{{for|the traditional ordering of the letters of the Arabic alphabet|Abjad numerals}}
[[Image:Phoenicianletters.png|250px|thumb|The first five letters of the Phoenician abjad, from right to left]]
{{WStypes}}
'''Abjad''' is a term suggested by [[Peter T. Daniels]] <ref> Daniels, Peter T., et al. eds. ''The World's Writing Systems'' Oxford. (1996), p.4.</ref> to replace the common terms '''consonantary''' or '''consonantal alphabet''' or '''syllabary''' to refer to the family of scripts called [[West Semitic]], a type of [[writing system]] in which each symbol stands for a [[consonant]]; the reader must supply the appropriate [[vowel]]. Some linguists consider West Semitic writing a type of alphabet, while others classify it as a separate writing system, while others view it as an unusual sort of syllabary. In popular usage, abjads often contain the word "alphabet" in their names, such as "[[Phoenician alphabet]]" and "[[Arabic alphabet]]."

According to the formulations of Daniels, abjads differ from [[alphabet]]s in that only consonants, not vowels, are represented among the basic [[grapheme]]s. Abjads differ from another category invented by Daniels, [[abugida]]s, in that in abjads the vowel sound is ''implied'' by [[phonology]], and where [[Diacritic|vowel marks]] exist for the system, such as [[niqqud|nikkud]] for [[Hebrew]] and [[harakat|harakāt]] for [[Arabic]], their use is optional and not the dominant (or literate) form. In an abugida, the vowels (other than the "inherent" vowel) are always marked, either with a diacritic, a minor attachment to the letter or a standalone [[glyph]]. Some abugidas use a special symbol to ''suppress'' the [[inherent vowel]] so that the consonant alone can be properly represented. In a [[syllabary]], a grapheme denotes a complete syllable, that is, either a lone vowel sound or a combination of a vowel sound with one or more consonant sounds.

==Etymology==
The system takes its name from the Arabic word for alphabet, which is made up of the first four letters of the [[Arabic alphabet]] in the older [[Arabic alphabet#Abjadī order|abjadi order]], just as the English word "alphabet" is made up of the names of the first two letters of the <!-- Hebrew alphabet (aleph and bet) --> [[Greek alphabet]] ([[Alpha (letter)|alpha]] and [[Beta (letter)|beta]]).

==Origins==
[[Image:Ba`alat.png|thumb|275px|A specimen of Proto-Sinaitic script containing a phrase which means 'to Baalat'. The line running from the upper left to lower right reads ''mt l b^clt''.]]

{{See also|Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinaitic}}
{{See also|History of the alphabet#Descendants of the Semitic abjad}}
All known abjads belong to the [[Semitic alphabets|Semitic family of scripts]]. These scripts are thought to derive from the [[Middle Bronze Age alphabets#The Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic alphabet]] (dated to about 1500 BC) which is thought to derive from [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]. The abjad was significantly simpler than the earlier hieroglyphs. The number of distinct glyphs was reduced tremendously, at the cost of increased ambiguity.

The first abjad to gain widespread usage was the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician abjad]]. Unlike other contemporary scripts, such as [[Cuneiform script|Cuneiform]] and Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Phoenician script consisted of only about two dozen symbols. This made the script easy to learn, and Phoenician seafaring merchants took the script wherever they went. Phoenician gave way to a number of new writing systems, including the [[Greek alphabet]], the first "true" alphabet, and [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]], a widely used abjad. Greek evolved into the modern western alphabets, such as [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] and [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]], while Aramaic became the ancestor of many modern abjads and abugidas of Asia.

Aramaic spread across Asia, reaching as far as India and becoming [[Brahmi]], the ancestral abugida to most modern Indian and Southeast Asian scripts. In the Middle East, Aramaic gave rise to the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] and [[Nabatean alphabet|Nabatean]] abjads, which retained many of the Aramaic letter forms. The [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac script]] was a cursive variation of Aramaic. It is unclear whether the Arabic abjad was derived from Nabatean or Syriac.

==Connections with numbers==
Modern abjads have also been used for [[isopsephy]], a system of assigning numeric values to individual letters. Before the development of the decimal number system, this was one of the regular systems for writing numbers. In some languages, the relationship between words and numbers created by this system has led to poetic and mystical usages.

==Impure abjads==
[[Image:Arabic albayancalligraphy.svg|thumb|250px|An example of the Arabic script, an impure abjad. (text reads "Al-Arabiyya", lit. "the Arabic")]]
"Impure" abjads have characters for some vowels, optional vowel diacritics, or both. The term "pure" abjad refers to scripts entirely lacking in vowel indicators.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} However, most modern abjads, such as [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and [[Avestan alphabet|Avestan]], are '''"impure" abjads''', that is, they also contain symbols for some of the vowel phonemes. An example of a pure abjad is ancient [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]].

===Addition of vowels===
{{Main|Greek alphabet}}

In the 9th century BC, the Greeks adapted the Phoenician script for use in their own language. The phonetic structure of the Greek language created too many ambiguities when the vowels went unrepresented, so the script was modified. They did not need letters for the [[guttural consonant|guttural]] sounds represented by [[aleph]], [[he (letter)|he]], [[Heth (letter)|heth]] or [[ayin]], so these symbols were assigned vocalic values. The letters [[Waw (letter)|waw]] and [[Yodh|yod]] were also used. The Greek alphabet became the world's first "true" alphabet.

[[Abugida]]s developed along a slightly different route. The basic consonantal symbol was considered to have an inherent "a" vowel sound. Hooks or short lines attached to various parts of the basic letter modify the vowel. In this way, the [[South Arabian alphabet]] evolved into the [[Ge'ez alphabet]] between the 5th century BC and the 5th century AD. Similarly, around the 3rd century BC, the [[Brāhmī script]] developed from the [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic abjad]].

==Abjad principles==
The abjad form of writing is well-adapted to the grammatical structure of the languages it is used to write, i.e. words in such languages are formed from a root consisting of (usually) three consonants, the vowels being used to indicate inflectional or derived forms. For instance, from the Arabic root ذبح (to sacrifice) can be derived the forms ذَبَح (he sacrificed), ذَبَحْتَ (you (masculine singular) sacrificed), ذَبَّح (he slaughtered), يُذَبَّح (he will slaughter), and مَذْبَح (slaughterhouse).

==Related concepts==
Many non-Semitic languages such as English could, theoretically, be written without vowels, but it would be more difficult, though many words could be interpreted in context. Many European languages, however, would lose grammatical information such as gender, case, and/or number. This fact can be used to semi-[[Thomas Bowdler|bowdlerise]] offensive language, a practice known as [[disemvoweling]].

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book|author=Wright, W.|title=A Grammar of the Arabic Language | edition = 3^rd ed.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1971|isbn=0-521-09455-0|pages=v. 1, p. 28}}

==See also==
* [[Abjad numerals]]
* [[Shorthand]] (constructed writing systems that are structurally abjads)
* [[Gematria]], the Hebrew system of mystical numerology

==External links==
* [http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/6_04.html Actual photo of the specimen of Proto-sinaitic script]

{{writing systems}}

[[Category:Abjad writing systems| ]]

[[br:Abjad]]
[[ca:Abjad]]
[[da:Abjad]]
[[de:Abdschad]]
[[es:Abyad]]
[[fa:ابجد]]
[[fr:Abjad]]
[[gl:Abxad]]
[[ko:자음 문자]]
[[it:Abjad]]
[[he:אבג'ד]]
[[ka:კონსონანტური დამწერლობა]]
[[ms:Abjad]]
[[ja:アブジャド]]
[[pl:Abdżad]]
[[pt:Abjad]]
[[ru:Консонантное письмо]]
[[sv:Abjad]]
[[wa:Abdjade]]
[[zh:辅音音素文字]]