Writing system used by the Samaritans for religious writings
The
Samaritan script
is used by the
Samaritans
for religious writings, including the
Samaritan Pentateuch
, writings in
Samaritan Hebrew
, and for commentaries and translations in
Samaritan Aramaic
and occasionally
Arabic
.
Samaritan is a direct descendant of the
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
, which was a variety of the
Phoenician alphabet
. Paleo-Hebrew is the alphabet in which large parts of the
Hebrew Bible
were originally penned according to the consensus of most scholars, who also believe that these scripts are descendants of the
Proto-Sinaitic script
. Paleo-Hebrew script was used by the ancient
Israelites
, both
Jews
and Samaritans.
The better-known "square script"
Hebrew alphabet
which has been traditionally used by Jews since the Babylonian exile is a stylized version of the
Aramaic alphabet
called Ashurit (??? ?????), though religious
literalist interpretations
of
Exodus 32:16
assume that the text asserts that it was received on Sinai from the
Finger of God
and that it has been in continuous and unchanged use since then.
[
citation needed
]
Historically, the Aramaic alphabet became distinct from Phoenician/Paleo-Hebrew in the 8th century BCE. After the fall of the Persian Empire, Judaism used both scripts before settling on the Aramaic form, henceforth de facto becoming the "Hebrew alphabet" since it was repurposed to write Hebrew. For a limited time thereafter, the use of paleo-Hebrew (proto-Samaritan) among Jews was retained only to write the
Tetragrammaton
, but soon that custom was also abandoned.
A
cursive
style of the alphabet also exists.
The Samaritan alphabet first became known to the Western world with the publication of a manuscript of the
Samaritan Pentateuch
in 1631 by
Jean Morin
.
[2]
In 1616 the traveler
Pietro della Valle
had purchased a copy of the text in
Damascus
, and this manuscript, now known as Codex B, was deposited in a
Parisian
library.
Development
[
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]
The table below shows the development of the Samaritan script. On the left are the corresponding Hebrew letters for comparison. Column X shows the modern form of the letters.
Letters
[
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]
Consonants
- ?
?'l?f
- ?
b?t
- ?
g?'m?n
- ?
d?'l?t
- ?
?y
- ?
b??
- ?
z?n
- ?
?t
- ?
??t
- ?
y?t
- ?
k??f
- ?
l?'b?t
- ?
m?m
- ?
n?n
- ?
sin'g??t
- ?
?n
- ?
f?
- ?
???'d?y
- ?
q?f
- ?
r??
- ?
??n
- ?
t??f
|
Vowels
- ?
- ?
?'l?f
- ?
occlusion
- ?
dagesh
- ?
epenthetic y?t
- ?
epenthetic yut
- ?
?
- ?
e/?
- ?
??ː
- ?
??
- ?
a
- ?
?ː
- ?
?
- ?
a
- ?
?
- ?
?
- ?
?
- ?
u
- ?
i
- ?
?
- ?
i
- ?
?
- ?
sukun
|
Punctuation
[4]
- ?
Nequdaa (variant reading sign)
- ?
Nequdaa (word separator)
- ?
Afsaaq (interruption)
- ?
Anged (restraint)
- ?
Bau (prayer)
- ?
Atmaau (surprise)
- ?
Shiyyaalaa (question)
- ?
Abbreviation mark
- ?
Melodic qitsa
- ?
Ziqaa (shouting)
- ?
Qitsa (end of section)
- ?
Zaef (outburst)
- ?
Turu (teaching)
- ?
Arkaanu (submissiveness)
- ?
Sof mashfaat (full stop)
- ?
Annaau (rest)
|
Unicode
[
edit
]
Samaritan script was added to the
Unicode
Standard in October 2009 with the release of version 5.2.
The Unicode block for Samaritan is U+0800–U+083F:
Samaritan
[1]
[2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart
(PDF)
|
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
U+080x
|
ࠀ
|
ࠁ
|
ࠂ
|
ࠃ
|
ࠄ
|
ࠅ
|
ࠆ
|
ࠇ
|
ࠈ
|
ࠉ
|
ࠊ
|
ࠋ
|
ࠌ
|
ࠍ
|
ࠎ
|
ࠏ
|
U+081x
|
ࠐ
|
ࠑ
|
ࠒ
|
ࠓ
|
ࠔ
|
ࠕ
|
ࠖ
|
ࠗ
|
࠘
|
࠙
|
ࠚ
|
ࠛ
|
ࠜ
|
ࠝ
|
ࠞ
|
ࠟ
|
U+082x
|
ࠠ
|
ࠡ
|
ࠢ
|
ࠣ
|
ࠤ
|
ࠥ
|
ࠦ
|
ࠧ
|
ࠨ
|
ࠩ
|
ࠪ
|
ࠫ
|
ࠬ
|
࠭
|
|
|
U+083x
|
࠰
|
࠱
|
࠲
|
࠳
|
࠴
|
࠵
|
࠶
|
࠷
|
࠸
|
࠹
|
࠺
|
࠻
|
࠼
|
࠽
|
࠾
|
|
Notes
- 1.
^
As of Unicode version 15.1
- 2.
^
Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
|
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]