Paleo-Arabic (or Palaeo-Arabic, previously called pre-Islamic Arabic or Old Arabic[1][2]) is a pre-Islamic Arabian script used to write Arabic. It began to be used in the fifth century, when it succeeded the earlier Nabataeo-Arabic script, and it was used until the early seventh century, when the Arabic script was standardized in the Islamic era.[3][4][5]
Evidence for the use of Paleo-Arabic was once confined to Syria and Jordan. In more recent years[when?], Paleo-Arabic inscriptions have been discovered across the Arabian Peninsula including: South Arabia (the Christian Hima texts),[6] near Taif in the Hejaz[7] and in the Tabuk region of northwestern Saudi Arabia.[8]
Most Paleo-Arabic inscriptions were written by Christians, as indicated by their vocabulary, the name of the signing author, or by the inscription/drawing of a cross associated with the writing.[9]
The term "Paleo-Arabic" was first used by Christian Robin in the form of the French expression "paléo-arabe".[10]
- ^ Lindstedt 2023, p. 49–50.
- ^ Alhatlani & Al-Manaser 2024, p. 4–5.
- ^ Nehmé 2010, p. 47–48.
- ^ Robin, al-Ghabbān & al-Saʿīd 2014.
- ^ Nehmé 2020.
- ^ Fisher 2020, p. 186–187.
- ^ Al-Jallad & Sidky 2021.
- ^ Alhatlani & Al-Otibi 2023.
- ^ Alhatlani & Al-Manaser 2024, p. 6.
- ^ Robin, al-Ghabbān & al-Saʿīd 2014, p. 1039.