Serto

Serto is the rounded form of the Syriac alphabet used primarily by the West Syriac Christian communities for liturgical and secular writing. It developed as a cursive variant of the older Estrangela script during the medieval period, roughly between the 9th and 11th centuries, in the Levant. Serto gradually became the standard script for West Syriac manuscripts and printed works, while Estrangela continued to be used for more formal inscriptions and high-style texts.

The Syriac script has 22 basic letters and is written from right to left. In Serto, letters are typically shaped with rounded, flowing strokes and commonly form connected word shapes, making it more suited to daily handwriting than Estrangela’s more angular, monumental forms. Vowel markings may be added with diacritics in liturgical and scholarly texts, though many manuscripts preserve mainly consonantal text.

In modern usage, Serto is employed in West Syriac liturgy and literature, especially within the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Syriac Catholic Church, as well as in a wide range of Western Syriac publications and digital fonts. It remains one of the most widely recognized forms of Syriac writing today, alongside Estrangela and the East Syriac scripts.

See also: Syriac alphabet; West Syriac; Estrangela; Madnhaya; Syriac Christianity.