Semitic romanization is the process (generally called

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

) by which

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

are transliterated into the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

. The Semitic languages emerged in the Middle East during prehistory. Contemporary Semitic languages are almost all natively written in various

abjad An abjad ( or abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introd ...

s or

alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

s such as the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

, and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

scripts. A notable exception is Maltese, which is the only Semitic language with a standard native form written in the Latin script.

Romanization schemes for specific Semitic languages

Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

schemes for

Proto-Semitic Proto-Semitic is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the linguistic homeland for Proto-Semitic: scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant, the Sahara, ...

and various

(

Semitic abjad An abjad ( or abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introd ...

s): *

Romanization of Arabic The romanization of Arabic is the systematic rendering of Modern Standard Arabic, written and varieties of Arabic, spoken Arabic language, Arabic in the Latin script. Romanized Arabic is used for various purposes, among them transcription of na ...

ISO 233 The international standard ISO 233 establishes a system for romanization of Arabic script. It was supplemented by ISO 233-2 in 1993 which is specific for Arabic language. 1984 edition The table below shows the consonants for the Arabic langua ...

DIN 31635 DIN 31635 is a (DIN) standard for the transliteration of the Arabic alphabet adopted in 1982. It is based on the rules of the (DMG) as modified by the International Orientalist Congress 1935 in Rome. The most important differences from English-ba ...

Romanization of Hebrew The Hebrew language uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel diacritics. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words. For example, the Hebrew name () can be romanized as or . Romanization in ...

ISO 259 ISO 259 is a series of international standards for the romanization of Hebrew characters into Latin characters, dating to 1984, with updated ISO 259-2 (a simplification, disregarding several vowel signs, 1994) and ISO 259-3 ( Phonemic Conversion, ...

Sources

* Khan, Geoffrey., Watson, Janet C. E., Weninger, Stefan. ''The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook''. Germany:

De Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, 2011. * George, Coulter H.. ''How Dead Languages Work''. United Kingdom:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2020 (p. 195-99). Romanization {{latin-script-stub

Romanization schemes for specific Semitic languages

See also

Sources