Old Nubian

Writing system

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. The alphabet included three additional letters ⳡ and ⳣ , and ⳟ , the first two deriving from the Meroitic alphabet. The presence of these characters suggest that although the first written evidence of Old Nubian dates to the 8th century, the script must have already been developed in the 6th century, following the collapse of the Meroitic state. Additionally, Old Nubian used the variant ⳝ for the Coptic letter ϭ.

The characters ⲍ, ⲝ/ϩ ⲭ, ⲯ only appear in Greek loanwords. Gemination was indicated by writing double consonants; long vowels were usually not distinguished from short ones. Old Nubian featured two digraphs: ⲟⲩ and ⲉⲓ . A diaeresis over ⲓ (ⲓ̈) was used to indicate the semivowel . In addition, Old Nubian featured a supralinear stroke, which could indicate:

• a vowel that formed the beginning of a syllable or was preceded by ⲗ, ⲛ, ⲣ, ⳝ;
• an /i/ preceding a consonant.

Modern Nobiin is a tonal language; if Old Nubian was tonal as well, the tones were not marked.

Punctuation marks included a high dot •, sometimes substituted by a double backslash \\ (⳹), which was used roughly like an English period or colon; a slash / (⳺), which was used like a question mark; and a double slash // (⳼), which was sometimes used to separate verses.

In 2021, the first modern Nubian typeface based on the style of text written in old Nubian manuscripts called Sawarda was released designed by Hatim-Arbaab Eujayl for a series of educational books teaching Nobiin.

Grammar

Nouns

Old Nubian has no gender. The noun consists of a stem to which derivational suffixes may be added. Plural markers, case markers, postpositions, and the determiner are added on the entire noun phrase, which may also comprise adjectives, possessors, and relative clauses.

Determination

Old Nubian has one definite determiner -(ⲓ)ⲗ. The precise function of this morpheme has been a matter of controversy, with some scholars proposing it as nominative case or subjective marker. Both the distribution of the morpheme and comparative evidence from Meroitic, however, point to a use as determiner.

Case

Old Nubian has a nominative-accusative case system with four structural cases determining the core arguments in the sentence, as well as a number of lexical cases for adverbial phrases.

Number

The most common plural marker is -ⲅⲟⲩ, which always precedes case marking. There are a few irregular plurals, such as:

ⲉⲓⲧ, pl. ⲉⲓ "man"

ⲧⲟⲧ, pl. ⲧⲟⲩⳡ "child"

Furthermore, there are traces of separate animate plural forms in -ⲣⲓ, which are textually limited to a few roots, e.g.

ⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲓⲁ̄ⲛⲟⲥ-ⲣⲓ-ⲅⲟⲩ "Christians"

ⲙⲟⲩⲅ-ⲣⲓ-ⲅⲟⲩ "dogs"

Pronouns

Old Nubian has several sets of pronouns and subject clitics, of which the following are the main ones:

There are two demonstrative pronouns:

ⲉⲓⲛ, pl. ⲉⲓⲛ-ⲛ̄-ⲅⲟⲩ "this"

ⲙⲁⲛ, pl. ⲙⲁⲛ-ⲛ̄-ⲅⲟⲩ "that"

Interrogative words include ⳟⲁⲉⲓ "who?"; ⲙⲛ̄ "what?"; and a series of question words based on the root ⲥ̄.

Verbs

The Old Nubian verbal system is by far the most complex part of its grammar, allowing for valency, tense, mood, aspect, person and pluractionality to be expressed on it through a variety of suffixes.

The main distinction between nominal and verbal predicates in a main clause versus a subordinate clause is indicated by the presence of the predicate marker -ⲁ. The major categories, listing from the root of the verb to the right, are as follows:

Valency

Pluractionality

Aspect

Tense

Person

This can be indicated by a series of subject clitics, which are obligatory only in certain grammatical contexts. They are generally absent when an overt subject is present in the clause, unless the subject has the topic marker -ⲉⲓⲟⲛ.

Sample text

ⲕⲧ̅ⲕⲁ

kit-ka

stone-ACC

ⲅⲉⲗⲅⲉⲗⲟ̅ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛⲛⲟⲛ

gelgel-os-ou-an-non

roll-PFV-PST1-3PL-TOP

ⲓ̈ⲏ̅ⲥⲟⲩⲥⲓ

iēsousi

Jesus

ⲙⲁⳡⲁⲛ

mañan

eye.DU

ⲧⲣⲓⲕⲁ·

tri-ka

both-ACC

ⲇⲟⲗⲗⲉ

dolle

high

ⲡⲟⲗⲅⲁⲣⲁ

polgar-a

raise.CAUS-PRED

[ⲡⲉⲥⲥⲛⲁ·]

pes-s-n-a

speak-PST2-2/3/SG-PRED

ⲡⲁⲡⲟ

pap-o

father-VOC

ⲥ̅ⲕⲉⲗⲙ̅ⲙⲉ

iskel-im-m-e

thank-AFF-PRS-1SG.PRED

ⲉⲕ̅[ⲕⲁ]

eik-ka

you-ACC

"And when they rolled away the rock, Jesus raised his eyes high and said: Father, I thank you."

Other sources

• Browne, Gerald M., (1982) Griffith's Old Nubian Lectionary. Rome / Barcelona.
• Browne, Gerald M., (1988) Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim I (with J. M. Plumley), London, UK.
• Browne, Gerald M., (1989) Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim II. London, UK.
• Browne, Gerald M., (1996) Old Nubian dictionary. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum orientalium, vol. 562. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN 90-6831-787-3.
• Browne, Gerald M., (1997) Old Nubian dictionary – appendices. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN 90-6831-925-6.
• Browne, Gerald M., (2002) A grammar of Old Nubian. Munich: LINCOM. ISBN 3-89586-893-0.
• Van Gerven Oei, Vincent W.J., (2021) A Reference Grammar of Old Nubian. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN 978-90-4294-185-4.
• Griffith, F. Ll., (1913) The Nubian Texts of the Christian Period. ADAW 8. https://archive.org/details/nubiantextsofchr00grif
• Satzinger, Helmut, (1990) Relativsatz und Thematisierung im Altnubischen. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 80, 185–205.