Constructing word similarities in Meroitic as an aid to decipherment

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of information theory and natural language statistics to identify similar words in the undeciphered Meroitic language, aiding in its decipherment despite previous unsuccessful methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach applying statistical techniques to construct word similarities in Meroitic, advancing decipherment efforts.

Findings

Similar words can be effectively paired using information-theoretic measures.

The approach provides partial insights into Meroitic vocabulary.

Statistical methods show promise in decipherment of undeciphered languages.

Abstract

Meroitic is the still undeciphered language of the ancient civilization of Kush. Over the years, various techniques for decipherment such as finding a bilingual text or cognates from modern or other ancient languages in the Sudan and surrounding areas has not been successful. Using techniques borrowed from information theory and natural language statistics, similar words are paired and attempts are made to use currently defined words to extract at least partial meaning from unknown words.