Nabataean alphabet

Nabataean
Script type	Abjad
Time period	2nd century BC to 4th century AD
Direction	right-to-left script
Languages	Nabataean language
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs[1] Proto-Sinaitic script Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Nabataean
Child systems	Arabic script
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Nbat, 159 , ​Nabataean
Unicode
Unicode alias	Nabataean
Unicode range	U+10880–U+108AF Final Accepted Script Proposal

Example in Nabataean alphabet

The Nabataean alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) that was used by the Nabataeans in the second century BC.^[2][3] Important inscriptions are found in Petra (now in Jordan), the Sinai Peninsula (now part of Egypt), and other archaeological sites including Abdah (in Israel) and Mada'in Saleh in Saudi Arabia.

Nabataean Kingdom, Aretas IV and Shaqilath, 9 b. C. - 40 a. D., AE18. On the reverse, an example of Nabataean script: names of Aretas IV (1st line) and Shaqilath (2nd and 3rd line).^[4][5]

History[]

The alphabet is descended from the Aramaic alphabet. In turn, a cursive form of Nabataean developed into the Arabic alphabet from the 4th century,^[3] which is why Nabataean's letterforms are intermediate between the more northerly Semitic scripts (such as the Aramaic-derived Hebrew) and those of Arabic.

Tablet with the Nabataean alphabet on it.

Comparison with related scripts[]

As compared to other Aramaic-derived scripts, Nabataean developed more loops and ligatures, likely to increase speed of writing. The ligatures seem to have not been standardized and varied across places and time. There were no spaces between words. Numerals in Nabataean script were built from characters of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, and 100.

Nabatean	Name	Arabic alphabet	Syriac alphabet	Hebrew alphabet
	ʾĀlap̄/ʾAlif	ء ا‎	ܐ‎	א‎
	Beth/Ba	بـ ب‎	ܒ‎	ב‎
	Gamal/Jim	جـ ج‎	ܓ‎	ג‎
	Dalath/Dal	ﺩ‎	ܕ‎	ד‎
	Heh	هـ ه‎	ܗ‎	ה‎
	Waw	ﻭ‎	ܘ‎	ו‎
	Zain	ﺯ‎	ܙ‎	ז‎
	Ha/Heth	حـ ح‎	ܚ‎	ח‎
	Teth	ﻁ‎	ܛ‎	ט‎
	Yodh/Ya	يـ ي‎	ܝ‎	י‎
	Kaph	كـ ك‎	ܟ‎	כ‎ / ך‎
	Lamadh/Lam	لـ ل‎	ܠ‎	ל‎
	Mim	مـ م‎	ܡ‎	מ‎ / ם‎
	Nun	نـ ن‎	ܢ‎	נ‎ / ן‎
	Simkath		ܣ‎	ס‎
	'E/Ain	عـ ع‎	ܥ‎	ע‎
	Pe/Fa	فـ ف‎	ܦ‎	פ‎ / ף‎
	Ṣāḏē/Ṣad	صـ ص‎	ܨ‎	צ‎ / ץ‎
	Qoph	قـ ﻕ‎	ܩ‎	ק‎
	Resh/Ra	ﺭ‎	ܪ‎	ר‎
	Šin/Sin	ﺳ س‎	ܫ‎	ש‎
	Taw/Ta	تـ ﺕ‎	ܬ‎	ת‎

• Note that the Syriac and Arabic alphabets are always cursive and that some of their letters look different in medial or initial position.
• See Aramaic alphabet § Letters for a more detailed comparison of letterforms.

Unicode[]

The Nabataean alphabet (U+10880–U+108AF) was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.