Category: English Articles

Section 12 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

We consider Section 12 to be the most important chapter of our treatise on the origin of the Greek alphabet, and we recommend that the readers read it carefully in order to understand how the concepts of vowel and consonant arose in the first quarter of the first millennium BC in ancient Greece.

12  From the Phoenician way of writing Greek names to the Greek  way of writing the Greek language 

12.1  From the writing of Greek names to proto-Greek alphabetic writing

As was said earlier, the Phoenicians might have needed to record Greek names in book-keeping in the second millennium BC. In theory they could write a Greek name either with or without matres. But in practice the Phoenicians would soon come to realize that a Greek name written with matres, being less ambiguous in sound representation, was much easier to read out or read back afterwards than one written without matres. Thus the Phoenicians would probably decide at an early stage to use matres to write Greek names. However, their way of writing Greek names might have escaped the notice of the Greeks at the earliest stage because the Greeks had not yet realized that it could be put to some significant use in their daily lives.

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Our treatise now in book form

Our treatise on the origin of the Greek alphabet (with minor amendments) is now available in book form. The book is priced at 128 Hong Kong Dollar (≃USD 16.3). Above is a photograph of the front cover of the book. You can order a copy of it by writing to the Marketing Department of the Commercial Press (H.K.) Ltd. at marketing@commercialpress.com.hk.

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The significance of this treatise on the origin of the Greek alphabet

This treatise strives to give a clear account of how ancient Greek alphabetic writing could naturally evolve into the world’s first segmental writing system, in which vowel and consonant letters are used to represent vowels and consonants respectively.

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Preface to The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

Preface to The Origin of the Greek Alphabet

The birth of the Greek alphabet in the first quarter of the first millennium BC marks a milestone in the development of the writing systems of mankind. A new type of writing system suited to the phonological structures of Greek and many other European languages had been invented by the Greeks at the latest by the eighth century BC. Continue reading “Preface to The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

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Abstract of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet: A New Perspective

This treatise is about how Greek segmental writing evolved from the Phoenician way of writing Greek names with both Phoenician signs and matres lectionis. Continue reading “Abstract of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet: A New Perspective”

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Section 1 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

1  The role of Phoenician writing in the creation of the Greek alphabet

Nobody knows for certain why, how, when, and where exactly Greek alphabetic writing began. But it is quite certain that the Greek alphabet originated from the Phoenician script. There are evidences that this is the case. The early Greek letters are very much like the Phoenician signs. The order of the letters in the Greek alphabet is basically the same as that of the signs in the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks called their letters Phoenician signs. Continue reading “Section 1 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

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Section 2 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

2  Controversy over the nature of Phoenician signs

Since Greek letters were doubtless derived from Phoenician signs, it is important to ascertain the true nature of Phoenician signs before one can understand how Greek alphabetic writing started. A Phoenician sign is generally introduced in books on writing systems as a sign that stands for a consonant. For example, the Phoenician written word <_k_l_m> for ‘king’ (to be read from right to left in accordance with the direction of Phoenician writing) is generally transliterated in roman letters as <mlk>, which obviously cannot be easily pronounced. Continue reading “Section 2 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

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Section 3 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

3  Phoenician signs seen from the Phoenicians’ perspective

If asked about the nature of their Phoenician signs, a Phoenician would probably explain in non-technical terms that a Phoenician sign had several “sounds”. To illustrate his point, he might read out all the possible “sounds” of a certain sign, say, <_n>. These “sounds” would be transcribed today as /na/, /ni/, /nu/, /na:/, /ni:/, /nu:/, /ne:/, and /no:/. Of these eight “sounds”, three are short and five are long.[1] To write any of these eight “sounds”, he would use the same sign <_n>. When reading the sign <_n> used in actual writing, he would know which of the eight “sounds” it stood for.

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Section 4 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

4  The nature of a Phoenician sign

Today one can study directly how the modern Arabic and Hebrew scripts relate to their spoken languages and how their letters are pronounced in a piece of writing. Since the above scripts are descended from Phoenician writing through Aramaic without structural modification, the inner structure of all these Semitic alphabetic scripts should be the same, just as the inner structure of the Greek, Etruscan, Latin, and English alphabetic scripts is the same. Continue reading “Section 4 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

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