Proto-Canaanite alphabet

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Proto-Canaanite alphabet
Type	Abjad
Spoken languages	Canaanite languages
Time period	ca. 1400 BC to 1050 BC
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Proto-Canaanite alphabet
Child systems	Phoenician alphabet Many hypothesized others
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Proto-Canaanite alphabet is a consonantal alphabet of twenty-two acrophonic pictorial glyphs, found in Levantine texts of the Late Bronze Age (from ca. the 15th century BC), by convention taken to last until a cut-off date of 1050 BC, after which it is called Phoenician. About a dozen inscriptions written in Proto-Canaanite have been discovered in modern-day Israel and Lebanon.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Characteristics

The names of the letters, which survive in the Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew alphabets, were probably already present. The names are based on the acrophonic principle, presumably from Semitic translations of the names of Egyptian hieroglyphs. For example, Egyptian nt (water) became Semitic mem (water), ultimately evolving into Latin M, while Egyptian drt (hand) became Semitic kapp (hand), and ultimately Latin K.

The alphabetic order is unknown. The related cuneiform Ugaritic alphabet had two alphabetic orders, an ABGD order similar to that of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets, and an HLḤM order attested in the South Arabian and Ge'ez alphabets.

One reconstruction of 22 letters, equivalent to the Phoenician alphabet which evolved from it, follows. The Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Arabic descendants follow.

History of the alphabet Middle Bronze Age 19 c. BCE Ugaritic 15 c. BCE Proto-Canaanite 15 c. BCE Phoenician 12 c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10 c. BCE Samaritan 6 c. BCE Aramaic 8 c. BCE Kharoṣṭhī 6 c. BCE Brāhmī & Indic 6 c. BCE Brahmic abugidas Devanagari 13 c. CE Hebrew 3 c. BCE Thaana 4 c. BCE Pahlavi 3 c. BCE Avestan 4 c. CE Palmyrene 2 c. BCE Syriac 2 c. BCE Sogdian 2 c. BCE Orkhon (Old Turkic) 6 c. CE Old Hungarian ca. 650 Old Uyghur Mongolian 1204 Nabataean 2 c. BCE Arabic 4 c. CE Mandaic 2 c. CE Greek 8 c. BCE Etruscan 8 c. BCE Latin 7 c. BCE Runic 2 c. CE Coptic 3 c. CE Gothic 3 c. CE Armenian 405 Georgian (disputed) ca. 430 CE Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic ca. 940 Paleohispanic 7 c. BCE Epigraphic South Arabian 9 c. BCE Ge’ez 5–6 c. BCE Meroitic 3 c. BCE Ogham 4 c. CE Hangul 1443 Zhuyin (Bopomofo) 1913 Complete writing systems genealogy This box: view • talk • edit

Proto-Canaanite	Phoenician	Value and name	Descendants
		ʼ ʾalp "ox"	א Α A ا
		b bet "house"	ב Β B ب
		g gaml "throwstick"	ג Γ C-G ج
		d digg "fish"	ד Δ D ذ-د
		h haw / hll "hurrah"	ה Ε E ه Є
		w waw "hook"	ו Ϝ-Υ F-U-V-W-Y و
		z zen /ziqq "handcuff"	ז Ζ Z ز З
		ḥ ḥet "courtyard"	ח Η H خ-ح
	;	ṭ ṭēt "wheel"	ט Θ ظ-ط Ѳ
		y yad "arm"	י Ι I-J ي
		k kap "hand"	כ Κ K ك
		l lamd "goad"	ל Λ L ل
		m mem "water"	מ Μ M م
		n naḥš "snake"	נ Ν N ن
		s samek "fish"	ס Ξ X Ѯ
		ʻ ʿen "eye"	ע Ο O غ-ع
		p piʾt "bend"	פ Π P ف
		ṣ ṣad "plant"	צ ϻ ص-ض ц
		q qup "monkey"	ק Ϙ Q ق Ҁ
		r raʾs "head"	ר Ρ R ر
		š/ś šimš "sun, the Uraeus"	ש Σ S ش-س Ш
		t taw "signature"	ת Τ T ث-ت

[edit] See also

• Abjad
• Alphabet
• Armenian Alphabet
• Byblos syllabary
• Egyptian hieroglyphics
• Greek Alphabet
• Hebrew Alphabet
• Middle Bronze Age alphabets (including Sinaitic)
• Phoenician alphabet
• South Arabian alphabet
• Ugaritic alphabet
• Early Cyrillic Alphabet
• Latin Alphabet

The Northwest Semitic abjad
ʾ	b	g	d	h	w	z	ḥ	ṭ	y	k	l	m	n	s	ʿ	p	ṣ	q	r	š	t
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	200	300	400
history • Phoenician • Aramaic • Hebrew • Syriac • Arabic

[edit] References

• Ouaknin, Marc-Alain; Bacon, Josephine (1999). Mysteries of the Alphabet: The Origins of Writing. Abbeville Press. ISBN 0789205211. 
• Cross, F.M. (1991) "The Invention and Development of the Alphabet" in Senner, Wayne M. (ed.) The Origins of Writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9167-1. Paperback
• Diringer, David and Freeman, Hilda (1983) A History of the Alphabet. Headley-on-Thames: Gresham Books. ISBN 0-946095-03-5
• Healey, John. (1990) The Early Alphabet. London: British Museum.
• Naveh, Joseph. (1982) The Early History of the Alphabet. Leiden: E.J. Brill; also: (Magnes Press: The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1987)
• McNeill-Black, Dr. A.E. (1994)"Human Migrations and the Written Word."
• Remo Mugnaioni (2004) "Aux origines de l'alphabet" sur le site de l'Institut des langues anciennes de l'École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (http://languesanciennes.ens-lsh.fr).

[edit] External links

• Hebrew Alphabet - Chart 1
• Hebrew Alphabet - Chart 2
• Hebrew Alphabet - History

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