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Glite Dictionary
🏺 Of ancient Meroe 🗣️ Ancient language 📜 Ancient writing
Meroitic

Meroitic

1 9.9
An ancient way of writing used for the language of Meroë
  • noun
  • /mɛˈrɔɪtɪk/
  • Specialized
: escritura meroítica
  • The Meroitic language was written using a unique script that remains partly undeciphered.

Examples

  • The archaeologists discovered ancient inscriptions written in Meroitic script during their excavation in Sudan.

  • Working on the Nile's left bank near the town of Hamdab, a team from Sudan's National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) found a large post-Meroitic cemetery.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Many historians are focused on translating the Meroitic script found on temple walls in the archaeological site.

Surface Forms

Meroitic singular
Meroitics plural

Morphology

Meroitic = Meroë (transparent) = Meroe + itic

The noun use for the script is directly built on the place-name adjective formed with '-itic', so the morphological relation to Meroë is clear.

Etymology

Meroitic for the script takes its name from the city Meroë, meaning 'from Meroë'. So the Meroitic script is simply the writing that came from that ancient kingdom.