Meroitic language
The Meroitic language (/mɛroʊˈɪtɪk/) was spoken in Meroë (in present-day Sudan) during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BC) and became extinct about 400 AD. It was written in two forms of the Meroitic alphabet: Meroitic Cursive, which was written with a stylus and was used for general record-keeping; and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, which was carved in stone or used for royal or religious documents. It is poorly understood, owing to the scarcity of bilingual texts.
| Meroitic | |
|---|---|
| Kushite | |
Meroitic inscription (1st century BC), Egyptian Museum of Berlin | |
| Native to | Kingdom of Kush |
| Region | Southern part of Upper Egypt around Aswan (Lower Nubia) to the Khartoum area of Sudan (Upper Nubia). |
| Era | Possibly attested as early as 12th Dynasty Egypt (ca. 2000–ca. 1800 BC) and fully extinct no later than the 6th century AD |
| Meroitic alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xmr |
xmr | |
| Glottolog | mero1237 |
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