BAYBAYIN OR ALIBATA ?


Alibata and Baybayin basically pertain to the same script that Filipinos used to write before the Spanish colonizers introduced the Latin/Roman alphabet.

However, the correct term is Baybayin, not Alibata.

Baybayin has been used ever since to define the ancient script of the Filipinos from the Ilocos Region up north, up to the Bicol Region on the east, and the Visayas islands in the south.

It is included as an entry in the dictionary compiled by the Spanish priest Pedro de Buenaventura in 1613, titled "Vocabulario De La Lengua Tagala".

Baybayin comes from the word "baybay', which means to spell.

However, in 1914, a professor named Paul Versoza mistakenly thought that Baybayin originated from the Arabic alphabet. Hence, he called it as "Alibata", from the first three letters of the Arabic alphabet which are Alif, Ba, Ta. Since there is no letter "F" in the Tagalog language, "Alif" became "Ali".

Truth is, Baybayin did not come from the Arabic script, but rather from the Brahmic script that originated in India. Thus making Alibata as an incorrect term.

This misnomer was then used by other people and became more commonly used than the term "Baybayin", and even made its way on Philippine History textbooks.

Because of their inclusion in textbooks, the term Alibata has been used by history teachers to teach their students about the pre-colonial script of Filipinos.



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