Punic language
The Punic language began to separate from its Phoenician parent around the time that Carthage became the leading Phoenician city under Mago I. This divergence occurred gradually, and scholarly attempts to delineate the dialects lack precision and generally disagree on the classification. The Punics stayed in contact with the homeland of Phoenicia until the destruction of Carthage by the Roman Republic in 146 BC. At first, there was not much difference between Phoenician and Punic. Developments in the language before 146 BC are largely hidden from us by the adherence of Carthaginian scribes to a traditional Phoenician orthography. There are occasional hints that the phonology and grammar of Punic had begun to diverge from Phoenician after the sixth century BC. The clearest evidence for this comes from Motya in western Sicily. There are also traces of it in sixth-century Carthaginian inscriptions. It is unclear whether these developments began in western Sicily and spread to Africa or vice versa. From the fifth-century BC, a shared set of alphabetic, orthographic, and phonological rules are encountered in Punic inscriptions throughout the western Mediterranean. These rules were probably due to Carthaginian influence.
Neo-Punic refers to the dialect of Punic spoken after the fall of Carthage and after the Roman conquest of the former Punic territories in 146 BC. The dialect differed from the earlier Punic language, as is evident from divergent spelling compared to earlier Punic. It also used non-Semitic names, mostly of Libyco-Berber or Iberian origin. The difference was due to the dialectal changes that Punic underwent as it spread among the northern Berber peoples. Sallust (86 , 34 BC) claims Punic was altered by their intermarriages with the Numidians. That account agrees with other evidence found to suggest a North African Berber influence on Punic. Examples include Libyco-Berber names in the Onomasticon of Eusebius. Neo-Punic is mostly known from inscriptions, including Lepcis Magna N 19 dated to 92 AD. Around the fourth century AD, Punic was still spoken in what is now northern parts of Tunisia and Algeria. A version of Punic, known as Latino-Punic was written in the Latin alphabet and is known from seventy texts. These texts include the 1st-century Zliten LP1 and the second century Lepcis Magna LP1. They were even written as late as the 4th century, Bir ed-Dreder LP2.
Punic literary works were written in the period before 146 BC. For example, Mago wrote 28 volumes about animal husbandry. The Roman Senate appreciated the works so much that after taking Carthage, they presented them to Berber princes who owned libraries there. Mago's work was translated into Greek by Cassius Dionysius of Utica. A Latin version was probably translated from the Greek version. Further examples of Punic works of literature include the works of Hanno the Navigator. He wrote about his encounters during his naval voyages around what is today Africa and about the settling of new colonies in Iberia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. The play Poenulus by Plautus contains a few lines of vernacular Punic which have been subject to some research because unlike inscriptions, they largely preserve the vowels. Act V of Plautus's comedy Poenulus opens with Hanno speaking in Punic, his native language, in the first ten lines. Charles Krahmalkov is of the opinion that the first ten lines are Neo-Punic, the next ten Punic. Lines 930-939 have only survived in one manuscript, the Ambrosianus A. The unknown text, lines 940-949, has also survived in three manuscripts of the Palatine family.
Punic has 22 consonants. Details of their pronunciation can be reconstructed from Punic and Neo-Punic texts written in Latin or Greek characters. In Late Punic and in Late Phoenician, certain letters underwent fricativization to other sounds in the 3rd century BCE. Under Roman influence often elided but was still pronounced in certain Carthaginian words. Sometimes used for the indication of the vowel u. In a few names attested as sd, like in Hasdrubal for azrubaal, esde for this, but most texts show a simple s: syt for this, in Late Punic. The sound of Het was weakened, and words written usually with it were often instead written with the letter Alf in Late Punic inscriptions. Attested as ts mostly as s in Latin and Ancient Greek and Hittite, Lydian and Etruscan texts. Pronunciation is debated: some think it was sh; others that it was s. The vowels in Punic and Neo-Punic are short a, i, and u. Their long counterparts are ā, ī, and u. There are also ē and o, which had developed out of the diphthongs ay and aw respectively. For example Punic mēm, water, corresponds to Hebrew mayim.
Nouns, including adjectives, in Punic and Neo-Punic can be of two genders, masculine or feminine, three numbers, singular, dual, or plural, and in two states, the absolute state or the so-called construct state. A word in the construct state has a close relation with the word that follows, a relation that is often translated by of. For example, in the combination sons of Hanno, sons of would be in the construct state, while Hanno would be in the absolute state. The nucleus of Punic and Neo-Punic verbs is a root consisting of three or sometimes two consonants. By adding prefixes and suffixes, and by varying the vowels that are inserted into the root, the various forms of the verb are formed. These belong to six stems, conjugations. The basic, and most common, stem type is the Qal. The other common stems include Niph'al, Pi'el, and Yiph'il. In Punic there was no one-on-one correlation between form and use. Tense, aspect, and mood of verbal forms were determined by syntax, not by morphology. Word order in Punic and Neo-Punic can vary, but this variation has its grammatical limits.
Augustine of Hippo (died 430) is generally considered the last major ancient writer to have some knowledge of Punic. He is considered the primary source on the survival of late Punic. According to him, Punic was still spoken in his region, Northern Africa, in the 5th century, centuries after the fall of Carthage. There were still people who called themselves chanani, Canaanite, at that time. He wrote around 401. Besides Augustine, the only proof of Punic-speaking communities at such a late period is a series of trilingual funerary texts found in the Christian catacombs of Sirte, Libya. The gravestones are carved in Ancient Greek, Latin and Punic. It might have even survived the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, as the geographer al-Bakri describes a people speaking a language that was not Berber, Latin or Coptic in Sirte. However, it is likely that Arabization of Punic speakers was facilitated by their language belonging to the same group, both were Semitic languages, as that of the conquerors. They had many grammatical and lexical similarities. The idea that Punic was the origin of Maltese was first raised in 1565. Modern linguistics has proved that Maltese is in fact derived from Arabic, probably Siculo-Arabic specifically, with a large number of loanwords from Italian.
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Common questions
When did the Punic language begin to separate from its Phoenician parent?
The Punic language began to separate from its Phoenician parent around the time that Carthage became the leading Phoenician city under Mago I. This divergence occurred gradually, and scholarly attempts to delineate the dialects lack precision and generally disagree on the classification.
What is Neo-Punic and when was it spoken after 146 BC?
Neo-Punic refers to the dialect of Punic spoken after the fall of Carthage and after the Roman conquest of the former Punic territories in 146 BC. Around the fourth century AD, Punic was still spoken in what is now northern parts of Tunisia and Algeria.
Who wrote the most famous Punic literary work about animal husbandry before 146 BC?
Mago wrote 28 volumes about animal husbandry during the period before 146 BC. The Roman Senate appreciated the works so much that after taking Carthage, they presented them to Berber princes who owned libraries there.
How many consonants does the Punic language have and how are their pronunciations reconstructed?
Punic has 22 consonants and details of their pronunciation can be reconstructed from Punic and Neo-Punic texts written in Latin or Greek characters. In Late Punic and in Late Phoenician, certain letters underwent fricativization to other sounds in the 3rd century BCE.
When did Augustine of Hippo die and why is he important for knowledge of late Punic?
Augustine of Hippo died on the 430th year and is generally considered the last major ancient writer to have some knowledge of Punic. He is considered the primary source on the survival of late Punic because he stated that Punic was still spoken in his region, Northern Africa, in the 5th century.