The Meroitic language was spoken in Meroë and the Sudan during the Meroitic period (about 300 BC-400 AD), and is now extinct. It was written in the Meroitic alphabet. It is not very well understood, due to the paucity of bilingual texts; the few words whose meanings have been confirmed are inadequate to determine its genetic affiliation, but some linguists have tentatively suggested that it may be Nilo-Saharan, while others see it as a language isolate.

External links

• The Linguistic Position of Meroitic (http://www.arkamani.org/meroitic_studies/rilly.htm), Claude Rilly, CNRS

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