The Origin of our Alphabet

• Earliest origins: Accounting systems of the Near East, 9,000 years ago: http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm

• Developed into cuneiform in Sumeria, ca. 2500 BCE

• Egyptians adopted the notion of using symbols to represent syllables, also in 3rd milennium BCE

• Phoenicians adapt Egyptian system

• Greeks adapt Phoenician system, ca. 900 BCE

• Romans adapt Greek system, ca. 600 BCE

• Anglo-Saxons use Roman system to write English, 7th C CE (600s)

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