Kehek language

The language's phonemic inventory seems very similar to the currently proposed phonology of Proto-Berber, even more so than Egyptian, Semitic, or the Nilo-Saharan languages. == The "Turin papyrus" and analysis ==

Full text of the best preserved part of the papyrus in Kehek: yꜣ-wꜣ-y ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj j-smj tj-t-yw-t [mꜣ] ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj j-smj jw-š -mj-š-tj-n-kꜣ ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-t j-smj tꜣ-š ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj j-smj mꜣ-n-qꜣ-nꜣ-ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj j-smj j-ṯꜣ-r-bw ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj mꜣ-y j-smj š-h-j-pꜣ-tꜣ ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ-tj The papyrus is located in the university of Turin, and has been previously misinterpreted as being a war chant, though it is know interpreted as a chant against snakes. Analysis and links to modern Berber The only verifiable word in the text is ṯꜣ-r-mꜣ, probably meaning snake. As it was written in hieratic, many of the language's consonants may not have been present in Hieratic, however ṯꜣ is known to have been used in other texts transliterating other languages (mainly semitic ones) to mark sounds such as zˤ. If this was the case, it would mean that Kehek "zˤ-r-m-t" (possibly vocalized as "aẓramat") shares the same consonantal root for the word as modern Berber "zˤrm" (for example, Kabyle aẓrem), also meaning snake. Other words that don't have known meaning but may be identified with modern Berber cognates are the following: == References ==