Phoenician alphabet definition of phoenician alphabet by. By using the cuneiform as their guide, they were able to come up with their own characters. History of the ancient phoenicians printable outline. For example, the character gimel may have originally been the image of a throwing stick. This name generator will give you 10 random phoenician names. The phoenician alphabet was an alphabetic script that was used in the territories of modernday lebanon, syria and palestine from about the 12th century to the 5th century bc.
Meanings of phoenician characters are easily and equally understood by speakers of arabic, hebrew, aramaic and syriac. In the phoenician alphabet also called the protocanaanite alphabet each letter represented a consonant. Phoenician alphabet, writing system that developed out of the north semitic alphabet and was spread over the mediterranean area by phoenician traders. Apr 26, 2011 a basic outline of the origins of the alphabet. It is the probable ancestor of the greek alphabet and, hence, of all western alphabets. The version used in euboea did not use the phoenician symbol samekh for xi although it did list it, instead using the symbol like our letter x for the consonant group ks, and using a symbol somewhat like psi for chi. This book is perhaps the most comprehensive guide to the world of the phoenicians. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page.
The hebrew alphabet known as ketav ivri or paleohebrew was identical to the phoenician alphabet above and written from right to left. This allowed the french priest jeanjacques barthelemy to decipher the phoenician alphabet in 1758. History of the western european alphabet in the book alphabet. The earliest form of written language is thought to originate from the semitic countries. Eager to learn more about the letter that begins my name, i headed. Through it, we were able come up with our own alphabet thats easier and convenient to write. The phoenician script is an important trunk in the alphabet tree, in that many modern scripts can be traced through it. Phoenician translation services english to phoenician. The most important phoenician contribution to western civilization was their writing system that evolved from a north semitic proto alphabet. List of books and articles about phoenician history online. It was the phoenicians most remarkable and distinctive contribution to civilization. The original protosinatic letters had been pictograms, though some of the name meanings had changed by the time of phoenician. Provided to youtube by cdbaby the phoenician alphabet kevin stroud the history of the alphabet. The phoenician alphabet served as a basis for the greek alphabet and was a key factor in the development of greek literature.
The etruscans in italy were familiar with the phoenician alphabet, as shown on the pyrgi gold plates at the top and bottom of this page. To make the keyboard work well a unicode font for phoenician should be installed. The names of the letters are acrophonic, and their names and shapes can be ultimately traced back to egyptian hieroglyphs. After the etruscans adopted and modified the greek alphabet, they passed it along to rome. These tablets show how the phoenician alphabet and etruscan alphabet were used in actual practice. See more ideas about phoenician alphabet, phoenician and alphabet. This method of writing, later adopted by the greeks, is the ancestor of the modern roman alphabet. According to the egyptians language is attributed to taautos who was the father of tautology or imitation. Michael rosen looks for answers in his new book alphabetical. While pieces of the puzzle have yet to fall in place, there appears to be an evolution of the alphabet through the ages. The phoenician alphabetic script of 22 letters was used at byblos as early as the 15th century b. The word bible, which means the book, is derived from the city of byblos. The phoenician alphabet was among the first writing systems of mankind. This is important, since it was the euboean greek alphabet that would become the latin alphabet.
Sep 12, 2017 if researchers referred to as the canaanite alphabet, this would be much more meaningful to the general public. Phoenicians were known for creating the first alphabet as well as being expert traders all along the mediterranean sea. Decline the great phoenician cities were so well defended that they were able to withstand most of the attacks of the assyrian kings. Phoenician is a canaanite language closely related to hebrew.
It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world. The phoenician alphabet is an alphabet more specifically, an abjad consisting of 22 consonant letters only, leaving vowel sounds implicit, although certain late varieties use matres lectionis for some vowels. Write your name in an ancient writing system for our various outreach activities starting from our first outing at the 2017 cambridge science festival, we have produced some handouts for people to learn to write their names in different ancient writing systems. Phoenician alphabet simple english wikipedia, the free.
While prideaux noted that the old hebrew alphabet was the same as the samaritan alphabet, he also pointed out that it is identical to the phoenician alphabet. The history, evolution, and design of the letters we use today, allan haley writes. Phoenician secrets is one of the few books to fully capture the many social. Bibliography related content books cite this work license. Phoenician alphabet led to greek, hebrew, aramaic, roman, arabic and modern alphabets.
Oct 20, 20 his book jesus the phoenician, is a breath of fresh air for all those who saw in the life of jesus a contrast with the jewish religion, i always saw the life and teachings of jesus as something unique and always thought and discussed with others through my travels around the world the difference that there is from a doctrine of a good god full. The phoenician alphabet is composed of 22 characters, all of which are consonants. The claim that the names of phoenician characters have easy to understand meanings in modern hebrew only is unfounded. Only consonant sounds are written down, some versions have helpers for certain vowels. Phoenician alphabet definition is an extinct northern semitic alphabet used by the phoenicians of syria and their carthaginian colonists from the th century b.
Our name, phoenician, are the people of phoenicia, an ancient civilization which was located along the mediterranean sea, consisting of what is now the coastal parts of lebanon. Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called put in phoenician, canaan in phoenician, hebrew and aramaic, and phoenicia in greek and latin. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. The phoenician alphabet, called by convention the protocanaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 bc, was a nonpictographic consonantal alphabet, or abjad. Phoenician alphabet project gutenberg selfpublishing. Jan 18, 2012 the phoenician writing system is, by virtue of being an alphabet, simple and easy to learn, and also very adaptable to other languages, quite unlike cuneiform or hieroglyphics. The hebrew language fell under the influence of aramaic during the babylonian exile and adopted the square script alphabet of imperial aramaic, known as ketav ashuri. When we compare the letters of these three alphabets, we can see this similarity. If you need to type in many different languages, the q international keyboard can help. The phoenician alphabet is an abjad consisting of 22 letters, all consonants, with matres lectionis used for some vowels in certain late varieties. In the 9th century bce the aramaeans had adopted the phoenician alphabet, added symbols for the initial aleph and for long vowels. The phoenician alphabet in archaeology biblical archaeology.
Considering there are few books on this subject to begin with, there is not a great deal i can say in terms of how this is vastly different. Phoenicia was an ancient civilization on the eastern mediterranean coast. Mar 19, 2018 the phoenician alphabet is the basis for most western languages written today and their city of gebal called by the greeks byblos gave the bible its name from the greek ta biblia, the books as gebal was the great exporter of papyrus bublos to the greeks which was the paper used in writing in ancient egypt and greece. The phoenician alphabet, called by convention the protocanaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 bc, is the oldest verified alphabet. Very little is known about the canaanite language, except what can be gathered from the elamarna letters written by canaanite kings to pharaohs amenhopis iii 1402 64 bce and akhenaton 64 47 bce. Phoenicia is an ancient greek term used to refer to the major export of the region, cloth dyed tyrian purple from the murex mollusc, and referred to the major canaanite port towns. Byblos, ancient seaport, the site of which is located on the coast of the mediterranean sea, about 20 miles 30 km north of the modern city of beirut, lebanon. If youve managed to find your way to this book, i highly recommend it. The alphabet developed by the phoenicians was the one that was widely received. The phoenician alphabet is the alphabet technically abjad that was used to write the phoenician language it was derived from the protocanaanite alphabet which was in use during the late bronze age. This article talks more about this particular ancient alphabet as well as the history of the phoenician alphabet. The phoenician alphabet is an alphabet more specifically, an abjad consisting of 22. This is the letter beyt in the old hebrew alphabet, the samaritan alphabet and the phoenician alphabet. The phoenician alphabet is an alphabet more specifically, an abjad consisting of 22 consonant letters only, leaving vowel sounds implicit, although certain late varieties use matres lectionis for some vowels its immediate predecessor, the protocanaanite alphabet or early west semitic alphabet, used in the final stages of the late bronze age in the syrohittite kingdoms, is the oldest.
The earliest phoenician inscription that has survived is. The website maintained by david sacks, author of books about the alphabet and the. For some time, the phoenicians still wrote on their coins the citys name in phoenician letters, but then the greek and aramaic languages were already in the forefront. Their plate on the left was written in phoenician, and the other one in etruscan. Nevertheless they are hieroglyphic inscriptions mixed with the phoenician alphabet and originally engraved by phoenician navigators. Arabic, hebrew, latin, and greek scripts are all descended from phoenician. Phoenicias civilization, like ancient greece, was organized in citystates. Adopted and adapted egyptian hieroglyphics into an alphabet of 22 symbols letters representing sounds i. The last inscriptions in pure phoenician date from the 1st century b. In the broadest sense, it is everythingpictured, drawn, or arrangedthat can be turned into a spoken account. It is said that the phoenicians derived their alphabet from the mesopotamian cuneiform. They were also the first statelevel society to make use of the alphabet throughout many facets of their life. That is one reason why you will see different spellings for the same word or name.
The ancient hebrew name for god contains the message of the. Phoenician is a semitic language of the canaanite subgroup, closely related to hebrew and aramaic. The fundamental purpose of writing is to convey ideas. May 24, 2015 provided to youtube by cdbaby the phoenician alphabet kevin stroud the history of the alphabet. The phoenician alphabet contains 22 letters, all of which are consonants, and is described as an abjad, 3 with matres lectionis being used for some vowels in certain late varieties. This cut down significantly the number of symbols required to make words.