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The Punic language, also called Carthaginian or Phoenicio-Punic, is an extinct variety of the Phoenician language, a Canaanite language of the Semitic family. It was spoken in the Carthaginian empire in North Africa and several Mediterranean islands by the Punic people throughout classical antiquity, from the 8th century BC to the 5th century AD. ==History== The Punics stayed in contact with Phoenicia until the destruction of Carthage by the Roman Republic in 146 BC. During the time periods Punic was spoken, it underwent many changes under Berber language influence. At first there was not much of a difference between Phoenician and Punic, but as time went on, and Carthage and her colonies lost contact with Phoenicia, Punic began to become less influenced by Phoenicia and more influenced by the local Berber language of the area in and around Carthage. The term ''Neo-Punic'' is used in two senses, one pertaining to the Phoenician script and the other to the language itself. In the present context, Neo-Punic refers to the dialect of Punic spoken after after the fall of Carthage and after the Roman conquest of the former Punic territories in 146 BC. This dialect differed from the earlier Punic language, evident from divergent spelling compared to earlier Punic, and by the use of non-Semitic names, mostly of Libyco-Berber origin. The reason for this difference was the dialectal changes Punic underwent as it spread among the North-African peoples. Neo-Punic works include ''Lepcis Magna N 19'', which dates back to 92 AD. By around the 4th century AD, Punic was still spoken in Tunisia, parts of North Africa, and the Mediterranean. The Neo-Punic alphabet also descended from the Punic language. By around AD 400, Punic, in the first meaning, was mainly used for monumental inscriptions, while the cursive Neo-Punic alphabet was used elsewhere.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Punic )〕 Examples of Punic literary works cover the topic of Mago, a Punic general with great notoriety, who spread Carthage's influence as much through writing books as he did fighting. Mago wrote 28 volumes about animal husbandry. The Roman Senate appreciated these works so much that after taking Carthage they presented them to Berber princes who owned libraries there. Mago's work was translated into Greek by Cassius Dionysius of Utica. The Latin version was probably translated from the Greek version. Further examples of Punic works of literature include the works of Hanno — not the Hanno who lived in the time of Agathocles of Syracuse, but a more ancient Hanno. Hanno wrote about his encounters during his naval voyages around Africa and about the settling of new colonies. A third version of Punic would be ''Latino-Punic'', which was a Punic written in the Latin alphabet, but all of the spellings favoured those of the North African pronunciation. Latino-Punic was spoken right up to the 3rd and 4th century, and was recorded in seventy recovered texts, which show the surprising survival of Punic under Roman rule. It survived because the people speaking it did not have much contact with Rome, and thus did not need to learn Latin. Latino-Punic texts include the 1st-century ''Zliten LP1'', or the 2nd-century ''Lepcis Magna LP1''. They were even written as far as the 4th century AD, ''Bir ed-Dreder LP2''. Classical sources such as Strabo (63/4 BC – AD 24), mention the Phoenician conquest of Libya. There is evidence that every form of Punic changed after 146 BC according to Sallust (86 BC – AD 34), who claims Punic was "altered by their intermarriages with the Numidians". This account agrees with other evidence found to suggest a North-African influence on Punic, such as Libyco-Berber names in the onomasticon. The last known testimony reporting Punic as a living language is that of Augustine of Hippo (d. 430). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Punic language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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