Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinaitic
Nearly all the segmental scripts ("
alphabets", but see below for more precise terminology) used around the globe were apparently derived from the
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. These include the
Latin alphabet — forms of which are used today to write numerous languages — but also such disparate cousins as the writing systems of
Hebrew,
Arabic, both
Germanic and
Hungarian runes,
Ethiopic,
Devanagari writing of
India, the native scripts of the
Philippines and
Indonesia, and perhaps Cree
'syllabics' and Korean
hangul. There are also true
syllabic systems derived only superficially from these alphabets, such as
Cherokee.
|
Spread of Proto-Sinaitic writing systems from India to Eastern Asia. Note that 'Nepali' on the map is not the Nepali language or its script; also the spread of Siddham is not associated with the evolution of Chinese or Japanese writing systems. |
The first
Middle Bronze Age alphabets were adapted from
Egyptian hieroglyphs. A possibly independent alphabet, the
Meroitic alphabet, was also adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphs, and therefore may be a cousin to the Proto-Sinaitic family.
Notes: The dates are intended to show the approximate 'birthdate' of a script; however in many cases (marked by 'c.') they are widely approximate, and may be off even by centuries. In several cases, the development of one script into another was a gradual process over several centuries, that is difficult to pin down with precision. Following that, in parentheses, is the name of one or two modern countries corresponding to the region where the script was first widely used. In a few cases, a direct graphic letter-to-letter correspondence cannot be precisely established between a 'parent script' and its children, making the exact placement of some family members somewhat controversial, eg. in the case of the Tibetan or Georgian alphabets. Much of the information here was compiled from the
"Ancient Scripts" and
"Omniglot" websites, which do not always agree. Despite many of these scripts commonly being called "alphabets", the recent linguistic classifications of
abugidas and
semi-syllabaries are shown in Italic; the others are
abjads or
alphabets proper. Many of these scripts are no longer widely used for writing any language today, having been abandoned in favor of others; those that still are, have been marked with '*' .
* 0.
Wadi el-Ħôl to Proto-Sinaitic - c. 2000 BC (Egypt)
** 1.
Ugaritic abjad - c. 1200 BC (Syria)
** 2.
Proto-Canaanite abjad - c. 1200 BC (Israel)
*** 2.1.
Phoenician / Palaeo-Hebrew abjad - c. 1000 BC (Lebanon, Israel)
**** 2.1.1.
Aramaic abjad - c. 900 BC (Syria)
***** 2.1.1.1.
Brahmi abugida - c. 600 BC (India, Sri Lanka)
****** 2.1.1.1.1.
Cham abugida - c. AD 200 (Vietnam, Cambodia)
****** 2.1.1.1.2.
Gupta abugida - c. AD 400 (N. India)
******* 2.1.1.1.2.1.
Siddham abugida - c. 600 (N. India)
******** 2.1.1.1.2.1.1
Tibetan abugida - c. 650 (Tibet)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.1.1.1
Phagspa alphabet - 1269 (Mongolia)
********** 2.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1
Hangul alphabet - 1442 (Korea) *
[Scholar Gari Ledyard claims that Korean Hangul can be traced to the Phagspa alphabet of Mongolia.]********* 2.1.1.1.2.1.1.2
Lepcha abugida - c. 1700 (Bhutan)
********** 2.1.1.1.2.1.1.2.1
Limbu abugida - c. 1740 (Sikkim)
******* 2.1.1.1.2.2.
Nagari abugida - c. 750 (India)
******** 2.1.1.1.2.2.1.
Bengali abugida - c. 1050 (E. India, Bangladesh)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.2.1.1.
Oriya abugida - c. 1100 (E. India)
******** 2.1.1.1.2.2.2.
Devanagari abugida - c. 1100 (India)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.2.2.1.
Newari / Ranjana abugida - c. 1150 (Nepal)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.2.2.2.
Modi abugida - c. 1600 (India)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.2.2.3.
Gujarati abugida - c. 1500 (India)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.2.2.4.
Soyombo abugida - c. 1686 (Mongolia)
********* 2.1.1.1.2.2.2.5.
Cree abugida - 1841 (Canada)
******* 2.1.1.1.2.3.
Sharada abugida - c. 770 (Pakistan)
******** 2.1.1.1.2.3.1
Gurmukhi abugida - c. 1539 (Pakistan, N. India)
****** 2.1.1.1.3.
Pallava abugida - c. 400 (S. India)
******* 2.1.1.1.3.1.
Khmer abugida - c. 600 (Cambodia)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.1.1.
Thai abugida - 1283 (Thailand)
********* 2.1.1.1.3.1.1.1.
Lao abugida - c. 1350 (Laos)
******* 2.1.1.1.3.2.
Mon abugida - c. 700 (Burma)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.2.1.
Burmese abugida - c. 1050 (Burma)
******* 2.1.1.1.3.3.
Old Kawi abugida - c. 775 (Indonesia)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.1.
Balinese abugida - c. 1000 (Indonesia)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.2.
Batak abugida - c. 1300 (Indonesia)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.3.
Baybayin abugida - c. 1350 (Philippines)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.4.
Buhid abugida - c. 1400 (Philippines)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.5.
Hanunóo abugida - c. 1400 (Philippines)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.6.
Tagbanwa abugida - c. 1400 (Philippines)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.7.
Buginese abugida - c. 1600 (Indonesia)
******** 2.1.1.1.3.3.8.
Rejang abugida - ? (Indonesia)
****** 2.1.1.1.4.
Kadamba abugida - c. 450 (S India)
******* 2.1.1.1.4.1.
Kannada abugida - c. 1500 (S.India)
******* 2.1.1.1.4.2.
Telugu abugida - c. 1500 (S. India)
****** 2.1.1.1.5.
Kalinga abugida - c. 500 (E India)
****** 2.1.1.1.6.
Grantha abugida - c. 500 (S India)
******* 2.1.1.1.6.1.
Sinhala abugida - c. 700 (Sri Lanka)
******** 2.1.1.1.6.1.1.
Dhives Akuru abugida - c. 1100 (Maldives)
******* 2.1.1.1.6.2.
Tamil abugida - c. 700 (India, Sri Lanka)
******** 2.1.1.1.6.2.1.
Sourashtra abugida - c. 1900 (S. India)
******* 2.1.1.1.6.3.
Malayalam abugida - c. 1100 (S. India)
****** 2.1.1.1.7.
Tocharian abugida - c. 500
****** 2.1.1.1.8.
Ahom abugida - c. AD 1250 (E. India)
***** 2.1.1.2.
Modern Hebrew abjad - c. 300 BC (Israel)
***** 2.1.1.3.
Pahlavi / Middle Persian abjad - c. 250 BC (Iran)
****** 2.1.1.3.1.
Psalter Pahlavi abjad - c. AD 400 (NW China)
****** 2.1.1.3.2.
Avestan alphabet - c. AD 250 (Iran)
***** 2.1.1.4.
Kharosthi abugida - c. 250 BC (Pakistan, Afghanistan)
***** 2.1.1.5.
Parthian abjad - c. 200 BC (Iran)
***** 2.1.1.6.
Syriac abjad - c. AD 1 (Syria, Iran)
****** 2.1.1.6.1.
Sogdian abjad - c. 100 (Uzbekistan)
******* 2.1.1.6.1.1.
Georgian alphabet - c. 100 ? (Georgia)
******* 2.1.1.6.1.2.
Orkhon alphabet - c. 700 (Mongolia)
******** 2.1.1.6.1.2.1.
Old Hungarian alphabet - c. 900 (Hungary)
******* 2.1.1.6.1.3.
Uyghur alphabet - c. 1000 (NW China)
******** 2.1.1.6.1.3.1.
Mongolian alphabet - c. 1100 (Mongolia)
********* 2.1.1.6.1.3.1.1.
Manchu alphabet - 1599 (NE China)
******** 2.1.1.6.1.3.2.
Todo alphabet - 1649 (NW China)
***** 2.1.1.7.
Nabatean abjad - c. AD 50 (Jordan)
****** 2.1.1.7.1.
Arabic abjad - c. 400 (Jordan, N. Arabia)
***** 2.1.1.8.
Mandaic alphabet - c. AD 100 (Iran)
**** 2.1.2.
Samaritan abjad - c. 600 BC (Israel)
**** 2.1.3.
Alphabets of Asia Minor - c. 800 BC (Anatolia)
**** 2.1.4.
Greek alphabet - c. 800 BC (Greece)
***** 2.1.4.1.
Cumae alphabet - c. 750 BC (Greece, Italy)
****** 2.1.4.1.1.
Etruscan alphabet - c. 725 BC (Italy)
******* 2.1.4.1.1.1.
Venetic alphabet - c. 700 BC (Italy)
******** 2.1.4.1.1.1.1.
Runic alphabet - c. AD 150 (Germany, Scandinavia)
******* 2.1.4.1.1.2.
Latin alphabet - c. 600 BC (Italy)
******** 2.1.4.1.1.2.1.
Faliscan alphabet - c. 400 BC (Italy)
******* 2.1.4.1.1.3.
Oscan alphabet - c. 600 BC (Italy)
****** 2.1.4.1.2.
Messapic alphabet - c. 550 BC (Italy)
***** 2.1.4.2.
Coptic alphabet - c. 200 BC (Egypt)
***** 2.1.4.3.
Gothic alphabet - c. AD 350 (Ukraine)
***** 2.1.4.4.
Armenian alphabet - 405 (Armenia)
***** 2.1.4.5.
Glagolitic alphabet - 863 (Bulgaria)
****** 2.1.4.5.1.
Cyrillic alphabet - c. 900 (Bulgaria)
******* 2.1.4.5.1.1.
Old Permic script - 1372 (Siberia)
**** 2.1.5.
Iberian semi-alphabetic syllabary - c. 600 BC (Spain, Portugal)
***** 2.1.5.1.
Celtiberian semi-alphabetic syllabary - c. 500 BC (N. Spain)
**** 2.1.6.
Tifinagh abjad - c. 250 BC (NW Africa)
***** 2.1.6.1.
Turdetan script (Spain) - c. III BC
***** 2.1.6.2.
Neo-Tifinagh alphabet - 20th century (Morocco)
** 3.1.
South Arabian abjad - c. 600 BC (S. Arabia)
*** 3.1.1.
Old Geez abjad - c. 500 BC (Ethiopia)
**** 3.1.1.1.
Ge'ez abugida - c. AD 300 (Ethiopia)
*** 3.1.2.
Thamudic abjad - c. 200 BC (N. Arabia)
Notes
*
History of the alphabet
