Phoenician alphabet

The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad)[3] known in modern times from the
Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. Phoenician alphabet

The Phoenician alphabet is also called the Early Linear script (in a Semitic context, not connected to Minoan
writing systems), because it is an early development of the pictographic Proto- or Old Canaanite script, into a linear,
alphabetic script, also marking the transfer from a multi-directional writing system, where a variety of writing
directions occurred, to a regulated horizontal, right-to-left script.[4] Its immediate predecessor, the Proto-Canaanite,
Old Canaanite or early West Semitic alphabet,[5][4] used in the final stages of the Late Bronze Age first in Canaan
and then in the Syro-Hittite kingdoms, is the oldest fully matured alphabet, thought to be derived from Egyptian
hieroglyphs.[6]

The Phoenician alphabet was used to write the Early Iron Age Canaanite languages, subcategorized by historians as
Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite, as well as Old Aramaic. Its use in Phoenicia (coastal Levant) Type Abjad
led to its wide dissemination outside of the Canaanite sphere, spread by Phoenician merchants across the
Mediterranean world, where it was adopted and modified by many other cultures. It became one of the most widely Languages Phoenician, Punic.
used writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet proper remained in use in Ancient Carthage until the 2nd century Time c. 1050–150 BC[1]
BC (known as the Punic language), while elsewhere it diversified into numerous national alphabets, including the period
Aramaic and Samaritan, several Anatolian scripts, and the early Greek alphabets. In the Near East, the Aramaic Parent Egyptian
alphabet became especially successful, giving rise to the Jewish square script and Perso-Arabic scripts, among systems
hieroglyphs[2]
others.
Proto-Sinaitic
"Phoenician proper" consists of 22 consonant letters only, leaving vowel sounds implicit, although certain late
varieties use matres lectionis for some vowels. As the letters were originally incised with a stylus, they are mostly Phoenician
angular and straight, although cursive versions steadily gained popularity, culminating in the Neo-Punic alphabet of alphabet
Roman-era North Africa. Phoenician was usually written right to left, though some texts alternate directions
(boustrophedon). Child Paleo-Hebrew
systems
alphabet
Aramaic alphabet
Contents Greek alphabet
Sister South Arabian
History systems
Origin alphabet
Spread and adaptations Moabite alphabet
Notable inscriptions Direction Right-to-left
Modern rediscovery
ISO 15924 Phnx, 115
Table of letters Unicode Phoenician
Letter names alias

Numerals Unicode U+10900–U+1091F

range (https://www.unicode.
Derived alphabets
Samaritan alphabet org/charts/PDF/U109
00.pdf)
Aramaic-derived
Brahmic scripts
Greek-derived
Unicode
Block
History
See also
References
External links

History

Origin

The earliest known alphabetic (or "proto-alphabetic") inscriptions are the so-called Proto-Sinaitic (or Proto-
Canaanite) script sporadically attested in the Sinai and in Canaan in the late Middle and Late Bronze Age. The script
was not widely used until the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the 13th and 12th centuries BC.

The Phoenician alphabet is a direct continuation of the "Proto-Canaanite" script of the Bronze Age collapse period.
The inscriptions found on arrowheads at al-Khader near Bethlehem and dated to c.1100 BCE offered the Seals inscribed in the Phoenician
script (also known as Paleo-
epigraphists the "missing link" between the two.[4][7] The so-called Ahiram epitaph, whose dating is controversial,
Hebrew)
engraved on the sarcophagus of king Ahiram in Byblos, Lebanon, one of five known Byblian royal inscriptions,
shows essentially the fully developed Phoenician script,[8] although the name "Phoenician" is by convention given to
inscriptions beginning in the mid-11th century BC.[9]

The German philologist Max Müller believed that the Phoenician alphabet was derived from the Ancient South Arabian script during the rule of the
Minaeans of parts of the Eastern Mediterranean.[10]

Spread and adaptations

Beginning in the 9th century BC, adaptations of the Phoenician alphabet thrived, including Greek, Old Italic and
Anatolian scripts. The alphabet's attractive innovation was its phonetic nature, in which one sound was represented
by one symbol, which meant only a few dozen symbols to learn. The other scripts of the time, cuneiform and
Egyptian hieroglyphs, employed many complex characters and required long professional training to achieve
proficiency;[11]which had restricted literacy to a small elite.

Another reason for its success was the maritime trading culture of Phoenician merchants, which spread the alphabet
into parts of North Africa and Southern Europe.[12] Phoenician inscriptions have been found in archaeological sites
at a number of former Phoenician cities and colonies around the Mediterranean, such as Byblos (in present-day
Lebanon) and Carthage in North Africa. Later finds indicate earlier use in Egypt.[13]

The alphabet had long-term effects on the social structures of the civilizations that came in contact with it. Its
simplicity not only allowed its easy adaptation to multiple languages, but it also allowed the common people to learn
how to write. This upset the long-standing status of literacy as an exclusive achievement of royal and religious elites,
scribes who used their monopoly on information to control the common population.[14] The appearance of
Phoenician disintegrated many of these class divisions, although many Middle Eastern kingdoms, such as Assyria,
Babylonia and Adiabene, would continue to use cuneiform for legal and liturgical matters well into the Common
Era. Study of Phoenician medals, by
Jean-Jacques Barthélemy
According to Herodotus,[15] the Phoenician prince Cadmus was accredited with the introduction of the Phoenician
alphabet—phoinikeia grammata, "Phoenician letters"—to the Greeks, who adapted it to form their Greek alphabet.
Herodotus claims that the Greeks did not know of the Phoenician alphabet before Cadmus. He estimates that
Cadmus lived sixteen hundred years before his time (while the historical adoption of the alphabet by the Greeks was
barely 350 years before Herodotus).[16]

The Phoenician alphabet was known to the Jewish sages of the Second Temple era, who called it the "Old Hebrew"
(Paleo-Hebrew) script.[17]

Notable inscriptions

The conventional date of 1050 BC for the emergence of the Phoenician script was chosen because there is a gap in
the epigraphic record, there are not actually any Phoenician inscriptions securely dated to the 11th century.[18] The
oldest inscriptions are dated to the 10th century.

KAI 1: Ahiram sarcophagus, Byblos, c. 850 BC.

KAI 14: Eshmunazar II sarcophagus, 5th century BC.
KAI 15-16: Bodashtart inscriptions, 4th century BC.
The Pococke Kition inscriptions,
KAI 24: Kilamuwa Stela, 9th century BC. transcribed by Jean-Jacques
KAI 46: Nora Stone, c. 800 BC. Barthélemy. No. 1 is Pococke's No.
KAI 47: Cippi of Melqart inscription, 2nd century BC. 2 (KAI 35), and No. 3 is Pococke's
KAI 26: Karatepe bilingual, 8th century BC No. 4. The other two are Hebrew
transliterations of the same
KAI 277: Pyrgi Tablets, Phoenician-Etruscan bilingual, c. 500 BC.
inscriptions.
Çineköy inscription, Phoenician-Luwian bilingual, 8th century BC.

(Note: KAI = Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften)

Modern rediscovery
Photograph of section of the Zayit
The Phoenician alphabet was deciphered in 1758 by Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, but its relation to the Phoenicians
Stone, 10th century BCE: (right-to-
remained unknown until the 19th century. It was at first believed that the script was a direct variation of Egyptian
left) the letters waw, he, het, zayin,
hieroglyphs,[19] which were deciphered by Champollion in the early 19th century. tet

However, scholars could not find any link between the two writing systems, nor to hieratic or cuneiform. The
theories of independent creation ranged from the idea of a single individual conceiving it, to the Hyksos people
forming it from corrupt Egyptian.[20] It was eventually discovered that the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet was inspired by the
model of hieroglyphs.

Table of letters
The chart shows the graphical evolution of Phoenician letter forms into other alphabets. The sound values also changed
significantly, both at the initial creation of new alphabets and from gradual pronunciation changes which did not
immediately lead to spelling changes.[21] The Phoenician letter forms shown are idealized: actual Phoenician writing is less
uniform, with significant variations by era and region.

When alphabetic writing began, with the early Greek alphabet, the letter forms were similar but not identical to Phoenician,
and vowels were added to the consonant-only Phoenician letters. There were also distinct variants of the writing system in Gezer calendar
different parts of Greece, primarily in how those Phoenician characters that did not have an exact match to Greek sounds
were used. The Ionic variant evolved into the standard Greek alphabet, and the Cumae variant into the Italic alphabets
(including the Latin alphabet).

The Runic alphabet is derived from Italic, the Cyrillic alphabet from medieval Greek. The Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic scripts are derived from Aramaic
(the latter as a medieval cursive variant of Nabataean). Ge'ez is from South Arabian.
 Phoenician alphabet, deciphered by
Jean-Jacques Barthélemy in 1758.
No.1 is from the Cippi of Melqart,
No.2 is from the coins, and No. 3 is
from the Pococke Kition inscriptions.

Letter Origin Corresponding letter in

Name[22] Meaning Phoneme Egyptian Proto- South
Image Text Samaritan Aramaic Hebrew Syriac Arabic Ge'ez Mongolian G
hieroglyphs Sinaitic Arabian

𐤀 ʾālep
ox, head of
ʾ [ʔ] 𓃾 𐡀 ‫א‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ ء‬,‫ا‬ 𐩱 አ , Α

ᠠ
ᠡ
cattle

𐤁 bēt house b [b] 𓉐 𐡁 ‫ב‬ ‫ܒ‬ ‫ب‬ 𐩨 በ , Β

ᠧ
ᠸ
𐤂
throwing stick (or
gīml g [ɡ] 𓌙 𐡂 ‫ג‬ ‫ܓ‬ ‫ج‬ 𐩴 ገ , Γ

ᠬ
ᠭ
camel[23])

𐤃 dālet door (or fish[23]) d [d] 𓇯 𐡃 ‫ד‬ ‫ܕ‬ ‫ ذ‬,‫د‬ 𐩵 ደ — Δ

𐤄 hē
window (or
jubilation[23])
h [h] 𓀠? 𐡄 ‫ה‬ ‫ܗ‬ ‫ه‬ 𐩠 ሀ — Ε

𐤅 , , (

ᠣᠥ
wāw hook w [w] 𓏲 𐡅 ‫ו‬ ‫ܘ‬ ‫و‬ 𐩥 ወ , Υ

𐤆 zayin
weapon (or
manacle[23])
z [z] 𓏭 𐡆 ‫ז‬ ‫ܙ‬ ‫ز‬ 𐩹 ዘ Ζ

𐤇 ḥēt courtyard/wall[24] ḥ [ħ] 𓉗/𓈈? 𐡇 ‫ח‬ ‫ܚ‬ ‫ خ‬,‫ح‬ 𐩭 ,𐩢 ሐ, ኀ , Η

ᠬ
ᠭ
(?)

𐤈 ṭēt wheel[25] ṭ [tˤ] 𓄤? 𐡈 ‫ט‬ ‫ܛ‬ ‫ ظ‬,‫ط‬ 𐩷 ጠ — Θ

𐤉 , ,

ᠢ ᠶ
𓂝 𐡉 ‫ܝ‬ 𐩺 የ

ᠵ
yōd arm, hand j [j] ‫י‬ ‫ي‬ Ι

𐤊 kāp palm of a hand k [k] 𓂧 𐡊 ‫כך‬ ‫ܟ‬ ‫ك‬ 𐩫 ከ ᠬ , Κ

𐤋 lāmed goad[26] l [l] 𓌅 𐡋 ‫ל‬ ‫ܠ‬ ‫ل‬ 𐩡 ለ , ᠭ Λ

𐤌 mēm water m [m] 𓈖 𐡌 ‫מם‬ ‫ܡ‬ ‫م‬ 𐩣 መ Μ

ᠮ

𐤍 nūn
serpent (or fish
n [n] 𓆓 𐡍 ‫נן‬ ‫ܢ‬ ‫ن‬ 𐩬 ነ Ν
ᠨ

[23][27])

𐤎 sāmek pillar(?) s [s] 𓊽 𐡎 ‫ס‬ ‫ܣܤ‬ ‫س‬ 𐩪 ሰ , Ξ

ᠰ
ᠱ

𐤏 ʿayin eye ʿ [ʕ] 𓁹 𐡏 ‫ע‬ ‫ܥ‬ ‫ غ‬,‫ع‬ 𐩲 ዐ —

Ο
Ω

𐤐
mouth (or
pē p [p] 𓂋 𐡐 ‫פף‬ ‫ܦ‬ ‫ف‬ 𐩰 ፐ, ፈ Π
ᠪ

corner[23])

𐤑 ṣādē
papyrus
ṣ [sˤ] 𓇑 ?[28] 𐡑 ‫צץ‬ ‫ܨ‬ ‫ ض‬,‫ص‬ 𐩮
ጸ, ጰ,
, (
ᠴ

plant/fish hook? ፀ

𐤒 qōp needle eye q [q] 𓃻? 𐡒 ‫ק‬ ‫ܩ‬ ‫ق‬ 𐩤 ቀ — Ϙ

𐤓 rēš head r [r] 𓁶 𐡓 ‫ר‬ ‫ܪ‬ ‫ر‬ 𐩧 ረ , Ρ

ᠷ
ᠯ

𐤔 šīn tooth (or sun[23]) š [ʃ] 𓌓 𐡔 ‫ש‬ ‫ܫ‬ ‫ س‬,‫ش‬ 𐩦 ሠ , Σ

ᠰ
ᠱ

𐤕 tāw mark t [t] 𓏴 𐡕 ‫ת‬ ‫ܬ‬ ‫ ث‬,‫ت‬ 𐩩 ተ , Τ

Letter names
Phoenician used a system of acrophony to name letters: a word was chosen with each initial consonant sound, and became the name of the letter for that
sound. These names were not arbitrary: each Phoenician letter was based on an Egyptian hieroglyph representing an Egyptian word; this word was
translated into Phoenician (or a closely related Semitic language), then the initial sound of the translated word became the letter's Phoenician value.[29]
For example, the second letter of the Phoenician alphabet was based on the Egyptian hieroglyph for "house" (a sketch of a house); the Semitic word for
"house" was bet; hence the Phoenician letter was called bet and had the sound value b.

According to a 1904 theory by Theodor Nöldeke, some of the letter names were changed in Phoenician from the Proto-Canaanite script. This includes:

gaml "throwing stick" to gimel "camel"

digg "fish" to dalet "door"
hll "jubilation" to he "window"
ziqq "manacle" to zayin "weapon"
naḥš "snake" to nun "fish"
piʾt "corner" to pe "mouth"
šimš "sun" to šin "tooth"

Yigael Yadin (1963) went to great lengths to prove that there was actual battle equipment similar to some of the original letter forms named for weapons
(samek, zayin).[30]

Numerals
The Phoenician numeral system consisted of separate symbols for 1, 10, 20, and 100. The sign for 1 was a simple vertical stroke (𐤖). Other numerals up to
9 were formed by adding the appropriate number of such strokes, arranged in groups of three. The symbol for 10 was a horizontal line or tack (𐤗). The
sign for 20 (𐤘) could come in different glyph variants, one of them being a combination of two 10-tacks, approximately Z-shaped. Larger multiples of ten
were formed by grouping the appropriate number of 20s and 10s. There existed several glyph variants for 100 (𐤙). The 100 symbol could be multiplied
by a preceding numeral, e.g. the combination of "4" and "100" yielded 400.[31] The system did not contain a numeral zero.[32]

Derived alphabets
The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet is a regional variant of the Phoenician alphabet, so called when used to write early
Hebrew. The Samaritan alphabet is a development of Paleo-Hebrew, emerging in the 6th century BC. The South
Arabian script may be derived from a stage of the Proto-Sinaitic script predating the mature development of the
Phoenician alphabet proper. The Geʽez script developed from South Arabian.

Samaritan alphabet

The Phoenician alphabet continued to be used by the Samaritans and developed into the Samaritan alphabet, that is
an immediate continuation of the Phoenician script without intermediate non-Israelite evolutionary stages. The
Samaritans have continued to use the script for writing both Hebrew and Aramaic texts until the present day. A
comparison of the earliest Samaritan inscriptions and the medieval and modern Samaritan manuscripts clearly
indicates that the Samaritan script is a static script which was used mainly as a book hand.

Aramaic-derived

The Aramaic alphabet, used to write Aramaic, is an early descendant of Phoenician. Aramaic, being the lingua
franca of the Middle East, was widely adopted. It later split off (due to political divisions) into a number of related
alphabets, including Hebrew, Syriac, and Nabataean, the latter of which, in its cursive form, became an ancestor of
the Arabic alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet emerges in the Second Temple period, from around 300 BC, out of the
Aramaic alphabet used in the Persian empire. There was, however, a revival of the Phoenician mode of writing later
in the Second Temple period, with some instances from the Qumran Caves, such as the "Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus
scroll" dated to the 2nd or 1st century BC.

By the 5th century BCE, among Jews the Phoenician alphabet had been mostly replaced by the Aramaic alphabet as
officially used in the Persian empire (which, like all alphabetical writing systems, was itself ultimately a descendant
of the Proto-Canaanite script, though through intermediary non-Israelite stages of evolution). The "Jewish square-
script" variant now known simply as the Hebrew alphabet evolved directly out of the Aramaic script by about the
3rd century BCE (although some letter shapes did not become standard until the 1st century CE).

The Kharosthi script is an Arabic-derived alphasyllabary used in the Indo-Greek Kingdom in the 3rd century BC.
The Syriac alphabet is the derived form of Aramaic used in the early Christian period. The Sogdian alphabet is
derived from Syriac. It is in turn an ancestor of the Old Uyghur. The Manichaean alphabet is a further derivation
from Sogdian.

The Arabic script is a medieval cursive variant of Nabataean, itself an offshoot of Aramaic. Each letter of Phoenician gave way
to a new form in its daughter scripts.
Left to right: Latin, Greek,
Brahmic scripts Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic

It has been proposed, notably by Georg Bühler (1898), that the Brahmi script of India (and by extension the derived
Indic alphabets) was ultimately derived from the Aramaic script, which would make Phoenician the ancestor of virtually every alphabetic writing system
in use today.[33][34]

It is certain that the Aramaic-derived Kharosthi script was present in northern India by the 4th century BC, so that the Aramaic model of alphabetic
writing would have been known in the region, but the link from Kharosthi to the slightly younger Brahmi is tenuous. Bühler's suggestion is still
entertained in mainstream scholarship, but it has never been proven conclusively, and no definitive scholarly consensus exists.

Greek-derived
The Greek alphabet is derived from the Phoenician.[35] With a different phonology, the Greeks adapted the
Phoenician script to represent their own sounds, including the vowels absent in Phoenician. It was possibly more
important in Greek to write out vowel sounds: Phoenician being a Semitic language, words were based on
consonantal roots that permitted extensive removal of vowels without loss of meaning, a feature absent in the Indo-
European Greek. However, Akkadian cuneiform, which wrote a related Semitic language, did indicate vowels, which
suggests the Phoenicians simply accepted the model of the Egyptians, who never wrote vowels. In any case, the
Greeks repurposed the Phoenician letters of consonant sounds not present in Greek; each such letter had its name
shorn of its leading consonant, and the letter took the value of the now-leading vowel. For example, ʾāleph, which
designated a glottal stop in Phoenician, was repurposed to represent the vowel /a/; he became /e/, ḥet became /eː/
(a long vowel), ʿayin became /o/ (because the pharyngeality altered the following vowel), while the two semi-
consonants wau and yod became the corresponding high vowels, /u/ and /i/. (Some dialects of Greek, which did
possess /h/ and /w/, continued to use the Phoenician letters for those consonants as well.)

The Alphabets of Asia Minor are generally assumed to be offshoots of archaic versions of the Greek alphabet.
Similarly, the early Paleohispanic scripts are either derived from archaic Greek or from the Phoenician script
directly; the Greco-Iberian alphabet of the 4th century BC is directly adapted from Greek.

The Latin alphabet was derived from Old Italic (originally a form of the Greek alphabet), used for Etruscan and A page from the Samaritan version
other languages. The origin of the Runic alphabet is disputed: the main theories are that it evolved either from the of Leviticus
Latin alphabet itself, some early Old Italic alphabet via the Alpine scripts, or the Greek alphabet. Despite this
debate, the Runic alphabet is clearly derived from one or more scripts that ultimately trace their roots back to the
Phoenician alphabet.[35][36]

The Coptic alphabet is mostly based on the mature Greek alphabet of the Hellenistic period, with a few additional letters for sounds not in Greek at the
time. Those additional letters are based on the Demotic script.

The Cyrillic script was derived from the late (medieval) Greek alphabet. Some Cyrillic letters (generally for sounds not in medieval Greek) are based on
Glagolitic forms.

Unicode
The Phoenician alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in July 2006 with the release of version 5.0. An Phoenician
alternative proposal to handle it as a font variation of Hebrew was turned down. (See PDF (http://www.dkuug.dk/jt Range U+10900..U+1091F
c1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2746.pdf) summary.)
(32 code points)
The Unicode block for Phoenician is U+10900–U+1091F. It is intended for the representation of text in Archaic Plane SMP
Phoenician, Phoenician, Early Aramaic, Late Phoenician cursive, Phoenician papyri, Siloam Hebrew, "Palaeo- Scripts Phoenician
Hebrew", Hebrew seals, Ammonite, Moabite, and Punic.
Assigned 29 code points
The letters are encoded U+10900 𐤀 aleph through to U+10915 𐤕 taw, U+10916 𐤖, U+10917 𐤗, U+10918 𐤘 and Unused 3 reserved code points
U+10919 𐤙 encode the numerals 1,10,20 and 100 respectively and U+1091F 𐤟 is the word separator.
Unicode version history

5.0 27 (+27)
Block
5.2 29 (+2)

Phoenician[1][2] Note: [37][38]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10900.pdf) (PDF)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

U+1090x 𐤀 𐤁 𐤂 𐤃 𐤄 𐤅 𐤆 𐤇 𐤈 𐤉 𐤊 𐤋 𐤌 𐤍 𐤎 𐤏
U+1091x 𐤐 𐤑 𐤒 𐤓 𐤔 𐤕 𐤖 𐤗 𐤘 𐤙 𐤚 𐤛 𐤟
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Phoenician block:
Version Final code points[a] Count L2 ID WG2 ID

5.0 U+10900..10919, 27
1091F
N1579 (http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso1064
e-1/ph.html)

L2/97-288 N1603 (http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n1603

L2/99-013 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1999/n1932.pdf) N1932 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n1932.p

N2097 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2097.p
L2/99-224 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1999/99224.pdf)
N2025-2 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2025

N2133 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2133.h

L2/00-010 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2000/00010-n2103.pdf) N2103 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2103.p

L2/04-149 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04149-misc-phoenician.txt)

L2/04-141R2 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04141r2-n2746r2-phoenician.pdf) N2746R2 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2746

L2/04-177 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04177-phoenician-supt.pdf)

L2/04-178 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04178-phoenician-supt.pdf) N2772 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2772.p

L2/04-181 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04181-keown-phoenician.pdf)

L2/04-190 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04190-n2787-phoenician.pdf) N2787 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2787.p

L2/04-187 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04187-mcgowan-phoenician.txt)
 L2/04-206 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04206-kirk-phoenician.pdf) N2793 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2793.p

L2/04-213 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04213-rosenne.pdf)

L2/04-217R (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04217r-archmed.pdf)

L2/04-226 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04226-durusau-sbl.txt)

L2/04-218 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04218-snyder-phoenician.pdf) N2792 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2792.p

L2/05-009 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05009-phoenician-ltrs.pdf) N2909 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2909.p

N3353 (pdf (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n33

doc (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n3353.doc)

5.2 U+1091A..1091B 2
L2/07-206 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07206-n3284-phoenician.pdf) N3284 (https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n3284.p

L2/07-225 (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07225.htm)

a. Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

See also
History of writing
Writing system
Ugaritic alphabet

References
4. Cross, Frank Moore (1980). "Newly Found Inscriptions in Old
1. The date of 1050 BC is conventional, the oldest known inscriptions are
Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts". Bulletin of the American
from the 10th century BC; the predecessor scripts used in the Syro-
Schools of Oriental Research. The University of Chicago Press on
Hittite kingdoms of the 13th to 12th centuries BC is classified as
behalf of The American Schools of Oriental Research. 238 (No. 238
"Proto-Canaanite". Use of the Phoenician script declined during the
(Spring, 1980)): 1–20. doi:10.2307/1356511 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2
Hellenistic period as its evolved forms replaced it; it became obsolete
F1356511). JSTOR 1356511 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1356511).
with the destruction of Carthage in 149 BC. S2CID 222445150 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:2224451
2. Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 50).
53, Issue 1 (January/February 2000): 21.
5. Beyond Babel: A Handbook for Biblical Hebrew and Related
3. Fischer, Steven Roger (2004). A history of writing. Reaktion Books. Languages, article by Charles R. Krahmalkov (ed. John Kaltner,
p. 90. 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".
6. Michael C. Howard (2012). Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval
Societies. P. 23. (https://books.google.com/books?id=6QPWXrCCzBIC
&pg=PA23)
 7. Cross, Frank Moore (1991). Senner, Wayne M. (ed.). The Invention 24. The letters he and ḥēt continue three Proto-Sinaitic letters, ḥasir
and Development of the Alphabet (https://books.google.com/books?id= "courtyard", hillul "jubilation" and ḫayt "thread". The shape of ḥēt
Kc4xAlunCSEC&pg=PA81). The Origins of Writing. Bison books. U of continues ḥasir "courtyard", but the name continues ḫayt "thread". The
Nebraska Press. p. 77–90 [81]. ISBN 978-0-8032-9167-6. Retrieved shape of he continues hillul "jubilation" but the name means "window".
30 June 2020. see: He (letter)#Origins.
8. Coulmas (1989) p. 141. 25. The glyph was taken to represent a wheel, but it possibly derives from
9. Markoe (2000) p. 111 the hieroglyph nefer hieroglyph 𓄤 and would originally have been called
tab ‫" טוב‬good".
10. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1048&context=bb_pubs 26. The root l-m-d mainly means "to teach", from an original meaning "to
goad". H3925 (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
11. Hock and Joseph (1996) p. 85.
Strongs=H3925) in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible,
12. Daniels (1996) p. 94-95. 1979.
13. "Discovery of Egyptian Inscriptions Indicates an Earlier Date for Origin 27. the letter name nūn is a word for "fish", but the glyph is presumably
of the Alphabet" (https://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/111 from the depiction of a snake, which would point to an original name
499sci-alphabet-origin.html). Retrieved 20 April 2017. ‫" נחש‬snake".
14. Fischer (2003) p. 68-69. 28. the letter name may be from ‫" צד‬to hunt".
15. Herodotus, Histories, Book V, 58 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ 29. Jensen (1969) p. 262-263.
text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D5%3Achap
30. Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands. McGraw-Hill, 1963.
ter%3D58%3Asection%3D1).
The Samech – a quick war ladder, later to become the '$' dollar sign
16. Herodotus. Histories, Book II, 145 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hoppe drawing the three internal lines quickly. The 'Z' shaped Zayin – an
r/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=2:chapter=145&highlight= ancient boomerang used for hunting. The 'H' shaped Het – mammoth
cadmus) tuffs.
17. The Mishnah, ed. Herbert Danby, Oxford University Press: Oxford 31. "Phoenician numerals in Unicode" (http://www.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/d
1933, p. 784, s.v. Yadayim 4:5-6, note 6 (https://archive.org/details/Dan ocs/n3284.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 20 April 2017.
byMishnah/page/n813/mode/1up)) (ISBN 0-19-815402-X); Babylonian
32. "Number Systems" (http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/topics/num-sy
Talmud Zevahim 62a; Sanhedrin 22a
s.html#greek). Retrieved 20 April 2017.
18. Hoffman, Joel M. (2004). In the beginning : a short history of the
33. Richard Salomon, "Brahmi and Kharoshthi", in The World's Writing
Hebrew language (https://books.google.com/books?id=Pj0TCgAAQBA
Systems
J&q=In+the+beginning+:+a+short+history+of+the+Hebrew+language&
pg=PA167). New York, NY [u.a.]: New York Univ. Press. p. 23. 34. Daniélou, Alain (2003). A Brief History of India (https://books.google.co
ISBN 978-0-8147-3654-8. Retrieved 23 May 2017. "By 1000 B.C.E., m/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT53). Simon and Schuster.
however, we see Phoenician writings [..]" pp. 52–53. ISBN 9781594777943.
19. Jensen (1969), p. 256. 35. Humphrey, John William (2006). Ancient technology (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=b76EBrop0sEC&q=greek+alphabet+is+derived+fro
20. Jensen (1969), pp. 256–258.
m+phoenician+alphabet&pg=PA86). Greenwood guides to historic
21. Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2001). A Phoenician Punic grammar. Brill. events of the ancient world (illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing
pp. 20–27. ISBN 9004117717. OCLC 237631007 (https://www.worldca Group. p. 219. ISBN 9780313327636. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
t.org/oclc/237631007).
36. Spurkland, Terje (2005): Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions,
22. after Fischer, Steven R. (2001). A History of Writing. London: Reaction translated by Betsy van der Hoek, Boydell Press, Woodbridge, pp. 3–4
Books. p. 126.
37. "Unicode character database" (https://www.unicode.org). The Unicode
23. Theodor Nöldeke (1904) Standard. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
38. "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard" (https://www.unicode.
org/versions/enumeratedversions.html). The Unicode Standard.
Retrieved 2016-07-09.

Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Je m'appelle Byblos, H & D, Paris, 2005. ISBN 2-914266-04-9

Maria Eugenia Aubet, The Phoenicians and the West Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, London, 2001.
Daniels, Peter T., et al. eds. The World's Writing Systems Oxford. (1996).
Jensen, Hans, Sign, Symbol, and Script, G.P. Putman's Sons, New York, 1969.
Coulmas, Florian, Writing Systems of the World, Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford, 1989.
Hock, Hans H. and Joseph, Brian D., Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship, Mouton de Gruyter, New York, 1996.
Fischer, Steven R., A History of Writing, Reaktion Books, 1999.
Markoe, Glenn E., Phoenicians. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22613-5 (2000) (hardback)
"Alphabet, Hebrew". Encyclopaedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 965-07-0665-8
Feldman, Rachel (2010). "Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered" (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoh-mah010710.ph
p). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110607150148/http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoh-mah010710.php) from the original
on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
Shanks, Hershel (2010). "Oldest Hebrew Inscription Discovered in Israelite Fort on Philistine Border" (http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID
=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=2&ArticleID=9). Biblical Archaeology Review. 36 (2): 51–6.

External links
Ancient Scripts.com (Phoenician) (https://web.archive.org/web/20041105090941/http://www.ancientscripts.com/phoenician.html)
Omniglot.com (Phoenician alphabet) (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/phoenician.htm)
official Unicode standards document (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10900.pdf) for Phoenician (PDF file)
[1] (http://culmus.sourceforge.net/ancient/index.html) Free-Libre GPL2 Licensed Unicode Phoenician Font
GNU FreeFont (https://www.gnu.org/software/freefont/) Unicode font family with Phoenician range in its serif face.
[2] (http://www.obib.de/Schriften/AlteSchriften/Griechen/altgriechisch/Kreta.html) Phönizisch TTF-Font.
Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic on Coins, reading and transliterating Proto-Hebrew, online edition (https://web.archive.org/web/20110511124600/http://
judaea.chimehost.net/main/text.pdf). (Judaea Coin Archive)

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