thumb|Nabataean Arabic inscription from [[Umm el-Jimal|Umm al-Jimal in northern Jordan.]]
The Nabataean script is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) that was used to write Nabataean Aramaic and Nabataean Arabic from the second century BC onwards. Important inscriptions are found in Petra (in Jordan), the Sinai Peninsula (now part of Egypt), Bosra and Namara (in Syria), and other archaeological sites including Abdah (in Israel) and Mada'in Saleh (Hegra) (in Saudi Arabia).
Nabataean is only known through inscriptions and, more recently, a small number of papyri. It was first deciphered in 1840 by Eduard Friedrich Ferdinand Beer. Prior to the publication of Nabataean papyri, the only substantial corpus of detailed Nabataean text were the 38 funerary inscriptions from Mada'in Salih (Hegra), discovered and published by Charles Montagu Doughty, Charles Huber, Philippe Berger and Julius Euting in 1884-85.
[[File:Coin of Aretas IV and Shaqilath.jpg|alt=Coin of Aretas IV and Shaqilath|thumb|
Nabataean Kingdom, Aretas IV and Shaqilath, 9 b. C. – 40 a. D., AE18.
On the reverse, an example of Nabataean script: names of Aretas IV (1st line) and Shaqilath (2nd and 3rd line).]]
History
thumb|Sinaitic (Nabataean) inscriptions published in 1774 by [[Carsten Niebuhr]]
The alphabet is descended from the Aramaic alphabet. In turn, a cursive form of Nabataean developed into the Arabic alphabet from the 4th century,