Nubian

Nu·bi·an

N0184300 (no͞o′bē-ən, nyo͞o′-)adj. Of or relating to Nubia or its peoples, languages, or cultures.n.1. A native or inhabitant of Nubia.2. Any of a group of closely related Nilo-Saharan languages spoken in the Sudan. Also called Nuba.

Nubian

(ˈnjuːbɪən) n1. (Peoples) a native or inhabitant of Nubia, an ancient region of NE Africa2. (Languages) the language spoken by the people of Nubia3. (Placename) the language spoken by the people of Nubiaadj4. (Placename) of or relating to Nubia or its inhabitants5. (Peoples) of or relating to Nubia or its inhabitants6. informal of or relating to Black culture

Nu•bi•an

(ˈnu bi ən, ˈnyu-)

n. 1. a member of any of a group of African peoples of Nubia. 2. a family of Nilo-Saharan languages spoken in the Nile River valley and parts of the Sudan, esp. Darfur province and the Nuba Hills of S Kordofan province. 3. a Nubian horse. adj. 4. of Nubia, Nubians, or the language family Nubian.

Thesaurus

Noun

Nubian - a native or inhabitant of Nubia; "Nubians now form an ethnic minority in Egypt"ethnic group, ethnos - people of the same race or nationality who share a distinctive cultureNubia - an ancient region of northeastern Africa (southern Egypt and northern Sudan) on the Nile; much of Nubia is now under Lake NasserEgyptian - a native or inhabitant of Egypt

Translations

Nubian

1. a native or inhabitant of Nubia, an ancient region of NE Africa 2. the language spoken by the people of Nubia

Nubian

the language of the Nile Nubians, spoken in the northern Sudan and in Egypt by 1.5 million people (1970, estimate). Nubian belongs to the Chari-Nile branch of the Nilo-Saharan languages. The Nubian hill dialects of Kordofan (Midobi, Birked) and the languages of the Nubians in the Darfur region are related to Nubian.

Nubian consists of two dialect groups: Mahass-Fadija and Dongola-Kenuzi. Nubian and Meroitic are practically the only two ancient languages of Africa—with the exception of the Hamito-Semitic languages of Africa—that developed a writing system. When Nubia adopted Christianity, a Nubian alphabet (with written records dating from the eighth through 14th centuries) was devised from the Coptic alphabet. This first Nubian alphabet was later replaced by a writing system based on Arabic script. The ancient Nubian language is directly ancestral of the modern dialect of Mahass-Fadija.

Nubian is an inflectional language; it is characterized by internal inflection and suffixation. Most stems are monosyllabic. Nouns have three cases. Sandhi is common. The usual word order is subject-object-verb. Nubian grammar and, especially, vocabulary have been heavily influenced by Arabic.

REFERENCES

Lepsius, R. Nubische Grammatik Berlin, 1880.
Zyhlarz, E. Grundzüge der nubischen Grammatik im christlichen Frühmittelalter. Leipzig, 1928.

E. A. KHELIMSKII

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REFERENCES

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Words related to Nubian

noun a native or inhabitant of Nubia

Related Words