The Paleohispanic scripts are ancient writing systems developed in the Iberian Peninsula before the Latin alphabet became widely used. Most of these scripts came from the Phoenician alphabet, except for the Greco-Iberian alphabet, which was directly based on the Greek alphabet. Some scholars think the Greek alphabet might have also influenced the creation of other Paleohispanic scripts. These scripts are often semi-syllabic, meaning they use both letters and syllables to represent sounds.

Paleohispanic scripts were used from the 5th century BCE—possibly as early as the 7th century BCE, according to some researchers—until the end of the 1st century BCE or the start of the 1st century CE. They were the main writing systems used for the Paleohispanic languages.

Scripts

The Paleohispanic scripts are divided into three main groups: southern, northern, and Greco-Iberian. These groups differ in the shapes of their symbols and the meanings those symbols represent.

Inscriptions in the southern scripts are mostly found in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. These scripts make up 5% of all discovered inscriptions and are usually read from right to left, like the Phoenician alphabet. Examples of southern scripts include:
• The Espanca script, known from a single tablet and recognized as the earliest example of an alphabetical order in Paleohispanic scripts.
• The Tartessian or Southwest script, also called South Lusitanian.
• The Southeastern Iberian script, also called Meridional.

Inscriptions in the northern scripts are mainly found in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. These scripts make up 95% of all discovered inscriptions and are usually read from left to right, like the Greek alphabet. Examples of northern scripts include:
• The Northeastern Iberian script, also called Levantine: Dual variant and Non-dual variant.
• The Celtiberian script: Western variant and Eastern variant.

The Greco-Iberian alphabet is based directly on the Ionic version of the Greek alphabet. It is found only in a small area along the Mediterranean coast, specifically in the modern provinces of Alicante and Murcia.

Typology

Paleohispanic scripts, except for the Greco-Iberian alphabet and the Tartessian (southwestern) script, had a unique writing system. This system acted like a syllabary for plosives (sounds like /p/, /t/, /k/) and like an alphabet for other consonants. This system is called a semi-syllabary.

In the syllabic parts of these scripts, each plosive symbol represented a specific consonant-vowel pair. For example, the symbol for "ga" looked different from "ge," and "bi" looked different from "bo." Also, these scripts did not show whether plosives were voiced (like /g/) or unvoiced (like /k/). This meant that one symbol, like "ga," could stand for both /ga/ and /ka/, and "da" could stand for both /da/ and /ta/.

For other sounds, such as fricatives (like /s/) and sonorants (like /l/, /m/), as well as vowels, simple alphabetic letters were used, similar to systems like Phoenician and Greek.

In the northeastern Iberian script, some researchers believe that an older version of the script added a stroke to certain symbols to show whether plosives were voiced or unvoiced. This change created separate symbols for unvoiced /t/ and /k/ and kept the original symbols for voiced /d/ and /g/. This idea is called the dual signary model. If true, this change is similar to how the Latin letter G was created by adding a stroke to the letter C, which had previously represented both /k/ and /g/.

The Tartessian script is between a pure alphabet and the Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries. Like a semi-syllabary, the symbol for a plosive depended on the following vowel. However, unlike a semi-syllabary, the vowel was also written separately, as in an alphabet. This system, called a redundant typology, appeared again in some late texts of the northeastern Iberian and Celtiberian scripts, where vowels were written after plosives. Some experts see Tartessian as a redundant semi-syllabary, with syllabic symbols followed by the vowel letter. Others see it as a redundant alphabet, where the choice of consonant symbol depended on the following vowel.

This is similar to Old Persian cuneiform, where vowels were often written explicitly, but consonants or syllables sometimes depended on the following vowel. It is also similar, though less so, to the Etruscan alphabet, where most syllables using the consonant /k/ followed specific rules. Only certain combinations, like CE, CI, KA, and QU, were allowed. This rule is still seen in English, such as in the letter names "cee," "kay," and "cue/qu."

Origins

The Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries came from an alphabet or alphabets used in the Mediterranean. It is not known if this was only the Phoenician alphabet or if older forms of the Greek alphabet also played a role.

The only complete Paleohispanic writing system known is on the undated Espanca tablet. Though not fully readable, it is clearly connected to the scripts of southwestern and southeastern regions. The first 13 of its 27 letters follow the same order as the Phoenician and Greek alphabets: Α Β Γ Δ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Π? ϻ Τ. The letter for /e/ in southern Paleohispanic writing appears to come from the Phoenician letter ‘ayin, which later became the Greek letter Ο. Meanwhile, the letter for /o/ in southern Iberian writing may have come from another letter or was created separately. This suggests that the development of vowels in Paleohispanic scripts was not directly influenced by Greek writing. However, the placement of what seems to be the /u/ letter directly after Τ, instead of where Ϝ would be, has led some researchers to believe there was Greek influence. Additionally, the letter for /e/ in northeastern Iberian writing resembles Greek Ε, unlike the letter in southeastern Iberian writing.

Two sibilant letters, S and S', are present in the script. However, there are not enough symbols to form a full 15-symbol syllabary or to account for all four letters M, M', R, and R' (not all of which can be clearly identified on the tablet). This suggests that one of the "M" or "R" symbols shown in charts may be a visual variation of another symbol.

A key question is how a purely alphabetic script became a partial syllabary. This can be compared to how the Etruscan alphabet evolved from Greek. Greek had three letters—Γ, Κ, and Ϙ—that represented sounds not used in Etruscan. Despite this, all three were borrowed and became the letters C, K, and Q in Etruscan. Each was used with different vowels (CE, CI, KA, QU), giving consonants significant importance in distinguishing syllables. When the Etruscan alphabet was adapted for Latin, the letter C represented both /k/ and /g/, as Etruscan had no /g/ sound. Later, a stroke was added to C to create the letter G.

A similar process may have occurred in Paleohispanic scripts. If writing was passed from the Phoenicians to the Tartessians, and the Tartessian language lacked /g/ or /d/, this could explain why the southeastern Iberian and later northeastern Iberian scripts did not distinguish /g/ from /k/ or /d/ from /t/, even though these sounds were distinct in the Iberian language. This is evident in the Greco-Iberian alphabet and later Latin writing. In Tartessian script, vowels were always written after consonants, but they were not necessary, so they were omitted when the script was used by the Iberians.

Among the velar consonants, the /ka/ga in southeastern Iberian and southwestern scripts comes from Phoenician/Greek Γ. The /ke/ge comes from Κ, and /ki/gi comes from Ϙ. The /ko/go in these scripts resembles Greek Χ, which was pronounced [kʰ]. The Phoenician/Greek letter Β became the southwestern /be/ and the southeastern /ba/. The use of Π is unclear but may have led to the letter /bi/. If Greek was used as a secondary source, the Greek letter Φ ([pʰ]) could also have been included. For alveolar consonants, Δ became /tu/du, Τ became /ta/da, and Θ became /ti/di.

On 24 June 2024, it was reported that a software engineer discovered additional letters on a stone slab by scrolling through social media. Further studies using better software will be conducted to determine if more faded letters exist.

• Espanca signary (Castro Verde).
• Tartessian or Southwest script (Fonte Velha, Bensafrim, Lagos).
• Southeastern Iberian script (Lead plaque from La Bastida de les Alcuses, Moixent).

• Greco-Iberian alphabet (Lead plaque from la Serreta, Alcoi).
• Northeastern Iberian script (Lead plaque from Ullastret).
• Celtiberian script (Luzaga plaque, Guadalajara, Spain).