Phoenician alphabet

E4356

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.

All labels observed (7)

How this entity was disambiguated

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

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (65)

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

Canaanite languages writingSystem Phoenician alphabet
Edomite language writingSystem Phoenician alphabet
Ancient Near East writingSystemsDeveloped Phoenician alphabet
Ammon usedScript Phoenician alphabet
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Proto-Canaanite language influenced Phoenician alphabet
Moabite language writingSystem Phoenician alphabet
Ammonite language writingSystem Phoenician alphabet
Phoenician Pe script Phoenician alphabet
Phoenician Pe unicodeBlock Phoenician alphabet
this entity surface form: Phoenician
Abjad exampleScripts Phoenician alphabet
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Phoenician Yodh script Phoenician alphabet
Sidonians writingSystem Phoenician alphabet
Punic stelae script Phoenician alphabet
Pyrgi (ancient port of Caere) PyrgiTabletsScript Phoenician alphabet
subject surface form: Pyrgi
this entity surface form: Phoenician script
Proto-Sinaitic letter ʿayin influenced Phoenician alphabet