Samaritan script

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Ancient inscription in Samaritan Hebrew. From a photo c.1900 by the Palestine Exploration Fund.

The development of the Samaritan script

Samaritan alphabet
Type	Abjad
Spoken languages	Samaritan Hebrew, Samaritan Aramaic
Time period	600 BCE–present
Parent systems	Proto-Canaanite alphabet Phoenician alphabet Paleo-Hebrew alphabet Samaritan alphabet
Unicode range	U+0800 to U+083F
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

History of the alphabet Middle Bronze Age 19 c. BCE Ugaritic 15 c. BCE Proto-Canaanite 15 c. BCE Phoenician 12 c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10 c. BCE Samaritan 6 c. BCE Aramaic 8 c. BCE Kharoṣṭhī 6 c. BCE Brāhmī & Indic 6 c. BCE Brahmic abugidas Hebrew 3 c. BCE Thaana 4 c. BCE Pahlavi 3 c. BCE Avestan 4 c. CE Devanagari 2 c. BCE Palmyrene 2 c. BCE Syriac 2 c. BCE Greek 6 c. BCE Sogdian 2 c. BCE Orkhon (Old Turkic) 6 c. CE Old Hungarian ca. 650 Old Uyghur Mongolian 1204 Nabataean 2 c. BCE Arabic 4 c. CE Thai 5 c. BCE Mandaic 2 c. CE Greek 8 c. BCE Etruscan 8 c. BCE Latin 7 c. BCE Runic 2 c. CE Coptic 3 c. CE Gothic 3 c. CE Armenian 405 Georgian (disputed) ca. 430 CE Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic ca. 940 Paleohispanic 7 c. BCE Epigraphic South Arabian 9 c. BCE Ge’ez 5–6 c. BCE Meroitic 3 c. BCE Ogham 4 c. CE Hangul 1443 Zhuyin (Bopomofo) 1913 Complete writing systems genealogy This box: view • talk • edit

The Samaritan alphabet is used by the Samaritans for religious writings, including the Samaritan Pentateuch, writings in Samaritan Hebrew, and for commentaries and translations in Samaritan Aramaic and occasionally Arabic.

Samaritan is a direct descendant of the paleo-Hebrew variety of the Phoenician alphabet, in which large parts of the Hebrew Bible were originally penned. The better known "square letter" form of the Hebrew alphabet was adopted by the Israelites from the Aramaic alphabet of the Persian Empire. After the fall of the Persian Empire, orthodox Judaism used both scripts before settling on Aramaic, with paleo-Hebrew/proto-Samaritan retained for a time to write the Tetragrammaton.

On 8 February 2008, the Samaritan alphabet was accepted for inclusion in Unicode at code points 0800–083F.[1]

[edit] Development

The table at left shows the development of the Samaritan script. At left are the corresponding Hebrew letters for comparison. Column I is the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Column X shows the modern form of the letters.

[edit] Unicode

For the script to display, you must have a font that covers Samaritan installed.

ࠀ ࠁ ࠂ ࠃ ࠄ ࠅ ࠆ ࠇ ࠈ ࠉ ࠊ ࠋ ࠌ ࠍ ࠎ ࠏ

ࠐ ࠑ ࠒ ࠓ ࠔ ࠕ ࠖ ࠗ ࠘ ࠙ ࠚ ࠛ ࠜ ࠝ ࠞ ࠟ

ࠠ ࠡ ࠢ ࠣ ࠤ ࠥ ࠦ ࠧ ࠨ ࠩ ࠪ ࠫ ࠬ ࠭ ࠮ ࠯

࠰ ࠱ ࠲ ࠳ ࠴ ࠵ ࠶ ࠷ ࠸ ࠹ ࠺ ࠻ ࠼ ࠽ ࠾ ࠿

[edit] External links

• A Samaritan Bible, at the British library
• Script - on the Samaritan alphabet and writings in it.
• Omniglot.com - Samaritan alphabet

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