The Aramaic alphabet is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet, and became distinctive from it by the eighth century BCE. The letters all represent consonants, some of which are matres lectionis, which also indicate long vowels.
The Aramaic alphabet is historically significant since virtually all modern Middle Eastern writing systems use a script that can be traced back to it, as well as numerous Altaic languages of Central and East Asia. This is p...
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The Aramaic alphabet is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet, and became distinctive from it by the eighth century BCE. The letters all represent consonants, some of which are matres lectionis, which also indicate long vowels.
The Aramaic alphabet is historically significant since virtually all modern Middle Eastern writing systems use a script that can be traced back to it, as well as numerous Altaic languages of Central and East Asia. This is primarily due to the widespread usage of the Aramaic language as both a lingua franca and the official language of the Neo-Assyrian, and its successor, the Achaemenid Empire. Among the scripts in modern use, the Hebrew alphabet bears the closest relation to the Imperial Aramaic script of the 5th century BCE, with an identical letter inventory and for the most part nearly identical letter shapes.
Writing systems that, like the Aramaic one, indicate consonants but do not indicate most vowels, or indicate them with added diacritical signs, have...
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