Back Fenisiese alfabet Afrikaans Phönizisches Alphabet ALS أبجدية فينيقية Arabic Alfabetu feniciu AST Финикия яҙыуы Bashkir Phenizisches Alphabet BAR Фінікійскае пісьмо Byelorussian Финикийска писменост Bulgarian Abjad Pinisia BJN ফিনিশীয় লিপি Bengali/Bangla
| Phoenician script | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | c. 1050–150 BC[a] |
| Direction | Right-to-left |
| Languages | Phoenician, Punic, Old Aramaic, Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Old Arabic |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | |
Sister systems | |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Phnx (115), Phoenician |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Phoenician |
| U+10900–U+1091F | |
| History of the alphabet | ||
|---|---|---|
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The Phoenician alphabet[b] is a consonantal alphabet (or abjad)[2] used across the Mediterranean civilization of Phoenicia for most the 1st millennium BC. It was the first mature alphabet, and attested in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. In the history of writing systems, the Phoenician script also marked the first to have a fixed writing direction—while previous systems were multi-directional, Phoenician was written horizontally, from right to left.[3] It developed directly from the Proto-Sinaitic script[4][3] used during Late Bronze Age, which was derived in turn from Egyptian hieroglyphs.[5][6]
The Phoenician alphabet was used to write Canaanite languages spoken during the Early Iron Age, sub-categorized by historians as Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite, as well as Old Aramaic. It was widely disseminated outside of the Canaanite sphere by Phoenician merchants across the Mediterranean, where it was adopted and adapted by other cultures. The Phoenician alphabet proper was used in Ancient Carthage until the 2nd century BC, where it was used to write the Punic language. Its direct descendant scripts included the Aramaic and Samaritan alphabets, several Alphabets of Asia Minor, and the Archaic Greek alphabets.
The Phoenician alphabet proper uses 22 consonant letters—as an abjad used to write a Semitic language, the vowel sounds were left implicit—though late varieties sometimes used matres lectionis to denote some vowels. As its letters were originally incised using a stylus, their forms are mostly angular and straight, though cursive forms increased in use over time, culminating in the Neo-Punic alphabet used in Roman North Africa.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. (Jan–Feb 2000). "First Alphabet Found in Egypt". Archaeology. Vol. 53, no. 1.
- ^ Fischer, Steven R. (2004). A History of Writing. London: Reaktion. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-861-89101-3.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Cross1980was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Beyond Babel: A Handbook for Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages, article by Charles R. Krahmalkov (ed. John Kaltner, Steven L. McKenzie, 2002). "This alphabet was not, as often mistakenly asserted, invented by the Phoenicians but, rather, was an adaptation of the early West Semitic alphabet to the needs of their own language".
- ^ Howard, Michael C. (2012). Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: The Role of Cross-Border Trade and Travel. McFarland. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-786-49033-2.
- ^ Beyond Babel: A Handbook for Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages, article by Charles R. Krahmalkov (ed. John Kaltner, Steven L. McKenzie, 2002). "This alphabet was not, as often mistakenly asserted, invented by the Phoenicians but, rather, was an adaptation of the early West Semitic alphabet to the needs of their own language".