South Arabian alphabet
Categories: Writing system stubs | Abjad writing systems
| History of the Alphabet |
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Wadi el-Hol 19th c. BC
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| Meroitic 3rd c. BC |
The ancient South Arabian alphabet (also known as musnad) branched from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in ca. the 13th century BC. It was used in the Sabaean and Minaean kingdoms on the southern Arabian Peninsula. Early forms dating to the 8th century BC are found in Babylonia. Its mature form was reached around 500 BC, and its use continued until the 7th century, when it was displaced by the Arabic alphabet. The alphabet spread to Ethiopia, where it evolved into the Ge'ez alphabet, the basis of the modern Amharic, Tigrinya and Tigre alphabet.
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