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<title>Paleohispanic scripts</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleohispanic scripts</span></span>

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</style><table class="infobox"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="padding:0.25em; background:violet;">Paleohispanic scripts<br><div style="font-weight:normal"></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image" style="padding-top:0.4em;padding-bottom:0.4em;"></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Script type</th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0; line-height:1.25em"> <a href="Semisyllabary" class="mw-redirect" title="Semisyllabary">Semisyllabary</a>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Period</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 700 or 500–100 BC</span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Region</th><td class="infobox-data">Iberian Peninsula and Aquitaine (southern France)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Languages</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Aquitanian_language" title="Aquitanian language">Aquitanian</a>, <a href="Celtiberian_language" title="Celtiberian language">Celtiberian</a>, <a href="Gallaecian_language" title="Gallaecian language">Gallaecian</a>, <a href="Iberian_language" title="Iberian language">Iberian</a>, <a href="Lusitanian_language" title="Lusitanian language">Lusitanian</a>, <a href="Sorothaptic" class="mw-redirect" title="Sorothaptic">Sorothaptic</a>, <a href="Tartessian_language" title="Tartessian language">Tartessian</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#ddd">Related scripts</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Parent systems</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="padding-top:0.15em;"><a href="Egyptian_hieroglyphs" title="Egyptian hieroglyphs">Egyptian hieroglyphs</a><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><ul><li><a href="Proto-Sinaitic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Sinaitic">Proto-Sinaitic</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li><a href="Phoenician_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Phoenician script">Phoenician script</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li>Paleohispanic scripts</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Child systems</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">

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<ul><li><a href="Southwest_Paleohispanic_script" title="Southwest Paleohispanic script">Southwestern script</a></li>

<li><a href="Southeastern_Iberian_script" title="Southeastern Iberian script">Southeastern Iberian script</a></li>

<li><a href="Northeastern_Iberian_script" title="Northeastern Iberian script">Northeastern Iberian script</a></li>

<li><a href="Celtiberian_script" title="Celtiberian script">Celtiberian script</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Sister systems</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Greco-Iberian_alphabet" title="Greco-Iberian alphabet">Greco-Iberian alphabet</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#ddd">ISO 15924</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><a href="ISO_15924" title="ISO 15924">ISO 15924</a></th><td class="infobox-data">Nphn (146), N Palaeohispanic

Sphn (147), S Palaeohispanic</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#ddd"><a href="Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="Unicode_range" class="mw-redirect" title="Unicode range">Unicode range</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data"><div class="plainlist">

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2022/22146-north-paleohispanic.pdf">U+10200 to U+1023F</a><br>Northern Palaeohispanic,</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2022/22147-south-paleohispanic.pdf">U+10240 to U+1027F</a><br>Southern Palaeohispanic</li></ul>

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</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks abchis-body"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="History_of_the_alphabet" title="History of the alphabet">History of the alphabet</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="treeview">

<ul><li><span style="text-decoration-color:gray; text-decoration-line:line-through;"><i><a href="Egyptian_hieroglyphs" title="Egyptian hieroglyphs">Egyptian hieroglyphs</a></i></span> 32nd <abbr title="century">c.</abbr> BCE

<ul><li><span style="text-decoration-color:gray; text-decoration-line:line-through;"><i><a href="Hieratic" title="Hieratic">Hieratic</a></i></span> 32nd c. BCE

<ul><li><span style="text-decoration-color:gray; text-decoration-line:line-through;"><i><a href="Demotic_(Egyptian)" title="Demotic (Egyptian)">Demotic</a></i></span> 7th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Meroitic_script" title="Meroitic script">Meroitic</a> 3rd c. BCE</li></ul></li></ul></li>

<li><span style="text-decoration-color:gray; text-decoration-line:line-through;"><i><a href="Proto-Sinaitic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Sinaitic">Proto-Sinaitic</a></i></span> 19th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Ugaritic_alphabet" title="Ugaritic alphabet">Ugaritic</a> 15th c. BCE</li>

<li><a href="Ancient_South_Arabian_script" title="Ancient South Arabian script">Ancient South Arabian</a> 9th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Ge%CA%BDez_script" title="Geʽez script">Geʽez</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 5th c. BCE</span></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician</a> 12th c. BCE

<ul><li>(<span role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable crossreference selfref">see <a href="#tp-abchistory-phx">below</a></span>)</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Hangul" title="Hangul">Hangul</a> 1443</li>

<li><a href="Thaana" title="Thaana">Thaana</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 1601</span></li>

<li><a href="Adlam_script" title="Adlam script">Adlam</a> 1989</li></ul>

</div>

<hr>

<ul><li><a href="Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician</a> 12th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Paleo-Hebrew" class="mw-redirect" title="Paleo-Hebrew">Paleo-Hebrew</a> 10th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Samaritan_script" title="Samaritan script">Samaritan</a> 6th c. BCE</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Aramaic_alphabet" title="Aramaic alphabet">Aramaic</a> 8th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Kushan_script" title="Kushan script">Unknown Kushan script</a> 600–200 BCE</li>

<li><a href="Kharosthi" title="Kharosthi">Kharosthi</a> 3rd c. BCE</li>

<li><a href="Brahmi" class="mw-redirect" title="Brahmi">Brahmi</a> 3rd c. BCE

<ul><li>(<i><a href="Brahmic_family" class="mw-redirect" title="Brahmic family">Brahmic</a></i>)

<ul><li><a href="Pallava_script" title="Pallava script">Pallava</a> 4th century

<ul><li><a href="Cham_script" title="Cham script">Cham</a> 4th century</li>

<li><a href="Dhives_Akuru" title="Dhives Akuru">Dhives Akuru</a> 6th century</li>

<li><a href="Khmer_script" title="Khmer script">Khmer</a> 611</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Tibetan_script" title="Tibetan script">Tibetan</a> 7th century

<ul><li><a href="%CA%BCPhags-pa" class="mw-redirect" title="ʼPhags-pa">ʼPhags-pa</a> 1269</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Devanagari" title="Devanagari">Devanagari</a> 10th century

<ul><li><a href="Canadian_Aboriginal_syllabics" title="Canadian Aboriginal syllabics">Canadian Aboriginal</a> 1840</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Hebrew_alphabet" title="Hebrew alphabet">Hebrew</a> 3rd c. BCE</li>

<li><span style="text-decoration-color:gray; text-decoration-line:line-through;"><i><a href="Pahlavi_scripts" title="Pahlavi scripts">Pahlavi</a></i></span> 2nd c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Avestan_alphabet" title="Avestan alphabet">Avestan</a> 4th century</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Palmyrene_alphabet" title="Palmyrene alphabet">Palmyrene</a> 1st c. BCE</li>

<li><a href="Nabataean_script" title="Nabataean script">Nabataean</a> 2nd c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Arabic_alphabet" title="Arabic alphabet">Arabic</a> 4th century

<li><a href="Syriac_alphabet" title="Syriac alphabet">Syriac</a> 1st century

<ul><li><a href="Sogdian_alphabet" title="Sogdian alphabet">Sogdian</a> 2nd century

<ul><li><a href="Old_Turkic_script" title="Old Turkic script">Old Turkic</a> 8th century

<ul><li><a href="Old_Hungarian_script" title="Old Hungarian script">Old Hungarian</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 650</span></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Old_Uyghur_alphabet" title="Old Uyghur alphabet">Old Uyghur</a>

<ul><li><a href="Mongolian_script" title="Mongolian script">Mongolian</a> 1204</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Mandaic_alphabet" title="Mandaic alphabet">Mandaic</a> 2nd century</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek</a> 8th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Old_Italic_scripts" title="Old Italic scripts">Etruscan</a> 8th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin</a> 7th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Deseret_alphabet" title="Deseret alphabet">Deseret</a> 1854</li>

<li><a href="Great_Lakes_Algonquian_syllabics" title="Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics">Great Lakes Algonquian</a> 19th century</li>

<li><a href="Blackfoot_language#Syllabic_writing_system" title="Blackfoot language">Blackfoot</a> 1888</li>

<li><a href="Fraser_script" title="Fraser script">Fraser</a> 1915</li>

<li><a href="Saanich_dialect#Writing_system" title="Saanich dialect">Saanich</a> 1978</li>

<li><a href="Osage_script" title="Osage script">Osage</a> 2006</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Runic" class="mw-redirect" title="Runic">Runic</a> 2nd century</li>

<li><a href="Ogham" title="Ogham">Ogham</a> 4th century</li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Lycian_alphabet" title="Lycian alphabet">Lycian</a> 5th c. BCE</li>

<li><a href="Coptic_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="Coptic alphabet">Coptic</a> 3rd century</li>

<li><a href="Gothic_alphabet" title="Gothic alphabet">Gothic</a> 3rd century</li>

<li><a href="Armenian_alphabet" title="Armenian alphabet">Armenian</a> 405

<ul><li><a href="Caucasian_Albanian_script" title="Caucasian Albanian script">Caucasian Albanian</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 420</span></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Georgian_scripts" title="Georgian scripts">Georgian</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 430</span></li>

<li><a href="Glagolitic" class="mw-redirect" title="Glagolitic">Glagolitic</a> 862</li>

<li><a href="Cyrillic" class="mw-redirect" title="Cyrillic">Cyrillic</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 940</span>

<ul><li><a href="Old_Permic" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Permic">Old Permic</a> 1372</li></ul></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Libyco-Berber" class="mw-redirect" title="Libyco-Berber">Libyco-Berber</a> 10th c. BCE

<ul><li><a href="Tifinagh" title="Tifinagh">Tifinagh</a> 4th century

<ul><li><a href="Tifinagh#Neo-Tifinagh" title="Tifinagh">Neo-Tifinagh</a> 1970</li></ul></li></ul></li>

</div></div></div></td>

</tr></tbody></table>

<p>The <b>Paleohispanic scripts</b> are the writing systems created in the <a href="Iberian_Peninsula" title="Iberian Peninsula">Iberian Peninsula</a> before the <a href="Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a> became the dominant script. They derive from the <a href="Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician alphabet</a>, with the exception of the <a href="Greco-Iberian_alphabet" title="Greco-Iberian alphabet">Greco-Iberian alphabet</a>, which is a direct adaptation of the <a href="Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a>. Some researchers believe that the Greek alphabet may also have played a role in the origin of the other Paleohispanic scripts. Most of these scripts are notable for being <a href="Semisyllabic" class="mw-redirect" title="Semisyllabic">semi-syllabic</a> rather than purely <a href="Alphabetic" class="mw-redirect" title="Alphabetic">alphabetic</a>.

</p><p>Paleohispanic scripts are known to have been used from the 5th century BCE—possibly as early as the 7th century, according to some researchers—until the end of the 1st century BCE or the beginning of the 1st century CE. They were the primary scripts used to write the <a href="Paleohispanic_languages" title="Paleohispanic languages">Paleohispanic languages</a>.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Scripts">Scripts</h2></div>

<p>The Paleohispanic scripts are classified into three major groups: southern, northern, and Greco-Iberian, with differences in both the shapes of the glyphs and their values.

</p><p>Inscriptions in the southern scripts have been found primarily in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. They represent only 5% of the total inscriptions discovered and mostly read from right to left (similar to the Phoenician alphabet). The southern scripts include:

</p>

<ul><li>the <a href="Espanca_script" title="Espanca script">Espanca script</a>, known from a single tablet and recognized as the earliest attestation of an alphabetical order among the Paleohispanic scripts.</li>

<li>the Tartessian or <a href="Southwest_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Southwest script">Southwest script</a>, also known as <i>South Lusitanian</i>.</li>

<li>the <a href="Southeastern_Iberian_script" title="Southeastern Iberian script">Southeastern Iberian script</a>, also known as <i>Meridional</i>.</li></ul>

<p>Inscriptions in the northern scripts have been found mainly in the northeast of the <a href="Iberian_Peninsula" title="Iberian Peninsula">Iberian Peninsula</a>. They account for 95% of the total inscriptions discovered and mostly read from left to right (like the Greek alphabet). The northern scripts include:

</p>

<ul><li>the <a href="Northeastern_Iberian_script" title="Northeastern Iberian script">Northeastern Iberian script</a>, also known as <i>Levantine:</i>

<ul><li>Dual variant</li>

<li>Non-dual variant</li></ul></li>

<li>the <a href="Celtiberian_script" title="Celtiberian script">Celtiberian script</a>

<ul><li>Western variant</li>

<li>Eastern variant.</li></ul></li></ul>

<p>The <a href="Greco-Iberian_alphabet" title="Greco-Iberian alphabet">Greco-Iberian alphabet</a> is a direct adaptation of the Ionic variety of the <a href="Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a> and is found only in a small region along the <a href="Mediterranean" class="mw-redirect" title="Mediterranean">Mediterranean</a> coast, specifically in the modern provinces of <a href="Alicante_(province)" class="mw-redirect" title="Alicante (province)">Alicante</a> and <a href="Murcia_(province)" class="mw-redirect" title="Murcia (province)">Murcia</a>.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Typology">Typology</h2></div>

<p>Excepting the Greco-Iberian alphabet, and to a lesser extent the Tartessian (southwestern) script, Paleohispanic scripts shared a distinctive <a href="Linguistic_typology" title="Linguistic typology">typology</a>: they behaved as a <a href="Syllabary" title="Syllabary">syllabary</a> for <a href="Plosive" title="Plosive">plosives</a> and as an <a href="Alphabet" title="Alphabet">alphabet</a> for the rest of consonants. This unique <a href="Writing_system" title="Writing system">writing system</a> has been called a <i><a href="Semi-syllabary" title="Semi-syllabary">semi-syllabary</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>In the syllabic portions of the scripts, each plosive sign stood for a different combination of consonant and vowel, so that the written form of <i>ga</i> displayed no resemblance to <i>ge</i>, and <i>bi</i> looked quite different from <i>bo</i>. In addition, the original format did not distinguish <a href="Voice_(phonetics)" title="Voice (phonetics)">voiced from unvoiced</a> plosives, so that <i>ga</i> stood for both /ga/ and /ka/, and <i>da</i> stood for both /da/ and /ta/.

</p><p>On the other hand, the continuants (<a href="Fricative" title="Fricative">fricatives</a> like /s/ and <a href="Sonorant" title="Sonorant">sonorants</a> like /l/, /m/, <a href="Trill_consonant" title="Trill consonant">trills</a>, and vowels) were written with simple alphabetic letters, as in <a href="Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician</a> and <a href="Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek</a>.

</p><p>Over the past few decades, many researchers have come to think one variant of the <a href="Northeastern_Iberian_script" title="Northeastern Iberian script">northeastern Iberian script</a>, the older one according to the archaeological contexts, distinguished <a href="Voice_(phonetics)" title="Voice (phonetics)">voicing</a> in the plosives by adding a stroke to the glyphs for the <a href="Alveolar_consonant" title="Alveolar consonant">alveolar</a> (/d/~/t/) and <a href="Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">velar</a> (/g/~/k/) syllables, creating distinct glyphs for unvoiced /t/ and /k/, and restricting the original glyphs to voiced /d/ and /g/. (This is the so-called dual signary model: see <a href="Northeastern_Iberian_script" title="Northeastern Iberian script">northeastern Iberian script</a>.) If correct, this innovation would parallel the creation of the Latin letter G by the addition of a stroke to C, which had previously stood for both /k/ and /g/.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Tartessian">Tartessian</h3></div>

<p><a href="Southwest_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Southwest script">Tartessian script</a> is intermediate between a pure alphabet and the Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries. Though the letter for a plosive was determined by the following vowel, as in a semi-syllabary, the following vowel was also written, as in an alphabet (as seen in <a href="Tartessian_language" title="Tartessian language">Tartessian</a>). This redundant typology re-emerged in a few late (2nd and 1st century BCE) texts of <a href="Northeastern_Iberian_script" title="Northeastern Iberian script">northeastern Iberian</a> and <a href="Celtiberian_script" title="Celtiberian script">Celtiberian</a> scripts, where vowels were once again written after plosives. Some scholars treat Tartessian as a redundant semi-syllabary, with essentially syllabic glyphs followed by the letter for the corresponding vowel; others treat it as a redundant alphabet, with the choice of an essentially consonantal character decided by the following vowel.<sup id="cite_ref-Hoz_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hoz-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>This is analogous to <a href="Old_Persian_cuneiform" title="Old Persian cuneiform">Old Persian cuneiform</a>, where vowels are most often written overtly but where consonants/syllables are decided by the vowel about half the time, and, to a very limited extent, to the <a href="Etruscan_alphabet" title="Etruscan alphabet">Etruscan alphabet</a>, where most syllables based the consonant /k/ share neither consonant nor vowel letter: Only the combinations CE, CI, KA, and QU were permitted. (This Etruscan convention is preserved in the English, not only in <i>qu</i> for <i>queen,</i> but also the letter names <i>cee, kay, cue/qu</i>.)

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Origins">Origins</h2></div>

<p>The Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries clearly derive ultimately from an <a href="Alphabet" title="Alphabet">alphabet</a> or alphabets circulating in the <a href="Mediterranean" class="mw-redirect" title="Mediterranean">Mediterranean</a>, but it is not known whether that was the <a href="Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician alphabet</a> alone, or if archaic varieties of the <a href="Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a> also played a role.

</p><p>The only known full Paleohispanic signary, on the undated <a href="Espanca_script" title="Espanca script">Espanca tablet</a> (not completely readable, but clearly related to the southwestern and southeastern scripts), follows the Phoenician/Greek order for the first 13 of its 27 letters: Α Β Γ Δ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Π? <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">ϻ</span></span> Τ. The fact that southern paleohispanic /e/ appears to derive from the Phoenician letter ‘ayin, which gave rise to Greek Ο, while southern iberian /o/ derives from another letter or was perhaps invented,<sup id="cite_ref-espanca_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-espanca-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> suggests that the development of vowels in Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries was independent of the Greek innovation. However, the order of what appears to be /u/ directly after Τ, rather than at the place of <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">Ϝ</span></span>, has suggested to some researchers a Greek influence. (In addition, the letter for /e/ in northeast Iberian resembles Greek Ε rather than the southeast Iberian letter.) The two <a href="Sibilants" class="mw-redirect" title="Sibilants">sibilants</a>, S and S', are attested, but there is one sign too few to account for a full 15-sign syllabary and all four of the letters M, M', R, and R' (not all of which can be positively identified with letters from the tablet), suggesting that one of the "M" or "R" symbols shown in the charts to the right is only a graphic variant.

</p><p>The obvious question about the origin and evolution of these scripts is how a purely alphabetic script was changed into, or perhaps unconsciously reinterpreted as, a partial syllabary. It may be instructive to consider an unrelated development in the evolution of the <a href="Etruscan_alphabet" title="Etruscan alphabet">Etruscan alphabet</a> from Greek: Greek had three letters, Γ, Κ, and <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">Ϙ</span></span>, whose sounds were not distinguished in Etruscan. Nonetheless, all three were borrowed, becoming the letters C, K, and Q. All were pronounced /k/, but they were restricted to appear before different vowels — CE, CI, KA, and QU, respectively, — so that the consonants carried almost as much weight in distinguishing these syllables as the vowels did. (This may have been an attempt to overtly indicate the vowel-dependent <a href="Allophony" class="mw-redirect" title="Allophony">allophony</a> of Etruscan /k/ with the extra Greek letters that were available.) When the Etruscan alphabet was later adapted to <a href="Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>, the letter C stood for both /k/ and /g/, as Etruscan had had no /g/ sound to maintain the original sound value of Greek Г. (Later a stroke was added to C, creating the new Latin letter G.).

</p><p>Something similar may have happened in the evolution of Paleohispanic scripts. If writing passed from the Phoenicians through the Tartessians, and the <a href="Tartessian_language" title="Tartessian language">Tartessian language</a> did not have /g/ or /d/, that would explain the absence of a distinction between /g/ and /k/, /d/ and /t/ in the southeastern Iberian and later northeast Iberian scripts, despite it being clear that these were distinct sounds in the <a href="Iberian_language" title="Iberian language">Iberian language</a>, as is clearly attested in the <a href="Greco-Iberian_alphabet" title="Greco-Iberian alphabet">Greco-Iberian alphabet</a> and later use of the Latin alphabet. In <a href="Tartessian_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Tartessian script">Tartessian script</a>, vowels were always written after the plosives, but they were redundant — or at nearly so — and thus it seems they were dropped when the script passed to the <a href="Iberians" title="Iberians">Iberians</a>.

</p><p>Among the <a href="Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">velar consonants</a>, <i>ka/ga</i> of southeastern Iberian and the southwestern script derives from Phoenician/Greek Γ, <i>ke/ge</i> from Κ, and <i>ki/gi</i> from <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">Ϙ</span></span>,<sup id="cite_ref-espanca_4-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-espanca-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> while <i>ko/go</i> (perhaps coincidentally) resembles Greek Χ (pronounced <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="el-Latn-fonipa">[kʰ]</span>). Phoenician/Greek labial letter Β was the source of southwestern <i>be</i>, southeastern <i>ba</i>; the use of Π is uncertain but may have been the source of <i>bi.</i> (If Greek was used as a secondary source, Greek Φ (<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[pʰ]</span>) would also have been available.) For the <a href="Alveolar_consonant" title="Alveolar consonant">alveolars</a>, Δ was the source of <i>tu/du,</i> Τ of <i>ta/da,</i> and Θ of <i>ti/di.</i><sup id="cite_ref-espanca_4-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-espanca-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>On 24 June 2024, it was announced that a software engineer had discovered further letters accidentally on a stone slab by scrolling through social media. Further investigations will take place with more robust software to discover if there are more letters that have faded.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="gallerytext"><a href="Espanca_script" title="Espanca script">Espanca signary</a> (<a href="Castro_Verde" title="Castro Verde">Castro Verde</a>).</div>

</li>

<div class="gallerytext">Tartessian or <a href="Southwest_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Southwest script">Southwest script</a>. Fonte Velha (Bensafrim, <a href="Lagos%2C_Portugal" title="Lagos, Portugal">Lagos</a>).</div>

</li>

<div class="gallerytext"><a href="Southeastern_Iberian_script" title="Southeastern Iberian script">Southeastern Iberian script</a>. Lead plaque from La Bastida de les Alcuses (<a href="Moixent" class="mw-redirect" title="Moixent">Moixent</a>).</div>

</li>

</ul>

<div class="gallerytext"><a href="Greco-Iberian_alphabet" title="Greco-Iberian alphabet">Greco-Iberian alphabet</a>. Lead plaque from la Serreta (<a href="Alcoi" class="mw-redirect" title="Alcoi">Alcoi</a>).</div>

</li>

<div class="gallerytext"><a href="Northeastern_Iberian_script" title="Northeastern Iberian script">Northeastern Iberian script</a>. Lead plaque from <a href="Ullastret" title="Ullastret">Ullastret</a>.</div>

</li>

<div class="gallerytext"><a href="Celtiberian_script" title="Celtiberian script">Celtiberian script</a>. Luzaga plaque (<a href="Guadalajara%2C_Spain" title="Guadalajara, Spain">Guadalajara, Spain</a>).</div>

</li>

</ul>

<ul><li><a href="Iberian_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Iberian languages">Iberian languages</a></li>

<li><a href="Iberian_Romance_languages" title="Iberian Romance languages">Iberian Romance languages</a></li>

<li><a href="Languages_of_Portugal" title="Languages of Portugal">Languages of Portugal</a></li>

<li><a href="Languages_of_Spain" title="Languages of Spain">Languages of Spain</a></li>

<li><a href="Pre-Roman_peoples_of_the_Iberian_Peninsula" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula">Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula</a></li>

<li><a href="Hand_of_Irulegi" title="Hand of Irulegi">Hand of Irulegi</a></li>

<li><a href="Botorrita_plaque" title="Botorrita plaque">Botorrita plaque</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 53, Issue 1 (January/February 2000): 21.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Ferrer, J., Moncunill, N., Velaza, J., & Anderson, D. (2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17129-paleo-hispanic.pdf"><i>Proposal to encode the Palaeohispanic script</i></a>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-Hoz-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Hoz_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Hoz, Javier de (2005)]</i></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-espanca-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-espanca_4-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-espanca_4-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-espanca_4-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/espanca_en.htm">Ramos, <i>A Palæo-Hispanic Alphabet: Espanca's Stele</i></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071103082735/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/espanca_en.htm">Archived</a> 2007-11-03 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span>

</li>

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</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lost-civilization-alphabet-social-media">"A lost civilization's partial alphabet was discovered in a social media post"</a>. 2024-06-24<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2024-06-30</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

</ol></div></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Bibliography">Bibliography</h2></div>

<ul><li>Correa, José Antonio (2004): «Los semisilabarios ibéricos: algunas cuestiones», <i>ELEA</i> 4, pp. 75–98.</li>

<li>Correa, José Antonio (2005): <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ifc.dpz.es/publicaciones/ver/id/2622">«Del alfabeto fenicio al semisilabario paleohispánico»</a>, <i>Palaeohispanica</i> 5, pp. 137–154.</li>

<li>Ferrer i Jané, Joan (2005) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.academia.edu/425399/Novetats_sobre_el_sistema_dual_de_diferenciacio_grafica_de_les_oclusives_sordes_i_sonores"><i>Novetats sobre el sistema dual de diferenciació gràfica de les oclusives sordes i sonores</i></a>, <i>Palaeohispanica</i> 5, pp. 957-982.</li>

<li>Hoz, Javier de (2005): «La recepción de la escritura en Hispania como fenómeno orientalizante», <i>Anejos del Archivo Español de Arqueología XXXV</i>, pp. 363–380.</li>

<li>Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2000): <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ddd.uab.cat/pub/faventia/02107570v22n1p21.pdf">«La lectura de las inscripciones sudlusitano-tartesias»</a>, <i>Faventia</i> 22/1, pp. 21–48.</li>

<li>Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2004): <i>Análisis de epigrafía íbera</i>, Vitoria-Gasteiz.</li>

<li><a href="J%C3%BCrgen_Untermann" title="Jürgen Untermann">Untermann, Jürgen</a> : Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum, Wiesbaden. (1975): I Die Münzlegenden. (1980): <i>II Die iberischen Inschriften aus Sudfrankreicht</i>. (1990): <i>III Die iberischen Inschriften aus Spanien</i>. (1997): <i>IV Die tartessischen, keltiberischen und lusitanischen Inschriften</i>.</li>

<li>Velaza, Javier (2004): «La escritura en la península ibérica antigua», <i>La escritura y el libro en la antigüedad</i>, Madrid, pp. 95–114.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

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<div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikimedia Commons has media related to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paleohispanic_scripts" class="extiw external" title="commons:Category:Paleohispanic scripts">Paleohispanic scripts</a></span>.</div></div>

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<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081227095813/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/index.htm">Iberian Epigraphy - Jesús Rodríguez Ramos</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040611215344/http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm">Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BCE)</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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