Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Nubian languages are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. Nubian languages were spoken throughout much of Sudan, but as a result of Arabization they are today mostly limited to the Nile Valley between Aswan (southern Egypt) and Al Dabbah. In the 1956 Census of Sudan there were 167,831 speakers of Nubian languages. [2]
Nubian languages. Hill Nubian; Notes: Eastern Sudanic is a large division of Nilo-Saharan spoken throughout the upper Nile region. Kir–Abbaian and Astaboran are the two branches of Eastern Sudanic, roughly distributed in the north and south of the region, respectively. The Nubian languages are spoken mostly in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.
Modern Nubians speak Nubian languages, Eastern Sudanic languages that is part of the Nilo-Saharan family. The Old Nubian language is attested from the 8th century AD, and is the oldest recorded language of Africa outside of the Afroasiatic family. Nubia consisted of four regions with varied agriculture and landscapes.
The term Nuba should not be confused with the Nubians, an unrelated ethnic group speaking the Nubian languages living in northern Sudan and southern Egypt, [6] although the Hill Nubians, who live in the Nuba Mountains, are also considered part of the Nubian people. [7]
The Nile-Nubian languages were the languages of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia. The other Nubian languages are found hundreds of kilometers to the southwest, in Darfur and in the Nuba Mountains of Kordofan. For a long time it was assumed that the Nubian peoples dispersed from the Nile Valley to the south, probably ...
The Hill Nubian languages are generally classified as being in the Central branch of the Nubian languages, one of three branches of the Nubian languages, the other two being Northern (), consisting of Nobiin, and Western (), consisting of Midob.
The script in which nearly all Old Nubian texts have been written is a slanted uncial variant of the Coptic alphabet, originating from the White Monastery in Sohag. [4] The alphabet included three additional letters ⳡ /ɲ/ and ⳣ /w/, and ⳟ /ŋ/, the first two deriving from the Meroitic alphabet.
It is not clear if linguists are in support of this, as the linguistic relationship of Nubian languages with the Meroitic language is still debated. Nevertheless, historians like Brown (The History of Sudanese Tribes) mention that Midob was the ruling family in the Nubian Civilization and their roots extended to the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. [2]