Phoenician alphabet

E4356
Northwest Semitic script abjad ancient script consonantal writing system

The Phoenician alphabet is an ancient consonantal writing system developed by the Phoenician civilization that became the ancestor of most major modern alphabets, including Greek, Latin, and Arabic.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (5)

Surface form Occurrences
Phoenician script 7
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet 2
Phoenician 1

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Northwest Semitic script ⓘ
abjad ⓘ
ancient script ⓘ
consonantal writing system ⓘ
ancestorOf Arabic alphabet ⓘ
Aramaic alphabet (historically) ⓘ
surface form: Aramaic alphabet

Etruscan alphabet ⓘ
Greek alphabet ⓘ
Hebrew alphabet ⓘ
Latin alphabet ⓘ
Nabataean alphabet ⓘ
Old Italic script ⓘ
surface form: Old Italic scripts

Phoenician alphabet self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Paleo-Hebrew alphabet

Punic script ⓘ
Aramaic alphabet (historically) ⓘ
surface form: Syriac alphabet
containsVowelLetters no ⓘ
derivedFrom Proto-Canaanite script ⓘ
developedBy Phoenician civilization ⓘ
directionality right-to-left script ⓘ
influenced development of alphabetic writing ⓘ
ISO15924Code Phnx ⓘ
notableInscriptionSites Byblos ⓘ
Sidon ⓘ
Tyre ⓘ
numberOfLetters 22 ⓘ
primaryUse recording Phoenician language ⓘ
region Eastern Mediterranean ⓘ
Eastern Mediterranean ⓘ
surface form: Levant
relatedTo Proto-Canaanite script ⓘ
surface form: Proto-Sinaitic script

Ugaritic alphabet ⓘ
scriptCode Phnx ⓘ
scriptFamily Northwest Semitic ⓘ
Semitic ⓘ
standardOrder abjad order ⓘ
timePeriod early 1st millennium BCE ⓘ
late 2nd millennium BCE ⓘ
unicodeBlock Phoenician ⓘ
usedBy Phoenician civilization ⓘ
surface form: Phoenicians
usedFor religious inscriptions ⓘ
royal inscriptions ⓘ
trade records ⓘ
vocalizationMethod implied vowels ⓘ
writingDirection right-to-left ⓘ
writingMedium ostraca ⓘ
papyrus ⓘ
stone inscriptions ⓘ
writingSystemClass alphabetic ⓘ
writingSystemType consonantal ⓘ

Referenced by (35)

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

Phoenician alphabet → ancestorOf → Phoenician alphabet self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Proto-Canaanite script → ancestorOf → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Alpha → derivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician letter aleph
Aramaic alphabet (historically) → derivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
subject surface form: Aramaic alphabet
Greek alphabet → derivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Nabataean alphabet → derivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Old Italic script → derivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Punic script → derivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Punic script → developedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Proto-Canaanite script → developedInto → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Ayin → hasLineage → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Ayin → hasLineage → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Phoenician civilization → hasWritingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Semitic languages → hasWritingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Egyptian hieroglyphs → influenced → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Byblos → knownFor → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
East Syriac script → parentSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Etruscan alphabet → parentSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Aramaic alphabet (historically) → relatedTo → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
subject surface form: Aramaic alphabet
Hebrew alphabet → relatedTo → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Ugaritic alphabet → relatedTo → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Nabataean alphabet → scriptFamily → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script family
Punic script → sharesOriginWith → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Punic script → subclassOf → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Latin alphabet → ultimatelyDerivedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Punic script → unicodeBlock → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician
Ammonite → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Canaanites → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Edomite → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Moabite → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Northwest Semitic → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Northwest Semitic → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Phoenician language → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
Pyrgi Tablets → writingSystem → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Hebrew → writingSystemDevelopedFrom → Phoenician alphabet ⓘ