Editing Meroitic language (section)

{{Short description|Extinct language}}
{{use dmy dates |date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Meroitic
| altname          =Kushite
|image= Meroitische Inschrift, Meroe 1. Jh. n. Chr., Aegyptisches Museum, Muenchen-1.jpg
|imagecaption=Meroitic inscription (1st century BC), [[Egyptian Museum of Berlin]] 
|states=[[Kingdom of Kush]]
|region=Southern part of [[Upper Egypt]] around [[Aswan]] ([[Lower Nubia]]) to the [[Khartoum]] area of [[Sudan]] (Upper Nubia)
|era=Possibly attested as early as 12th Dynasty Egypt (ca. 2000–ca. 1800 BC) and fully extinct no later than the 4th century AD<ref>{{cite web|title=Meroitic |url=http://multitree.org/codes/xmr |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150418172752/http://multitree.org/codes/xmr |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2015 |access-date=1 May 2024 |quote=200 BC - 4th century AD.}}</ref>
|familycolor=unclassified
|fam1=[[unclassified language|Unclassified]] <br />(possibly [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]] or [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]])
|iso3=xmr
|script=[[Meroitic alphabet]]
|linglist=xmr
|glotto=mero1237
|glottorefname=Meroitic}}

The '''Meroitic language''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ɛr|oʊ|ˈ|ɪ|t|ɪ|k}}) was a language of uncertain linguistic affiliation spoken in [[Meroë]] (in present-day [[Sudan]]) during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BC) and became extinct about 400 AD. It was written in two forms of the [[Meroitic alphabet]]: Meroitic Cursive, which was written with a [[stylus]] and was used for general record-keeping; and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, which was carved in stone or used for royal or religious documents. It is poorly understood, owing to the scarcity of [[Parallel text|bilingual]] texts.