| Nabataean script | |
|---|---|
                | |
| Script type | |
Period | 2nd century BC to 4th century AD |
| Direction | Right-to-left script  |
| Languages | Nabataean Aramaic Nabataean Arabic |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Arabic script |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Nbat(159), Nabataean |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Nabataean |
| U+10880–U+108AF Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
|
TheNabataean script is anabjad (consonantal alphabet) that was used to writeNabataean Aramaic andNabataean Arabic from the second century BC onwards.[2][3] Important inscriptions are found inPetra (inJordan), theSinai Peninsula (now part ofEgypt),Bosra andNamara (inSyria), and otherarchaeological sites includingAbdah (inIsrael) andMada'in Saleh (Hegra) (inSaudi Arabia).
Nabataean is only known through inscriptions and, more recently, a small number of papyri.[4] It was first deciphered in 1840 byEduard Friedrich Ferdinand Beer.[4] 6,000 – 7,000 Nabataean inscriptions have been published, of which more than 95% are mostly short inscriptions orgraffiti, and the vast majority are undated, post-Nabataean or from outside the core Nabataean territory.[4] A majority of inscriptions considered Nabataean were found in Sinai,[4] and another 4,000 – 7,000 such Sinaitic inscriptions remain unpublished.[5] Prior to the publication of Nabataean papyri, the only substantial corpus of detailed Nabataean text were the 38 funerary inscriptions fromMada'in Salih (Hegra), discovered and published byCharles Montagu Doughty,Charles Huber,Philippe Berger andJulius Euting in 1884-85.[4][6]
The alphabet is descended from theAramaic alphabet. In turn, a cursive form of Nabataean developed into theArabic alphabet from the 4th century,[3] which is why Nabataean's letterforms are intermediate between the more northerly Semitic scripts (such as the Aramaic-derivedHebrew) and those of Arabic.
As compared to other Aramaic-derived scripts, Nabataean developed more loops andligatures, 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.
| Name | Phoenician | Phoneme | Aramaic | Nabataean | Syriac | Hebrew | Arabic | Phoneme | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ʾālep | 𐤀 | ʾ[ʔ] | 𐡀 | 𐢀 (final) | 𐢁 | ܐ | א | ﺍ | ʾ[ʔ] |
| bēt | 𐤁 | b[b] | 𐡁 | 𐢂 (final) | 𐢃 | ܒ | ב | ﺏ | b[b] |
| gīml | 𐤂 | g[ɡ] | 𐡂 | 𐢄 | ܓ | ג | ﺝ | j[d͡ʒ] | |
| dālet | 𐤃 | d[d] | 𐡃 | 𐢅 | ܕ | ד | د | d[d] | |
| ذ | ḏ[ð] | ||||||||
| he | 𐤄 | h[h] | 𐡄 | 𐢆 (final) | 𐢇 | ܗ | ה | ه | h[h] |
| wāw | 𐤅 | w[w] | 𐡅 | 𐢈 | ܘ | ו | ﻭ | w[w] | |
| zayin | 𐤆 | z[z] | 𐡆 | 𐢉 | ܙ | ז | ﺯ | z[z] | |
| ḥēt | 𐤇 | ḥ[ħ] | 𐡇 | 𐢊 | ܚ | ח | ح | ḥ[ħ] | |
| خ | ḵ[x] | ||||||||
| ṭēt | 𐤈 | ṭ[tˤ] | 𐡈 | 𐢋 | ܛ | ט | ط | ṭ[tˤ] | |
| ظ | ẓ[ðˤ] | ||||||||
| yod | 𐤉 | y[j] | 𐡉 | 𐢌 (final) | 𐢍 | ܝ | י | ي | y[j] |
| kāp | 𐤊 | k[k] | 𐡊 | 𐢎 (final) | 𐢏 | ܟ | כ ,ך | ﻙ | k[k] |
| lāmed | 𐤋 | l[l] | 𐡋 | 𐢐 (final) | 𐢑 | ܠ | ל | ﻝ | l[l] |
| mēm | 𐤌 | m[m] | 𐡌 | 𐢒 (final) | 𐢓 | ܡ | מ ,ם | ﻡ | m[m] |
| nūn | 𐤍 | n[n] | 𐡍 | 𐢔 (final) | 𐢕 | ܢ | נ ,ן | ﻥ | n[n] |
| śāmek | 𐤎 | ś[s] | 𐡎 | 𐢖 | ܣ | ס | س | s[s] | |
| ʿayin | 𐤏 | ʿ[ʕ] | 𐡏 | 𐢗 | ܥ | ע | ع,ء | ʿ[ʕ] | |
| غ | ḡ[ɣ] | ||||||||
| pē | 𐤐 | p[p] | 𐡐 | 𐢘 | ܦ | פ ,ף | ف | f[f] | |
| ṣādē | 𐤑 | ṣ[sˤ] | 𐡑 | 𐢙 | ܨ | צ ,ץ | ص | ṣ[sˤ] | |
| ض | ḍ[dˤ] | ||||||||
| qōp | 𐤒 | q[q] | 𐡒 | 𐢚 | ܩ | ק | ﻕ | q[q] | |
| rēs, reš | 𐤓 | r[r] | 𐡓 | 𐢛 | ܪ | ר | ﺭ | r[r] | |
| šīn | 𐤔 | š[ʃ] | 𐡔 | 𐢜 (final) | 𐢝 | ܫ | ש | ش | š[ʃ] |
| tāw | 𐤕 | t[t] | 𐡕 | 𐢞 | ܬ | ת | ت | t[t] | |
| ث | ṯ[θ] | ||||||||
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The Nabataean alphabet (U+10880–U+108AF) was added to theUnicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.
| Nabataean[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+1088x | 𐢀 | 𐢁 | 𐢂 | 𐢃 | 𐢄 | 𐢅 | 𐢆 | 𐢇 | 𐢈 | 𐢉 | 𐢊 | 𐢋 | 𐢌 | 𐢍 | 𐢎 | 𐢏 |
| U+1089x | 𐢐 | 𐢑 | 𐢒 | 𐢓 | 𐢔 | 𐢕 | 𐢖 | 𐢗 | 𐢘 | 𐢙 | 𐢚 | 𐢛 | 𐢜 | 𐢝 | 𐢞 | |
| U+108Ax | 𐢧 | 𐢨 | 𐢩 | 𐢪 | 𐢫 | 𐢬 | 𐢭 | 𐢮 | 𐢯 | |||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Sinai, for example, is a major source of Nabataean inscriptions: the corpus of M. E. Stone contains 3,851 Nabataean items! But most were written by individuals who had no connection with Nabataea itself during the period of the Nabataean kingdom or its immediate aftermath and they may not normally have spoken Aramaic. The texts have generally been thought to have been written long after Nabataea as such disappeared.
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