991) has i l l ust r at ed how t he Gr eek and

Sl avi c t erms i n Tokhar i an were l oanwords, absor bed by

Tokhar i an af t er t he Gr eek conquest of Bact r i a. Thi s

bor r owi ng pat t er n was consi st ent wi t h t he spr ead of t he

Gr eek l anguage i nt o Bact r i a by a smal l el i t e gr oup of

war r i or s.

I n summary t he Cl assi cal and Egypt i an sour ces make i t

cl ear t hat Upper Nubi a and numerous t r i bes i nhabi t ed t he

Sudan. The possi bl e ear l y use of Kushan\ Tokhar i an as a

t r ade l anguage, made i t an i deal candi dat e f or use by t he

Meroi t i c el i t es who rul ed an empi r e t hat was made up of

many di ver se et hni c gr oups as t he l anguage f or l i t er at e

Mer oi t es.

I t i s no secr et t hat t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e was a

mul t i et hni c, mul t i l i ngual and mul t i cul t ur al soci et y. I n

t hi s het erogeneous soci ety each communi t y of Meroi t es i n

t he Meroi t i c Empi r e woul d have spoken t hei r own nat i ve

l anguage i n t hei r own communal set t i ng. The exi st ence of

ver nacul ar l anguages i n di f f er ent communal set t i ngs wi t hi n

Meroi t i c Empi r e, pr obabl y not onl y gave each l anguage

spoken by t he mul t i cul t ur al and mul t i et hni c Mer oi t es equal

pr est i ge, i t al so al l owed t he ver nacul ar l anguage t o mar k

t he separ at e i dent i t y of each Mer oi t e gr oup.

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Gi ven t he pr obabl e f ear of t he mul t i cul t ur al and

mul t i l i ngual Mer oi t es of cul t ur al hegemony of one gr oup

over t he ot her s made t he i nt r oduct i on of t he Mer oi t i c/

Tokhar i an as a r egi onal l anguage f or admi ni st r at i ve,

school i ng and r el i gi ous pur poses an i deal l anguage f or t he

Mer oi t i c regi me si nce i t mai nt ai ned r egi onal neut r al i t y.

Egypt i an may have l oss i t s use as a neut r al

super egi onal l anguage f or t he Mer oi t es af t er t he Egypt i an

r ebel l i on, whi ch I bel i eve you ment i oned i n an ear l i er post

t hat l ed t o t housands of Egypt i ans set t l i ng i n Kush. Thi s

mi gr at i on of Egypt i ans woul d have gi ven t he Egypt i an

pol i t i cal and cul t ur al hegemony over t he non- Egypt i an

speaki ng Meroi t es.

After the Assyrians conquered the Egyptians there has

been a slow replacement of ancient Egyptians by Middle

Eastern and Western European peoples.

Begi nni ng wi t h t he Assyr i an def eat of t he Twent y- Fi f t h

Dynast y l arge number of nomadi c peopl e f r om t he Mi ddl e

East began t o mi gr ate i nt o Egypt . These peopl e began t o

t ake over many Egypt i an set t l ement s, whi l e other Egypt i ans

f l ed t o Nubi a and Kush t o avoi d non- Egypt i an r ul e.

Ot her anci ent Egypt i an caused pol i t i cal and mi l i t ar y

conf l i ct s t hat l ed many Egypt i ans t o mi gr at e out of Egypt

i nt o Nubi a and Kush. Herodot us ment i ons t he mut i ny of

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Psamt i k I s f r ont i er gar r i son at El ephant i net hese

deer t er s moved i nt o Kush. Mor eover , t he ar chai zi ng t r end i n

Kush among t he post Twent y- Fi f t h Dynast y Ki ngs t est f y t o a

possi bl e l ar ge mi gr at i on of Egypt i ans i nt o Kush.

I n 343 BC Nect anebos I I , f l ed t o Upper Egypt . Lat er

accor di ng t o t he Natasen per i od st el a we evi dence of other

Egypt i ans mi gr at i ng i nt o Kush f r om Egypt ( Tor ok, 1997,

p. 391) .

Between t he 260 s- 270 s BC Upper Egypt i an Nat i onal i st s

wer e f i ght i ng t he Pt ol emy ( Gr eek) r ul er s of Egypt . The

r ebel l i on was put down by Pt ol emy I I . Thi s mi l i t ar y act i on

l ed t o Egypt i ans mi gr at i ng out of Egypt i nt o Kush ( Tor ok,

pp. 395- 396) . These r ebel l i ons cont i nued i n Egypt i nt o t he

2nd Cent ur y BC ( Tor ok, p. 426) .

Bet ween Pt ol omy I I and Pt ol emy V, t he Gr eeks began t o

set t l e Egypt . Thi s was especi al l y t r ue i n t he 150 sBC and

l ed t o many Egypt i ans mi gr at i ng back i nt o Egypt .

By t he t i me t he Romans ent er ed Egypt , many Egypt i ans

had al r eady l ef t Egypt and set t l ed. Roman pol i t i cs al so

f orced many Egypt i ans t o mi gr ate i nt o Kush. Thi s was

compounded by t he i nt r oduct i on of t he Pax Agust a pol i cy of

t he Romans whi ch sought t he est abl i shment of Roman

hegemony wi t hi n t er r i t or i es under Roman r ul e ( Tor ok, 454-

456) . Thi s l ed t o t he emi gr at i on of many Romans i nt o Egypt .

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The Kush was a mul t i - et hni c soci et y. I t i ncl uded

speaker s of many l anguages wi t hi n t he empi r e. Dur i ng most

of Kushi t e hi st or y t he el i t es used Egypt i an f or r ecor d

keepi ng si nce i t was r ecogni zed as a neut r al l anguage.

As more and more Egypt i ans, l ed by Egypt i an

nat i onal i st s, f l ed t o Kush as i t became under f or ei gn

domi nant i on the Egypt i ans f or med a l ar ge mi nor i t y i n the

Empi r e. Because of Egypt i an mi gr at i ons t o Kush, by t he

r ul e of t he Meroi t i c Queen Shanakdakheto, we f i nd t he

Egypt i an l anguage abandoned as a medi um of exchange i n

of f i ci al r ecor ds, and t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt t akes i t s pl ace.

By the r i se of Gr eeks i n Egypt , t he cul t ur al i deol ogy ,

l i ke t he peopl e wer e changi ng. Thi s i s suppor t ed by the

t r ansi t i on f r om Demot i c wr i t i ng ( 7t h 5t h Cent ur i es BC) t o

Copt i c ( 4t h BC- AD 1400) . The Copt i c peopl e ar e t he best

evi dence f or t he change i n t he Egypt i an popul at i on.

The set t l i ng of l ar ge numbers of Egypt i an speakers i n

Kush pr obabl y had a si mi l ar ef f ect on t he choi ce of

Tokhar i an as a r egi onal l anguage i n t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e, as

t he choi ce of Engl i sh i n cont empor ar y I ndi a. Dur i ng

col oni al i sm, I ndi ans i n al l par t s of I ndi a l ear ned Hi ndi ,

as a way of demonst r at i ng t hei r ant i - col oni al i sm. Af t er

i ndependence, t he Dr avi di ans f el t t hat t he more numerous

Hi ndi speaker s i n t he nor t h mi ght gai n pol i t i cal and

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cul t ur al hegemony over t he ot her I ndi an gr oups, so t hey

deci ded on Engl i sh as a neut r al l anguage.

A si mi l ar si t uat i on occur r ed i n anci ent I ndi a. Due t o

r el i gi ous di ver si t y i n I ndi a t he member s of var i ous

r el i gi ous gr oups i n I ndi a, e. g. , Buddhi sm and J ai ni st wr ot e

i n di f f er ent f or ms of Pr akr i t t o show t hei r r el i gi ous

l oyal t y. As a r esul t , t o uni f y t he i nt el l i gent si a, I ndi ans

began t o wr i t e i n Sanskri t as an i deal al t er nat i ve t o t he

var i ous Pr akr i t s.

Some of t he Kushana Gymnosophi st s/ Buddhi st s pr obabl y

had set t l ed i n Kush pr i or t o t he mur der of t hei r Ki ng. Thi s

woul d have gi ven t he Kushana- Gymnosophi st s t he necessary

t i me to garner pr est i ge and r espect among t he Meroi t es t o

have encour aged t he But ana rul ers t o ask t hem t o teach t he

Mer oi t es Tokhar i ans, as t hei r nat i onal l anguage.

I n concl usi on, Soci ol i ngui st i c condi t i ons i n t he

Mer oi t i c Empi r e af t er t he set t l ement of l ar ge number s of

Egypt i ans i n t he Meroi t i c Empi r e pr obabl y encour aged t he

r i se of Tokhar i an as t he nat i onal l anguage of t he

mul t i l i ngual and mul t i cul t ur al Empi r e. Use of Tokhar i an as

a nat i onal l anguage was pr obabl y an i deal al t er nat i ve t o

Egypt i an, af t er l ar ge number s of Egypt i an speaker s set t l ed

Kush dur i ng Napa t an t i mes. Adopt i on of Tokhar i an as t he

nat i onal l anguage of t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e pr obabl y hel ped

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pr event pol i t i cal and cul t ur al hegemony of t he Egypt i an

speaki ng Meroi t es over t he non- Egypt i an speaki ng Meroi t es.

The Mer oi t es spoke di f f er ent l anguages. As a r esul t ,

any l anguage t hat was used as t he nat i onal l anguage woul d

have had t o have been l ear nt by speakers of t he var i ous

ver nacul ar speech communi t i es.

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Chapter 2 : Meroitic Writing

Mer oi t i c was a l i ngua f r anca. Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng i s a

common f eat ur e of Meroi t i c gr aves and Templ es. Thi s wr i t i ng

i s wr i t t en on of f er i ng t abl es and st el ea associ at ed wi t h

t he gr aves of Meroi t e el i t es and Templ es.

(ch)

ne

Exercise. Wr i t e each l et t er of t he Mer oi t i c cur si ve scri pt

on a sheet of paper as many t i mes as i t t akes t o l ear n how

t o wr i t e each l et t er of t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt

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The Kushi t es used t he Egypt i an l anguage as t he of f i ci al

and r el i gi ous l anguage of t he Empi r e f r om t he 8t h to the 2nd

cent ur y BC. Dur i ng t he mi d- 1st cent ury AD, Queen Amani t or e

and pr i nce Ar i kankhar or shor t l y r evi ved t he use of

Egypt i an i n Mer oi t i c i nscr i pt i ons.

Some researchers argue that the Meroites did not adopt the writing system of the

Kushana/Tokharian people which was Kharosthi. Although this is their opinion a comparison of

the Meroitic and Kharosthi symbols make it clear that both writing systems share many cognate

signs.

Meroitic Script

Comparison Kharosthi and Meroitic Writing

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Kharosthi Script

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Any student of Egyptian writing knows that whereas hieratic is based on Egyptian hieroglyphics,

demotic has no relationship to Egyptian hieroglyphics. Let's look at what Antonio Loprieno, says

about demotic in his book Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction:

"Demotic (seventh century BCE, to fifth century CE), the language of administration and

literature during the Late Period. While grammatically closely akin to Late Egyptian, it differs

from it radically in its graphic system" (p.7)."Hieratic (2600BEC to third century CE) represents

a direct cursive rendering....Demotic (seventh century BCE to fifth century CE) modifies

radically the writing conventions by introducing a shorthand-like simplification of Hieraticsigns....It should be noted that the concersion from Demotic into hieroglyphs is a purely

artificial exercise of modern scholars and was never practiced in antiquity" (p.18)."Unlike

Hieratic, whose sign groups mirror the shape of the original hieroglyphs rather closely, Demotic

signs break away from this tradition and adopt a relatively small set and stylied, conventional

forms, in which the connection to the hierglyphic counterpart is hardly perceivable and which

therefore more likely to be used in purely phonetic function....While the demotic system was

neither syllabic nor alphabetical, and precisely because the limited number of shapes it used to

represent the language required a high degree of professional training on the part of the Late

Period scribes...." (pp.22-23).

These quotes make it clear that if the Meroites could learn to write demotic which was different

from hiractic and hieroglyphics, it would not have been hard for them to learn to use Kharosthi to

write Kushana/Tokharian.

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Let's not forget that Welsby in The Kingdom of Kush, notes that "only four of the letters

resemble the equivalent Egyptian demotic signs" (p.193) But as you can see from the above there

are more than four demotic signs that match Meroitic, and even more of these signs match

Kharosthi.

The Tokharian language was written in Kharosthi script. This script was used to write the

Gandhararan Buddist Text. According to Glass (2000) the Kharosthi script appears fully

developed in the Asokan inscriptions of Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra. These inscriptions date

back to 3rd Century BC (Glass, 2000 p.20). It continued to be used in Gandhara, Kushan and

Sogdian.

Glass provides evidence that Kharosthi writing dates back to the first Brahmi inscriptions of India

(Glass, 2000 pp.20-21). The fact the writing was used in India by Asoka to produce the rock edicts

(Glass, 2000) , demonstrates that Khasrothi was in use long before the introduction of the

Meroitic script to Kush.

The Meroitic script resembles many Khaorsthi signs. Some researchers argue that the Meroites

did not adopt the writing system of the Kushana/Tokharian people which was Kharosthi.

Although this is their opinion a comparison of the Meroitic and Kharosthi symbols make it clear

that both writing systems share many cognate signs.

Aubin (2003) did a comparison of Meroitic and Kharothi and discovered that 34 out of 42 signs

or 81% matched.

Figure 1 : Aubin (2003) Comparison of Meroitic and Kharosthi Signs

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Since Tokharian was written is Kharosthi the cognition between Kharosthi and Meroitic is quite

interesting and shows some connection between these scripts. It also offers additional support to

the Tocharian origin of Meroitic writing given the analogy between the signs.

Let's not forget that Welsby in The Kingdom of Kush, notes that "only four of the [Meroitic]

letters resemble the equivalent Egyptian demotic signs" (p.193) But as you can see from the above

there are more than four Kharosthi signs that match Meroitic, and even more of these signs match

Kharosthi.

The summary , Kharosthi script dates back to the 3rd Century BC. It was used to write Tokharian

inscriptions. This makes it clear that Kharosthi was in use long before the Meroitic script was

created.

Meroitic was a l i n g u a f r a n c a that allowed the diverse people of the Meroitic Empire to

communicate in a common language. I have never argued that the Kushites abandoned their

native language or that Meroitic was spoken anywhere except in the Meroitic Sudan.

The Kushites. never wrote their inscriptions in a Kushite language. They used l i n g u a f r a n ca s to

unite the diverse speakers in the Napatan and Meroitic civilizations first Egyptian and later

Meroitic.

This is supported by the abundance of Kushite documents written in Egyptian before the

introduction of Meroitic.The Napatans and Meroites wrote their inscriptions in Egyptian until the

Egyptians became a sizable minority in the Meroitic Empire.

The Kushites had a tradition of using a non-Kushite language to record their administrative and

political religious activities due to the numerous and diverse subjects from different tribes they

ruled. Since the Meroitic and Napatan documents were written in Egyptian there is no lexical

evidence of the languages spoken by the Kushites and other groups in the inscriptions left by

these people.

In conclusion, it is clear from this review that Tokharian is the cognate language to Meroitic. It

has been explained that Tokharian was probably a trade language and it was adopted by the

Meroites to serve as a means of communicationa lingua franca-- for the diverse populations

living in the Meroitic empire.

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The ability to reliably predict a linguistic relationship between Kushana and Meroitic, was further

confirmation of the Kushana Hypothesis, because the linguistic connections were deducible from

prediction. I controlled the Kushana Hypothesis by comparing the statements of the classical

writers, with historical, linguistic anthropological and toponymic evidence found not only in

Africa, but also India and Central Asia

The peopl e of Meroe, t he Kushi t es had t hei r own al phabet

of 23 si gns. Thi s was a wonderf ul i mpr ovement over

hi erogl yphi c wr i t i ng t hat was made up of numerous i deogr aphi c

and phonet i c si gns. Gr i f f i t h ( 1911) and Pr i ese ( 1973) bel i eve

t hat Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng bel ongs t he Egypt i an abnor mal

hi er at i c wr i t i ng syst em. Thi s syst em of wr i t i ng evol ved i nt o

Demot i c.

The ear l i est hi erogl yphi c Meroi t i c t ext dat e back t o t he

r ei gn of Queen Shanakdakheto dur i ng t he 2nd cent ur y BC. The

f i r st evi dence of cur si ve Mer oi t i c al so dat es t o t hi s per i od.

I t i s a f r agment ed t ext on a Mer oi t i c of f er i ng t abl e, whi ch

r ecor ds t he Mer oi t i c wor ds: -iwal. Some r esear chers bel i eve

t hat t hi s may be the f i nal el ement i n t he name of a Meroi t e

r oyal personage.

Mer oi t i c i nscr i pt i ons dat e f r om t he 2nd cent ur y BC, t o

t he end of t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e. Mer oi t i c t ext ar e car ved on

of f er i ng t abl et s, ost r aca, papyr i and wood.Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng i s usual l y associ at ed wi t h t he

emergence of a new r oyal house i n t he Meroi t i c Empi r e (Tor ok,

1997, p. 64) . Tor ok (1997) bel i eves t hat t he scr i pt was used

by t he Mer oi t es f or a new t ype of admi ni st r at i on.

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Mer oi t i c was pr obabl y or i gi nal l y used i n t he But ana. I t

was t he of f i ci al l anguage of t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e af t er t he

2nd cent ury BC.

The hi erogl yphi c Meroi t i c scr i pt was used onl y t o wr i t e

r oyal f uner ar y i nscr i pt i ons. The cur si ve wr i t i ng was used t o

wr i t e admi ni st r at i ve and non- r oyal t ext .

Fr anci s Ll ewel l yn Gr i f f i t h, an Egypt ol ogi st was abl e t o

deci pher t he Mer oi t i c scr i pt . Al t hough Gr i f f i t h deci pher ed

Mer oi t i c, we wer e unabl e t o read t hi s wr i t i ng because wedi d not know t he cognat e l anguage unt i l now.

Mer oi t i c i s an aggl ut i nat i ve l anguage. The l anguage

i ncl udes bot h pr ef i xes and suf f i xes- - but suf f i xes ar e used

ext ensi vel y i n t he wr i t i ng. The basi c const i t uent s of

Mer oi t i c i s subj ect ( S) , ver b ( V) and obj ect ( O) i n a si mpl e

decl ar at i ve sent ence. Thi s aggl ut i nat i on and SVO or der agr ee

wi t h ot her Af r i can l anguages.

The cur si ve Meroi t i c scr i pt i s a syl l abi c wr i t i ng

syst em. Each Mer oi t i c consonant , except when f ol l owed by t he

vowel si gn / i / , / o/ and / e/ r epr esent s t he consonant sound

pl us t he vowel / a/ . Ther e ar e f our syl l abl es i n Mer oi t i c ne,

se, te, and to are repr esent ed by separate sounds.Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng shows l i t t l e r esembl ance t o Gr eek

wr i t i ng. F. Hi nt ze ( 1979) has not ed t hat Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng i s

"st r i ki ngl y si mi l ar " t o Per si an cunei f or m i n not at i ng vowel s

and separat i on of words.

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The Meroi t i c scr i pt i s al most i dent i cal t o many of t he

Khar ost hi si gns used t o wr i t e Tochar i an/ Tokhar i an. I t i s

i nt er est i ng t o not e that over seven of t he Khar ost hi and

Mer oi t i c si gns have not onl y si mi l ar shape, but al so the same

sound.

Gr i f f i t h ( 1911a) has di vi ded t he Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng i nt o t wo

di f f er ent f or ms accor di ng t o t he shape of Mer oi t i c si gns at

var i ous poi nt s i n hi st or y. The t wo st ages of Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng

wer e cal l ed Ar chai c and l at e. I n deci pher i ng Mer oi t i c

i nscr i pt i ons i t i s i mpor t ant t hat you r ef er t o Gi f f i t h( 1911a) so you can l ear n how each Meroi t i c symbol appeared at

var i ous st ages i n t he evol ut i on of t he Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng.

Ar chai c Mer oi t i c dat es f r om t he 2nd cent ur y BC t o the 1st

cent ur y AD. The Mer oi t i c wr i t i ng f r om t he 1st cent ur y AD t o

t he end of t he Mer oi t i c Empi r e i s cal l ed l at e Mer oi t i c.

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Chapter 3: The Pronunciation of Meroitic

It is clear that we need to look seriously at theMeroitic sound system. The Meroitic script is asyllabary. It would appear that each Meroitic sign has aneutral / a/ sound or // as in sofa. The long /a/sound as in father has its own sign in Meroitic.Below we list the phonemes of MeroiticPlosive p,b t,d kh k,q chNasal m n ()Lateral lRolled rFricative s (sh) chSemi-vowel w y

PronunciationKh like rasping ch: loch, Bach in GermanCh ich, breathy ch //A like /a/ in fatherB as in EnglishD as in EnglishI pronounced like /i/ in machineK like the /k/ in KingL as in EnglishM P R

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S pronounced like /z/ in zoo or the /s/ in rose pronounced like the sh in shareT as in EnglishTo pronounced like the /to/ in stoleTe pronounced like /te/ in teaW as in water/ pronounced like // in sing

Meroitic probably has seven vowels. This vowel systemis common to many other African language systems.

Whereas the vowels are not distinguished in Egyptian,Meroitic has individual signs to represent the vowels /i/,/a/, /e/, and /o/. Meroitic also has the schwa // soundattached to each Meroitic consonant, except for the /te/ and/to/ signs.

Meroitic Vowel SystemClose i (y) (w)

Close mid e o

Open aA long /a/ sound as in makeE long /e/ sound as in father stands for the /a/ sound in asleep, announce (nowns)I long /i/ sound as in seeO long /o/ sound as in sock

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I believe that Meroitic may have 2 additional vowelsounds. These sounds may be the open and mid vowels // and//. In other African languages we find these founds.

In Meroitic, we have three signs associated with theletter /t+[V]/. I believe that the // sound is associatedwith the sign for /te/; the // is associated with the /to/sign. This suggest that the sign for /to/ should bepronounced t#; and /te / should probably be pronounced t#.

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Chapter 4 : Meroitic NounsMeroitic is an agglutinative or flectional/fusional

type of language. An agglutinative language adds affixes to

grammatical elements, words and roots to denote syntactical

function, and grammatical categories.

We will now begin a discussion of Meroitic grammar. Toread Meroitic you read the writing from right to left.

Meroitic morphological forms correspond to word

formation patterns and flection found in Egyptian and other

African languages. The basic morphological structure of

Meroitic is a lexical root consisting of consonants and

vowels.

The word forms vary from one consonant (s, man) tonumerous monosyllabic forms (lo, solitary; qo royal).In general Meroitic morphemes are monosyllabic and consist

of mainly consonant-vowel lexical items and a few one

consonant , biconsonantal (khr, dignity) andtriconsonantal (pqr crown prince, monarch) lexemes.

There are many homophones in Meroitic. As a result of

the Meroitic homophones we find some very interesting

phonological contrast. In Meroitic there is occasional b=/= p, e.g., tb / tp 'announce in a lofty voice'. Inaddition we find that other letters are interchangeable

including: t =/= d; k =/= q ; s =/= ; and n =/= .Although we have been able to discover much more about

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the Meroitic language than we knew a decade ago, we have

yet to find inscriptions that provided historical themes.

It appears that the Meroites were mostly concerned with

offerings made to the gods, rather than military victories.

This suggest that official Meroitic documents were written

on perishable materials, like wood or papyrus .

Agent Nouns4.1.In Meroitic there are many agent nouns. The

Meroitic agent nouns are formed by affixing -i , to verbse.g., o # 'open', o-i 'Opener'

s # 'to atone', s-i 'Atonement'.Other Meroitic agent nouns include :

wi # 'honor'; ak # 'to teach, to learn', aki 'Learned'.

Nominal Abstract Nounsd- ne, i nher i t ance

e- ne, gener osi t y

'kes- ne, j ust i ce

l - ne, l i vi ng, vi t al

h- ne, abst r act per sonal i t y of man

+o- ne, t r ansmi gr at i on

+#qo- ne, r enewer

's- ne, new vi vi f i cat i on

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0i - ne, atonement

t eb- ne, announce i n a l of t y voi ce

t e- ne, r ebi r t h

t o- ne, dynami ci sm, l i ght

,wi - ne, Obj ect of Respect

, wi - ne, Commander ; Ever l ast i ng

4.2. A large number of Meroitic morphemes are acquired

by joining together Meroitic root forms with inflectional

affixes (usually suffixes). As a result, we see a large

number of Meroitic verbs made into nouns by the addition of

an affixial elements to the verb stem. The so-called

separator sign ( : ) made up of two or three dots above one

another, is the Meroitic suffix -ne / -une . The -ne suffixis useful in the formation of nominal abstract nouns from

verbs e.g.,

s # 'to prop up', s-ne "Supporter, Patron", si # 'to be content', si-ne "Atonement', en # 'to command',en-ne "Teacher, Commander'; i # 'to go', i-ne 'the Way';

li # 'to convey, to dispatch', li-ne 'Conveyance'.

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I. Meroitic Kinship TermsAp, f at her

$Abr , man

Kdi , l ady

'S, per son, son

0t e, mot her

,Wi, brother

II. Meroitic VC and CV NounsAk, teach

Am, soul

A, spirit

Ap, ancest or , f at her

Ah, l ear n

(At , down t he pat h

Bl , pr ai se, l aw, r i ght eous

'Bs, pr ot ect i on

E l , g i f t

Eke, nour i sh( ment )

e- ne, t eacher

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em, t each

'Es, mani f est at i on

/Ey, f avor of exi st ence

I m, memor y

$Kr , di gni t y

$Khr , di gni t y

He, ext er nal body

Lo, , offering

Mi, rain

Mk, l or d

Ml , soul

(t , vener at i on

Pi , l i f e

Pi , t o pr ay

(pt , pr ai se

$+Or , monar ch

(Ot , admi r at i on

+Od, admi r at i on

+#Qo, honor

$Ri , ci t y

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$Rm, wi t ness

'Sb, anoi nt

'Sm, wi f e

'Sl , ki ng

(0St , exal t at i on

' o , l i f e

(t n, rebi r t h

,wi , honor , honor ( abl e)

,Wk, voi ce

,Wl , pr i nce, chi ef t ai n

/ ye, t r avel , j our ney

I n Meroi t i c we see a number of monosyl l abi cnouns. These nouns were f r equent l y used i n

Mer oi t i c. For exampl e:

,$

,$

wi l o eke t er

honor abl e of f er i ng nour i shment er ect

Ter eke lo wi

Erect nourishment (for) the honorable offering.

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,

,

ne wi t o mniGood honor i gni t e Amani

Amani t o wi ne

Amani ignites Good and Honor.

(+

(+

l - e ke t o

l i vi ng ask per mi ssi on vener at i on open

o t ke l - e

Ask permission to open veneration for the living.

III. Single consonant Meroitic NounsB, t he Ba spi r i t

E, r egi st er , command

D, bequest, donation, bequeathal

D, l eave a l egacy

, good

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P, pray

, spi r i t body

, ki ng; pat r on

S, pat r on

W, gui de

Y, exi st ence

Ther e ar e a number of si ngl e consonant nouns t hat

appear i n Mer oi t i c. For exampl e,

,+

,++

honor of f er i ng ext er nal spi r i t / body bequeat hal

d he l o wi

The external spirit/body bequeathal (is a)

honor(able) offering.

+,

+,

ol t ene ke d w

gr and r ebi r t h ask per mi ssi on bequest gui de

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W d ke tene ol

Guide the bequest to ask permission for the grand

rebirth.

$

$

r e ap

Good i ndeed r egi st er ancest or

ap r e

Indeed register the ancestors Good.

/+

/+

p y opray make open, begi n

o y p

Begin to make prayer.

/

/

t e ye t e e am

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may i t go f or t h j our ney you command soul

Am ete ye te

You command the soul (to make the) journey, may it

go forth.

,

,

ket e d w p

ascent bequest gui de pr ay

p w d ket e

Pray t o gui de t he ascent ( of t he) bequest .

IV. Meroitic terms Associated with Royalty

al , nobl e

+$+$kr or o, f i r s t one of di gni t y

(kt ke ( kat ake) , queen mot her

pedeme, pr i est ess

$#pqr , pr i nce, cr own pr i nce

0pet o, vi cer oy

$+#qor , r oyal : qor i f emal e r oyal ; qor e mal e

r oyal

,wl , chi ef t ai n, pet t y r ul er

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+# qo, honor abl e

0, ki ng, pat r on

+$(t r l o ( t ar al o) , hei r , successor

,wi ne, Awe, Obj ect of Respect

Many t er ms f or Mer oi t e el i t es come f r om t he

Egypt i an l anguage. For exampl e, 0Pet o means

( he who) vouchsaf es t he ki ngs l i ght , comes f r om

an Egypt i an t er m t hat means ki ng s son. I n many

Mer oi t i c i nscr i pt i ons you wi l l f i nd t he t er ms qor

monar ch, r oyal and qo honor abl e .

I n many Mer oi t i c t ext t he deceased per sonage i s

r ef er r ed t o as an obj ect of r espect . For exampl e,

+#(

+#(

Good vouchsaf e l eave a l egacy honorabl e queen mot her

Ktke qo d e

The honor abl e Queen mot her t o l eave a l egacy t hat

vouchsaf e Good.

,+(/0

,+(/0

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Obj ect of Respect of f er i ng openi ng wi t h f or ce capabl e l i vi ng Peto

Peto l-ne yet mde lo wi-ne

The l i vi ng Pesht o ( i s) capabl e of openi ng wi t h f or ce t he( power of t hi s) Obj ect of Respect .

$,0

$,0

khr wi - ne t o kdi l i ne Pet o

di gni t y Awe she t ake ai m exal t ed Pet o

Pet o l i ne kdi - t o wi ne khr

The exalted Peto, she takes aim at Awe and dignity.

,+$#

,+$#

wi ne l o l - ne- a pqr

Obj ect of Respect sol i t ar y wi l l exi st pr i nce

The pr i nce wi l l exi st ( as) a sol i t ar y Obj ect of Respect.

Npt e l i ne l e pedeme

Napate exalted is priestess

The exalted Priestess (of) Napata.

Exer ci ses

Wr i t e i n t he f ol l owi ng Mer oi t i c:

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1. The exal t ed monar ch.

2. The gr and pr i est ess.

3. The honor abl e monar ch.

4. The l i vi ng cr own pr i nce i s capabl e of openi ng

wi t h f or ce t he ( power of t hi s) Obj ect of

Respect .

5. Er ect honor ( f or ) t he l or d s gr and soul .

6. The Queen mot her t o i gni t e di gni t y.7. Gui de t he l ady t o ask per mi ssi on ( f or a) gr and

j ourney.

8. Er ect honor f or t he l ady s gr and soul , pl ace

( i t ) her e.

Tr ansl i t er at e t he f ol l owi ng and t r ansl at e i nt o

Engl i sh.

1. +#0

2. ,,#

3. +#+$(

4. ,(5. +/,

6. +,$(

7. $(

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8. '(

9. ,

10. #

V. Religious Terms

ahl , t he t r ansf i gur ed spi r i t

am, soul

Amani , t he god Amon

an, spi r i t

(ant , pr ophet

$ar i , mani f est at i on

bel , pr ai se

d, bequest , donat i on; l eave a l egacy

el , gi f t

h, gr and

+hol , soul

$ hr , est eem, mer i t

kene, r evi t al i zat i on

$khr , di gni t y

khi , ext er nal body

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kht e, hol y pl ace

bkht e, t empl e

l bkht e, opul ent hol y pl aces

l - ne, l i vi ng, vi t al

+l o, of f er i ng

,l wi , gl ory

( +)ml ( o) , soul ; i nner hear t

(nt , honor , wor shi p

( nt k, l ord

nek, god

ne, Good'ns, mi st r ess

p, pr ay

# pq, gr ant my pr ayers

(pt , pr ai se

nk, god

0, pat r on

's- ne, new vi vi f i cat i on

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A maj or concer n of t he Mer oi t es was r el i gi ous

and f uner ar y mat t er s. As a r esul t , we f i nd t he

Mer oi t es f r equent l y di scussed many i ssues i n t hei r

f uner ar y t abl et s and st el as r el at ed t o l i vi ng a

r i ght eous l i f e. For exampl e

(+#/0

(+#/0

mni ne ant qo shi ye

Amani good prophet honor abl e Shi ye

Shiye qo ant ne mni

The honorable Shiye, the good prophet (of) Amani.

/

/

t e yi et e am

you go on a j our ney command soul

Am et e yi t e

You command t he soul ( t o make) a j our ney. May ( i t

go f or t h) .

++$0(

++

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t ene l k ho l - ne ml o kh

r ebi r t h behol dsoul l i vi ng i nner hear t gr eat

$0

t ene k khr p hene

r ebi r t h ask per mi ssi on di gni t y guar d t o r eal i ze

(

at -m

down t he pat h s/ he

At - m hene p khr k t ene kh ml o l - ne ho l k t ene

S/he go(es) down the path to realize protec(tion) and

dignity. Give permission (for) the rebirth. The great

living inner heart (and) soul to behold rebirth.

'

+'

ke do ns

act t o l ead mi st r ess

ns do ke

The mistress to lead (this) act.

$+#

$+#

ne khr o el aq

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Good dignity open gift replenish

Aq el o khr ne

Replenish the gift to open up dignity and Good.

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Chapter 5: Pronouns

5.1 The Meroitic funerary tablets are written in the

third or second person. Meroitic words are usually formed

by the addition of post-positions or suffixes . The

Meroitic pronouns are suffixed to Meroitic words. They

include, -te 'you, thou'; (-t 'her, he'; -ne 'his';-to 'your'; and the -n and -a third personsingular suffixes. For example:

-n 's/he, it, her, his'i 'go' ; i-n 'he go(es)de 'bequeathal'; de-n 'his bequeathal'#qe 'make' ; #qe-n 'he make(s)-to 'you, your, thou'(+ot 'prestige' (+ot-to 'your prestige'lhne 'to see Good'lh ne-to ' thou to see Good.(-t 'you, your, thou'$kr 'dignity ($kr-t 'your dignity',w 'guide' (,w-t 'you guide'

5.2.In the inscription we find both masculine and

feminine pronoun forms. For example below we illustrate

some of the masculine Meroitic pronouns:

lh 'behold lh-to 'thou behold'ntk 'bows in reverence ntk-te 'he bows in reverence'

e qe 'give renewal e qe-t 'he gives renewal'69


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ne 'good' n-ne 'his good'ap 'ancestor' ap-n 'his ancestor'tak 'reflection' tak-te 'your reflection'i 'go' i-n 'he go(es)e s-ne 'give the new e s-ne-a 'give him

vivifications the new vivification

w 'guide' w-t 'you guide'e 'give' e-t 'you give'r o q 'indeed begin to r o q-t 'indeed you

desire to leave' to leave'

es protect(ion) es-m protect him5.3. The Meroitic feminine pronouns including the

suffixes -i and -to. For example -to 'your, she': s-neq lo-te, "The patron is present in the grave"; s-ne q lote-to, "The patron she is present in the grave".

5.4.The most common feminine sign in Meroitic is the -iparticle. This Meroitic feminine suffix -i is joined tonouns and verbs e.g.,

(1) Wos 'Isis', Wos-i-ne 'Isis she (is) the Good';(2) m 'measure', m-i 'she measures',(3) Wos-i-ne Sore yi-ne t p o m-i d

'Isis the good, Osiris the Eternal (are)

Commanding the measure of her bequeathal'.

5.5.We also find the Meroitic second person suffix

-te 'you, thou', e.g., ene 'command', ene-te

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'thou command'; ene-te od khe " command thou the beginningof the khe's bequeathal".

5.6.In addition to the use of -n , to denote the thirdperson singular in Meroitic we also have -t 'him, her, he ,

she' , e.g., li-ne ' to transmit', (li-ne-t 'transmither....'

5.7.The -a suffix is also used to denote the thirdperson singular suffix. For example:

kh 'spirit body'; a kh 'his spirit body's-ne 'new vivification'; a s-ne 'his new

vivification'

tom 'to bear'; a tom 'he bearsr h i de-b 'indeed go boon (to seek) much

almsgiving'

r-a h i de-b 'His boon indeed go(es) (to seek) muchalmsgiving.'

5.8. Sometimes the pronoun can be used as a prefix.

This is especially true of the third person singular

suffixes when joined to verbs. For example:

i 'go' t-i 'he go(es)'be to encounter a-be 'he encounters'

5.9.The particle -n, has multiple uses in Meroitic. InMeroitic the third person singular suffix -n-, is usuallyjoined to verbs e.g., qo 'to make', qo-n 'she makes'. Then- particle when used as a prefix is used to form thesubjunctive mood, it is also joined to nouns e.g., Qo-n n-

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ye-ne te dh lo wi-ne "She is to make the voyage, hereaccept the solitary Object of Respect".

In conclusion, Meroitic verbs are either monosyllabic

or uniconsonantal. There are usually three tenses of the

Meroitc verb found most Meroitic inscriptions:

Present: qe-n ye-ne he makes the voyage.Past: qe-n-a ye-ne he made the voyage.Future: qe-n-n ye-ne he will make the voyage.

#

Present: qe-to de she makes the donation.#

Past: qe-to-a de she made the donation.#

Future: qe-to-n de she will make the donation.

The Meroitic verb can begin a sentence or be placed in

themedial position of Meroitic phrases. In most cases the

pronouns are suffixed to the verb.

Exercise

I. Write the following in Meroitic.

1. his Good2. your dignity

3. her honor

4. her new vivification

5. The king he bows in reverence to Aman

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II. Translate and transliterate the following Meroitic

sentences. Use the terms you learned in this chapter and

Chapter 4.

1. (#2. +$#,

3. $(

4. (

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Chapter 6: MEROITIC SYNTAX

The Meroitic sentences is made up of several

constituent parts. This has led to Meroitic sentences

showing either a subject (S), verb (V) , object (O)

pattern, or the SOV sentence pattern.

The immediate constituent parts or pattern ofMeroitic sentence vary from one period of the language to

the next.In the archaic Meroitic sentences the constituent

parts are S---> NP VP Aux NP , as illustrated below by the

sentence found on a bronze plaque made in the form of a

trussed prisoner from Gebel Barkal, Great Temple of Aman:

No b lo e Neqelit. Now captured alone completely at the

present time".

"Now (he is captured and completely alone at thepresent time."

The popular sentence pattern in late Meroitic inscriptions

on the other hand is S---> VP NP or S---> VP NP VP.

The favorite Meroitic sentence pattern in archaic

Meroitic is the SVO type. In the SVO sentence the subject

proceeds the verb. For example:

Transliteration

1. Tyidmni w-t el h-t e.

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2. N e hi.

Translation

1."Tayidamani , you guide the gift of your almsgiving.

Give (alms now!).

2. "Give Good (to) the body".

In archaic Meroitic the addition of the Meroitic

pronoun, gives the Meroitic sentence a VSO pattern. For

example:

Transliteration

1. tel-n e k-i.

2. aki-n e-a.

3. Leb-ne-a h d o s ne te.

Translation

1."He sustains completely new vigor". (lit. Supports he

completely revitalization".)

2."He is completely learned". (lit. "Learned he

completely".)

3. "His restoration of the bequeathal of the spirit body,

commences to prop up good--May (it go forth).

The favorite sentence pattern in late Meroitic is VSO.

In Meroitic we also find a VSO sentence pattern. For

example:

w to ilit. to guide you satisfaction

"You guide (me) to satisfaction".Terike lo wi-ne s

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lit. Fashion dispatch the Awe patron.

"Fashion (and) dispatch the Awe of the Patron".

Ar o b e l-nelit. Produce commence Ba give life.

"Commence to produce the Ba (and) give (it) life".

K b h ine qo l-nelit. Give permission Ba Kha the Way renewalliving.

"Give permission for the Ba and Kha (to form) theliving renewal".

Tm de lo wite me-y

lit. "To bare indeed solitary delight withoutmeasure".

In the Meroitic sentence the article is usually

suffixed to nouns and verbs. For example -n, -ne 'he,his':

1. tel -nsupport he , "he supports".2. eb- nerestoration his, "his restoration".

We can also discuss the Meroitic sentence pattern basedon its case grammar. The case grammar includes the

following categories: Agentive (A; animate objects),Instrumental (I, inanimate actor involved in action),Dative (D, animate being influenced by action) , Locative

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(L, location of action) and Objective (O, items influencedby the action). For example:

VALO Type: Qe-n-n ye-nelit. "Make she will the voyage""She will make the Voyage".

AIOD Type: Paqar l-ne e d lo wi-nelit. Crown prince living give bequest lonely

object of Respect'.

"The Living Crown Prince gives the bequestof the lonely Object of Respect (i.e., thedeceased)".

The examples of Meroitic sentences above, indicates the

VALO and AIOD patterns .

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Chapter 7: Meroitic Adverbs and Adjectives

I. Adverbs

bi , t oday

+bo, al l

l , now

l e, i ndeed

nea, no

+no, now$per i , f aul t

k, obl i gat or y

$r, indeed

$r e, i ndeed

t e, her e, t hi d pl ace

(- t , f o r

7.1.In Meroitic there are several adverbs including:

nea 'now', no 'now', a 'to, it', te 'here, this place',r/re 'indeed', bi 'today, this moment' and -t , te 'here'.In many Meroitic inscriptions we also find l/le 'indeed'.For example:

Sl-ne mk-t.

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"Much merit here".

Tene sb ne-te." The rebirth piles (up) much Good here".

Qe-ne sb ne h te y."The Creator piles (up) grand Good existing (at) this

place".

A be-n bi d pet e wi-ne."He is to encounter today the bequeathal of reverence,

register (his) Awe.

7.2. The Meroitic adverbs are placed behind the noun.

For example:

pt praise pt es manifest praises patron s li feeble patront-ne rebirth t-ne-e complete rebirth

II. Adjectives

Ol , gr and

0i , sat i sf yi ng

H, gr and

$mr , l ucky

bk, mat ur e

l i , exal t ed

ni , shi nni ng

mkh, great

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+ko, gl amorous

t eb, l of t i ness

'skh, happi ness

, good

:, ne, good

t o, l i ght , ki ndl e, i gni te

7.3.The adjective in Meroitic, like the adverbs areplaced behind the noun. For example: e 'complete'

S on tene 'The King commence(s) therebirth'

S on tene-e 'The King commence(s) thecomplete rebirth'.

7.4. Other Meroitic adjectives are usually formed by

the -o suffix . The -o suffix is used to change a nouninto a adjective. For example,

qo # 'to act', qo-o 'acting'; khs # 'know, understand', khs-o 'understanding';

w # 'to guide', w-o 'guiding' hr # 'dignity' , hr 'reputable' od # 'admiration' od-o 'admirable'.

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Chapter 8: Common Meroitic Verbs and Affixes

Mer oi t i c i s an aggl ut i nat i ng l anguage. Mer oi t i c wor ds

and gr ammat i cal f eat ur es are f ormed by pr ef i xes and

suf f i xes.

#aq, to replenish(at, down the path atom, s/he is to bed, give+do, to leade, give, enep, bestowal

$er, to produceete, you command'es, to manifesti, golap, to remain, to stay

le, here

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lk, to behold+lo, to dispatch#lq, to witnesske, to realize; to give permission'kes, to emigratekl, to toleratekte, to beginkete, to ascend, to spreadkhne, to realizehene (chene), to realizehle, to resound, to reverberatem, to measure$mar-e, do notmde, opening with forcemte, to unlock, to openn, will(net, to bow in reverence+o, to open, to commence

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pe, to vouchsafe, to bestow, pi, to pray# pq, to make0 p, to guard#q, to form, act, to make#q, to desire, to be present+#qo, to live, to renew, renewal+$ro, to dispatch's, to support, to protect, to prop up, to endorce0ea, favour(t, to put, to lay, to arrange(tb, announce in a lofty voicete, may it go forth$terike, fashiontete, place here(ti, to go, to arrange(tk, to reflect, to set in motion(tm, to produce

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#(tq, to be, to move, to set in motionto, beginning; to ignite, to arouse, to light/(ty, that lives,w, to guide+,w-o, steering(/yet, to be capable(/ yet, is

The Meroitic verb is usually placed before the

subject. For example:

(++lo otp, dispatch esteem0$er ea, produce favour

0$0 er ea, The patron to produce favour.,'s-ne wi, prop up honor'('st le tene s-neEndorse the embarkation of the good supporter.

,+#(Tq lo wineSet in motion the dispat

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The Meroitic Language - Winters