Phoenician alphabet

The Phoenician writing is a left-handed consonantal script of 22 characters whose order has taken over the Abdschad and was used from the 11th to the 5th century BC in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. With it, not only the Phoenician language, but also the long Aramaic, Hebrew and other Semitic languages ​​were written.

It was developed in the 11th century BC by the Phoenicians by abstracting the protokanaanäischen font. The oldest example is an inscription on the sarcophagus of Ahiram of Byblos in Lebanon today ( around 1000 BC ). From the Phoenician script Aramaic writings, the Greek alphabet, used in the Carthage Punic script, the ancient Hebrew Scriptures and from the Samaritan script, almost all of today's alphabetic writings emerged.

The Phoenician alphabet as the basis of subsequent alphabets

The Phoenician alphabet is the basis of the Aramaic alphabet ( which in turn is based on the Hebrew, the Arabic, probably also the various Indian alphabets is ) and the Greek (and hence the Latin and Cyrillic ) alphabet. This is recognizable at first glance by the two same initial letter, in some alphabets there are more than two of the same letter:

• Phoenician alphabet: Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Waw, Zajin, ...
• Aramaic alphabet: Aleph, Beth, Gemal, Daleth, He, Waw, Zai ... Mem, Well ...
• Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, ...
• Latin alphabet: A, B, C ( ≈ G ), D, E, ...
• Cyrillic alphabet: А, Б ( ≈ "B"), В ( ≈ V, W), Г ( ≈ G), Д, Е, ...
• Hebrew alphabet: Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Waw, Zajin, ...
• Arabic alphabet: alif, Bā, ...

The Arabic alphabet ( Abdschadiya ) differs but then by the almost uniform order, since the letters were re-grouped later according to visual similarity. In the older version, the Abdschad, this order is still preserved. The Indian alphabets differ due to a later regrouping for phonetic similarity of the default order.

Derivations of the Phoenician alphabet are directly or at least as a source of inspiration today almost all used fonts in the world is based, with the exception of the East Asian fonts (Chinese and descendants ).

The individual letters

The Phoenician names of the letters are often replaced by the Hebrew name almost identically worded.

ʔalf, Aleph

Aleph is a Semitic guttural, a glottic closure process as in German between e and a, which do not form a diphthong here; only in the Greek alphabet was from the character of the vowel a, Alpha. The letter is derived from the stylized representation of a bull's head ( alef = cattle). Latin correspondence: A.

Bet, Beth

Beth is a consonant, which is derived from the stylized representation of the floor plan of a house ( beth = house). In Greek, it was the letter beta. Latin correspondence: B.

Gaml, Gimel

The Gimel is a consonant, which is derived from the stylized representation of a camel back ( Gamel = camel ). In Greek, it was the letter gamma. Latin equivalents: C and G.

Delt, Daleth

The Daleth is a consonant, which derives from the view of an unfolded tent door. In Greek, it was the letter Delta. Latin correspondence: D.

Hey, hey

He is a Semitic guttural, from which was only in the Greek alphabet, the vowel Epsilon. The letter is probably called forth by the stylized representation of a scream in front of people in pain or joy. Latin correspondence: E.

Wau, Waw

Vav is a consonant, which is derived from the presentation of a hook or a nail. In Greek it were the letters digamma and Ypsilon. Latin equivalents: F, U, V, W and Y.

Zai, Zajin

Zajin is a consonant, which is derived from the stylized representation of a scale or a weapon. In Greek, it was the letter Zeta. Latin correspondence: Z.

Het, Chet

Chet is a Semitic guttural. The letter is derived from the presentation of a fence or a strand of hair. In Greek, it was the letter Eta. Latin correspondence: H.

Tet, Tet

Tet is a consonant, which is probably derived from the representation of a spool of thread. In Greek, it was the letter theta. No Latin equivalent.

Yod, iodine

Iodine is a Semitic guttural, from which was only in the Greek alphabet, the vowel iota. The letter derives from the appearance of a hand ( yod = hand). Latin equivalents: I and J.

Kaf, Kaph

Kaph is a consonant, which is probably derived from the representation of an open hand. In Greek, it was the letter Kappa. Latin correspondence: K.

LAMD, Lamed

Lamed is a consonant, which is probably derived from the representation of a rod. In Greek, it was the letter lambda. Latin correspondence: L.

MEM, Mem

Mem is a consonant, which is derived from the representation of a water line. In Greek, it was the letter My. Latin correspondence: M.

Now, now

Now is a consonant, which is probably derived from the representation of a snake or a fish. In Greek, it was the letter Ny. Latin correspondence: N.

Semk, Samech

Samech is a consonant, which is probably derived from the representation of a support pillar. In Greek it were the letters Xi and Chi. Latin correspondence: X.

ʕain, Ayin

Ayin is a Semitic guttural, from the first in the Greek alphabet, the vowels omicron and omega were. The letter is derived from the stylized representation of an eye. Latin correspondence: O.

PE, PE

Pe is a consonant, which is derived from the stylized representation of a mouth. In Greek, it is the letter Pi was Latin correspondence: P.

Säde, Zade

Zade is a consonant, which is probably derived from the representation of a grasshopper. This letter was accepted as Sampi temporarily in the Greek alphabet, but later used only as numerals. No Latin equivalent.

QOF, Qoph

Qoph is a consonant, which derives from the highly stylized depiction of a seated monkey with drooping tail. In Greek, it was the letter Qoppa, but was retained only for its numerical value 90. Latin correspondence: Q.

Ros, Resch

Resch is a consonant, which is derived from the stylized representation of a human head in profile. In Greek, it was the letter Rho. Latin correspondence: R.

Sin, Shin

Shin is a consonant, which is probably derived from the stylized representation of a tooth. In Greek, it was the letter sigma. Latin correspondence: S.

Tau; Taw

Taw is a consonant whose written form is a check mark. In Greek, it was the letter Tau. Latin correspondence: T.

Unicode

The Phoenician alphabet Unicode range U 10900 in the worldwide character-encoding standard - added U 1091 F. An alternative proposal to handle all North West Semitic Abdschaden than font variants of the Hebrew alphabet, has been rejected.

If the browser you are using may constitute the required Unicode version and a font is installed with glyphs for the Phoenician script, the Phoenician letters are shown in the following table and can, for example, be copied to the clipboard: