Editing Moabite language (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Semitic language of Moab (Jordan)}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Moabite
| region = Formerly spoken in northwestern [[Jordan]]
| era = early half of 1st millennium BC
| ref = linglist
| familycolor = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2 = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
| fam3 = [[West Semitic languages|West]]
| fam4 = [[Central Semitic languages|Central]]
| fam5 = [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest]]
| fam6 = [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]]
| fam7 = [[Canaanite languages#South Canaan|South]]
| script = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| iso3 = obm
| linglist = obm
| glotto = moab1234
| glottorefname = Moabite
}}
The '''Moabite language''', also known as the '''Moabite dialect''', is an extinct sub-language or dialect of the [[Canaanite languages]], themselves a branch of [[Northwest Semitic languages]], formerly spoken in the region described in the Bible as [[Moab]] (modern day central-western [[Jordan]]) in the early 1st millennium BC. 

The body of Canaanite epigraphy found in the region is described as Moabite; this is a [[Ancient text corpora|very small corpus]] limited primarily to the [[Mesha Stele]] and a few seals.<ref name="Young 2011">{{cite book | last=Young | first=I. | title=Diversity in Pre-Exilic Hebrew|publisher=Eisenbrauns | series=Forschungen zum Alten Testament | year=2011 | isbn=978-3-16-151676-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2WgeomUlVkC | access-date=2023-06-03|page=33|quote=The major problem with the study of the Moabite language is the lack of material upon which to base a study. We are fortunate to have a major inscription in the Mesha Stone . This is a basalt stele found in Diban, Transjordan, dating from sometime after 850 BC, set up by Mesha, king of Moab, to celebrate his victory over Israel. Apart from this text, however, we have only two other fragmentary ninth century inscriptions, with various seals to represent later Moabite. The better preserved of these two inscriptions seems to be a fragment of another inscription by Mesha… the second preserves only a few letters which can be made into a couple of conjectured words…. our knowledge of the grammar and other linguistic features of Moabite is dependent almost completely on one inscription alone.}}</ref>

Moabite, together with the similarly poorly-attested [[Ammonite language|Ammonite]] and [[Edomite language|Edomite]], belonged to the [[dialect continuum]] of the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite group]] of [[northwest Semitic languages]], together with [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]].<ref>Simon B.Parker, 'Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite' in John Kaltner, Steven L. McKenzie (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HESFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 ''Beyond Babel: A Handbook for Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages,''] SBL Press, 2019 {{isbn|978-0-884-14384-0}} pp. 43–59 [46ff].</ref>