Proto-Canaanite alphabet

The Proto-Canaanite alphabet is the linear (i.e., non-Cuneiform) abjad of twenty-plus acrophonic glyphs. It is found in Levantine texts of the Late Bronze Age, by convention until a cut-off date of 1050 BCE. Through its successful Phoenician successor, it became the ancestor of nearly every alphabet in use today, from Greek, Hebrew, Roman and Berber in the West to Thai, Mongol, and perhaps even Korean in the East.

Related Topics:
Alphabet - Cuneiform - Abjad - Acrophonic - Levant - Phoenician - Greek - Hebrew - Roman - Berber - Thai - Mongol - Korean

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Predecessors, possibly still partly logographic, were discovered in central Egypt in 1905 and 1999 (see Middle Bronze Age alphabets). These early scripts may have had more letters than are found later, and may also have included letter variants (different letters that could be used to express the same phoneme).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The names of the letters, which survive in the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, were probably already present. The names are based on an acrophonic principle, presumably from Semitic translations of the names of Egyptian hieroglyphs. For example, Egyptian nt (water) became Semitic mu (water), ultimately evolving into Latin M, while Egyptian drt (hand) became Semitic kapp (hand), and ultimately Latin K.

Related Topics:
Egyptian hieroglyphs - M - K

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The alphabetic order is unknown; the related but cuneiform Ugaritic alphabet had two alphabetic orders, an ABCD order similar to our own, and an HLĦM otherwise attested in the South Arabian and Ethiopic alphabets.

Related Topics:
Ugaritic alphabet - South Arabian - Ethiopic alphabet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One reconstruction of twenty of the letters, based on Proto-Canaanite's better-attested successors Phoenician and South Arabian, follows, along with the Latin descendants,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• ʾalp "ox" (A)
• bet "house" (B)
• gaml "throwstick" (C, G)
• digg "fish" (D)
• haw / hll "jubilation" (E)
• waw "hook" (F, U, V, W, Y)
• zen /ziqq "manacle" (Z)
• ḥet (H)
• yad "arm" (I, J)
• kap "hand" (K)
• lamd "goad" (L)
• mem "water" (M)
• naḥ? "snake" (N)
• ʿen "eye" (O)
• piʾt "corner" (P)
• ṣad "plant"
• qup (Q)
• raʾs "head" (R)
• ?im? "sun, the Uraeus" (S)
• taw "signature" (T)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

also compare to phoenician (added letters, changed glyphs)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~