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Ugaritic alphabet

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Long cuneiform alphabet of 30 signs, chiefly consonantal. Its wedge shapes do not imply Akkadian syllabic principles or priority as the first alphabet.

Incomplete Ugaritic abecedary, Louvre AO 19992 / RS 10.087, museum date about 1400–1200 BCE; found 1938, 7 letters missing. Not the complete RS 12.033 found 1948
Incomplete Ugaritic abecedary, Louvre AO 19992 / RS 10.087, museum date about 1400–1200 BCE; found 1938, 7 letters missing. Not the complete RS 12.033 found 1948Rama · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAImage source

Text

Late Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeAn archaeological period conventionally around 1600–1200 BCE in much of the Near East, with regional variation.Glossary · Click to read the explanation writing system combining wedge impressions on clay with an alphabetic principle. Three glottal-stop signs relate to accompanying vowels; ordinary writing runs left to right. Adaptation of an existing alphabet is a better-supported proposal than first-alphabet invention. [1]

Abecedaries illuminate teaching. The illustrated AO 19992 is incomplete, missing 7 letters; it differs from complete RS 12.033, found 1948. [2][3]

References and notes

  1. Paolo Merlo. Ugaritic: writing. Mnamon. DOI: 10.25429/sns.it/lettere/mnamon019. Complete main entry: 30 signs, cuneiform technique/alphabetic principle, three glottal-stop signs, direction, rarer systems and probable adaptation of an older alphabet. General 14th–12th-century range broader than language entry. Return to the text ↑
  2. Anne-Sophie Dalix. Un abécédaire : la tablette RS 12.033. Ministère de la Culture. Complete tablet found 1948, 30-sign order and teaching. Study photograph shows another incomplete tablet AO 19992/RS 10.087. Return to the text ↑
  3. Musée du Louvre. Tablette: abécédaire incomplet. AO 19992 / RS 10.087, KTU 5.4. Incomplete abecedary, 7 missing letters, museum date 1400–1200 BCE, found 1938. Different fromRS 12.033. Licensed Rama photo separate from protected museum photographs. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 11 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

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IL Archive, «Ugaritic alphabet», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/ugaritic-alphabet