Nabatean Keyboard Layout

A basic Mac keyboard layout for typing Nabatean characters from the Unicode range 10880—108AF. This layout uses the preinstalled layout "Syriac – Arabic" as a starting point, so the placement of equivalent consonants should be familiar to those who type Arabic or Syriac.

⚠️ June 5, 2022: This keyboard layout merely provides a method to insert the characters currently in the Unicode range for Nabatean. It does not provide any additional characters or features.

⚠️ Specifically, connecting letters are a feature of the Nabatean script but typed characters cannot be connected. This keyboard layout does not provide any way to connect letters, since (as far as I know), Unicode and font support for connecting letters in Nabatean is currently lacking.

This layout was created with the Ukelele keyboard layout editor.

Note: Access final consonants and the numbers 20 and 100 by pressing the Shift key.

Getting Started

Mac OS:

1. Download and unzip the latest release from https://github.com/nathangibson/nabatean-keyboard/releases. Copy the file nabatean.bundle to either "~/Library/Keyboard Layouts" or "/Library/Keyboard Layouts".
2. Go to System Preferences > Keyboards > Input Sources. Click the + button and select "Aramaic (Nabatean)" from the list. Click "Add".
3. Reboot your computer. All done!

Windows: A Windows version is not yet available.

Keyboard Layout

Final Letters and Additional Numbers with the Shift Key

What is the Nabatean Aramaic alphabet?

Nabatean (or Nabataean) Aramaic was used by the ancient Nabatean people. It has survived in inscriptions, most famously at Petra, Jordan. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataean_alphabet and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataean_Aramaic.

Unicode & Fonts

The Unicode range for Nabatean is 10880—108AF. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataean_(Unicode_block).

Fonts supporting the Nabatean range of characters include:

• Noto Sans Nabatean
• Everson Mono

Comparison of Typed Nabatean with Inscription

Here you can see an example of the difference between a real inscription with connected and typed Nabatean (currently without letter-connecting features).

Umm al-Jimal Inscription

Tracing by Sabulhab (Wikimedia Commons)	Typed

Known Issues

Please feel free to contribute with a fork and pull request! Edits to the layout can be done in Ukelele.

• #3 Port for Windows
• #1 Add ligature support for final consonants