{r} “This is Malutuna” (REM 0277, epitaph). Malutuna is traditionally transcribed “Maloton.” This viceroy of Lower Nubia (*peseto*), living at the end of the 3rd century CE, is famous for his beautiful *ba* statue kept in the Nubian Museum in Aswan.
{r} “This (one), this is Ataqu” (REM 1057, epitaph).
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The pronoun *qo* was among the first elements that Griffith singled out in the funerary inscriptions after his decipherment of the script.[^x5] The word occurred in final position in the “nomination” of the deceased, either bare (1) or followed by an optional particle *-wi* “for emphasis” (2).[^11] Quite often, another *qo* preceded the name of the deceased (3). Griffith suggested that this first *qo* was an epithet meaning “honorable” or “noble” and the final *qo* was a grammatical tool “to introduce the name of the deceased.” In his *Beiträge zur meroitischen Grammatik,* Hintze was the first to regard *qo* as a demonstrative pronoun.[^x505] According to him, the original form of this word was *qe* and the predicative compound *qo(wi)* was composed of *qe* + copula *-o* ± particle *-wi.* Actually, *qe* is a variant spelling of *qo* and the two forms were pronounced /ku/,[^12] so that *qo(wi)* can be analysed also as *qo* + copula *-o* ± particle *-wi* with a merger of the two consecutive *o*’s. The additional *qo* at the beginning (3), found in 10% of the epitaphs, is used as a topic “this one, this is….”[^13] Itemphasizes the deixis that connects the inscription and the deceased, since these texts were inscribed on offering-tables or stelae that were placed at the entrance and inside the funerary chapels respectively.
@ -78,17 +87,29 @@ The pronoun *qo* was among the first elements that Griffith singled out in the f
[^12]: The frequent variants *qe/qo* here and in other words (for example *Aqedise/Aqodise* “Moon-god” in the texts from the Lion temple in Naga) is best explained by the labialized articulation /kʷ/ of the sign *q*: see Rilly, *La langue du Royaume de Méroé,* pp. 374-379.
[^13]: See Rilly, *La langue du Royaume de Méroé,* p. 547. The literal translation “this one, this is...,” which is used above, is somewhat unnatural in English. In spoken French, the topicalization of the subject is overwhelmingly frequent and sentences such as *celui-ci, c’est…* or even *ça,c’est…,* literally “this, this is” are very common.
{r} “May this dog yield(?) three talents, it is Natarura’s” (REM 1165, beside graffito of a greyhound).
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Another function of *qo,* which confirms the demonstrative status of this word, is adjectival. Like in English or German, the same word is used for the adjective and the pronoun. In (4), also drawn from a funerary text, the topic found in (3) is extended: *qo* “this one” becomes *kdi qo* “this woman”, “this lady.” This interpretation, which I first advanced with some reservations,[^x6] was since then confirmed: (5), (6), and (7) are captions of pictures, respectively the graffito of a dog hunting a hare in the Great Enclosure of Musawwarat, the drawing of a gazelle on a wooden board found in the temple of Amun in Qasr Ibrim and a pair of feet engraved in the temple of Isis in Philae. The deictic nature of *qo* is perfectly obvious here. Its use as a 3rd person pronoun in Meroitic is therefore an extension of his function, because the other way round, namely that a personal pronoun could become a demonstrative, is cross-linguistically highly improbable.
[^x6]: Rilly, *La langue du Royaume de Méroé,* p. 98.
(6)
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{g} *abese*,gazelle|***qo-li***,this-[det]({sc})|
{r} “This gazelle…” (REM 1198 and 1199). The rest of the sentence cannot yet be translated.
Examples (6) and (7) show that the demonstrative adjective *qo* is compatible with the use of the determiner (article), singular *-l(i),* plural *-leb,* unlike English or French, but like Greek[^15] or Hungarian. It is, however, absent in some instances, such as (5) above.
@ -99,7 +120,10 @@ In these examples, the determiner is apparently attached, not to the demonstrati
[^x7]: Rilly, *La langue du Royaume de Méroé,* p. 511.
[^16]: From the textual material so far available, the adjunction of the plural determiner *-leb* seems to be the only way to build the plural of nouns. For an alternative plural *qebe-,* see [§3.2](#ii2).
{r} “Atanene, the *ssmrte* (and) Imalutarura, the *wtotrse*, I gave(?) them to Amanap” (REM1044/25–26). The titles *ssmrte* and *wtotrse* cannot yet be translated. The former is probably an early form of the title *ssimete* frequently attested in later texts and which is connected to the cult of the gods in several instances. The second one is a hapax legomenon. It is presumably a compound word (*wto-tr-se*) including possibly an indirect genitive with postposition *-se*.
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Example (8) is quoted from the great stela of king Taneyidamani kept in Boston. Engraved around 150BCE, it is the earliest royal chronicle written in Meroitic. The excerpt deals with the assignment to the temple of Amanap (Amun of Napata) of two officials, Atanene and Imalutarura. Their names and titles are enumerated and followed by *qoleb.* The context is utterly different from (7), where the deixis is obvious, since it is engraved beside the image of two feet. As in (3) and (4), we are doubtlessly dealing with a topicalized construction. The topic is formed by the names and the description of the two officials, whereas *qoleb* is an anaphoric pronoun that refers to these two persons, but operates as the actual object of the verb.[^18] In anaphoras referring to animate antecedents as shown in (8), most languages where demonstratives and 3rd person pronouns are clearly distinct, a personal pronoun is used. In Meroitic, it seems that *qoleb,* at least when it is the object of the verb, can function as a personal pronoun. Unfortunately, there are no similar instances, namely in sentences with verbs, with the singular *qo,* but the non-verbal sentence in (3) suggests that it would function similarly. In the latter example, the first *qo* plays the role of a deictic whereas the second *qo* assumes the function of an anaphoric.
@ -111,7 +135,10 @@ Whereas Hintze regarded *qe/qo* as a demonstrative, Hofmann held it as a persona
[^x8]: Hofmann, *Material für eine meroitische Grammatik,* pp. 334-338.
{r} “(This) is Qurqurla; this is his elder Qurtakara” (REM 0273/2–4, funerary stela). The kinship term *yetmde* is applied to younger members of the same maternal line (Rilly 2007: 526-527). It mostly designates “nephews” and “nieces,” who are referring to a prestigious uncle in the descriptive part of their epitaph, but in rare cases such as this one, it can be applied to a younger brother.
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The possessive of the 3rd person singular includes the pronoun *qo/qe,* followed by the genitival postposition *-se* and means literally “of him/her.”[^x9] Once again, it can be compared with Latin demonstrative *is, ea, id,* whose genitive *eius* is also used as a 3rd person singular possessive. Three variants are known: *qose,* very rare, *eqese* in REM 1003, and *aqese,* much more common.[^20] Unexpectedly, the 3rd person plural possessive is not *\*qolebse,* but *qebese,* as can be seen in (10), drawn from an epitaph from Gebel Adda that was written for a deceased whose relatives were administrators and scribes from the temple of Isis. Like (3) and (4) above, the sentence includes a topicalized constituent. The genitival phrase (i.e., the officials of the temple) is the topic and is referred to in the predication by the anaphoric possessive *qebese* (their nephew).
@ -124,7 +151,7 @@ The possessive *qebe-se* includes *qebe-,* a plural form of *qo* that is more co
[^x10]: Rilly, *Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique,* p. 389.
*Qebese* has several variants, *aqebese,**aqobese* (see n. 20 [CHECK]) *eqebese,* and especially *bese,* which is frequent. This last form, in all likelihood, is not an abbreviated variant but is based on a still earlier form of the 3rd person pronoun, *-b,* which will be considered below [ADD REF].
@ -780,9 +807,9 @@ In conclusion, a general table of the personal markers that have been identified
* app: applicative voice
* cop: copula
* cont: continuous (tense)
* d: determiner
* dat: dative
* dec: declarative
* det: determiner
* disc: discursive (direct discourse marker)
* du: dual
* emp: so-called “emphatic particle” after the copula in Meroitic (*-wi*)
@ -791,7 +818,7 @@ In conclusion, a general table of the personal markers that have been identified
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