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Samaritan
Script type	Abjad
Period	600 BCE – present
Direction	Right-to-left script, top-to-bottom
Languages	Samaritan Hebrew,Samaritan Aramaic
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs[1] Proto-Sinaitic alphabet Phoenician alphabet Paleo-Hebrew alphabet Samaritan
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Samr(123), ​Samaritan
Unicode
Unicode alias	Samaritan
Unicode range	U+0800–U+083F
This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

TheSamaritan Hebrew script, or simplySamaritan script, is used by theSamaritans for religious writings, including theSamaritan Pentateuch, writings inSamaritan Hebrew, and for commentaries and translations inSamaritan Aramaic and occasionallyArabic.

Samaritan is a direct descendant of thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet, which was a variety of thePhoenician alphabet. Paleo-Hebrew is the alphabet in which large parts of theHebrew Bible were originally penned according to the consensus of most scholars, who also believe that these scripts are descendants of theProto-Sinaitic script. Paleo-Hebrew script was used by the ancientIsraelites, bothJews 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 theAramaic alphabet called Ashurit (כתב אשורי).

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 theTetragrammaton, but soon that custom was also abandoned.

Acursive style of the alphabet also exists.

The Samaritan alphabet first became known to the Western world with the publication of a manuscript of theSamaritan Pentateuch in 1631 byJean Morin.^[2] In 1616 the travelerPietro della Valle had purchased a copy of the text inDamascus, and this manuscript, now known as Codex B, was deposited in aParisian library.^[3]

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Samaritan script was added to theUnicode Standard in October 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Samaritan is U+0800–U+083F:

• Samaritan vocalization
• Samaritan source sign

• Flôrenṭîn, Moše (2005).Late Samaritan Hebrew: A Linguistic Analysis of Its Different Types. Brill.ISBN 978-900413841-4.

• A Samaritan Bible, at the British libraryArchived 2013-11-03 at theWayback Machine
• Omniglot.com - Samaritan alphabet
• Link to free Samaritan font (consonants only as of 2010)
• Online keyboard for Samaritan script

• Abjad writing systems
• Canaanite writing systems
• Hebrew language
• Samaritan culture and history
• Semitic writing systems
• Right-to-left writing systems

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