The Phoenician Alphabet and its modern descendants


The Phoenician Alphabet gave rise to a host of scripts. It descended from Egyptian hieroglyphics, and gave rise to the Greek (whence Latin came from), as well as Semitic scripts like Hebrew and Arabic. Furthermore, the evolution of scripts is distinct from the evolution of languages. For example, even though English uses the Latin script, (and has many borrowings, such as from French which is a Romance language), it is a Germanic language.

The following table is taken from Wikipedia. Just being able to read the scripts of other languages can be a stepping stone in achieving mastering in those languages because at least now they have some unit of meaning, even if it is phonetics.

Some of these scripts are abjads, and most were unicameral in ancient types, whilst others are read from right-to-left. Note that the Phoenician alphabet, no longer used, is not displayed below, though the Egyptian root, which is a pictogram for the meaning of the world, is displayed.

EgyptianNameMeaningPhonemeTrans- literationHebrewArabicGreekLatinCyrillicBrahmi
𓃾ʾālepox, head of cattleʾ [ʔ]ʾא‎ﺍ , ء‎ΑαAaАа𑀅 /a/
𓉐bēthouseb [b]bב‎ﺏ‎ΒβBbБб, Вв𑀩 /b/
𓌙gīmlthrowing stick / camelg [ɡ]gג‎ﺝ‎ΓγCc, GgГг, Ґґ𑀕 /g/
𓉿dāletdoor / fishd [d]dד‎د , ذ‎ΔδDdДд𑀥 /dʰ/
𓀠?hewindow / jubilationh [h]hה‎ه‎ΕεEeЕе, Ёё, Єє, Ээ𑀳 /ɦ/
𓏲wāwhookw [w]wו‎ﻭ‎(Ϝϝ), ΥυFf, Uu, Vv, Ww, YyЅѕ, Ѵѵ, Уу, Ўў𑀯 /v/
𓏭zayinweapon / manaclez [z]zז‎ﺯ‎ΖζZzЗз𑀚 /ɟ/
𓉗 / 𓈈ḥētcourtyard / wallḥ [ħ]ח‎ح , خ‎ΗηHhИи, Йй𑀖 /gʰ/
𓄤?ṭētwheelṭ [tˤ]ט‎ط , ظ‎ΘθѲѳ𑀣 /tʰ/
𓂝yodarm, handy [j]jי‎ي‎ΙιIi, JjІі, Її, Јј𑀬 /j/
𓂧kāppalm of a handk [k]kכך‎ﻙ‎ΚκKkКк𑀓 /k/
𓌅lāmedgoadl [l]lל‎ﻝ‎ΛλLlЛл𑀮 /l/
𓈖mēmwaterm [m]mמם‎ﻡ‎ΜμMmМм𑀫 /m/
𓆓nūnserpent / fishn [n]nנן‎ﻥ‎ΝνNnНн𑀦 /n/
𓊽śāmekfishś [s]sס‎س‎ΞξѮѯ𑀱 /ʂ/
𓁹ʿayineyeʿ [ʕ]ʿע‎ع , غ‎Οο, ΩωOoОо, Ѡѡ𑀏 /e/
𓂋mouth / cornerp [p]pפף‎ف‎ΠπPpПп𑀧 /p/
𓇑ṣādēpapyrus / fish hookṣ [sˤ]צץ‎ص , ض‎(Ϻϻ)𑀘 /c/
𓃻qōpneedle eyeq [q]qק‎ﻕ‎(Ϙϙ), ΦφQqҀҁ, Фф𑀔 /kʰ/
𓁶rēs, rešheadr [r]rר‎ﺭ‎ΡρRrРр𑀭 /r/
𓌓šīntooth / sunš [ʃ]šש‎ش‎ΣσςSsСс, Шш, Щщ𑀰 /ɕ/
𓏴tāwmarkt [t]tת‎ت , ث‎ΤτTtТт𑀢 /t/