The rounded Aramaic alphabet.

the Syriac Estrangelo Aramaic alphabet

Estrangelo is the oldest of the Syriac scripts used to write Classical Syriac which stopped being widely used since the 10th century.

Nowadays some scholarly publications,titles and inscriptions are written in the Estrangelo.Its' name comes from Greek and it means 'rounded'.It later evolved into the cursive Serto -the Western Syriac script  

Estrangelo did not use vowel diacritics. They were used later in some cases.

In the following image I have put some letters together that look alike for ease of learning them.

But two later versions of the Syriac alphabet (Serto and Madnkhaya) that evolved later did use vowel signs.

Two vowel systems developed,the western based on Greek vowels under the Byzantines for Serto and the eastern under the Persian Sassanids for Madnkhaya which used dots.

More on vowels in Syriac Aramaic here.

Now let's give it a try to write the Syriac Estrangelo alphabet.

Apart from Syriac various languages used the Estrangelo alphabet or variations or derivatives of it like Sogdian .

Christian Sogdian document written in the Estrangelo alphabet.

This is the last page of an Old  Christian Sogdian document written in the Syriac Estrangrelo script ,related to the postal system of the Mongol Empire.

 

The text is a translation from a Syriac original and it speaks about  a younger monk who ask questions to an older monk who gives answers in turn.

The words in red read ptry (older monk) as in father from the Greek pater and br't (brother) , younger monk.

Letter			Sound Value (Classical Syriac)
Name	Translit.	ʾEsṭrangēlā (classical)	Transliteration	IPA
*ܐܠܦ	ʾĀlep̄*[c]		ʾ or null mater lectionis: ā	[ʔ] or ∅ mater lectionis: [ɑ]
ܒܝܬ	Bēṯ		hard: b soft: ḇ (also bh, v or β)	hard: [b] soft: [v] or [w]
ܓܡܠ	Gāmal		hard: g soft: ḡ (also g̱, gh, ġ or γ)	hard: [ɡ] soft: [ɣ]
*ܕܠܬ	Dālaṯ*		hard: d soft: ḏ (also dh, ð or δ)	hard: [d] soft: [ð]
*ܗܐ	Hē*		h	[h]
*ܘܘ	Waw*		consonant: w mater lectionis: ū or ō (also u or o)	consonant: [w] mater lectionis: [u] or [o]
*ܙܝܢ	Zayn*		z	[z]
ܚܝܬ	Ḥēṯ		ḥ (also H, kh, x or ħ)	[ħ], [x] or [χ]
ܛܝܬ	Ṭēṯ		ṭ (also T or ţ)	[tˤ]
ܝܘܕ	Yōḏ		consonant: y mater lectionis: ī (also i)	consonant: [j] mater lectionis: [i] or [e]
ܟܦ	Kāp̄		hard: k soft: ḵ (also kh or x)	hard: [k] soft: [x]
ܠܡܕ	Lāmaḏ		l	[l]
ܡܝܡ	Mīm		m	[m]
ܢܘܢ	Nūn		n	[n]
ܣܡܟܬ	Semkaṯ		s	[s]
ܥܐ	ʿĒ		ʿ	[ʕ][d]
ܦܐ	Pē		hard: p soft: p̄ (also p̱, ᵽ, ph or f)	hard: [p] soft: [f]
*ܨܕܐ	Ṣāḏē*		ṣ (also S or ş)	[sˤ]
ܩܘܦ	Qōp̄		q (also ḳ)	[q]
*ܪܝܫ	Rēš*		r	[r]
ܫܝܢ	Šīn		š (also sh)	[ʃ]
*ܬܘ	Taw*		hard: t soft: ṯ (also th or θ)	hard: [t] soft: [θ]

 

Exercise

Check back often.I will be updating the exercise.

Remember. Syriac is read from right to left.

Individual letters

ܨ ṣ, ṣādē ܓ g, gamal ܫ sh,shīn ܚ ḥ,heth ܪ r, resh ܦp, pē ܕd, dālat ܢ n, nūn ܩq , qop ܥ' , Ē ܬt, taw ܡm, miim ܟk, kaap

 

 
Two-letter combinations
Syriac (left to right)

Latin (right to left)

  ܢܢnn ܢܠnl ܙܢzn