Language Use in Medieval Nubia

Abstract In the multilingual society of medieval Nubia as many as four languages were used in written communication. Apart from the local Old Nubian language, Greek, Sahidic Coptic, and Arabic were also employed for composing texts of both literary and documentary genres. While many texts could be written in any of the four languages, a functional differentiation can be observed regarding certain domains of Nubian literacy. Moreover, throughout centuries of coexistence, the languages interacted with one another resulting in a number of language contact phenomena.