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The term "abjad" was introduced in 1990. Phoenician is the ancestor of all alphabets, and does, in fact, begin "alef bet". Whether you consider abjads a type
by samatman 6y ago
The term "abjad" was introduced in 1990.
Phoenician is the ancestor of all alphabets, and does, in fact, begin "alef bet".
Whether you consider abjads a type of alphabet or a completely different thing is a matter of taste, but the genealogy is quite clear.
- jhgb 6y agoAnd the term "big bang" was introduced in the 20th century. Does that mean that that thing that happened thirteen billion years ago was not a big bang? At least where I live, the term "alfabeta" refers very specifically to the Greek script, since that's where it comes from.
- samatman 6y agoPhilology isn't physics. Your introduction of a term of art didn't advance knowledge here, and saying that Phoenician, being an abjad, wasn't the first alphabet, is meaningfully wrong in most of the ways that claim could be true.