Corrections and Additions to Browne’s Old Nubian Dictionary
Launched August 26, 2010
Ported to Wiki November 22, 2010
Note to Contributors:
New contributors should add their name and initials to the Author Index at the bottom of this list. All new entries or edits of old entries should be marked by the initials of their author. Do not replace or delete entries considered to be erroneous; rather, edit them to indicate proposed corrections and arguments in their favor. In all cases cite relevant Old Nubian sources or modern Nubian comparanda.
darti-: Browne 1996, 38 takes this word to mean "half?" Rather, darti- indicates an unknown commodity. An unpublished account from Qasr Ibrim, 64/26.8, shows that darti- cannot indicate a half, since its presence in line 4 of the recto modifies no other commodity or unit; since the preceding lines indicate numbers of dirhems; and since the same text uses pakkat- to indicate where half a dirhem is intended. (GR)
(RW:) tòortì in Modern Nobiin is "half", that is probably where Browne got this from, but I agree that phonologically Old Nobiin darti would not be rendered as tòortì in Modern Nobiin, so they do not look related to me. (RW)
deou: "shackle". See EA 71892, (Ruffini, G., "Psalms 149-150: A Bilingual Greek and Old Nubian Version from Qasr Ibrim." ZPE 168 (2009): 112-122) commentary to line 4. (GR)
(RW:) I do not have the article at hand, but just want to point out that dèew in Modern Nobiin is a flat iron sheet to bake on, could also be used to make a sound. (RW)
eiml: Browne 1996, 69 takes emel-/eiml- to be "millett?" For this word read "hundred" and compare modern Nubian’s ime/il (Khalil 1996, 46). See Łajtar and Ruffini forthcoming ("Qasr Ibrim’s Last Land Sale") for the publication of EA 90225, where eiml appears in the Era of the Martyrs dating clause. (GR)
(RW:) ímíl clearly is "hundred" in Modern Nobiin. (RW)
gou-/gouñ-: Browne 1996, 34 takes gou-/gouny- (?) as "to shake." The Old Nubian version of Psalm 150 suggests that the root is indeed gou- alone, and that its semantic range includes something equivalent to "to trumpet." See EA 71892, (Ruffini, G., "Psalms 149-150: A Bilingual Greek and Old Nubian Version from Qasr Ibrim." ZPE 168 (2009): 112-122) commentary to line 7. (GR)
(RW:) In Modern Nobiin, we have two verbs with the stem/root guuny-, according to tonal distinction they mean either "to gaze, look" (gúunyìr) or "to turn around" (gùunyír). In both cases "shake" is not very close semantically. (RW)
koln̅ tewiti: Not "roast of lion" per Browne 1996, 96 and his translation of IN 3.36.ii.7, but "gazelle" on the suggestion of Hallim Sabbar, personal communication to Giovanni Ruffini, August 2010. (GR)
(RW:) I doubt this interpretation. ko/kol is "owner", and is a "taboo word" for "lion" (kóo in Modern Nobiin). I do not see the basis for "gazelle" here. (RW)
kumbali..: "cymbal", loan word from Greek kumbalos. See EA 71892 (Ruffini, G., "Psalms 149-150: A Bilingual Greek and Old Nubian Version from Qasr Ibrim." ZPE 168 (2009): 112-122). (GR)
sarti-: Browne 1996, 156 defines sarti- as "iron?" with reference to IN 3.60.14. The publication of EA 71892 confirms this definition; see Ruffini, G., "Psalms 149-150: A Bilingual Greek and Old Nubian Version from Qasr Ibrim." ZPE 168 (2009): 112-122. (GR)
(RW:) I suggest that sarti- could mean "spear/shaft/arrow" - as in Modern Nobiin shàartì (RW)
siptragra: This form appears in Browne 2004, an Old Nubian inscription from a church at Banganarti. Browne took sip- as the base, standing for sipr-, and took the whole form as possibly meaning "customarily". But sipitor- appears as a base form in several unpublished documents from Qasr Ibrim, suggesting it is the base in the Banganarti inscription as well. (GR)
Author Index
GR: Giovanni Ruffini
RW: Roland Werner
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