Old South Arabian

E27170
Semitic language ancient language group extinct language

Old South Arabian is an extinct group of ancient Semitic languages once spoken in what is now Yemen and surrounding regions, known primarily from inscriptions written in a distinctive consonantal script.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (4)

Surface form Occurrences
Hadramitic 2
Old South Arabian languages 2
Himyaritic 1

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Semitic language ⓘ
ancient language group ⓘ
extinct language ⓘ
feature consonant-only orthography ⓘ
lack of vowel letters in standard script ⓘ
hasVariant Hadramitic ⓘ
Old South Arabian self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Himyaritic

Minaean ⓘ
Qatabanian ⓘ
Sabaic ⓘ
surface form: Sabaean
ISO639-3 xsa ⓘ
knownFrom monumental inscriptions ⓘ
short graffiti inscriptions ⓘ
stone inscriptions ⓘ
languageBranch South Semitic ⓘ
languageFamily Afroasiatic ⓘ
linguisticRelation distinct from Arabic ⓘ
related to Geʽez ⓘ
primaryArea Southern Arabia ⓘ
surface form: South Arabia
region Arabian Peninsula ⓘ
scriptDirection right-to-left ⓘ
scriptType consonantal abjad ⓘ
spokenIn Hadhramaut ⓘ
Himyar ⓘ
surface form: Himyarite kingdom

Minaean kingdom ⓘ
Minaean kingdom ⓘ
surface form: Qatabanian kingdom

Sabaean kingdom ⓘ
ancient Yemen ⓘ
southern Arabian Peninsula ⓘ
status extinct ⓘ
subclassOf Afroasiatic languages ⓘ
Semitic languages ⓘ
South Semitic languages ⓘ
timePeriod 1st millennium BCE ⓘ
early 1st millennium CE ⓘ
usedBy Hadramites ⓘ
Himyar ⓘ
surface form: Himyarites

Minaeans ⓘ
Minaeans ⓘ
surface form: Qatabanians

Sabaean kingdom ⓘ
surface form: Sabaeans
usedFor legal and economic records ⓘ
religious dedications ⓘ
royal inscriptions ⓘ
writingMaterial metal objects ⓘ
rock surfaces ⓘ
stone ⓘ
writingSystem South Arabian script ⓘ
surface form: Ancient South Arabian script

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Sabaic → closelyRelatedTo → Old South Arabian ⓘ
this entity surface form: Hadramitic
South Semitic languages → hasSubgroup → Old South Arabian ⓘ
this entity surface form: Old South Arabian languages
Old South Arabian → hasVariant → Old South Arabian self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Himyaritic
this entity surface form: Old South Arabian languages
Central Semitic languages → includesLanguage → Old South Arabian ⓘ
South Semitic languages → includesLanguage → Old South Arabian ⓘ
this entity surface form: Hadramitic
Sabaic → subclassOf → Old South Arabian ⓘ
this entity surface form: Old South Arabian language