Samaritan alphabet

Origins

The Samaritan alphabet was derived from the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. According to the Bible, the Samaritans came originally from Mesopotamia, then moved to Palestine at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC and adopted the Jewish religion and culture. The Samaritans themselves claim descent from the northern tribes of Israel. Evidence from recent DNA tests supports this claim and shows they are related to the Israelites through the paternal line.

The Samaritan alphabet is still used by Samaritans in the city of Nablus and in the Samaritan quarter of Holon. There are currently just over 700 Samaritans.

Notable features

Type of writing system: abjad / consonant alphabet. Vowels indicated with diacritics.
Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines.

Used to write

Samaritan Hebrew, a descendant of Biblical Hebrew used by Samaritans as a liturgical language.

Samaritan Aramaic, a dialect of Aramaic used by the Samaritans in their sacred and scholarly literature.

Samaritan alphabet

Sample text in the Samaritan alphabet

Sample text in the Samaritan alphabet
An extract from the Samaritan Bible (Leviticus)

Source: http://members.tripod.com/~osher_2/script.htm

Links

Information about the Samaritan script
http://members.tripod.com/~osher_2/script.htm
http://www.ancientscripts.com/samaritan.html
http://www.mystae.com/reflections/messiah/scripts/alphabet.html

Information about the Samaritan people
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan

Free Samaritan font
http://members.tripod.com/~osher_2/script.htm
http://www.orindalodge.org/kadoshsamaritan.php

Other consonant alphabets (abjads)

Ancient Berber, Arabic, Dhives Akuru, Hebrew, Mandaic, Middle Persian, Nabataean, Parthian, Phoenician, Proto-Hebrew, Psalter, Sabaean, Samaritan, Sogdian, South Arabian, Syriac, Tifinagh, Ugaritic