Nabataean alphabet

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Nabataean
Type	Abjad
Spoken languages	Nabataean language
Time period	2nd century BC to 4th century AD
Parent systems	Proto-Canaanite alphabet  → Phoenician alphabet   → Aramaic alphabet    → Syriac alphabet     → Nabataean
Child systems	Arabic alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

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 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 Georgian (disputed) ca. 430 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 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 genealogy This box: view • talk • edit

The Nabataean alphabet is a consonantal alphabet (abjad) that was used by the Nabataeans in the 2nd century BC. Important inscriptions are found in Petra. The alphabet is descended from the Aramaic alphabet via the Syriac alphabet. It in turn developed into the Arabic alphabet from the 4th century, which is why its letterforms are intermediate between the more northerly Semitic scripts (such as the Hebrew) and Arabic.

Nabatean	Name	Arabic Alphabet	Hebrew Alphabet
	Aleph	ء	א
	Bet	ﺑ	ב
	Gimel	ﺟ	ג
	Dal	ﺩ	ד
	Ha	ﻫ	ה
	Waw	ﻭ	ו
	Zayn	ﺯ	ז
	Ħa	ﺣ	ח
	Ṭaa	ﻁ	ט
	Yaa	ﻯ	י
	Kaf	ﻛ	כ
	Lam	ﻟ	ל
	Meem	ﻣ	מ
	Noon	ﻧ	נ
	Samech	ﺳׂ	ס
	'in	ﻋـ	ע
	Fa	ﻓـ	פ
	Ṣad	ﺻ	צ
	Qaf	ﻕ	ק
	Ra	ﺭ	ר
	Shin	ﺷ	שׁ
	Ta	ﺕ	ת

[edit] See also

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

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