The ancient South Arabian alphabet (also known as musnad) branched from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in ca. the 13th century BC. It was used for writing the Old South Arabic dialects of the Sabaean, Qatabanian, Hadrami, Minaean, Himyarite, and other ancient Yemeni kingdoms on the southern Arabian Peninsula. Early forms dating to the 8th century BC are found in Babylonia. Its mature form was reached around 500 BC, and its use continued until the 7th century AD, when it was displaced by the Arabic alphabet. In the 8th century BCE the alphabet spread to Ethiopia, where it evolved later into the Ge'ez alphabet, the basis of the modern Amharic, Tigrinya and Tigre alphabet. A cursive Zabur script was used by the ancient Yemenis to write everyday documents in addition to the monumental Musnad letters displayed below.

Sign inventory

External links

• http://www.ancientscripts.com/s_arabian.html
• http://www.mnh.si.edu/epigraphy/e_pre-islamic/musnad-al-janubi.htm
• http://www.crystalinks.com/arabian.html
• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/southarabian.htm

Abjad writing systems | South Semitic languages | History of Yemen

Sabäische Schrift | Alfabeto sudarábico