South Arabian

The South Arabian alphabet is thought to have developed from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in about the 9th century BC. It is known from inscriptions found in Eritrea, Babylonia and Yemen dating from between 9th century BC and 7th century AD, and was used to write the extinct Semitic languages Sabaic, Qatabanic, Himyaritic and Hadhramautic.

The South Arabian was used for monunmental inscriptions, and was also carved into wooden sticks, which were used as everyday documents.

Notable features

Type of writing system: abjad or consonant alphabet.
Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines.

South Arabian alphabet

The top row of letters are written in monumental style, while the bottom row of letters are in cursive style.

Sample text

Sample text in the South Arabian alphabet

Source: http://www.barnard.nl/yemen/mb88.html

Links

Information about the South Arabian alphabet
http://www.answers.com/topic/south-arabian-alphabet

Written in Stone: Inscriptions from the National Museum of Saudi Arabia
http://www.mnh.si.edu/epigraphy/

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions
http://csai.humnet.unipi.it

Ancient South Arabian Inscriptions in Baynun (Yemen)
http://www.barnard.nl/yemen/

Other consonant alphabets (abjads)

Ancient Berber, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandaic, Manichaean, Middle Persian, Nabataean, Parthian, Phoenician, Proto-Hebrew, Psalter, Punic, Sabaean, Samaritan, Sogdian, South Arabian, Syriac, Tifinagh, Ugaritic

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