Background

The Nubian languages has been around for thousands of years. However, for the past couple hundred years, they became spoken-only languages as Nubians had to adapt to new official country languages such as Arabic in Egypt and North Sudan. The latest preserved scripts of the language were written in Coptic (Greek) alphabet along with Meroitic letters derived from Demotic Egyptian and Meroitic Hieroglyphics.

Image: "A page from an Old Nubian translation of the Investiture of the Archangel Michael, from the 9th-10th century, found at Qasr Ibrim, now at the British Museum." Source: Wikipedia.

 

In the last few year, a revival of the languages and their written component has been happening amongst the Nubian diaspora. Luckily, the founder of Nubian Narrative was amongst the students of the very few Nubian Language teachers in the world. With new simplified alphabet, it became possible to start writing Nubian again in its various branches and dialects.

Image: Simplified Nubian Alphabet (Nubian Narrative Inc.'s archive).

Inscribed Words and Phrases

The words and phrases used in Nubian Narrative's Capsule collection are written in the simplified Nobiin branch the Nubian language and dialect of North Nubians of the Nile (Upper Egypt and Northern Sudan). 

 

 Pronounced | œu-rœu | this is the Nubian word for 'king'.

 

Pronounced | œu-rœu-n-tʃn  ɑs-si-goʊ | this is the Nubian phrase that means "Descendants of kings (royalty)".