How did the modern Hebrew alphabet evolve from Aramaic?

The modern Hebrew alphabet is directly descended from the ancient Aramaic alphabet rather than the older Paleo-Hebrew script. During periods of linguistic shifts for governing purposes, Jews adopted the Aramaic language and its script—referring to it as Ktav Ashuri—to write Hebrew. Among all descendant scripts, the Jewish Hebrew alphabet maintains the closest relation to the 5th-century BC Imperial Aramaic script, sharing an identical letter inventory and nearly identical letter shapes.

What we know

• The modern Hebrew alphabet derives from the Aramaic alphabet, unlike the modern Samaritan alphabet which descends from Paleo-Hebrew. [2]
• Jews adopted the Aramaic script, calling it Ktav Ashuri, and used it to write Hebrew, displacing the former Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, while Samaritans retained a script derived from Proto-Hebrew/Phoenician. [2, 3]
• The Jewish Hebrew alphabet bears the closest relation to the Imperial Aramaic script of the 5th century BC, maintaining an identical letter inventory and mostly nearly identical letter shapes. [1, 2]
• The Aramaic alphabet is a consonantal writing system or abjad, where letters represent consonants and some double as matres lectionis to indicate long vowels. [1, 2]

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureWhat was the Imperial Aramaic alphabet?
• compared withHow does the Samaritan alphabet differ from Hebrew?
• how it workedWhat is an abjad writing system?
• what caused itHow did the Phoenician script influence Aramaic?
• what followedWhat other scripts descended from Aramaic?
• an unexpected connectionHow are Mongolian script and Hebrew related?Both the modern Hebrew alphabet and the traditional Mongolian script trace their ultimate lineage back to the ancient Aramaic alphabet.

Sources

• [1]Imperial Aramaic alphabet (Wikidata Q26978) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Aramaic alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Phoenician alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Proto-Sinaitic script · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]History of the alphabet · CC BY-SA 4.0

Your path

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3. /How did the modern Hebrew alphabet evolve from Aramaic?