TY - JOUR

T1 - Origins of the Canaanite alphabet and West Semitic consonants' inventory

AU - Nemirovskaya, Adel V.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - It has been not infrequently mentioned by Semitists that a few graphemes of the West Semitic consonantal alphabet had been multifunctional. This is witnessed, in particular, by transcriptions of Biblical names in Septuagint, Demotic transcriptions of Aramaic as well as by the Arabic alphabet, Aramaic by its origin, which twenty two graphemes were ultimately developed into twenty eight ones through inventing additional diacritics. The oldest firmly deciphered and convincingly interpreted variety of the West Semitic consonantal script was employed in Ugarit as early as the 13th century BC. Being contemporaneous with the epoch of the invention of the West Semitic consonantal script the most significant evidence is provided with Semitic words occasionally transcribed in Egyptian papyri from the New Kingdom. Examples collected (J. Hoch) demonstrate that one and the same Semitic consonant could be recorded variously with different Egyptian consonants used; even more crucial is that various Semitic consonants could be recorded with the same Egyptian one.E. de Rougé was the first one to state that the immediate prototypes of Semitic letters were to be sought among the Hieratic characters. W. Helck and K.-Th. Zauzich determined that the West Semitic alphabet comprised only those characters which had been used in “Egyptian syllabic writing”. Summarizing philological and historical evidence does allow us to conclude that the Canaanite consonantal alphabet developed as a local adaptation of the Egyptian scribal practice of recording non-Egyptian words. This local adaptation must have occurred under Ramesside rule, when Egyptian or Egyptian-trained scribes resided at Canaanite sites.It seems reasonable to conclude that West Semitic consonantal graphemes were not intended for reflecting Semitic phonetics adequately from the beginning of their existence. Their usage was originally conditioned by the Egyptian scribal practice of rendering Semitic words that was current during the New Kingdom.

AB - It has been not infrequently mentioned by Semitists that a few graphemes of the West Semitic consonantal alphabet had been multifunctional. This is witnessed, in particular, by transcriptions of Biblical names in Septuagint, Demotic transcriptions of Aramaic as well as by the Arabic alphabet, Aramaic by its origin, which twenty two graphemes were ultimately developed into twenty eight ones through inventing additional diacritics. The oldest firmly deciphered and convincingly interpreted variety of the West Semitic consonantal script was employed in Ugarit as early as the 13th century BC. Being contemporaneous with the epoch of the invention of the West Semitic consonantal script the most significant evidence is provided with Semitic words occasionally transcribed in Egyptian papyri from the New Kingdom. Examples collected (J. Hoch) demonstrate that one and the same Semitic consonant could be recorded variously with different Egyptian consonants used; even more crucial is that various Semitic consonants could be recorded with the same Egyptian one.E. de Rougé was the first one to state that the immediate prototypes of Semitic letters were to be sought among the Hieratic characters. W. Helck and K.-Th. Zauzich determined that the West Semitic alphabet comprised only those characters which had been used in “Egyptian syllabic writing”. Summarizing philological and historical evidence does allow us to conclude that the Canaanite consonantal alphabet developed as a local adaptation of the Egyptian scribal practice of recording non-Egyptian words. This local adaptation must have occurred under Ramesside rule, when Egyptian or Egyptian-trained scribes resided at Canaanite sites.It seems reasonable to conclude that West Semitic consonantal graphemes were not intended for reflecting Semitic phonetics adequately from the beginning of their existence. Their usage was originally conditioned by the Egyptian scribal practice of rendering Semitic words that was current during the New Kingdom.

KW - West Semitic, Canaanite, Egyptian, Ugaritic, consonantal, script, alphabet, multifunctional grapheme, scribal practice

KW - западносемитский, ханаанский, египет- ский, угаритский, консонантный, письмо, алфавит, полифункци- ональная графема, писцовая практика

KW - West Semitic

KW - CANAANITE

KW - EGYPTIAN

KW - UGARITIC

KW - CONSONANTAL

KW - script

KW - alphabet

KW - MULTIFUNCTIONAL GRAPHEME

KW - SCRIBAL PRACTICE

UR - https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=42684503

U2 - 10.30842/alp2306573715317

DO - 10.30842/alp2306573715317

M3 - Article

VL - 3

SP - 425

EP - 445

JO - Acta Linguistica Petropolitana

JF - Acta Linguistica Petropolitana

SN - 2306-5737

IS - 15

ER -