Aramaic alphabet

Aramaic alphabet
Aramaic inscription from Tayma, containing a dedicatory inscription to the god Salm
Script type	Abjad
Time period	800 BC to AD 600
Direction	Right-to-left
Languages	Aramaic (Syriac[1] and Mandaic), Hebrew, Edomite
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic alphabet
Child systems	Hebrew[1] Maalouli[2][3] Nabataean[1] Arabic Syriac Sogdian Old Uyghur Mongolian Manchu Christian Palestinian Aramaic Palmyrene[1] Hatran[1] Mandaic[1] Elymaic[1] Pahlavi Kharosthi Brahmi[a] Gupta Sharada Siddham Tibetan Kalinga Bhaiksuki Tamil-Brahmi Pallava Vatteluttu Bhattiprolu Kadamba Sinhala Tocharian
ISO 15924
Unicode range	U+10840–U+1085F
^ A Semitic origin for the Brāhmī script is not universally accepted.

This article contains Syriac text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper

Syriac script

.

The ancient Aramaic alphabet was used to write the

The letters in the Aramaic alphabet all represent consonants, some of which are also used as matres lectionis to indicate long vowels. Writing systems (like the Aramaic) that indicate consonants but do not indicate most vowels other than by means of matres lectionis or added diacritical signs, have been called abjads by Peter T. Daniels to distinguish them from alphabets such as the Greek alphabet that represent vowels more systematically. The term was coined to avoid the notion that a writing system that represents sounds must be either a syllabary or an alphabet, which would imply that a system like Aramaic must be either a syllabary (as argued by Ignace Gelb) or an incomplete or deficient alphabet (as most other writers had said before Daniels). Rather, Daniels put forward, this is a different type of writing system, intermediate between syllabaries and 'full' alphabets.

The Aramaic

Around 500 BC, following the

Imperial Aramaic was highly standardised; its orthography was based more on historical roots than any spoken dialect and was influenced by Old Persian. The Aramaic glyph forms of the period are often divided into two main styles, the "lapidary" form, usually inscribed on hard surfaces like stone monuments, and a cursive form whose lapidary form tended to be more conservative by remaining more visually similar to Phoenician and early Aramaic. Both were in use through the Achaemenid Persian period, but the cursive form steadily gained ground over the lapidary, which had largely disappeared by the 3rd century BC.^[6]

For centuries after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BC, Imperial Aramaic, or something near enough to it to be recognisable, would remain an influence on the various native Iranian languages. The Aramaic script would survive as the essential characteristics of the Iranian Pahlavi writing system.^[7]

30 Aramaic documents from

Since the evolution of the Aramaic alphabet out of the Phoenician one was a gradual process, the division of the world's alphabets into the ones derived from the Phoenician one directly and the ones derived from Phoenician via Aramaic is somewhat artificial. In general, the alphabets of the Mediterranean region (Anatolia, Greece, Italy) are classified as Phoenician-derived, adapted from around the 8th century BC, and those of the East (the Levant, Persia, Central Asia, and India) are considered Aramaic-derived, adapted from around the 6th century BC from the Imperial Aramaic script of the Achaemenid Empire.^[citation needed]

After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the unity of the Imperial Aramaic script was lost, diversifying into a number of descendant cursives.

The Hebrew and

A cursive Hebrew variant developed from the early centuries AD, but it remained restricted to the status of a variant used alongside the noncursive. By contrast, the cursive developed out of the Nabataean alphabet in the same period soon became the standard for writing Arabic, evolving into the Arabic alphabet as it stood by the time of the early spread of Islam.

The development of cursive versions of Aramaic also led to the creation of the Syriac, Palmyrene and Mandaic alphabets, which formed the basis of the historical scripts of Central Asia, such as the Sogdian and Mongolian alphabets.^[11]

The

Today, Biblical Aramaic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects and the Aramaic language of the Talmud are written in the modern-Hebrew alphabet (distinguished from the Old Hebrew script). In classical Jewish literature, the name given to the modern-Hebrew script was "Ashurit" (the ancient Assyrian script),^[17] a script now known widely as the Aramaic script.^[18][19] It is believed that during the period of Assyrian dominion that Aramaic script and language received official status.^[18] Syriac and Christian Neo-Aramaic dialects are today written in the Syriac alphabet, which script has superseded the more ancient Assyrian script and now bears its name. Mandaic is written in the Mandaic alphabet. The near-identical nature of the Aramaic and the classical Hebrew alphabets caused Aramaic text to be typeset mostly in the standard Hebrew script in scholarly literature.

Maaloula

In Maaloula, one of few surviving communities in which a Western Aramaic dialect is still spoken, an Aramaic Language Institute was established in 2006 by Damascus University that teaches courses to keep the language alive.

Unlike Classical Syriac, which has a rich literary tradition in Syriac-Aramaic script, Western Neo-Aramaic was solely passed down orally for generations until 2006 and was not utilized in a written form.^[3]

Therefore, the Language Institute's chairman, George Rizkalla (Rezkallah), undertook the writing of a textbook in Western Neo-Aramaic. Being previously unwritten, Rizkalla opted for the Hebrew alphabet. However, in 2010, the institute's activities were halted due to concerns that the square Maalouli-Aramaic alphabet used in the program bore a resemblance to the square script of the Hebrew alphabet. As a result, all signs featuring the square Maalouli script were subsequently removed.^[20] The program stated that they would instead use the more distinct Syriac-Aramaic alphabet, although use of the Maalouli alphabet has continued to some degree.^[21] Al Jazeera Arabic also broadcast a program about Western Neo-Aramaic and the villages in which it is spoken with the square script still in use.^[22]

Letters

Letter name	Aramaic written using				IPA	Phoneme	Equivalent letter in
	Imperial Aramaic		Syriac script				Hebrew	Maalouli	Nabataean	Parthian	Arabic	South Arabian	Ethiopic ( Geez )	Proto-Sinaitic	Phoenician	Greek	Latin	Cyrillic	Brahmi	Kharosthi	Turkic
	Image	Text	Image	Text
Ālaph		𐡀‎		ܐ	/ʔ/; /aː/, /eː/	ʾ	א‎			𐭀	ا‎	𐩱	አ		𐤀‎	Αα	Aa	А а	𑀅, 𑀆	𐨀	𐰁
Bēth		𐡁‎		ܒ	/b/, /v/	b	ב‎			𐭁	ب‎	𐩨	በ		𐤁‎	Β β	Bb	В в	𑀩, 𑀪	𐨦	𐰉 𐰋
Gāmal		𐡂‎		ܓ	/ɡ/, /ɣ/	g	ג‎			𐭂	ج‎	𐩴	ገ		𐤂‎	Γ γ	Cc, Gg	Ґ ґ	𑀕	𐨒	𐰲 𐰱
Dālath		𐡃‎		ܕ	/d/, /ð/	d	ד‎			𐭃	د ذ‎	𐩵	ደ		𐤃‎	Δ δ	Dd	Д д	𑀠	𐨢	𐰓
Hē		𐡄‎		ܗ	/h/	h	ה‎			𐭄	ه‎	𐩠	ሀ		𐤄‎	Ε ε	Ee	Э э	𑀳	𐨱
Waw		𐡅‎		ܘ	/w/; /oː/, /uː/	w	ו‎			𐭅	و‎	𐩥	ወ		𐤅‎	( Υ υ	Ff, Uu, Vv, Ww, Yy	Ў ў	𑀯, 𑀉, 𑀊, 𑀒, 𑀑	𐨬	𐰈 𐰆
Zayn		𐡆‎		ܙ	/z/	z	ז‎			𐭆	ز‎	𐩸			𐤆‎	Ζ ζ	Zz	З з	𑀚	𐨗	𐰕
Ḥēth		𐡇‎		ܚ	/ħ/	ḥ	ח‎			𐭇	ح خ‎	𐩢	ሐ		𐤇‎	Η η	Hh	Й й	𑀖	𐨓
Ṭēth		𐡈‎		ܛ	/tˤ/	ṭ	ט‎			𐭈	ط ظ‎	𐩷	ጠ		𐤈‎	Θ θ		Ѳ ѳ	𑀞	𐨠	𐱃
Yodh		𐡉‎		ܝ	/j/; /iː/, /eː/	y	י‎			𐭉	ي‎	𐩺	የ		𐤉‎	Ι ι	Ιi, Jj	Ј ј	𑀬	𐨩	𐰘 𐰃 𐰖
Kāph		𐡊‎		ܟ	/k/, /x/	k	כ ך‎			𐭊	ك‎	𐩫	ከ		𐤊‎	Κ κ	Kk	К к	𑀓	𐨐	𐰚 𐰜
Lāmadh		𐡋‎		ܠ	/l/	l	ל‎			𐭋	ل‎	𐩡	ለ		𐤋‎	Λ λ	Ll	Л л	𑀮	𐨫	𐰞 𐰠
Mim		𐡌‎		ܡ	/m/	m	מ ם‎			𐭌	م‎	𐩣	መ		𐤌‎	Μ μ	Mm	М м	𑀫	𐨨	𐰢
Nun		𐡍‎		ܢ	/n/	n	נ ן‎			𐭍	ن‎	𐩬	ነ		𐤍‎	Ν ν	Nn	Н н	𑀦	𐨣	𐰤 𐰣
Semkath		𐡎‎		ܣ	/s/	s	ס‎			𐭎		𐩯			𐤎‎	Ξ ξ		Ѯ ѯ	𑀱	𐨭	𐰾
ʿAyn		𐡏‎		ܥ	/ʕ/	ʿ	ע‎			𐭏	ع غ‎	𐩲	ዐ		𐤏‎	Ω ω	Oo	Ѡ ѡ	𑀏, 𑀐, 𑀇, 𑀈	𐨀𐨅	𐰏 𐰍
Pē		𐡐‎		ܦ	/p/, /f/	p	פ ף‎			𐭐	ف‎	𐩰	ፈ		𐤐‎	Ππ	Pp	П п	𑀧, 𑀨	𐨤	𐰯
Ṣādhē	,	𐡑‎		ܨ	/sˤ/	ṣ	צ ץ‎			𐭑	ص ض‎	𐩮	ጸ		𐤑‎	( Ϻ ϻ)		Џ џ	𑀲	𐨯	𐰽
Qoph		𐡒‎		ܩ	/q/	q	ק‎			𐭒	ق‎	𐩤	ቀ		𐤒‎	( Φ φ	Qq	Ф ф	𑀔	𐨑	𐰴 𐰸
Rēš		𐡓‎		ܪ	/r/	r	ר‎			𐭓	ر‎	𐩧	ረ		𐤓‎	Ρ ρ	Rr	Р р	𑀭	𐨪	𐰺 𐰼
Šin		𐡔‎		ܫ	/ʃ/	š	ש‎			𐭔	س ش‎	𐩦	ሠ		𐤔‎	Σσς	Ss	Щ щ	𑀰	𐨮	𐱂 𐱁
Taw		𐡕‎		ܬ	/t/, /θ/	t	ת‎			𐭕	ت ث‎	𐩩	ተ		𐤕‎	Τ τ	Tt	Т т	𑀢	𐨟	𐱅

Unicode

The Imperial Aramaic alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in October 2009, with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Imperial Aramaic is U+10840–U+1085F:

The Syriac Aramaic alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September 1999, with the release of version 3.0.

The Syriac Abbreviation (a type of overline) can be represented with a special control character called the Syriac Abbreviation Mark (U+070F). The Unicode block for Syriac Aramaic is U+0700–U+074F:

See also

• Syriac alphabet
• Mandaic alphabet

References

Sources

• Byrne, Ryan. "Middle Aramaic Scripts". Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics. Elsevier. (2006)
• Daniels, Peter T., et al. eds. The World's Writing Systems. Oxford. (1996)
• Coulmas, Florian. The Writing Systems of the World. Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford. (1989)
• Rudder, Joshua. Learn to Write Aramaic: A Step-by-Step Approach to the Historical & Modern Scripts. n.p.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011. 220 pp.
  ISBN 978-1461021421
  . Includes a wide variety of Aramaic scripts.
• Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic on Coins, reading and transliterating Proto-Hebrew, online edition (Judaea Coin Archive).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aramaic alphabet.

• Comparison of Aramaic to related alphabets
• Omniglot entry