How did the Arabic script evolve from the Nabataean script?

Recent decades of epigraphic study have revealed that the Arabic script evolved from the Nabataean script. This relationship has been documented primarily through pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions found across the Arabian Peninsula. These discoveries illuminate the historical context of writing systems in the region before the rise of Islam.

What we know

• The evolution of the Arabic script from the Nabataean script has been established through the study of pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions. [3]
• Over 65,000 pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions are known, mostly originating from North Arabia. [3]
• The Arabic alphabet is a unicameral, right-to-left cursive abjad consisting of 28 letters, featuring optional diacritics for vowels. [2]

Where to go next

• how we knowWhat are pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions?
• the bigger pictureWhat are the writing systems of pre-Islamic Arabia?
• how it workedHow does an abjad record vowels?
• what caused itWhat is the history of the Phoenician alphabet?
• what followedHow did the Arabic alphabet develop as a Semitic abjad?
• an unexpected connectionHow do graffiti and monumental stones reveal script evolution?Varying surfaces from anonymous graffiti to royal inscriptions provide the primary epigraphic evidence for tracing how alphabets changed over centuries.

Sources

• [1]Arabic alphabet (Wikidata Q8196) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Arabic alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Phoenician alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Writing systems of pre-Islamic Arabia · CC BY-SA 4.0