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In the modern Arabic script the letter tāʾ and bāʾ have the exact same letter shape. This is true for the Arabic script in all Islamic era documents.
But this was not always the case! While bāʾ & tāʾ merge, they were at one point distinct!
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But this was not always the case! While bāʾ & tāʾ merge, they were at one point distinct!
#ArabicLetterofTheWeek
In the Nabataean Aramaic script, the <b> and <t> had very distinct signs, quite similar to the shapes we find in the Hebrew script: ב and ת.
The bāʾ takes on the simple hook + horizontal stroke quite early on, but the tāʾ continues to have a distinct two downward strokes.
The bāʾ takes on the simple hook + horizontal stroke quite early on, but the tāʾ continues to have a distinct two downward strokes.
As the Nabataean script progresses into what Laïla Nehmé has dubbed "transitional Nabataeo-Arabic", the final tāʾ develops a distinctive loop, seen for example in the name ḥāriṯat in JSNab 17 where it stands next to the non-final tāʾ (see also <brt>, <hlkt> and <šnt>).
The letter bāʾ is not always called bāʾ. In modern Arabic dialects one frequently hears forms like be or bē. This seems to be quite old and widespread.
Thus we find the form bi in a early modern alphabet poems in Tashlhiyt (16th century).
#ArabicLetterofTheWeek
Thus we find the form bi in a early modern alphabet poems in Tashlhiyt (16th century).
#ArabicLetterofTheWeek
But it is also find this pronunciation clearly present in the 11th century in Persia in the poem of Nāṣir Ḫusraw, who in a poem that that clearly rhymes in -ē, uses the name of the letter bē in the rhyme (not also the spelling, rather than با).
There are in fact a number of letters that have this -ē form, and we such alternative names are in fact used in the reading traditions when reciting the muqaṭṭaʿāt. But bē is special because it is not one of the muqaṭṭaʿāt, so we know they did not get the -ē vowel from there.
I receive a nice suggestion to do a series of short thread about the "Arabic letter of the Week". Let's see if I can say something interesting and unexpected about all the letters of the Arabic alphabet! Starting today with the ʾalif.
#ArabicLetterofTheWeek
#ArabicLetterofTheWeek
In Pre-Islamic Arabic the letter ʾalif was used to write the hamzah, even in places where Classical Orthography would expect a different seat of the hamzah.
A name like hunayʾ would be spelled هنيا. The modern spelling is due to the loss of Hamzah in Hijazi/Quranic Arabic.
A name like hunayʾ would be spelled هنيا. The modern spelling is due to the loss of Hamzah in Hijazi/Quranic Arabic.
In Early Quranic manuscripts, an outlined ʾalif, usually filled in with a bisected two-tone colour, is used to mark every fifth verse as a 5-verse marker. Presumably it's the ʾalif of ʾāyah آية.
1. Leiden Or. 14.545a
2. BnF Arabe 330b
1. Leiden Or. 14.545a
2. BnF Arabe 330b
