Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinaitic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spread of Indic branch 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.

Nearly all the worldwide segmental scripts -- which can loosely be described as "alphabets" -- appear to have derived from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. Also called the Middle Bronze Age alphabets due to their era of origin (c. 2000-1500 BCE), Proto-Sinatic first appeared in Palestine, Sinai and Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age, and were adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphs. A possibly independent alphabet, Meroitic, was also adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphs, and therefore may be a cousin to the Proto-Sinaitic family.
Descendants of the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet include the Latin alphabet, which is used to write many modern languages; but also such includes disparate cousins as the writing systems of Hebrew; Arabic; both runes; Ethiopic; Devanagari writing of India; the native scripts of the Philippines and Indonesia; possibly, to a limited degree, Korean Hangul [2]; and perhaps Cree "syllabics". There are also syllabic systems derived superficially from these alphabets, such as Cherokee and the Japanese Sign Language syllabary.
Only a few alphabets are not graphically derived from this family of scripts, including Ol Chiki (for Santali); Zhuyin (Chinese phonics); Tāna (Maldivian); and the extinct Ogham (Old Irish) and semi-alphabetic Old Persian cuneiform scripts. Some of the other writing systems unrelated to the Proto-Sinaitic family were constructed, such as N'Ko (Bambara) and Braille.

Genealogy

Many of these scripts are no longer widely used for writing any language today, having been abandoned in favor of others; those still in use are have been marked in bold.
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 date, 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, e.g. in the case of the Georgian alphabet.
Much of the information here was compiled from the "Ancient Scripts" and "Omniglot" websites, which do not always agree.

0. Wadi el-Ħôl to Proto-Sinaitic - c. 1800 BC (Egypt)
- 1. Ugaritic abjad - c. 1500 BC (Syria)
- 2. Proto-Canaanite abjad - c. 1400 BC (Canaan)
  - 2.1. Phoenician / Paleo-Hebrew abjad - c. 1100 BC (Canaan)
    - 2.1.1. Aramaic abjad - c. 800 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. 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 abugida - 1269 (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)
        
        2.1.1.1.2.2.2.1.1 Soyombo abugida - c. 1686 (Mongolia)
        
        2.1.1.1.2.2.2.2. Modi abugida - c. 1600 (India)
        2.1.1.1.2.2.2.3. Gujarati abugida - c. 1600 (India)
        2.1.1.1.2.2.2.4. 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. Javanese abugida - c. 900 (Indonesia)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.2. Balinese abugida - c. 1000 (Indonesia)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.3. Old Sundanese abugida - c. 1300 (Indonesia)
        
        2.1.1.1.3.3.3.1. Formal Sundanese abugida - 1997 (Indonesia)
        
        2.1.1.1.3.3.4. Batak abugida - c. 1300 (Indonesia)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.5. Baybayin abugida - c. 1300 (Philippines)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.6. Buhid abugida - c. 1300 (Philippines)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.7. Hanunó'o abugida - c. 1300 (Philippines)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.8. Tagbanwa abugida - c. 1300 (Philippines)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.9. Lontara abugida - c. 1600 (Indonesia)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.10. Rejang abugida - ? (Indonesia)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.11. Lampung abugida - ? (Indonesia)
        2.1.1.1.3.3.12. Kerinci 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 (W. China)
        2.1.1.1.8. Ahom abugida - c. 1250 (E. India)
      - 2.1.1.2. Modern Hebrew abjad - c. 300 BC (Israel)
      - 2.1.1.3. Kharosthi abugida - c. 250 BC (Pakistan, Afghanistan)
      - 2.1.1.4. Pahlavi abjad - c. 200 BC (NE. Iran, W. China)
        
        2.1.1.4.1. Avestan alphabet - c. AD 400 (SW. Iran)
      - 2.1.1.5. Syriac abjad - c. 200 BC (Syria, Iraq)
        
        2.1.1.5.1. Sogdian abjad - c. AD 100 (Uzbekistan)
        
        2.1.1.5.1.1. Manichaean abjad - c. 300 (N.E. Iran)
        2.1.1.5.1.2. Georgian alphabet - c. 430 (Georgia)
        2.1.1.5.1.3. Orkhon alphabet - c. 700 (Mongolia)
        
        2.1.1.5.1.3.1. Old Hungarian alphabet - c. 900 (Hungary)
        
        2.1.1.5.1.4. Uyghur alphabet - c. 1000 (NW China)
        
        2.1.1.5.1.4.1. Mongolian alphabet - c. 1100 (Mongolia)
        
        2.1.1.5.1.4.1.1. Manchu alphabet - 1599 (NE China)
        
        2.1.1.5.1.4.2. Todo alphabet - 1649 (NW China)
      - 2.1.1.6. Nabataean abjad - c. 200 BC (Jordan)
        
        2.1.1.6.1. Arabic abjad - c. AD 400 (Jordan, N. Arabia)
        
        2.1.1.6.1.1. Jawi abjad - c. 1300 (Malaysia, Brunei)
      - 2.1.1.7. Mandaic alphabet - c. 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) (first adds vowels)
      - 2.1.4.1. Cumae alphabet - c. 750 BC (Greece, Italy)
        
        2.1.4.1.1. Etruscan alphabet - c. 700 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. 700 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. Greco-Iberian alphabet - c. 400 BC (Spain)
      - 2.1.4.3. Coptic alphabet - c. 200 BC (Egypt)
      - 2.1.4.4. Gothic alphabet - c. AD 300 (Ukraine)
      - 2.1.4.5. Armenian alphabet - 405 (Armenia)
      - 2.1.4.6. Glagolitic alphabet - 862 (Bulgaria)
        
        2.1.4.6.1. Cyrillic alphabet - c. 940 (Bulgaria)
        
        2.1.4.6.1.1. Old Permic script - 1372 (Siberia)
        2.1.4.6.1.2. Abkhaz alphabet - 1865 (Abkhazia)
    - 2.1.5 Tartessian semi-syllabary - c. 600 BC (Portugal and Spain)
      - 2.1.5.1. Southeastern Iberian semi-syllabary - c. 400 BC (Spain)
        
        2.1.5.1.1 Northeastern Iberian semi-syllabary - c. 400 BC (Spain and France)
        
        2.1.5.1.1.1 Celtiberian semi-syllabary - c. 200 BC (Spain)
    - 2.1.6. Tifinagh abjad - c. 250 BC (NW Africa)
      - 2.1.6.1. Neo-Tifinagh alphabet - c. AD 1965 (Morocco)
- 3. South Arabian abjad - c. 900 BC (Arabian Peninsula, Ethiopia, Eritrea [=D'mt])
  - 3.1. Old Geez abjad - c. 500 BC (Ethiopia, Eritrea)
    - 3.1.1. Ge'ez abugida - c. AD 300 (Ethiopia, Eritrea [=Aksum])
  - 3.2. Thamudic abjad - c. 200 BC (N. Arabia)

ndvanderhoofven	Latest page update: made by ndvanderhoofven , Oct 14 2009, 12:07 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Moved from: Codex - ndvanderhoofven No content added or deleted. - complete history)
	Keyword tags: Genealogy languages Proto scripts Sinaitic More Info: links to this page