Note 107 — 7. THE NUBIANS.

Idem., p. 307. The antiquity of the name Nubia, is of some importance in this discussion. Heeren and others state that it first occurs in history during the epoch of the Ptolemies; but Rosellini has now discovered that it is at least as old as the age of Menepthah I., (B.C. 1600,) on whose monuments it is found.

Since the above note was written, Mr. Gliddon has obligingly furnished me with the following interesting memorandum: “The name Nubia, with its derivatives of Nouba and Noubatæ, may be readily traced to Noubnoub, a Nubian divinity in the hieroglyphical legends of Menepthah I. and Rameses II. and III., and may possibly be derived from the root noub, gold, from the proximity of Nubia to the Ethiopian gold countries. The word Berber, as applied to the people of Nubia, (now called Berabera in the plural, from Berberri, the singular,) is without question derived from the hieroglyphical name Barobaro, by which at least one tribe inhabiting Nubia was known to the Egyptians of the 18th dynasty.”