Numidian language

Common card · No. 409491

Numidian ( n(y)uu-MID-ee-ən) was an Afroasiatic language or dialect spoken in ancient Numidia. The script in which it was written, the Libyco-Berber alphabet (from which Tifinagh descended), has been almost fully deciphered and most characters (apart from a few exceptions restricted to specific areas) have known values. Libyco-Berber inscriptions are attested from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. As most surviving inscriptions are funerary steles with a simple format, only a few words have known meanings. The language can be confidently identified only as belonging to the Afroasiatic family, although it was likely part of the Berber languages, a part of a larger Libyco-Berber dialect continuum, precursor to the modern Berber languages, or possibly an extinct sister branch to the modern Berber languages.

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