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Reference.org
Proto-Canaanite alphabet
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<p>Proto-Canaanite is the name given to: </p> <ol><li>The <a href="/facts/Proto-Sinaitic_script/aqPygGcT">Proto-Sinaitic script</a> when found in <a href="/facts/Canaan/PyX3f92e">Canaan</a>, dating to about the 17th century BC and later.</li> <li>A hypothetical ancestor of the Phoenician script before some cut-off date, typically 1050 BC, with an undefined affinity to <a href="/facts/Proto-Sinaitic_script/aqPygGcT">Proto-Sinaitic</a>. No extant "Phoenician" inscription is older than 1000 BC. The <a href="/facts/Phoenician_language/KFcxz467">Phoenician</a>, <a href="/facts/Hebrew_language/hqKCSy9d">Hebrew</a>, and other <a href="/facts/Canaanite_languages/S0NzB50W">Canaanite</a> dialects were largely indistinguishable before that time.</li></ol> <p>About 20–25 Proto-Canaanite inscriptions are known. </p>