Phoenician language

E38723

Northwest Semitic language ancient language

The Phoenician language was an ancient Northwest Semitic tongue, written in a consonantal alphabet that became the ancestor of many later writing systems, including Greek and Latin scripts.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (5)

Surface form	Occurrences
Punic language	5
Phoenician	4
Phoenician-Punic	2
Byblian Phoenician	1
Phoenicio-Punic language	1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Northwest Semitic language ⓘ ancient language ⓘ
ancestorOf	Arabic alphabet ⓘ Aramaic alphabet (historically) ⓘ surface form: Aramaic alphabet Greek alphabet ⓘ Hebrew alphabet ⓘ Latin alphabet ⓘ Nabataean alphabet ⓘ Hebrew alphabet ⓘ surface form: Paleo-Hebrew script Phoenician language self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Phoenicio-Punic language Punic language ⓘ Syriac alphabet ⓘ
associatedWith	Carthage ⓘ Sidon ⓘ Tyre ⓘ
attestedFrom	c. 11th century BCE ⓘ
attestedUntil	early 1st century CE ⓘ
branchOf	Canaanite languages ⓘ
closelyRelatedTo	Ammonite language ⓘ Edomite language ⓘ Hebrew language ⓘ Moabite language ⓘ
developedFrom	Canaanite languages ⓘ Proto-Canaanite language ⓘ
era	1st millennium BCE ⓘ
extinct	true ⓘ
iso639-2	phn ⓘ
iso639-3	phn ⓘ
languageFamily	Semitic languages ⓘ
linguisticTypology	fusional language ⓘ
morphology	root-and-pattern morphology ⓘ
phonology	emphatic consonants ⓘ
primaryUsers	Phoenician civilization ⓘ surface form: Phoenicians
region	Eastern Mediterranean ⓘ Levant region ⓘ surface form: Levant Phoenician civilization ⓘ surface form: Phoenicia
scriptType	abjad ⓘ consonantal alphabet ⓘ
standardizedVowelNotation	absent ⓘ
subfamily	Northwest Semitic ⓘ surface form: Northwest Semitic languages
usedFor	diplomacy ⓘ religious inscriptions ⓘ trade ⓘ
vowelIndication	matres lectionis ⓘ
writingDirection	right-to-left ⓘ
writingMaterial	metal inscriptions ⓘ ostraca ⓘ stone inscriptions ⓘ
writingSystem	Phoenician alphabet ⓘ

Referenced by (19)

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

Phoenician language → ancestorOf → Phoenician language self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Phoenicio-Punic language

Aramaic → closelyRelatedTo → Phoenician language ⓘ

Phoenician civilization → hasLanguage → Phoenician language ⓘ

Semitic languages → hasLanguage → Phoenician language ⓘ

this entity surface form: Phoenician

Northwest Semitic → hasMember → Phoenician language ⓘ

this entity surface form: Phoenician-Punic

Northwest Semitic → hasMember → Phoenician language ⓘ

this entity surface form: Byblian Phoenician

Byblos → historicalLanguage → Phoenician language ⓘ

this entity surface form: Phoenician

Tyre → historicalLanguage → Phoenician language ⓘ

this entity surface form: Phoenician

Canaanites → language → Phoenician language ⓘ

Hasdrubal Barca → language → Phoenician language ⓘ