Everything about Iberian Scripts totally explained
The
Iberian scripts are the
Paleohispanic scripts that were used to represent the extinct
Iberian language. Most of them are typologically very unusual in that they're
semi-syllabic rather than purely
alphabetic. The oldest Iberian inscriptions date to the 4th or possibly the 5th century BC, and the latest from end of the 1st century BC or possibly the beginning of the 1st century AD.
Variants
There are two main graphic as well as geographic variants in the family:
In the sense that the Iberian scripts are the scripts created for the Iberians to represent the Iberian language, the
Greco-Iberian alphabet, a separate adaptation of the
Greek alphabet, was also an Iberian script. It was used mainly in
Alacant and
Murcia. Likewise, neither the
southwestern script, very similar to southeastern Iberian script but used for the
Tartessian language, nor the
Celtiberian script, a direct adaptation of the
northeastern Iberian script used for the
Celtiberian language, are technically Iberian scripts.
The northeastern Iberian script is often known simply as the
Iberian script, because it's the script of 95% of known Iberian inscriptions. These have been found mainly in the northeastern quadrant of the
Iberian Peninsula, mostly along the coast from
Languedoc-Roussillon to
Alacant, but with a deep penetration on the
Ebre valley.
The southeastern Iberian script is poorly attested, and there are some gaps in the records: There are no positively identified symbols for /gu/, /do/, and /m/, for example. Unlike the
northeastern Iberian script the decipherment of the southeastern Iberian script isn't still closed, because there are a significant group of signs without consensus value. The southeastern inscriptions have been found mainly in the southeastern quadrant of Iberia: Eastern
Andalusia,
Murcia,
Albacete,
Alacant and
València.
There is substantial graphic variation in the Iberian glyphs, and over the past several decades many scholars have come to believe that, at least in northeastern Iberian script (and recently also in Celtiberian script) some of this variation is meaningful. It appears that the original simple letters were assigned specifically to the voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/, whereas the voiceless consonants /t/ and /k/ were derived from /d/ and /g/ syllables with the addition of a stroke. (This is the so-called
dual signary model: see the image at right). If correct, this innovation would parallel the creation of the Latin letter G from C by the addition of a stroke.
Typology
Excepting the
Greco-Iberian alphabet, the Iberian scripts are typologically unusual, in that they were partially
alphabetic and partially
syllabic: Continuants (
fricative sounds like /s/ and
sonorants like /l/, /m/, and vowels) were written with distinct letters, as in Phoenician (or in Greek in the case of the vowels), but the non-continuants (the
stops /b/, /d/, /t/, /g/, and /k/) were written with
syllabic glyphs that represented both consonant and vowel together. That is, in written Iberian,
ga displayed no resemblance to
ge, and
bi had no connection to
bo. This possibly unique writing system is called a "
semi-syllabary".
The southeastern script was written right to left, as was the
Phoenician alphabet, whereas the northeastern script reversed this to left to right, as in the
Greek alphabet.
Origins
The relation between the northeastern and southeastern Iberian scripts isn't straightforward. It appears that either the glyphs themselves were changed, or that they assumed new values. For example, southern /e/ derives from Phoenician/Greek Ο (
‘ayin), whereas northern /e/ resembles Phoenician/Greek Ε (
he), a letter which arguably had the value of /be/ in southern Iberian. However, it's clear that they'd a common origin, and the most commonly accepted hypothesis is that the northeastern script derives from the southeastern script. Some researchers conclude that their origin ultimately lies solely with the Phoenician alphabet, while others believe the Greek alphabet also played a role.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Iberian Scripts'.
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