The Syrian alphabet is an alphabet used in the Syriac language , as well as in Assyrian and some other Semitic languages since the I century AD. e. [1] . Consists of 22 letters derived from the corresponding letters of the more ancient Aramaic alphabet . The nature of the letter is italic . The direction of the letter is from right to left.
| Syrian letter | |
|---|---|
| Type of letter | consonant |
| Languages | Syrian , Aramaic , Arabic |
| Period | from the 1st century AD [one] |
| Letter direction | from right to left |
| Origin | Phoenician letter
|
| Evolved into | Sogdian , Nabatean |
| Unicode range | U + 0700 — U + 074F |
| ISO 15924 | Syrc (Syrian), Syre (Estrangel), Syrj (West Syrian), Syrn (East Syrian) |
Content
In the Syriac letter, all letters can be combined with the previous letters of the same word (which are on the right), but some of them are not connected with the subsequent letters of the word (which are on the left).
There are no capital letters in the Syrian letter, that is, the first letter in the sentence does not differ from the subsequent letters in size.
| 'Ālap̄ | Bēṯ | Gāmal | Dālaṯ | He | Wāw | Zayn | Ḥēṯ | Ṭēṯ | Yōḏ | Kāp̄ |
| ܐ | ܒ | ܓ | ܕ | ܗ | ܘ | ܙ | ܚ | ܛ | ܝ | ܟܟ |
| ܟ | ||||||||||
| Lāmaḏ | Mīm | Nūn | Semkaṯ | 'Ē | Pe | Ṣāḏē | Qōp̄ | Rees | Šīn | Taw |
| ܠ | ܡܡ | ܢܢ | ܣ | ܥ | ܦ | ܨ | ܩ | ܪ | ܫ | ܬ |
| ܡ | ܢ |
Letter Options
There were several varieties of Syrian writing. The kind of letter that was used to write more ancient manuscripts is known by the name of Estrangel or Estrangel . The earliest surviving inscriptions on Estrangelo are dated to approximately 50 years, this font was used to approximately 500 years [1] . The split of the Syrian church into Nestorians and Jacobites in 431 led to the division of the Syrian language and writing into two forms: western and eastern [1] .
Eastern Syriac ("Nestorian", "Chaldean" or "Assyrian") appeared in the beginning of the 7th century. In Syriac, it is called madnḥāyā (madnhaya, lit. east '). According to the outline, the East Syriac font is closer to Estrangel than the Western Syriac.
Western Syriac ("Yakovitsky" or "Maronite") font is known from the end of the VIII century. in the handwritten book tradition. In- (Western) Syriac, it is called serto (serto; lit. dash, letter '), from serṭo pšiṭo ‛simple / regular font'. The paleographic data show that the serto dates back to the italics witnessed in the documents on the parchment of the beginning of the third century from Edessa.
Letters designate only consonants , as in Hebrew and Arabic . At the end of the 7th or the beginning of the 8th century , two systems of icons for vowels were composed. In the east, a system of points was used partly above the letters, partly below them to designate 8 vowels - 4 long and 4 short. In the west, the Jacobites , for this purpose, were used somewhat modified small Greek letters, which were placed either above or below the letters; denoted by 5 vowels.
| Letter | Estrangelo (classic letter) | Madynhayya (Eastern Syriac) | Unicode | Number | Pronunciation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary the form | The ultimate with compound | The ultimate without connection | Ordinary The form | The ultimate with compound | The ultimate without connection | ||||
| Alaf | one | ܐ | one | ʔ ( guttural bow ) or not to pronounce | |||||
| Beth | ܒ | 2 | hard: b ( sonorous lip-labial explosive ) soft: v ( voiced labial-spirant ) or w ( voiced labial approximant ) | ||||||
| Gamal | ܓ | 3 | hard: g ( ringing velor explosive ) soft: ɣ ( ringing velar spirant ) | ||||||
| Dalat | ܕ | four | hard: d ( voiced alveolar explosive ) soft: ð ( sonorous tooth-slotted consonant ) | ||||||
| Heh | ܗ | five | h ( deaf glottal slit consonant ) | ||||||
| Vav | ܘ | 6 | consonants : w ( voiced labial approximant ) mattress lektionis : u ( rounded vowel of the back row of the upper lift ) or o ( rounded vowel of the back row of the middle-upper lift ) | ||||||
| Zayn | ܙ | 7 | z ( voiced alveolar spirant ) | ||||||
| A hat | ܚ | eight | ħ ( deaf pharyngeal spirant ), x ( deaf velar fricative ), or χ ( deaf uvular fricative ) | ||||||
| Tet | ܛ | 9 | t ˁ ( pharyngeal deaf alveolar explosive ) | ||||||
| Iodine | ܝ | ten | consonants: j ( palatal approximant ) mattress lektionis: i ( undead vowel of the front row of the upper lift ) or e ( undead vowel of the front row of the mid-upper lift ) | ||||||
| Caf | ܟ | 20 | hard: k ( deaf velar explosive ) soft: x ( deaf velar fricative ) | ||||||
| Lamed | ܠ | thirty | l ( alveolar lateral approximant ) | ||||||
| Meme | ܡ | 40 | m ( labial nasal consonant ) | ||||||
| Nun | ܢ | 50 | n ( frontal nasal consonant ) | ||||||
| Samekh | / | ܣ / ܤ | 60 | s ( deaf alveolar spirant ) | |||||
| Ain | ܥ | 70 | ʕ ( ring pharyngeal spirant ) | ||||||
| Pe | ܦ | 80 | hard: p ( deaf bilabial blast ) soft: f ( deaf lip-dental spirant ) or w ( voiced labial approximant ) | ||||||
| Tsadi | ܨ | 90 | s ˁ ( pharyngeal deaf alveolar spirant ) | ||||||
| Kuf | ܩ | 100 | q ( deaf uvular explosive ) | ||||||
| Resh | ܪ | 200 | r ( alveolar tremor consonant ) | ||||||
| Shin | ܫ | 300 | ʃ ( deaf post-alveolar spirant ) | ||||||
| Tav | ܬ | 400 | hard: t ( deaf alveolar explosive ) soft: θ ( deaf tooth-slotted consonant ) | ||||||
1 After Dalat or Resh , Alaf usually takes the usual form, but not the final one.
Ligatures
| Name | Estrangelo (classic) | Madnhaya (Eastern) | Unicode | Description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary the form | The ultimate with compound | The ultimate without connection | Ordinary The form | The ultimate with compound | The ultimate without connection | |||
| Lamed and Alaf combined at the end of the word | ||||||||
| / | Tav and Alaf combined at the end of the word | |||||||
| Heh and Yod combined at the end of the word | ||||||||
Diacritics
- Oglasovki in Syriac
Notes
- 2 1 2 3 4 Syriac alphabet // Encyclopedia Britannica
See also
- Garshuni
Literature
- Deeringer D, Alphabet. - M .: Editorial URSS, 2004.
- Frederick I. History of writing. - M .: Editorial URSS, 2004.