Alphabets of Asia Minor

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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 Hebrew 3 c. BCE Thaana 4 c. BCE Pahlavi 3 c. BCE Avestan 4 c. CE Devanagari 2 c. BCE Palmyrene 2 c. BCE Syriac 2 c. BCE Greek 6 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 Thai 5 c. BCE 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

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Various alphabetic writing systems were in use in Iron Age Anatolia to record Anatolian dialects and the Phrygian language. Previously several of these languages had been written with logographic and syllabic systems.

The alphabets of Asia Minor may be classified into two groups. The first of them (Phrygian and Lemnian) were early adaptations of regional variants of the Greek alphabet; the earliest Phrygian inscriptions are contemporary with early Greek inscriptions, but contain Greek innovations such as the letters Φ and Ψ which did not exist in the earliest forms of the Greek alphabet.

• The Phrygian alphabet, recording the Phrygian language, was in use in Phrygia from ca. the 8th to the 3rd century BCE, 20 letters. Phrygian was based on the western Greek alphabet which used Ψ (instead of Χ) for [kʰ]. The Mysian alphabet is a variant, with one additional letter.
• The Lemnian alphabet of Pelasgians, see Lemnos stele

The second group (Carian, Para-Carian, Lydian, Para-Lydian, Lycian and Sidetic) share characteristics that distinguish them from the earliest forms of the Greek alphabet. Many letters in these alphabets resemble Greek letters but have unrelated readings, most extensively in the case of Carian.

• The Lydian script, an alphabet used to record the Lydian language from ca. the 5th to 4th centuries BCE, related is the "Para-Lydian" alphabet known from a single inscription in Sardis. Lydian used the letter 8 for /f/, a remarkable convergence with the Etruscan alphabet, where 8 (𐌚) was added in the 6th century BCE.

• The Carian script, recording the Carian language, known from inscriptions in Caria, Egypt and Athens. Only partially understood, there were 45 letters. Many of these resemble the Greek alphabet in form, but have different values.

• The Lycian script, an alphabet recording the Lycian language from the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.

• The Sidetic script, an alphabet of 25 letters, known from coin legends in what might be a Sidetic language, is only partially deciphered.

The Anatolian alphabets fell out of use around the 4th century BCE with the onset of the Hellenistic period.

[edit] See also

• History of the alphabet
• Greek alphabet
• Old Italic alphabets

[edit] Further reading

• Diringer, David (1948). The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind. Cambridge: Hutchinson. 
• Friedrich, Johannes (1966). Geschichte der Schrift. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer geistigen Entwicklung. Heidelberg: Winter. 

[edit] External links

• Alphabets of Asia Minor (indoeuro.bizland.com)
  • Carian inscription
• Lydian-Aramaean bilingue (titus.uni-frankfurt.de)
• Lycian inscribed pillar (holylandphotos.org)