Aramaic alphabet

The Aramaic alphabet was originally adapted from the Phoenician alphabet about the 8th century BC.^[1] It was first used to write the Aramaic language.^[1] It was also used to write several other languages and alphabets including the Hebrew square script.^[2] It was also developed into the Nabataean, Syriac and Mongolian writing systems, among others.^[1] The modern Arabic alphabet is also descended from the Aramaic alphabet.^[2]

The Aramaic alphabet contains 22 characters used mainly to indicate consonants.^[3] However, some symbols can be used to indicate long vowels.^[3] By comparison the later Hebrew and Arabic scripts use only consonants. Hebrew uses 22; Arabic 28.^[2]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} "Aramaic (ܐܪܡܝܐ, ארמית, Arāmît)". Omniglot. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} The Book: A Global History, eds. Michael F Suarez; H R Woudhuysen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 13
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Languages from the World of the Bible, ed. Holger Gzella (Berlin; Boston: Walter de De Gruyter, Inc., 2011), p. 131