creation of the first Semitic alphabet

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 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?

Continue reading “Section 9 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective”