Editing Iberian scripts

{{Short description|Writing systems}}
[[Image:Mapa escriptures paleohispàniques-ang.jpg|250px|thumb|Iberian scripts in the context of Paleohispanic scripts]]
[[Image:Mapa llengües paleohispàniques-ang.jpg|250px|right|thumb|The Iberian language in the context of [[Paleohispanic languages]]. Light green (along the Mediterranean coast) is the [[Iberian language]], dark grey (mainly southern Portugal) is the [[Tartessian language]], dark blue (central Spain) is the [[Celtiberian language]], light blue (mainly northern Portugal) is the [[Lusitanian language]], and dark green (Eastern [[Pyrenees]]) is the [[Aquitanian language]].]]
[[File:Paleohispanic keyboard.png|thumb|249x249px|Paleohispanic Keyboard<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paleohispanic keyboard |url=https://keyman.com/keyboards/paleohispanic |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=keyman.com}}</ref>]]
[[Image:Un signari ibèric nord-oriental dual.jpg|250px|thumb|The proposed 'dual' variant of northeastern Iberian (Based on Ferrer i Jané 2005)]]
[[Image:Bronce ibero.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Lead plaque from [[Ullastret]] using the dual signary]]
[[Image:Un signari ibèric nord-oriental.jpg|250px|thumb|A northeastern Iberian signary (not dual)]]
[[Image:Un signari ibèric sud-oriental (Correa 2004).jpg|250px|thumb|Possible values of the southeastern Iberian signary (Correa 2004). In red are the most debatable signs.]]
[[Image:Plom I de La Bastida (Cara A).jpg|250px|right|thumb|Lead plaque from [[La Bastida de les Alcusses]] ([[Moixent]]) using the southeastern signary]]
[[Image:Un alfabet greco-ibèric.jpg|250px|thumb|A Greco-Iberian alphabet.]]
[[Image:Plom I de La Serreta (Cara B).jpg|250px|right|thumb|Lead plaque from la Serreta ([[Alcoi]]) using the Greco-Iberian alphabet]]

The '''Iberian scripts''' are the [[Paleohispanic scripts]] that were used to represent the extinct [[Iberian language]]. Most of them are typologically unusual in that they are [[semi-syllabary|semi-syllabic]] rather than purely [[alphabetic]].<ref>Ferrer, J., Moncunill, N., Velaza, J., & Anderson, D. (2017). [http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17129-paleo-hispanic.pdf ''Proposal to encode the Palaeohispanic script''].</ref> The oldest Iberian inscriptions date to the 4th or possibly the 5th century BCE, and the latest from end of the 1st century BCE or possibly the beginning of the 1st century CE.

==Variants==
There are two main graphic as well as geographic variants in the family:
* [[Northeastern Iberian script]]
** Dual variant (4th century BCE and 3rd century BCE) (tentative)
** Non-dual variant (2nd century BCE and 1st century BCE)
* [[Southeastern Iberian script]]

In the sense that the Iberian scripts are the scripts created for the Iberians to represent the Iberian language, the [[Greco-Iberian alphabet]],  a separate adaptation of the [[Greek alphabet]], was also an Iberian script. It was used mainly in [[Alicante]] and [[Murcia]]. Likewise, neither the [[southwestern script]], very similar to southeastern Iberian script but used for the [[Tartessian language]], nor the [[Celtiberian script]], a direct adaptation of the [[northeastern Iberian script]] used for the [[Celtiberian language]], are technically Iberian scripts.

The northeastern Iberian script is often known simply as the '''Iberian script''', because it is the script of 95% of known Iberian inscriptions. These have been found mainly in the northeastern quadrant of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], mostly along the coast from [[Languedoc-Roussillon]] to [[Alicante]], but with a deep penetration on the [[Ebro]] valley.

The southeastern Iberian script is poorly attested, and there are some gaps in the records: There are no positively identified symbols for /gu/, /do/, and /m/, for example. Unlike the [[northeastern Iberian script]] the decipherment of the southeastern Iberian script is not still closed, because there are a significant group of signs without consensus value. The southeastern inscriptions have been found mainly in the southeastern quadrant of Iberia: Eastern [[Andalusia]], [[Murcia]], [[Albacete]], [[Alicante]], and [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]].

There is substantial graphic variation in the Iberian glyphs, and over the past several decades many scholars have come to believe that, at least in northeastern Iberian script (and recently also in Celtiberian script) some of this variation is meaningful. It appears that the original simple letters were assigned specifically to the voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/, whereas the voiceless consonants /t/ and /k/ were derived from /d/ and /g/ syllables with the addition of a stroke. (This is the so-called ''dual signary'' model: see the image at right). If correct, this innovation would parallel the creation of the Latin letter G from C by the addition of a stroke.

==Typology==
Excepting the [[Greco-Iberian alphabet]], the Iberian scripts are typologically unusual, in that they were partially [[alphabetic]] and partially [[syllabary|syllabic]]: Continuants ([[fricative consonant|fricative]] sounds like /s/ and [[sonorant]]s like /l/, /m/, and vowels) were written with distinct letters, as in Phoenician (or in Greek in the case of the vowels), but the non-continuants (the [[stop consonant|stops]] /b/, /d/, /t/, /g/, and /k/) were written with ''syllabic'' glyphs that represented both consonant and vowel together, as with Japanese [[kana]]. That is, in written Iberian, ''ga'' displayed no resemblance to ''ge,'' and ''bi'' had no connection to ''bo.'' This possibly unique writing system is called a "[[semi-syllabary]]".

The southeastern script was written right to left, as was the [[Phoenician alphabet]], whereas the northeastern script reversed this to left to right, as in the [[Greek alphabet]].

==Origins==
{{main|Paleohispanic scripts}}
The Iberian scripts are classified as [[Paleohispanic scripts]] for convenience and based on broad similarities, but their relationships to each other and to neighboring contemporaneous scripts, such as Greco-Iberian, are not firmly established. It is generally accepted that they were derived at least partly from the [[Greek alphabet]] and/or [[Phoenician alphabet]], with which they share many similar-looking [[glyph]]s. Some researchers{{who|date=April 2019}} conclude that the origin of the northern and southern Iberian scripts ultimately lies solely with the Phoenician alphabet; others{{who|date=April 2019}} believe the Greek alphabet also played a role; others still{{who|date=April 2019}} have suggested influences from [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]]. It appears that either the glyphs themselves were changed, or that they assumed new values.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} For example, the southern glyph for /e/ derives from Phoenician ''‘[[ayin]]'' or Greek [[Omicron|Ο]], whereas northern /e/ resembles Phoenician ''[[He (letter)|he]]'' or Greek [[Epsilon|Ε]], though the letter arguably{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} had the value of /be/ in southern Iberian.<!--confusing--> However, it is clear that they had a common origin, and the most commonly accepted hypothesis is that the northeastern script derives from the southeastern script.

== See also ==
* [[Iberian language]]
* [[Paleohispanic scripts]]
* [[Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* Anderson, James M. (1988) Ancient Languages of the Hispanic Peninsula.
* Correa, José Antonio (2004): {{lang|es|«Los semisilabarios ibéricos: algunas cuestiones»}}, ''ELEA'' 4, pp.&nbsp;75–98.
* Correa, José Antonio (1992): {{lang|es|«Representación gráfica de la oposición de sonoridad en las oclusivas ibéricas (semisilabario levantino)»}}, ''AIΩN'' 14, pp.&nbsp;253–292.
* Ferrer i Jané, Joan (2005) [https://www.academia.edu/425399/Novetats_sobre_el_sistema_dual_de_diferenciacio_grafica_de_les_oclusives_sordes_i_sonores ''Novetats sobre el sistema dual de diferenciació gràfica de les oclusives sordes i sonores''], ''Palaeohispanica'' 5, pp.&nbsp;957–982.
* [[Manuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez|Gómez-Moreno, Manuel]] (1922): {{lang|es|«De Epigrafia ibérica: el plomo de Alcoy»}}, {{lang|es|Revista de filología española}} 9, pp.&nbsp;34–66.
* Hoz, Javier de (1987): {{lang|es|«La escritura greco-ibérica»}}, ''Veleia'' 2–3, pp.&nbsp;285–298.
* Hoz, Javier de (1985): {{lang|es|«El nuevo plomo inscrito de Castell y el problema de las oposiciones de sonoridad en ibérico», ''Symbolae Ludouico Mitxelena septuagenario oblatae''|italic=unset}}, pp.&nbsp;443–453.
* [[Joan Maluquer de Motes|Maluquer de Motes, Joan]] (1968): {{lang|es|Epigrafía prelatina de la península ibérica}}, Barcelona.
* Quintanilla, Alberto (1993): {{lang|es|«Sobre la notación en la escritura ibérica del modo de articulación de las consonantes oclusivas», ''Studia Palaeohispanica et Indogermánica J. Untermann ab Amicis Hispanicis Oblata''|italic=unset}}, pp.&nbsp;239–250.
* Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2004): {{lang|es|Análisis de Epigrafía Íbera}}, Vitoria-Gasteiz 2004, {{ISBN|84-8373-678-0}}.
* Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2002): {{lang|es|«La escritura ibérica meridional»}}, ''Zephyrus'' 55, pp.&nbsp;231–245.
* [[Jürgen Untermann|Untermann, Jürgen]] : [[Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum]], Wiesbaden. (1975): I Die Münzlegenden. (1980): ''II Die iberischen Inschriften aus Sudfrankreicht''. (1990): {{lang|de|III Die iberischen Inschriften aus Spanien}}. (1997): {{lang|de|IV Die tartessischen, keltiberischen und lusitanischen Inschriften}}.
* Velaza, Javier (2004): {{lang|es|«La escritura en la península ibérica antigua», ''La escritura y el libro en la antigüedad''|italic=unset}}, Madrid, pp.&nbsp;95–114.
* Velaza, Javier (1996): {{lang|es|Epigrafía y lengua ibéricas}}, Barcelona.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713003313/http://www.ieiop.com/pub/diptico_palaeohisp_2007_7ef6ed8c.pdf Los primeros sistemas de escritura en la Península Ibérica (Course program)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041209033118/http://ancientscripts.com/iberian.html Ancient Scripts – Iberia]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132519/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib2_en.htm Levantine Iberian Script]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132524/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib4_en.htm Meridional Iberian Script]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514133543/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib3_en.htm Greek Iberian Script]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132528/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib5_en.htm Celtiberian Script]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132532/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib6_en.htm Tartessian / South-Lusitanian Script]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132602/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib10_en.htm "On the Story of the Decipherment of Iberian Writing" by Jesús Rodríguez Ramos]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006160601/http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BCE)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132451/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib19_en.htm Links to images of inscriptions]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132451/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib11_en.htm EXAMPLES OF LEVANTINE IBERIAN INSCRIPTIONS]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132451/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib11b_en.htm THE EVOLUTION OF LEVANTINE IBERIAN SCRIPT]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110514132451/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib12_en.htm THE OLDEST WESTERN COMMERCIAL DATABASE: THE LEAD PLAQUE OF LA BASTIDA DE LES ALCUSES ]

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{{writing systems}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iberian Scripts}}
[[Category:Iberian writing]]
[[Category:Undeciphered writing systems]]
[[Category:Celtic languages]]
[[Category:Paleohispanic languages]]

[[ru:Иберское письмо]]