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History of writing
- 1. A short history of writing Lars Marius Garshol
- 2. Latin alphabet • This slide is written in the Latin alphabet • that’s a script • not a language • Languages using this alphabet: English, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Sami, Portuguese, Maltese, … • But where does it come from? 2
- 4. Etruscans • Ancient civilisation in Italy 800 BCE - 250 BCE • spoke a language unrelated to any other • eventually conquered and assimilated by the Romans • Had their own alphabet, which the Romans adopted 4 The Marsiliana tablet abecedarium, ca. 700 BC
- 5. Greek alphabet 5 Dates from 900-800 BCE ???
- 6. Changes 6 Greek letter Greek sound Etruscan letter Etruscan sound Α α a 𐌀 a Β β b 𐌁 b Γ γ g 𐌂 k Χ χ kh 𐌗 ks
- 7. But … G? • Latin originally didn’t distinguish between K and G • A surname like “Ruga” would be written “Ruca” • unfortunate, because “ruca” means “fart” in Latin • Spurius Carvilius Ruga got tired of this • 3rd century BCE invented G by modifying C • sources: Quintus Terentius Scaurus and Plutarch 7
- 9. Phoenician • Precursor of Greek • appeared around 1200 BCE • from what is now Lebanon • Not an alphabet, but an abjad • that is, only consonants are written 9
- 10. Proto-sinaitic 10 c. 18th – 15th century BCE
- 12. Why no vowels? • These were all Semitic languages • like Arabic and Hebrew • Based around consontantal roots • k-t-b = to write • can derive huge number of words 12
- 13. K-T-B 13
- 14. About vowels 14 Hieratic Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Greek Aramaic Brahmic Hebrew Arabic Ge’ez Semitic languages
- 15. Two solutions 15 Latin Devanagari Ge’ez ka क ቀ ke के ቄ la ल ለ le ले ሌ
- 17. Questions?