Kehek language

{{Short description|Extinct language of Ancient Libya}} {{Infobox language | name = Kehek | states = | region = Eastern parts of Ancient Libya | ethnicity = Kehek | era = 2nd–1st millennia BC | familycolor = Afro-Asiatic | fam2 = Berber ? | script = No indigenous writing, attested in only a hieratic papyrus | iso3 = none | linglist = | glotto = none | glottorefname = | dia1 = | protoname = | extinct = | dia2 = | dia3 = | dia4 = | image = | imagecaption = | altname = Qeheq }}

The '''Kehek language''' was an Afroasiatic language spoken by the Kehek people of Ancient Libya. It is the earliest written non-Semitic and non-Egyptian Afroasiatic language. It is only attested scarcely in papyrus texts written in hieratic, pertaining to snake magic, written during the New Kingdom era. Whether other ancient Libyans such as the Meshwesh or the Libu spoke the same language as the Kehek is unknown.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schiødt |first1=Sofie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPO8EAAAQBAJ&dq=language+Kehek+OR+Qeheq&pg=PA131 |title=Scientific Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East: Joint Proceedings of the 1st and 2nd Scientific Papyri from Ancient Egypt International Conferences, May 2018, Copenhagen, and September 2019, New York |last2=Jacob |first2=Amber |last3=Ryholt |first3=Kim |date=2023-08-29 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-1-4798-2315-4 |language=en}}</ref> The language might also be the earliest example of a written down Berber, or Proto-Berber variety though its nature as a fragmentary text makes it hard to identify as anything other than Afro-Asiatic.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Silvestri |first=Jason P. |date=2023 |title=The Oldest Berber Text(s)? Egyptian Evidence for the Ancient Libyan Language(s) |url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-etudes-et-documents-berberes-2023-1-page-319 |journal=Études et Documents Berbères |language=en |volume=4950 |issue=1 |pages=319–348 |doi=10.3917/edb.049.0319 |issn=0295-5245}}</ref>

== Phonology == The language's phonemic inventory seems very similar to the currently proposed phonology of Proto-Berber, even more so than Egyptian, Semitic, or the Nilo-Saharan languages.<ref name=":0" /> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Alveolar !Postalveolar !Palatal !Velar !Uvular !Pharyngeal !Glottal |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} | | | | | | |- ! rowspan="2" |Plosive !voiceless |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} | | |{{IPA link|k}} |{{IPA link|q}} | | |- !voiced |{{IPA link|b}} |ḏ (possibly ḍ) | | | | | | |- ! rowspan="2" |Fricative ! voiceless | |{{IPA link|s}} |š {{IPAblink|ʃ}} | | | | |{{IPA link|h}} |- !voiced | |{{IPA link|z}} | |y | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Approximant |{{IPA link|w}} | | |{{IPA link|j}} | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Trill | |{{IPA link|r}} | | | | | | |}

== The "Turin papyrus" and analysis == Full text of the best preserved part of the papyrus in Kehek:<ref>{{cite web | last1=Roccati | first1=Alessandro | title=Alien Speech: Some Remarks on the Language of the Kehek | url=https://www.academia.edu/23674933 }}</ref>

''yꜣ-wꜣ-y ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj''

''j-smj tj-t-yw-t [mꜣ] ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj''

''j-smj jw-š -mj-š-tj-n-kꜣ ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-t''

''j-smj tꜣ-š ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj''

''j-smj mꜣ-n-qꜣ-nꜣ-ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj''

''j-smj j-ṯꜣ-r-bw ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj mꜣ-y''

''j-smj š-h-j-pꜣ-tꜣ ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj''

The papyrus is located in the University of Turin, and has been previously misinterpreted as being a war chant, though it is now interpreted as a chant against snakes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29WtEAAAQBAJ&dq=qeheq+language&pg=PA58 |title=Language Contact in Ancient Egypt |date=2023 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-91507-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AA7TsL3jlgkC&dq=qeheq+language&pg=PA79 |title=The Libyan Anarchy: Inscriptions from Egypt's Third Intermediate Period |date=2009 |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit |isbn=978-1-58983-174-2 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Analysis and links to modern Berber === The only verifiable word in the text is ''ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ,'' probably meaning snake''.'' As it was written in hieratic, many of the language's consonants may not have been present in hieratic, however ''ṯꜣ'' is known to have been used in other texts transliterating other languages (mainly semitic ones) to mark sounds such as zˤ. If this was the case, it would mean that Kehek "zˤ-r-m-t" (possibly vocalized as "aẓramat") shares the same consonantal root for the word as modern Berber "zˤrm" (for example, Kabyle aẓrem), also meaning snake.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nV0GEQAAQBAJ&dq=snake+Kehek+OR+Qeheq&pg=PA58 |title=Language Contact in Ancient Egypt |date=2023-06-20 |publisher=LIT Verlag |isbn=978-3-643-96507-3 |language=en}}</ref> Other words that don't have known meaning but may be identified with modern Berber cognates are the following: {| class="wikitable" |+ ! colspan="4" |Possible Kehek words and cognates with modern Berber languages according to Jason P. Silvestri.<ref name=":0" /> |- |'''Kehek lexeme''' |'''Possible vocalization''' |'''Modern Berber cognates''' |'''Notes''' |- |yꜣw-šꜣ-ḏꜣw-w |*yǎšǎḍǎw |Lexeme "šḍ", present across various languages (such as Shilha, Nafusi and Kabyle), meaning "to glide, slither, slide". |Verb, "y-" might be 3rd masculine prefix |- |yꜣ-wꜣ-y |*yaway |Lexeme "wy", meaning "to carry/bring". |Inflected verb, "y-" present |- |j-smj |*asama <nowiki>*</nowiki>azma |Related either to lexem "sm" meaning "name" across all Berber languages or "zm" meaning "to curse/slander" in the Tuareg languages. |Verb (?) |- |tꜣ-š |*taša |Modern Berber "to eat" |Verb (?) |- |m'-n-qꜣ-nꜣ |*manqan <nowiki>*</nowiki>amanɣan |Lexeme "nq" or "nɣ" meaning to kill. |Noun |- |''ṯꜣ-r-bw'' |*zarub |Lexeme "zrb" meaning to "to burn" in Shilha and the Tuareg languages. |Verb |- |sꜣ-kꜣ-r-q |*sakaraq |Lexeme "skr" meaning to make |Inflected verb |}

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Extinct languages of Africa Category:Languages of Libya Category:Languages of Egypt Category:Unclassified languages of Africa Category:Ancient Libya Category:Afroasiatic languages