Origins of the Alphabet

Origins of the Alphabet

Picture-writing of the American Indian

Pictograph Ideograph

Harappan Civilization in India

2000BC

Cave painting at Lascaux

The history of the alphabet begins in Ancient Egypt, more than a millennium into the history of writing. The first pure alphabet emerged around 2000 BC to represent the language of Semitic workers in Egypt (see Middle Bronze Age alphabets), and was derived from the alphabetic principles of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Most alphabets in the world today either descend directly from this development, for example the Greek and Latin alphabets, or were inspired by its design.

Karnak Temple where some of the best preserved writing still exists.

Most hieroglyphic signs are phonetic in nature, meaning the sign is read independent of its visual characteristics (according to the rebus principle where, for example, the picture of an eye could stand for the English words eye

1. alp "ox" (A)

2. b bet "house" (B)

3. g gaml "throwstick" (C, G)

4. d digg "fish" (D)

5. h haw / hll "jubilation" (E)

6. w waw "hook" (F, U, V, W, Y)

7. z zen /ziqq "manacle" (Z)

8. ḥ ḥet "courtyard" (H)

9. ṭ ṭēt ([[]]) "wheel"

10. y yad "arm" (I, J)

11. k kap "hand" (K)

12. l lamd "goad" (L)

13. m mem "water" (M)

14. n naḥš "snake" (N)

15. s samek "fish" (X)

16. ʻ ʿen "eye" (O)

17. p piʾt "corner" (P)

18. ṣ ṣad "plant"

19. q qup "monkey" (Q)

20. r raʾs "head" (R)

21. š/ś šimš "sun, the Uraeus" (S)

22. t taw "signature" (T)

23. ġ ġʿen "thread" (Gh)

One reconstruction of 23 letters, equivalent to the Phoenician alphabet which evolved from it, follows. The Latin descendants are given in parentheses.

The Greeks and the Romans also used a lot of papyrus, all bought in Egypt because that is where papyrus grows. But it wasn't cheap! One sheet probably cost about what $20 is worth today. So when the Islamic empire learned how to make paper from rags from the Chinese about 700 AD, people quickly stopped using papyrus, even in Egypt.

When the Egyptians began to write, about 3000 BC, they wrote from the beginning in ink, on papyrus (pah-PIE-russ). Papyrus is a plant that grows wild all over the Nile river valley, which is to say it is very common in Egypt. You can cut the long stalks and soak them in water until they rot a little, and then you lay a lot of these stalks next to each other, and a lot of other stalks on top, crossways to the first ones, and then you pound them flat, until all the stalks get mashed into all the other ones, and you have something a lot like paper.

Early Greek alphabet on pottery in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens

The most notable change in the Greek alphabet, as an adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet,

The lapidary (stone-engraved) capital letters of Roman Empirean period (from the 1th century BC to the 5th century AD). Although the Roman alphabet took many forms, Capitalis Monumentalis (Roman capitals) have exerted the most influence on lettering and typographic developrment. Many versions of these exist, principally on inscriptions. The most famous example is on the column of Imperor Trajan in Roman Forum from 114 AD. There was no word spaces and words were divided by centerpoints.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_letters_used_in_mathematics

Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering

Phoenician alphabet

It became one of the most widely used writing systems, and was spread by traders of Phoenicia across Europe and the Middle East, where it became used for a variety of languages and spawned many subsequent scripts.

Many modern writing systems thought to have descended from Phoenician cover much of the world

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today.

Latin alphabet world distribution. The dark green areas shows the countries where this alphabet is the sole main script. The light green shows the countries where the alphabet co-exists with other scripts.

Parent systems Proto-Canaanite alphabet

→ Phoenician alphabet

→ Greek alphabet

→ Old Italic alphabet

→ Latin alphabet

http://www.mediumbold.com/04_thinking/type/origins/index.html

Arabic

The oldest Chinese inscriptions that are indisputably writing are the Oracle bone script

Neolithic signs

The legend of the creation of chinese characters

According to legend, though, Chinese characters were invented earlier by Cangjie (c. 2650 BC),

Ancient Khmer script engraved on stone.

Replica of the Ramkhamhaeng inscription, the oldest inscription using Thai script

Sanskrit ( सं�स्कृ� ता� वा�कृ saṃskṛtā vāk, for short सं�स्कृ� ताम् saṃskṛtam) is a classical language of India

Pali (IAST: Pāḷi) is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. It is best known as the language of the earliest extant Buddhist canon