Phoenician

Phoenician is an ancient Semitic language that was originally spoken in the region of Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon, Syria, and Israel) from around 1200 BC. It is part of the Canaanite subgroup of the Northwest Semitic language family. The Phoenician language is known primarily through inscriptions on stone and the writings of ancient authors.

History

The Phoenician language was used by the ancient Phoenician people for communication, record keeping, and commerce. It was written in a unique alphabet that was widely adopted and adapted by other cultures, including the Greeks, who modified it to create the Greek alphabet.

Characteristics

Phoenician is a Semitic language, which means it shares certain features with other Semitic languages like Hebrew and Arabic. These features include a root system for words, in which most words are formed from a set of two, three, or four consonants, and changes in the vowels and/or the addition of prefixes or suffixes create different but related meanings.

Legacy

The Phoenician language and its alphabet had a significant impact on the development of written language in the ancient world. The Phoenician alphabet was adapted by the Greeks to create the Greek alphabet, which in turn was adapted by the Romans to create the Latin alphabet, which is used in many languages today, including English.

See also

• Phoenicians
• Phoenician alphabet
• Semitic languages
• Canaanite languages

External links

• Ancient Scripts: Phoenician
• Omniglot: Phoenician Alphabet

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