Sabaean alphabet

Origin

The Sabaean or Sabaic alphabet is one of the south Arabian alphabets. The oldest known inscriptions in this alphabet date from about 500 BC. Its origins are not known, though one theory is that it developed from the Byblos alphabet. The Sabaean alphabet is thought to have evolved into the Ethiopic script.

Notable features

Type of writing system: abjad / consonant alphabet with no system for vowel indication
Writing direction: in most inscriptions it is written from right to left, in some it is written in boustrophedon style (alternating right to left and left to right).

Used to write:

Sabaean, an extinct Semitic language once spoken in Saba, the biblical Sheba, in southern Arabia.

Sabaean alphabet

Sample text in Sabaean

Source: http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/talengids/english/sabees.htm

Sample videos in Sabaean

Links

Information about Sabaean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaean_language
http://phoenicia.org/sabaeans.html

Sabaean fonts
http://www.fontspace.com/category/sabaean

Semitic languages

Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic (Algerian), Arabic (Bedawi), Arabic (Chadian), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Gulf), Arabic (Hassaniya), Arabic (Hejazi), Arabic (Lebanese), Arabic (Modern Standard), Arabic (Moroccan), Arabic (Najdi), Arabic (Sudanese), Arabic (Syrian), Aramaic, Argobba, Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian, Canaanite, Chaha, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hadhramautic, Harari, Hebrew, Himyaritic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic, Maltese, Mandaic, Nabataean, Neo-Mandaic, Phoenician, Punic, Qatabanic, Razihi, Sabaean, Sabaic, Silt'e, Syriac, Tigre, Tigrinya, Turoyo, Ugaritic, Western Neo-Aramaic

Consonant alphabets (Abjads)

Ancient Berber, Arabic, Aramaic, Chorasmian, Elymaic, Hatran, Hebrew, Manichaean, Nabataean, North Arabian, Pahlavi, Palmyrene, Parthian, Phoenician, Paleo-Hebrew, Proto-Sinaitic / Proto-Canaanite, Psalter, Punic, Sabaean, Samaritan, Sogdian, South Arabian, Syriac, Tifinagh, Ugaritic

Other writing systems

Page last modified: 15.03.23

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