Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet

Script used to write the Hebrew language and a number of other languages used as vernaculars by Jews, including Ladino and Yiddish. The modern 22-letter alphabet in use today differs only slightly from the script adapted by Jewish scribes in the early centuries BC from the square script used to write Imperial Aramaic. Prior to this adaptation, Hebrew was written in a linear script borrowed ultimately from the Phoenicians and first attested in the 9th century BC; though the linear script passed out of favour among Jews, Samaritans, adherents of an ancient offshoot of Judaism, continued to use it into modern times. Hebrew is written from right to left, and the letter shapes—at least originally—represented only consonants. Later certain of the consonants were utilized to denote vowels in certain positions, and by c. AD 600 a system of diacritics, or “points,” were used to show all vowels in the text of the Bible.