The lead image shows Egyptian god Thoth - according to Egyptian mythology, the inventor of hieroglyphs and of script in general. Here, as often, depicted with the head of an ibis.
Here follows sections III-VIII of the article "On the Genealogy of Script". For sections I & II, read "On the Genealogy of Script I & II".
I. Introduction (In "On the Genealogy of Script I & II")
II. Alphabets (In "On the Genealogy of Script I & II")
III. Cuneiform Script & Hieroglyphs
IV. The Sumerian Heritage
V. The Pharaonic Heritage
VI. Korean
VII. Alphabets Created by Identifiable Individuals
VIII. Artificial Alphabets
III. Cuneiform Script & Hieroglyphs
The oldest cuneiform script is Sumerian. Some scholars claim that it is the oldest script of all, but that can be questioned (see below). From the Sumerians it spread through the Middle East and further; and, just as alphabets later, it came to change and develop during the way. It began as a linear ideographic script, and developed to become partly syllabic.
The Sumerian script (from ca 3000 BC) was adopted by the Akkadians during the 20th century BC, and bifurcated into two systems: the Assyrian and the Babylonian. The latter one was alive for very long, possibly until about 100 BC, and it spread and developed in many directions.
For Old Persian, there was a cuneiform script which is a mystery. It seems to have been purely phonetic, and its relation to other systems of writing is unknown.
In Ras Shamra, in Syria, one has found a cuneiform script which is used as letters, like later Semitic alphabets. It supports the theory that the first Semitic alphabet was developed from cuneiform script.
Rivalling the Sumerian script in age, and in being the source of the Semitic alphabet, is Egyptian script: Hieroglyphs. It began as pictography/ideography, but gradually syllabism and consonants were developed and added. The result was a mixed script.
In Serabit-al-Khadim, in Sinai, script from ca 1700 BC has been found. Clearly influenced by Egyptian script, it is consonantal, and therefore genuinely alphabetic. This script is called Proto-Sinaitic, and it can possibly be the first real alphabet, leading further to those of today.
There are many questions regarding the Sumerian and Egyptian scripts. For instance: Which is the oldest? Is there any connection between them? Which one was the basis for the "first" alphabet?
Even if some people claim to have answers to these and similar questions, there exist no answers with any degree of certainty. We know too little about both Sumerians and Egyptians (so far), and established chronology rests on very shaky grounds indeed.
IV. The Sumerian Heritage
Chinese is unique in the world today. It is the only modern language based on ideography - even if there is often a phonetic indicator, a radical, as part of a character.
Most sources claim that script developed independently in China. Even if that is possible, it is not likely. Indeed, there is another explanation, and the evidence for it is - if not conclusive - at least convincing: That Chinese script is derived from Sumerian.
The pictographs of old Chinese looked like Sumerian ones, were even pronounced similarly. And words with more than one meaning in Sumerian, had the same set of meanings in Chinese. An interesting comparison between the two languages is made in: "Chinese and Sumerian" by C. Bell (Oxford University 1913).
While I have been studying these and other comparisons, as well as relevant historical details, I feel convinced that this explanation is correct - or at least the best one so far. Yet one must be careful with conclusions based on pronunciation. After all we cannot know how people spoke thousands of years ago.
Japanese uses mixed script. In addition to Chinese ideograms (Kanji), it uses two syllabic alphabets: Hiragana and Katakana. The syllabic characters are derived from Chinese ideograms, which have been simplified.
V. The Pharaonic Heritage
The Minoan culture of Crete (ca 300-1100 BC) was deeply influenced by Old Egypt, to whose cultural sphere it belonged. There they created a pictographic-ideographic script based on the Egyptian. It developed into two systems of syllabic writing, which was the first time one wrote in horizontal lines. They are called Linear A and Linear B.
The Mycenaean culture of Asia Minor and Greece (about 1500-1100 BC) adopted the Minoan script.
Another script, which - at least partly - was derived from Old Egyptian writing (via the Proto-Sinaitic script), was used by the Phoenicians of Byblos (today Jbeil in Lebanon). This can possibly have become a path, through which Old Egyptian script led to the alphabets of today. It is often claimed that the Greek alphabet is derived from the Phoenician one.
In Meso America, the highest civilisation ever on the western hemisphere peaked about 300-900 AD, after which it vanished. It was the Maya. Their sophisticated culture, which rivals the high cultures of the old world (Egypt, Sumer, India, China), is something of a mystery.
Their script, a form of hieroglyphs, is still not completely deciphered. Worse; after the Spanish invasion of the area during the 16th century, Bishop Diego de Landa committed an act of utter destruction: he had all Maya books destroyed! An act of religious zeal. Only three known books remain today: the Madrid Codex, the Dresden Codex, and the Paris Codex; plus Chilam Balam and Popul Vuh, Latin script notations of oral traditions, or possibly of lost Mayan originals.
The Mayan calendar offers a special mystery. It begins in 3113 BC; yet the emergence of the Maya has been dated to some time between 2000 and 1500 BC. Why would they have a calendar with a starting-point more than one thousand years before their existence as a people? Or are they older than we think?
Based on the striking similarities between the Maya and Old Egypt, Alan F. Alford made an interesting observation. He calculated a chronology for Egypt, which is quite exact in certain details. One of them is that it establishes the beginning of the Pharaonic era to the year 3113 BC. [I think he is right, but it would bring us too far to discuss the calculation in detail here and now.] That is the same year as the starting-point of the Mayan calendar, and it is a thought-provoking indication of a connection between the two civilisations.
If there was such a connection, what would it tell us about the Maya script? I would suggest the theory that it is derived from Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
The Aztecs too had a script of hieroglyphic type. Their culture was later than the Maya, and their script most probably was derived from the Mayan one. It has been suggested that it stems from Egyptian hieroglyphs, but academic historians neglect that indication.
VI. Korean
The Korean alphabet is unique. It is called Hangeul, and was invented in 1443 or 1444, and is said to be partly based on the shape of the mouth when different sounds are pronounced.
From Old times until quite recently, literature was written in Chinese, and the script is to a varying degree mixed - where Chinese characters (called Hanja) are combined with Hangeul.
Hangeul is a very interesting alphabet, as such it is almost ideal.
VII. Appendix 1
Alphabets Created by Identifiable Individuals
A few alphabets are created by, or attributed to identifiable individuals. Some of these are mentioned above, some are not. None of those mentioned below created a script out of thin air, but built heavily on already existing alphabets. Here are some examples occurring to me now, I am sure the list is not in any way exhaustive.
The Glagolitic alphabet was created by Cyril and his brother Methodius. The Cyrillic alphabet, however, which is named after St. Cyril, was created later. Some sources claim that the inventor was St. Kliment of Ohrid, but that is uncertain.
Armenian script is attributed to Mesrop Mashtots (4th-5th century AD). Some scholars attribute the Georgian Asomtavruli too to Meshrop Mashtots, while others claim that it was invented by the Georgian king, Farnavaz.
The alphabet of the Sikhs (India), Gurmukhi, was created by Guru Nanak (1469-1539), the first Guru of Sikhism.
The Manichaean alphabet was devised (or adopted) by Mani (3rd century AD), the Persian creator of Manichaeanism, a once widely spread belief. The language he used was Parthian, a form of Persian language, and the script he chose to use was based on an Aramaic cursive he found in Babylonia. The alphabet was used for Manichaean writings in certain other languages too.
Wulfila (ca 310-383 AD), the apostle of the Visigoths (Western Goths) translated the Bible to the Gothic language. For this purpose he created the Gothic alphabet, which is based mainly on Greek, and to some extent on Runes.
Manchu script was created by Erdeni Bagshi and Gagai Jarguchi, on the basis of Mongolian letters. All was done on order of the Manchu emperor Nurhaci (1559-1626).
VIII. Appendix 2
Artificial Alphabets
The Morse code, the telegraphic alphabet, was created by Samuel F. B. Morse. It uses dots and dashes. The international code is a little bit different from Morse's original one, but ultimately it is based on the same principle.
Louis Braille (1809-1852) created a system of script for the blind. The system, commonly called Braille, uses raised dots which can be felt by the fingertips.
Finally we have stenography, or shorthand writing, which has a history and genealogy of its own.
The modern phonetic stenography began with John Willis (1602). Since then a large number of systems have been developed. They can be classified in various ways. But we will not concern ourselves with that here. Some of the best known systems are, for English: Taylor (1786), Pitman (1837), Gregg (1888); for French: Prevoust-Delaunay (1878), Aime Paris (1822), Duploye (1860; for German: Gabelsberger (1834), Stolze (1840), Arends (1840), Schrey (1887), Stolze-Schrey (1897).
In Rome, Marcus Tullius Tiro invented a system of abbreviations, not'ae Tironia'nae, or the Tironian notes. This system, used for the first time in the Roman senate in 68 BC, was further developed and used for more than 1000 years.
No doubt Greek stenography existed before Roman times - and there is no reason to believe the Greeks to be first either, but then we enter an area of pure speculation.
(This article is based on material previously published in TMA/Meriondho Leo.)
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Transcription & Transliteration: Some Thoughts on Written Language & Foreign Names
Phonetic Script & How Books of Religion Shape Languages
Why “Donald Duck” is Bad: Assimilation, Alliteration & How to Create a Name
Rhyme & Reason: Verse, Structure, & Memory
Anagrams, Palindromes, Cryptarithms and Alphametics
On the Genealogy of Script I & II
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(The lead image is "Thoth Deux fois Grand, le Second Hermés", by Jean-François Champollion. Original at Brooklyn Museum. No known copyright restrictions.)
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Saving this one. I was woefully unfamiliar with how Old Egyptian could've made its way to Lebanon.