# Syllabary · Concept > A writing system whose signs stand for syllables rather than single sounds. Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Syllabary Concept · linguistics · in 11 mysteries # Syllabary A writing system whose signs stand for syllables rather than single sounds. [Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)[Voynich Manuscript](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript)[Cretan Hieroglyphic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic) A script with a sign for each syllable (ka, ke, ki) rather than each consonant or vowel. Syllabaries have more signs than alphabets, usually fifty to a hundred, so counting a script's distinct signs is the first step in telling what kind it is. Linear A, Linear B and Cypro-Minoan are syllabaries; the Indus script's sign count puts it elsewhere. ## Where it comes up **[Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)** The Byblos inscriptions record an archaic West Semitic language older than the split between Canaanite and Arabic, written with a syllabary of consonant and consonant-vowel signs. [Q: How many distinct signs does the script have, and how is it structured?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDQQ8C80YA/how-many-distinct-signs-does-the-script-have-and-how-is-it)[An archaic West Semitic language (Mendenhall, Colless)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/answers/ANS0DEDS7919YAY/an-archaic-west-semitic-language-mendenhall-colless)[Egyptian-derived syllabary, ancestor of the alphabet (Hoch, Colless)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/answers/ANS0DEDT0YB9TS7/egyptian-derived-syllabary-ancestor-of-the-alphabet-hoch)[The intermediates between the Byblos syllabary and the linear alphabets are few and obscure, and the proto-alphabet is…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/evidence/EVD0DEDVN83FCDR/the-intermediates-between-the-byblos-syllabary-and-the)[Colless reports that 18 of 22 Phoenician letters have a shape ancestor in the syllabary and that his own values…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/evidence/EVD0DEDTQJ3MBDC/colless-reports-that-18-of-22-phoenician-letters-have-a)[Byblos syllabary sign table after Dunand (van Deukeren 2007, CC BY-SA 3.0)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0DEDQ0G8C7ER/byblos-syllabary-sign-table-after-dunand-van-deukeren-2007) **[Voynich Manuscript](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript)** The text is a natural language written phonetically in an invented alphabet or syllabary. [Q: Is it a natural language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG27P80HMJ/is-it-a-natural-language)[A real language in a new script](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/answers/ANS0D8GDH702MVA/a-real-language-in-a-new-script)[A natural language in an invented script](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/answers/ANS0D8G048E3AAR/a-natural-language-in-an-invented-script) **[Cretan Hieroglyphic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic)** [Q: How many distinct signs does the script have?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic/questions/QST0DEDWVQEXEKE/how-many-distinct-signs-does-the-script-have)[Cretan Hieroglyphic is an ornamental form of a Cretan proto-syllabary whose sign names and values come from Sumerian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic/answers/ANS0DEDZ5QXZJKJ/cretan-hieroglyphic-is-an-ornamental-form-of-a-cretan-proto) **[Cypro-Minoan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan)** [A small set of values, inherited from Linear A and passed on to the Cypriot syllabary, is secure.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/answers/ANS0CWRBVAT6F9F/a-small-set-of-values-inherited-from-linear-a-and-passed-on)[Cypro-Minoan on Cyprus writes Eteocypriot, the non-Greek language later written in the Cypriot syllabary.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/answers/ANS0CWRBSM42AN0/cypro-minoan-on-cyprus-writes-eteocypriot-the-non-greek) **[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot)** The Cypriot syllabary descends from Cypro-Minoan on the same island, and Duhoux finds Eteocypriot endings comparable with Cypro-Minoan 1 sequences; Janko reads the Enkomi cylinder as an account possibly in Eteocypriot. [Q: What language do the Eteocypriot inscriptions of Amathus record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8TY5JS3/what-language-do-the-eteocypriot-inscriptions-of-amathus)[The Cypriot syllabary descends from Cypro-Minoan on the same island, and Duhoux finds Eteocypriot endings comparable…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGHRSTGB/the-cypriot-syllabary-descends-from-cypro-minoan-on-the-same)[The Cypriot syllabary reads Greek texts into a full grammatical dialect, yet the same sign values applied to the…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGWFMJAH/the-cypriot-syllabary-reads-greek-texts-into-a-full)[Unicode Cypriot Syllabary block (U+10800 to U+1083F)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0DEDYP78GZS2/unicode-cypriot-syllabary-block-u-10800-to-u-1083f) **[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)** The alphabet was not invented from hieroglyphs at all but simplified from the Byblos syllabary, a West Semitic script already in use on the Lebanese coast. [Simplified from the Byblos syllabary (Colless)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDY98Z411M/simplified-from-the-byblos-syllabary-colless) **[Glozel: the inscribed tablets of the Fradin field](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/glozel)** The signs are a genuine script of a language not yet identified, possibly a syllabary or a magical or non-linguistic notation. [A genuine but unidentified script or notation](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/glozel/answers/ANS0DEDWYSRG8FK/a-genuine-but-unidentified-script-or-notation)[Isserlin found the closest partial resemblance of the Glozel signs in the Iberian scripts, which are semi-syllabic…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/glozel/evidence/EVD0DEDYRBWQSGS/isserlin-found-the-closest-partial-resemblance-of-the-glozel) **[Dhofari script](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/dhofari-script)** The inscriptions are alphabetic: the sign count is too small for a syllabary, and three texts list more than 20 distinct letters each without repetition . **[Linear A](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/linear-a)** SigLA, built by Ester Salgarella and Simon Castellan, redraws the signs of every inscription in GORILA and later additions, with sign-by-sign metadata, under a CC BY-NC-SA licence . ::: artifact A-HT-TABLETS3… **[Proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-elamite)** The Bern group, whose OCLEI corpus and earlier syllabary work were independent of Desset, lists a forthcoming paper offering "external and semi-external sound value confirmations" of the 2022 values, which is the… **[Phaistos Disc](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc)** Forty-five signs is too many for an alphabet and too few for a logographic system, and the word lengths, two to seven signs, fit a syllabary . ## Cite it ``` Mysteries Department. (2026). Syllabary [Concept CPT0DECW02C55EK]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DECW02C55EK ``` Key **CPT** 0DECW02C55EK Record Concept Field Linguistics Related [Decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment) · [Logographic script](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02H879M/logographic-script) Version 2 Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) [ Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q180294) **How this page is made.** The definition is the site's, in its own words. “Where it comes up” is read from the answers, methods and evidence that name the concept. Related concepts [Decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment)[Logographic script](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02H879M/logographic-script) The record Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history. [JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/CPT0DECW02C55EK)