Mnamon

Ancient writing systems in the Mediterranean

A critical guide to electronic resources

Ugaritic

- 14-12th century BC


List of symbols


Spiegazione lista dei segni

The Ugaritic alphabet consists of 30 cuneiform signs, eight more than the Phoenician alphabet. Five among these eight supplementary signs serve to reproduce graphically a phonetically richer (and archaic) consonantism of the Semitic languages in 1st millennium BC in the Syro-Palestinian area (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew etc.). A further three signs, put on the end of the alphabet, have been added: the first two are different pronunciations of the same consonant alif /ˀ/, while the last grapheme may be an allophone of the letter /s/ used only in certain words.
The most noteworthy peculiarity of the Ugaritic alphabet is the use of three different alif-signs: {simbolo} for /ˀa/; {simbolo} for /ˀi/, /ˀê/ or /V ˀ/; {simbolo} for /ˀu/ and /ˀô/.
Here is the Ugaritic sign list with the usual transcription in Latin letters:

 

simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo
simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo simbolo