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The Syriac alphabet is a Writing System used to write the Syriac Language from around the 2nd Century BC . It is one of the Semitic Abjad s directly descending from the Proto-Canaanite Alphabet . GENERAL REMARKS Syriac is written from right to left. It is a , but it can also indicate a vowel at the beginning or the end of a word. The letter Waw is technically a ''w'', but can also represent the vowels ''o'' and ''u''. Likewise, the letter Yōdh represents the consonant ''y'', but it also stands for the vowels ''i'' and ''e''. FORMS OF THE SYRIAC ALPHABET There are three major variations of the Syriac alphabet. The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is ''Estrangelā'' (the name is derived from the Greek description στρογγυλη, ''strongylē'', 'rounded'). Although Estrangelā is no longer used as the main script for writing Syriac, it has received a bit of a revival. It is often used in scholarly publications (for instance, the Leiden University version of the Peshitta ), in titles and inscriptions. The West Syriac dialect is usually written in the ''Sertā'' ('line') form of the alphabet, also known as the Maronite or the Jacobite script. Most of the letters are obviously derived from Estrangelā, but are simplified, flowing lines. The ) represents ''a'', ''α'' (lowercase Alpha ) represents ''ā'' (pronounced as an ''o''), ''ε'' (lowercase Epsilon ) represents ''e'' and ''ē'', ''Ι'' (capital Iota ) represents ''ī'', and a combined symbol of ''Υ'' (capital Upsilon ) and ''ο'' (lowercase Omicron ) represents ''ū''. The East Syriac dialect is usually written in the ''Madnhāyā'' ('Eastern') form of the alphabet. Other names for the script include Assyrian (not to be confused with the traditional name for the Hebrew Alphabet ), Chaldean, and, inaccurately, ' Nestorian ', a term that was originally used to disparage Christians living in the Persian Empire . The Eastern script resembles Estrangelā more closely than the Western script. The Eastern script uses a system of dots above or below letters to indicate vowels. When Arabic began to be the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent , texts were often written in Arabic with the Syriac script. These writings are usually called Karshuni or Garshuni . SHORT TABLE The Syriac alphabet consists of the following letters. Some letters have a different form used at the ends of words: these are shown in the table below the normal form. LETTERS OF THE SYRIAC ALPHABET SYRIAC IN UNICODE The Syriac Unicode range is U+0700 ... U+074F. HTML CODE TABLE Alaph Bet Vowels and Unique Characters SEE ALSO
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