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Concept
Paleohispanic scripts
Summary
The Paleohispanic scripts are the writing systems created in the Iberian peninsula before the Latin alphabet became the main script. Most of them are unusual in that they are semi-syllabic rather than purely alphabetic, despite having supposedly developed, in part, from the Phoenician alphabet.
Paleohispanic scripts are known to have been used from the 5th century BCE — possibly from the 7th century, in the opinion of some researchers — until the end of the 1st century BCE or the beginning of the 1st century CE, and were the main scripts used to write the Paleohispanic languages. Some researchers conclude that their origin may lie solely with the Phoenician alphabet, while others believe the Greek alphabet may also have had a role.
The Paleohispanic scripts are classified into three major groups: southern, northern, and Greco-Iberian, with differences both in the shapes of the glyphs and in their values.
Inscriptions in the southern scripts have been found mainly in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. They represent only 5% of the inscriptions found, and mostly read from right to left (like the Phoenician alphabet). They are:
the Espanca script (known from a single tablet, and the earliest attestation of an alphabetical order among the Paleohispanic scripts);
the Tartessian or Southwest script, also known as South Lusitanian;
the Southeastern Iberian script, also known as Meridional.
Inscriptions in the northern scripts have been found mainly in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. They represent 95% of the inscriptions found, and mostly read from left to right (like the Greek alphabet). They are:
the Northeastern Iberian script, also known as Levantine;
Dual variant
Non-dual variant
the Celtiberian script
Western variant
Eastern variant.
The Greco-Iberian alphabet was a direct adaptation of the Ionic variety of the Greek alphabet, and only found in a small region on the Mediterranean coast in the modern provinces of Alicante and Murcia.
Official source
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