Ugaritic
Script details
See all script details: code, region, status and more
| Code | Ugar |
| Script type | alphabet |
| Region | Middle Eastern |
| Status | Historical |
| Direction | LTR |
| Baseline | centered |
| Case | no |
| White space | none |
| Complex behaviors | |
| OpenType code | ugar |
| ISO 15924 Numeric Code / Key | 040 (hieroglyphic/cuneiform) |
Script description
The Ugaritic script was used from about 1500-1300 BC to write the Ugaritic language, spoken in modern-day Syria.
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It was also occasionally used for writing documents in the Hurrian language. Visually, the script resembled Cuneiform, with each letter written as one of a combination of short, linear wedges. However, the forms of the letters appear to have been freely invented; derivational relationships with other cuneiform letters have not been established. The script remained relatively stable in form throughout its use, with no significant changes.
Ugaritic was generally written from left to right with a vertical slash dividing words. Rarely, it was also written from right to left. There were thirty letters used, all representing consonants. Three of these, called aleph, represented a glottal stop, each with a different vowel associated with it. The vowels [a], [i] and [u] were represented in this way. The letter representing [j] was also sometimes used as a vowel. Letters were ordered into one of two orders. The “Northern Semitic order” more closely resembles the order of Hebrew and Greek letters, and the “Southern Semitic order” more closely resembles that of South Arabian and Ge’ez letters.
Letters were aligned to a midline. No punctuation was used apart from the inter-word slash.
Languages that use this script
| Language | Writing System Code | Writing System Status | SLDR/CLDR locale | Regional variants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ugaritic | uga-Ugar | in use | uga-Ugar-SY (Syria) |
Unicode status
In The Unicode Standard, Ugaritic script implementation is discussed in Chapter 11 Cuneiform and Hieroglyphs
.
Resources
- ScriptSource page for Ugaritic - all about scripts, languages, and writing systems
- Wikipedia article on Ugaritic