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"Then, my dear friend, we are in the presence of a foreign word, translated into Tifinar." "And this word belongs, according to your theory, to what language?" "You must realize that the letter e does not exist in the Tifinar alphabet. It has here been replaced by the phonetic sign which is nearest to it, h. Restore e to the place which belongs to it in the word, and you have " "Antinea."
You know that Tifinar is the national writing of the Tuareg, the expression of this Temachek language which seems to us the most curious protest of the Targui race against its Mohammedan enemies. "Dom Granger, in fact, believed that the Tuareg are Christians, dating from a period which it was necessary to ascertain, but which coincided no doubt with the splendor of the church of Hippon.
That is to say that it contains the same word twice, top to bottom, and right to left. This arrangement which is unique in Tifinar writing, is already remarkable enough. But there is better still. Now we will read it." Getting it wrong three times out of seven I finally succeeded, with Morhange's help, in spelling the word. "Have you got it?" asked Morhange when I had finished my task.
"I will not keep you longer in suspense," said M. Le Mesge. "The word, Antinea, is composed as follows: ti is nothing but a Tifinar addition to an essentially Greek name. Ti is the Berber feminine article. We have several examples of this combination. Take Tipasa, the North African town. "And the prefix, an?" queried Morhang.
"Never," he answered, in a voice that he tried to control, but through which the enthusiasm rang out, "never has a Greek inscription been found so far south. The farthest points where they have been reported are in the south of Algeria and Cyrene. But in Ahaggar! Think of it! It is true that this one is translated into Tifinar.
"Look," he said, with unconcealed joy. "What of it?" "Don't you see?" "I see that there are several Tuareg inscriptions," I answered, with some disappointment. "But I thought I had told you that I read Tifinar writing very badly. Are these writings more interesting than the others we have come upon before?" "Look at this one," said Morhange.
On her head was the great gold pschent of Egyptian gods and kings; emeralds, the national stone of the Tuareg, were set in it, tracing and retracing her name in Tifinar characters. A red satin schenti, embroidered in golden lotus, enveloped her like the casket of a jewel. At her feet, lay an ebony scepter, headed with a trident.
"'Antinea, precisely. We find ourselves before a Greek vocable reproduced in Tifinar. And I think that now you will agree with me that my find has a certain interest." That day we had no more conferences upon texts. A loud cry, anguished, terrifying, rang out. We rushed out to find a strange spectacle awaiting us.
It hasn't one definitely, but there are thirty possibilities. Bear in mind that the Tifinar alphabet is far from tallying with the Greek alphabet, which increases the number of hypotheses. Shall I suggest several?" "I was just about to ask you to." That would apply well enough to the figure-heads of ships.
He provided me straightway with Berber vocabularies by Venture, by Delaporte, by Brosselard; with the Grammatical Sketch of the Temahaq by Stanley Fleeman, and the Essai de Grammaire de la langue Temachek by Major Hanoteau. At the end of three months I was able to decipher any inscriptions in Tifinar.
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