The Origin of the Greek Alphabet – Page 2

Section 6 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

6 The reason why a Phoenician sign has multiple sound values

A Phoenician sign is a phonogram that has multiple sound values, which is quite different from what we commonly know of a phonogram. We usually think that a phonogram basically stands for one sound, such as an Akkadian syllabogram or a Japanese kana. To write such syllables as /na/, /ni/, and /nu/, a Phoenician would use one phonogram while a Japanese person would use three. Continue reading “Section 6 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

Section 7 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet: A New Perspective

7 The nature of ancient Egyptian writing

(Revised on 12 September 2019)

To understand the nature of Egyptian writing, one must first understand the nature of the Egyptian language because the two are closely related to each other. The ancient Egyptian language and the Semitic languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic language family. As explained in §4, the basic syllable structure of the Semitic languages is cα. Continue reading “Section 7 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet: A New Perspective”

Section 8 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

8 Writing foreign names in ancient Egyptian

An Egyptian name usually comprises a number of ordinary words. Writing an Egyptian name is no different from writing ordinary words, and so it also involves the use of logograms, phonograms, and determinatives. However, writing a foreign name is a different matter. The Egyptians would come to realize that the most direct and the easiest way of writing a foreign name was to use monoconsonantal phonograms to write its sound syllable by syllable, without bothering much about its sense. Continue reading “Section 8 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

Section 9 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

9 The first Semitic alphabetic script and some of its descendants

It is said at the outset of this treatise that nobody knows for certain why, how, when, and where exactly Greek alphabetic writing began. The same can also be said about the origin of Semitic alphabetic writing. The Proto-Sinaitic and the early Proto-Canaanite inscriptions are the earliest extant Semitic alphabetic writings, which may be dated to about 1700‒1500 BC. These inscriptions attest to the Western Semites’ first attempts to use the alphabetic signs to write their language. How did such signs come into being?

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Section 10 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

10 Did the Phoenicians use matres?

According to Naveh (1987:62), there were no matres in early Phoenician inscriptions before the eighth century BC. This is not surprising as such inscriptions were few in Phoenicia. The Phoenician script should have been much more widely used from the eleventh century to the eighth century BC than was attested by the extant scanty inscriptions. We believe that among the Semites, the Phoenicians must have had the greatest need for using matres to write foreign names as they had to make extensive trading contacts with the other Mediterranean peoples. Continue reading “Section 10 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

Section 11 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

11 The Phoenician way to write a Greek name

As mentioned earlier, it is commonly agreed that the Greeks learnt the alphabet from the Phoenicians. However, despite this consensus about the provenance of the Greek alphabet from the Phoenician signs, scholars differ greatly on when and how the Greeks used the Phoenician signs to write Greek. Continue reading “Section 11 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

Section 13 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

13 The creation of new vowel letters in early Greek alphabetic writing

When the five matres became vowel letters, what were their sound values in the scripts? If one were to disregard vowel length, <A>, <I>, and <Y> would each represent one vowel quality in all Greek regions while <E> and <O> would each represent two vowel qualities in many Greek regions. In regions where the dialect had the following seven vowel qualities /a, i, u, e, o, ɛ, ɔ/, <E> and <O> would each represent two vowel qualities: <E> would represent both /e/ and /ɛ/, and <O> both /o/ and /ɔ/.

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Section 14 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

14 The creation of new consonant letters in early Greek alphabetic writing

As explained in §12.5, when the five matres changed into vowel letters, the ordinary Phoenician signs used for writing Greek would inevitably change from syllabic signs into consonant letters. This shift in the nature of Greek alphabetic writing probably took place in the ninth century BC. What were the sound values of the consonant letters of the Greek alphabet when Greek writing had become segmental?

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Section 15 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

15 Concluding remarks

15.1 The importance of writing foreign names in the history of writing

The importance of writing foreign names in the history of writing cannot be exaggerated. The writing of the sounds of the names in a foreign language is basically the writing of the sounds of that foreign language. Usually attention is focussed just on the sound of a name, not its meaning. The form of writing that is built on the writing of foreign sounds may be crude at the outset; however, a fully-fledged writing system may, over time, develop from it. One good example is the birth of Greek alphabetic writing.

Continue reading “Section 15 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”

The Origin of the Greek Alphabet: A New Perspective

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