Punicspeaking

Punicspeaking refers to the historical use of the Punic language. Punic was a dialect of Phoenician, which in turn belonged to the Semitic language family. It was spoken in the Carthaginian civilization and its colonies across the western Mediterranean, particularly in North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and parts of Iberia. The Punic language flourished from the 9th century BCE until its gradual decline after the Roman conquest of Carthage in the 3rd century BCE.

The Punic language was written using the Punic alphabet, a derivative of the Phoenician script. This alphabet was abjad-style, meaning it primarily represented consonants, with vowels often implied or indicated by matres lectionis. While extensive literary works in Punic have not survived, numerous inscriptions on stelae, sarcophagi, coins, and votive offerings provide valuable linguistic evidence. These inscriptions reveal a language closely related to other Phoenician dialects and, by extension, to Hebrew and Aramaic.

The spread of Punic was facilitated by Carthaginian trade and expansion. Merchants and colonists carried the language throughout their sphere of influence. However, with the rise of Roman power and the eventual destruction of Carthage, Latin gradually supplanted Punic as the dominant language in the region. While Punic persisted for a time in some areas, particularly in rural communities, it eventually became extinct. Modern scholarship reconstructs the language primarily from these epigraphic sources and comparative linguistics.