Libyco-Berber alphabet

The Libyco-Berber alphabet was an abjad writing system used long ago, during the first thousand years before Christ, by many Berber people living in North Africa and the Canary Islands. They used it to write ancient versions of the Berber language, including something called the Numidian language.

Over time, this writing system stopped being used in the north when the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire came to power. But it traveled south into the Sahara desert, where it changed and became the Tuareg Tifinagh alphabet. Today, the Tuareg Berbers still use a version of this old writing.

Sometimes people call the Libyco-Berber alphabet the Numidian script or the Old Libyan script. This helps make sure we don’t wrongly think that the Numidian language is directly connected to any Berber languages spoken today.

Origin

The origin of the Libyco-Berber script is still debated by researchers. Some think it was a changed version of the Phoenician alphabet, while others believe it was a local invention inspired by it. One of the oldest known variants of the script was found in inscriptions in Dugga from Numidian times.

Description

Before, during, and after the ancient Berber kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania, many inscriptions were made using the Libyco-Berber script. Most of these were simple writings on rocks or caves, but some were official or possibly religious writings.

The Libyco-Berber script was a special kind of writing without vowels. It had letters for sounds like "w" and "y," and sometimes "h" might have stood for "a." The writing usually went from bottom to top, but sometimes it went from right to left in other directions. The letters looked different when written up and down compared to side to side, and they were mostly shaped like simple lines and shapes.

Libyco-Berber inventory (compared to equivalent Tifinagh letters by sound):

Transliteration	Eastern Libyco-Berber (Dougga)	Tifinagh (Ahaggar)	Neo-Tifinagh
b		ⵀ	ⴱ
g		ⴳ	ⴳ
d		ⴷ,ⴸ	ⴷ
h		ⵂ	ⵀ
w		ⵓ	ⵡ
z1		ⵋ	ⵊ
ṭ		ⵟ	ⵟ
y		ⵉ	ⵢ
k		ⴾ	ⴽ
l		ⵍ	ⵍ
m		ⵎ	ⵎ
n		ⵏ	ⵏ
s1			ⵚ
f		ⴼ	ⴼ
s2		ⵙ	ⵙ
q/ɣ?	?	ⵗ/ⵈ	ⵖ/ⵇ
r		ⵔ	ⵔ
s3		ⵛ	ⵛ
t		ⵜ	ⵜ
z2		ⵣ	ⵣ
s4
z3		ⵌ	ⵥ

Variations

There are many different forms of the Libyco-Berber script. Some studies split these into eastern and western groups, while others find more than 25 types grouped into 5 families.

The eastern form was used in areas that are now Constantine, Aurès, and Tunisia, and also in Kabylia. This form is the best understood because several writings in both Libyco-Berber and Punic were found (like KAI 100 and 101 at Dougga in Tunisia). Since 1843, 22 of the 24 letters have been figured out.

The western form was used along the Mediterranean coast from Kabylia to the Canary Islands. It had 13 extra letters. As of 2002, much of this western form has not yet been understood. Signs from the western form have sometimes been found together with possible pictures of animals.

Inscriptions

The Libyco-Berber script appears in many stone inscriptions and engravings across Morocco, northern Algeria, Tunisia, northern Libya, and the Canary Islands. Some important examples are found in the Massinissa Temple and the Prince Ateban Mausoleum in Dougga, northern Tunisia. Other notable inscriptions include the Azib N'Ikkis and Oukaimeden, located in the High-Atlas Mountains of Morocco.