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History of the Alphabet
Middle Bronze Age 19–15th c. BC Canaanite-Phoenician 14th c. BC Paleo-Hebrew 10th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī & Indic 6th c. BC Tibetan 7th c. Khmer/Javanese 9th c. Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Nabatean 2nd c. BC Arabic 4th c. Avestan 4th to 6th c. Greek 9th c. BC Etruscan 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Ogham 4th c. Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic 10th c. Samaritan 6th c. BC Iberian 6th c. BC Epigraphic South Arabian 9th c. BC Ge'ez 5–6th c. BC
Meroitic 3rd c. BC
Complete genealogy

The ancient South Arabian alphabet (also known as musnad المُسند) branched from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in ca. the 9th century BC. It was used for writing the Yemeni Old South Arabic dialects of the Sabaean, Qatabanian, Hadrami, Minaean, Himyarite, and proto-Ge'ez (or proto-Ethiosemitic) in D`mt. The earliest inscriptions in the alphabet date to the 9th century BC in Akkele Guzay, Eritrea<ref>Fattovich, Rodolfo, "Akkälä Guzay" in von Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. Encylopaedia Aethiopica: A-C. Weissbaden: Otto Harrassowitz KG, 2003, p.169.</ref> and in the 8th century BC, found in Babylonia and in Yemen. Its mature form was reached around 500 BC, and its use continued until the 7th century AD, when it was displaced by the Arabic alphabet. In Ethiopia it evolved later into the Ge'ez alphabet, which, with added symbols throughout the centuries, has been used to write Amharic, Tigrinya and Tigre, as well as other languages (including other Semitic languages, Cushitic, and Nilo-Saharan. A highly cursive zabur script—also known as "South Arabian Minuscules"<ref>Stein 2005.</ref>—was used by the ancient Yemenis to inscribe everyday documents on wooden sticks in addition to the rock-cut monumental musnad letters displayed below.

Contents 1 Sign inventory 2 Notes 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Sign inventory

sign	transliteration
Image:Himjar ha.PNG	h
Image:Himjar lam.PNG	l
Image:Himjar ha2.PNG	ḥ
Image:Himjar mim.PNG	m
Image:Himjar qaf.PNG	q
Image:Himjar wa.PNG	w
Image:Himjar sin.PNG	ś
Image:Himjar ra.PNG	r
Image:Himjar ba.PNG	b
Image:Himjar ta2.PNG	t
Image:Himjar za.PNG	s
Image:Himjar kaf.PNG	k
Image:Himjar nun.PNG	n
Image:Himjar kha.PNG	ḫ
Image:Himjar shin.PNG	š
Image:Himjar fa.PNG	f
Image:Himjar alif.PNG	ʾ
Image:Himjar ajin.PNG	ʿ
Image:Himjar za2.PNG	ḍ
Image:Himjar djim.PNG	g
Image:Himjar dal.PNG	d
Image:Himjar ghajn.PNG	ġ
Image:Himjar ta1.PNG	ṭ
Image:Himjar tha.PNG	z
Image:Himjar dhal.PNG	ḏ
Image:Himjar ja.PNG	y
Image:Himjar th.svg	ṯ
Image:Himjar sad.PNG	ṣ
Image:Himjar dad.PNG	ẓ

[edit] Notes

<references/>

[edit] References

• Stein, Peter (2005). "The Ancient South Arabian Minuscule Inscriptions on Wood: A New Genre of Pre-Islamic Epigraphy". Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap “Ex Oriente Lux” 39: 181–199.

[edit] External links

• http://www.ancientscripts.com/s_arabian.html
• http://www.mnh.si.edu/epigraphy/e_pre-islamic/musnad-al-janubi.htm
• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/southarabian.htm

de:Sabäische Schrift

gl:Alfabeto sudarábico