{{Short description|Abjad writing system}} {{Infobox Writing system | name = Libyco-Berber alphabet | languages = Berber languages<br />? Guanche<br />? Garamantian | time = Sometime during the first millennium BC to the 4th-7th century AD | type = Abjad | direction = various, but usually bottom-to-top or right-to-left | fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs | fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic script | fam3 = Phoenician alphabet ?<ref name="centrederechercheberbere.fr">[https://www.centrederechercheberbere.fr/lecriture-libyco-berbere.html L'ECRITURE LIBYCO-BERBERE: Etat des lieux et perspectives]</ref> | children = Tifinagh (Tuareg Tifinagh) | sample = Prehistory-draa16.jpg | note = none }}
The '''Libyco-Berber alphabet''' is an abjad writing system that was used during the first millennium BC by various Berber peoples of North Africa and the Canary Islands, to write ancient varieties of the Berber language like the Numidian language.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mnamon.sns.it/index.php?page=Scrittura&id=47&lang=en |title=Libyco-Berber - 2nd (9th?) century BC-7th century AD |access-date=2022-06-05 |archive-date=2022-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605215520/http://mnamon.sns.it/index.php?page=Scrittura&id=47&lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Libyco-Berber relations with ancient Egypt: the Tehenu in Egyptian records |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000070515 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605215450/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000070515 |archive-date=2022-06-05 |access-date=2022-06-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/RILRecueilDesInscriptionsLibyques |title=J.-B. CHABOT. — RECUEIL DES INSCRIPTIONS LIBYQUES}}</ref><ref>[https://ia801308.us.archive.org/25/items/amazigh_201511/lyb-Galand%20-%20L'alphabet%20libyque%20de%20Dougga.pdf L'alphabet libyque de Dougga, Lionel Galand, 1973]</ref><ref>[https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/etaf_0768-2352_1966_mon_1_1_879.pdf Inscriptions libyques, Lionel Galand, 1966]{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
The use of the Libyco-Berber alphabet died out in northern areas during or after the reign of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire, but it spread south into the Sahara desert and evolved there into the Tuareg Tifinagh alphabet used by the Tuareg Berbers to this day.
It is also known as the '''Numidian script''' or the '''Old Libyan script''', the point being to avoid an assumption that Numidian has any continuity with any surviving modern Berber language.<ref>{{cite web |title=Africa's ancient scripts counter European ideas of literacy {{!}} Aeon Essays |url=https://aeon.co/essays/africas-ancient-scripts-counter-european-ideas-of-literacy |website=Aeon |language=en}}</ref>
==Origin== The origin of the Libyco-Berber script is still debated by academic researchers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Casajus |first=Dominique |trans-title=On the origin of the Libyco-Berber alphabet: A few proposals |title=Sur l'origine de l'écriture libyque. Quelques propositions |language=en |journal=Afriques |date=2021 |doi=10.4000/afriques.1203|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>[https://www.centrederechercheberbere.fr/tl_files/doc-pdf/chak-hach.pdf A PROPOS DE L’ORIGINE ET DE L’AGE DE L’ECRITURE LIBYCO-BERBERE, Salem Chaker, Slimane Hachi. Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques, Mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse, (S. Chaker, éd.), Paris/Louvain, Editions Peeters, 2000, p. 95-111.]</ref> The leading theories regarding its origins posit it as being either a heavily modified version of the Phoenician alphabet, or a local invention influenced by the latter,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJByDwAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber+phoenician.&pg=PA188 |title=Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past: Essays in Honour of Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias |date=2018-08-13 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-38018-9 |language=en}}</ref> with the most supported view being that it derived from a local prototype conceptually inspired by a Phoenician or archaic Semitic model.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Arnaiz-Villena |first=Antonio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0wIBgAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber&pg=PT116 |title=Prehistoric Iberia: Genetics, Anthropology, and Linguistics |date=2012-12-06 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4615-4231-5 |language=en}}</ref> Other unlikely explanations include Greek, Punic or South Arabian influences.<ref name=":1" />
One of the oldest known variants of the script is found in inscriptions in Dugga dating from Numidian times.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":72">{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=George L. |title=The Routledge handbook of scripts and alphabets |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |others=Christopher Moseley |isbn=978-0-203-86548-4 |edition=2nd |location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon |pages=58–59 |oclc=810078009}}</ref>
== Description == Before, during, and after the existence of the ancient Berber kingdoms of Numidia (northern Algeria, 202 BC–40 BC) and Mauretania (northern Morocco, 3rd century BC – 44 AD) many inscriptions were engraved using the Libyco-Berber script, although the overwhelming majority of the found ones were simple funerary scripts, with rock art, cave art, graffiti, and even a few official governmental and possibly religious inscriptions have been found.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nehmé |first1=Laïla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IJ1DwAAQBAJ&dq=funerary+inscriptions+libyco-berber&pg=PA346 |title=To the Madbar and Back Again: Studies in the languages, archaeology, and cultures of Arabia dedicated to Michael C.A. Macdonald |last2=Al-Jallad |first2=Ahmad |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-35761-7 |language=en}}</ref>
The Libyco-Berber script was a pure abjad; it had no distinct vowels. However, it had equivalents for "w" and "y", and "h" was possibly used as an "a" too. Gemination was not marked. The writing was usually from the bottom to the top, although right-to-left, and even other orders, were also found. The letters took different forms when written vertically than when they were written horizontally.<ref name="ancient">{{cite web |title=Berber |url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826045645/http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html |archive-date=2017-08-26 |access-date=2017-10-09 |publisher=Ancient Scripts}}</ref> The letters were highly geometrical.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mukhtār |first=Muḥammad Jamāl al-Dīn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ta0wDwAAQBAJ&dq=Libyco-Berber+geometrical&pg=PA238 |title=UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition: Ancient Africa |date=1990-06-27 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06697-7 |language=en}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" |+Libyco-Berber inventory (compared to equivalent Tifinagh letters by sound):<ref>{{cite book |last1=Galand |first1=Lionel |title=Études de Linguistique Berbère |date=2002 |publisher=Peeters |location=Leuven, Paris |isbn=90-429-1180-8 |pages=13, 15, 31}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> !Transliteration !Eastern Libyco-Berber (Dougga) !Tifinagh (Ahaggar) !Neo-Tifinagh |- |b |20x20px |ⵀ |ⴱ |- |g |20x20px |ⴳ |ⴳ |- |d |20x20px |ⴷ,ⴸ |ⴷ |- |h |20x20px |ⵂ |ⵀ |- |w |20x20px |ⵓ |ⵡ |- |z<sup>1</sup> |20x20px |ⵋ |ⵊ |- |ṭ |20x20px |ⵟ |ⵟ |- |y |20x20px |ⵉ |ⵢ |- |k |20x20px |ⴾ |ⴽ |- |l |20x20px |ⵍ |ⵍ |- |m |20x20px |ⵎ |ⵎ |- |n |alt=LB vertical N|20x20px |ⵏ |ⵏ |- |s<sup>1</sup> |alt=LB vertical N|20x20px | |ⵚ |- |f |20x20px |ⴼ |ⴼ |- |s<sup>2</sup> |20x20px |ⵙ |ⵙ |- |q/ɣ? |20x20px? |ⵗ/ⵈ |ⵖ/ⵇ |- |r |20x20px |ⵔ |ⵔ |- |s<sup>3</sup> |20x20px |ⵛ |ⵛ |- |t |20x20px |ⵜ |ⵜ |- |z<sup>2</sup> |alt=LB vertical Z|20x20px |ⵣ |ⵣ |- |s<sup>4</sup> |20x20px | | |- |z<sup>3</sup> |20x20px |ⵌ |ⵥ |}
== Variations == There are multiple variants of the Libyco-Berber script; some studies divide these varieties into eastern and western, while others have identified more than 25 "dialects" grouped in 5 different families.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fY0eAAAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber+cyrenaica&pg=PA766 |title=The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology |last2=Lane |first2=Paul |date=2013-07-04 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-956988-5 |pages=766 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Written In Stone |url=https://africanrockart.britishmuseum.org/thematic/written-in-stone/ |access-date=2022-06-07 |website=africanrockart.britishmuseum.org}}</ref>
The eastern variant was used in what is now Constantine and the Aurès regions of Algeria and in Tunisia, and to an extent Kabylia. It is the best-deciphered variant, due to the discovery of several Numidian bilingual inscriptions in Libyco-Berber and Punic (notably so-called KAI 100 and 101 at Dougga in Tunisia).<ref name=":0" /> Since 1843, 22 letters out of the 24 have been deciphered.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The Western variant was used along the Mediterranean coast from Kabylia to the Canary Islands. It used 13 supplementary letters.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Renfrew |first1=Colin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWbwAwAAQBAJ&dq=Libyco-Berber+western+eastern&pg=PT605 |title=The Cambridge World Prehistory |last2=Bahn |first2=Paul |date=2014-06-09 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-64775-6 |language=en}}</ref> As of 2002, much of the Western variant has yet to be deciphered.<ref name=":0" /> Western variant signs have also been observed to be used in combination with possible pictograms of animals.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Le Quellec |first=Jean-Loïc |title=Written culture in a colonial context : Africa and the Americas 1500-1900 |date=2012 |publisher=BRILL |others=Adrien Delmas, Nigel Penn |isbn=978-90-04-22524-4 |location=Leiden |pages=24 |chapter=Rock Art, Scripts and Proto-Scripts in Africa: The Libyco-uberber Example |oclc=775301938}}</ref>
== Inscriptions == The Libyco-Berber script is found in thousands of stone inscriptions and engravings throughout Morocco, northern Algeria, Tunisia, northern Libya and the Canary Islands, with inscriptions of the later (transitional) Saharan variant in rocky outcrops in Mali and Niger.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Pichler |first=Werner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZW_MgAACAAJ |title=Origin and Development of the Libyco-Berber Script |date=2007 |publisher=Köppe |isbn=978-3-89645-394-5 |language=en}}</ref>
Apart from thousands of small inscriptions, some of the best known and significant Libyco-Berber inscriptions are in the Massinissa Temple (discovered in 1904) and the Prince Ateban Mausoleum in Dougga / Thugga (TBGG), northern Tunisia. Other significant Libyco-Berber inscription are the Azib N'Ikkis<ref>{{Cite web |title=LBI - Libyco-Berber Inscriptions Database: Inscription details |url=http://www.institutum-canarium.org/lbi-project/inscr_data.php?site=IKKI1&inscr=1 |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=www.institutum-canarium.org}}</ref> and the Oukaimeden,<ref>{{Cite web |title=LBI - Libyco-Berber Inscriptions Database: Inscription details |url=http://www.institutum-canarium.org/lbi-project/inscr_data.php?site=OUKA1&inscr=1 |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=www.institutum-canarium.org}}</ref> both found in the High-Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
<gallery> File:The first published sketch of the Bilingual inscription of Dougga (Jean Emile Humbert).jpg|The first published sketch of the bilingual (Left: Punic. Right: Libyco-Berber) Ateban Mausoleum inscription of Dougga, Tunisia (Jean Emile Humbert) File:Libyco-berber alphabet funerary stele of Tunisia Sbeitla Museum.jpg|alt=|Vertical Libyco-berber "Eastern" alphabet on a funerary stele found in Sidi Ali Bahloul, Jedilane-Rouha region, Tunisia (Sbeitla's archeological museum) File:Numidjanska stela3.jpg|alt=|Numidian stela in Bardo National Museum (Tunis) File:Prehistory-draa16.jpg|alt=|Writing on mountain along Wadi Draa in Fum ash-Shanna, Tinzouline, Zagora Province, Morocco </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Libyco-berber_Inscriptions?page=1 Academic papers on the Libyco-Berber inscriptions] *[https://www.freemorocco.com/alibu-mazigh/ The Libyco-Berber alphabet's font] *[https://www.freemorocco.com/alibu-mazigh.ttf Download the Libyco-Berber font]
Category:Berber history Category:Alphabets Category:Berber languages Category:Writing systems of Africa Category:Berberism