Aramaic alphabet

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  History of the Alphabet
  Wadi el-Hol 19th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC *Phoenician 11th c. BC **Hebrew 9th c. BC **Aramaic 9th c. BC ***Brahmi 3rd c. BC ****Devanagari 12th c. ****Thai 13th c. ***Syriac 2nd c. BC ***Arabic 4th c. **Greek 9th c. BC ***Coptic 4th c. ***Gothic 4th c. ***Glagolitic 862 ***Cyrillic 10th c. **Old Italic 8th c. BC ***Latin 7th c. BC ***Runes 2nd c. *South Arabian 9th c. BC
  Georgian 5th c. BC
  Armenian 405
  Orkhon 6th c.
  Ogham 6th c.
  Hangul 1446

The earliest inscriptions in the Aramaic language use the Phoenician alphabet. In time, the alphabet developed into the form shown below. The use of Aramaic as a lingua franca throughout the Middle East from the eighth century BCE led to the gradual adoption of the Aramaic alphabet for writing Hebrew. Formerly, Hebrew had been written using an alphabet closer in form to that of Phoenician (the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet).

The Hebrew and Nabataean alphabets are little changed in style from the Aramaic alphabet. The development of cursive versions of Aramaic led to the creation of the Syriac, Palmyrenean and Mandaic alphabets. These scripts formed the basis of the Arabic, Sogdian, Orkhon and Mongolian alphabets. Controversially, it is claimed that the Aramaic alphabet may be the forebear of the Indic alphabets.

Today, Biblical Aramaic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects and the Aramaic language of the Talmud are written in the Hebrew alphabet. Syriac and Christian Neo-Aramaic dialects are written in the Syriac alphabet. Mandaic is written in the Mandaic alphabet.

Imperial Aramaic alphabet

Redrawn from A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic, Franz Rosenthal; forms are as used in Egypt, fifth century BCE. Names are as in Biblical Aramaic.

See also

• Abjad
• Alphabet
• Aramaic language
• Syriac language
• Mandaic language
• List of writing systems

External links

• Comparison of Aramaic to related alphabets