Syriac letter qaph

It writes the q consonant in Syriac words. Scholarly transliteration writes qaph as q; the variant name qop also appears. Alone, ܩ identifies the letter, while a Syriac word shows how it is read and what it means.

East and West Syriac use different vowel systems, so a word can sound different between traditions even while ܩ marks the q consonant.

How did Syriac qaph develop?

The letter belongs to the Syriac alphabet, developed within Aramaic writing traditions. Syriac script origins are debated. One account links Syriac and Palmyrene to a shared Seleucid-Aramaic source; an older derivation from cursive Palmyrene has been challenged.

An early Birecik inscription is dated 6 CE, and another early Syriac inscription at Serrin is dated 73 CE.

A parchment bill of sale from Dura Europos, dated to the third century, shows Syriac cursive in ordinary business writing as well as religious and literary texts. The alphabet later took shape in Estrangela, Serto, and East Syriac styles.

Why can ܩ change shape?

Script style and joining letters change its visible form. Qaph joins neighboring letters, giving it isolated, initial, medial, or final shapes in right-to-left Syriac text. In typical Serto, qop is rounder; Estrangela and East Syriac forms are more angular.

West and East Syriac traditions preserve the same written language and meaning, but their vowel systems give surrounding words different sounds. Hebrew ק (qoph) and Arabic ق (qaf) are related alphabetic counterparts, not Syriac font variants.

Syriac writing was adapted for Arabic as Garshuni and influenced scripts used for Sogdian, Uyghur, and Mongolian.