The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) consisting of 22 consonant letters only, leaving vowel sounds implicit, although certain late varieties use matres lectionis for some vowels. Through trade with Phoenicians. The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region.. Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. A revised alphabet of only capital letters was adopted officially by Athens, Greece in 403 B.C. The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad consisting of 22 letters, all consonants, with matres lectionis used for some vowels in certain late varieties. From left to right: Latin, [Greek], Phoenician, Hebrew , Arabic . Selecting a letter of the alphabet: If 3 letters of the alphabet are selected at random, find the probability of getting at least one letter "x". It was here that the world's first cities appeared, here that agriculture was first perfected, and here that people first learned to turn their spoken language into a written language. The Proto-Canaanite alphabet was one of the first major attempts to do this, but the Phoenicians took this one step further. This is the oldest verified alphabet. It is not known how many letters the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet had nor what their alphabetic order was. 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Second, Phoenician can be divided into Phoenician proper and “colonial” Phoenician. The earliest Phoenician inscription that has survived is the Ahiram epitaph at Byblos in Phoenicia, dating from the 11th century bc and written in the North Semitic alphabet. Omissions? When the Phoenician alphabet was rediscovered in the 19th century, its origins were unknown. Written Phoenician is composed of these consonantal letters, written from right to left across clay tablets or pieces of early parchment. That first written language (developed around 3500 BCE) was called cuneiform, and it was based on the language of the Mesopotamians. . 's' : ''}}. Phoenicia is located in modern-day Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel. In fact, while cuneiform contained nearly 1,000 characters, the written Phoenician language contained only 22. For that, we have to travel back to roughly 1500 BCE on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea around present day Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late ninth or early eighth century BC. The Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters, but only represented the sounds for consonants, making it a consonantal alphabet. It is the probable ancestor of the Greek alphabet and, hence, of all Western alphabets. {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}} lessons This practical writing system was used in Phoenician ports around the Mediterranean, eventually becoming the de facto language of trade. Different sounds were paired to make words. Anyone can earn The oldest piece of Phoenician writing that we've discovered was from the Phoenician city of Byblos (today in Lebanon) dating to the 11th century BCE. just create an account. Punic was a monumental script and neo-Punic a cursive form. The Phoenician language is based around an alphabet of 22 letters, each one representing a sound in the Phoenician language. When did the Phoenicians create the alphabet? The Phoenician alphabet was behind it all. The Phoenician alphabet had 22 letter. - Definition & Significance. 22 -The 22 Phoenician letters are disentanglements of Egyptian hieroglyphic images, which took on a normalized structure toward the finish of the twelfth century BCE. The Greeks added five vowels and formalized the letter forms. The chief importance of the Phoenician alphabet was that it allowed people acroos the Phoenician Empire to communicate in writing. Not sure what college you want to attend yet? They spoke a Northern Semitic language and adapted the Proto-Canaanite alphabet into one that was much more efficient. To understand the Phoenician alphabet, we first need to understand the Phoenician people. So within our 11th to 8th century “alphabet transfer period,” we see the full adoption of the Hebrew-Phoenician alphabet by a smaller “Greek” community alongside Israel, with the use of the alphabet as early as the 10th century b.c.e. Get access risk-free for 30 days, There are 22 letters in Phoenician, and 24 in ancient Greek, but the Akkadian syllabic script has close to 1,000 signs. The Formello Alphabet or ABC of about seventh century BC 2. Earn Transferable Credit & Get your Degree. Knowing the correct number of letters in the alphabet depends greatly on which language\'s alphabet you are referring to. The Phoenicians were a maritime people, who built up a society of traders who shipped products to and from the various cities along the Mediterranean coast. The Phoenician alphabet gradually developed from this North Semitic prototype and was in use until about the 1st century bc in Phoenicia proper. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. This is an important thing to learn, since our entire written language is based around the combinations of letters in the alphabet. Phoenician letters gave rise to different versions in each of the alphabets derived from them. The Phoenician alphabet, as it is understood today, is a 22 letter abjad with a one-to-one letter to phoneme relationship [see Table 1].1Credited for being the world's first alphabet and mother of all modern alphabets, it is believed to have been inspired by the older hieroglyphics system of nearby Egypt and/or the syllabaries of Cyprus, Crete, and/or the Byblos syllabary - to which the Phoenician alphabet … Phoenicians: Sailing Away. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. What did the Greeks add to the Phoenician alphabet? It was used for the writing of Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language, used by the civilization of Phoenicia. and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you. But where did it come from? This practical writing system was used in Phoenician ports around the Mediterranean, eventually becoming the de facto language of trade. Brit: By 1,000 BC, we arrive at the Phoenician Alphabet, which emerges along the Mediterranean used by the Phoenicians who are a maritime trading culture. As they built up their trade networks, they established colonies across Northern Africa and the Middle East, and even some in Southern Europe. Readers would simply imply the presence of the vowel sounds based on their knowledge of the written and spoken language. My answer was: P(at least 1 "x) = 1 - (25/26)^3 . {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | (2016, September 20). 1. Get the unbiased info you need to find the right school. However, not all of the sounds in the language are actually represented. but no vowels. The Phoenician letter forms shown are idealized: actual Phoenician writing is less uniform, with significant variations by era and region. 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