Scripts
Ancient South Arabian Script
AYN-shent sowth uh-RAY-bee-un
Also Known As Musnad
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Origin from 800 BCE
An abjad of South Arabia, also called Sabaean script or Musnad, developed from Proto-Sinaitic roots and attested in inscriptions from around the ninth century BCE to the seventh century CE. It recorded six extinct Semitic languages of pre-Islamic Yemen, chiefly Sabaean, along with Qatabanian, Hadramautic, Minaean, Himyarite and proto-Ge'ez. It is the direct ancestor of the Ge'ez script, carried across the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa by South Semitic speakers.
Facts
DirectionalityUsually right to left, sometimes left to right or boustrophedon 1 In Use Since (Year)Attested inscriptions run from roughly the ninth century BCE to the seventh century CE. Cross-Tradition Connections
Ancestor Of
The Ge'ez script descends from the Ancient South Arabian script, carried across the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa by South Semitic speakers; proto-Ge'ez is itself among the languages the South Arabian script recorded.
Associated With
This source names Ge'ez directly: "Minaean, Himyarite and proto-Ge'ez."
Sources
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