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Tifinagh

The Tifinagh or Tifinigh abjad is the alphabetic script used by the Tuareg, a Berber people of northern Africa, to write their traditional language, Tamasheq or Tamashek. It dates from about the 6th century BC and clearly has different sources (O'Connor 112), probably Punic and Northern Arabic scripts, while at the same time being very innovative. It almost died out in the 3rd century AD. The script has no vowels.

Before the first century BC, Tifinagh was more widely used by all speakers of Tamazight[?] or Berber in North Africa. This old version of Tifinagh is sometimes named Libyan to distinguish it from the modern version used by the Tuareg.



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