5 ms·

The next story I saw on this website was about a hidden underground civilisation underneath Antarctica. So for now I will take this with a grain of salt.

resolutebat 3y ago
Based on a cursory look, it appears largely correct historically. Here are a few pointers on the evolution of the Latin and Brahmi scripts if you'd like to dig in more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_script
- KoftaBob 3y ago
  A super interesting example: - It is generally held that the Latins derived their alphabet (the very one we're using to write these comments!) from the Etruscan alphabet. - The Etruscan alphabet originated as an adaptation of the Euboean alphabet used by the Euboean Greeks in their first colonies in Italy - The Greek alphabet was originally based on the shared inventory of the 22 symbols of the Phoenician alphabet - Canaanites and/or Hyksos who spoke a Semitic language repurposed Egyptian hieroglyphs to construct what would become the Phoenician script.
  - nivertech 3y ago
    > - Canaanites and/or Hyksos who spoke a Semitic language repurposed Egyptian hieroglyphs to construct what would become the Phoenician script. - If they did it was via demotic script[1], Egyptian hieroglyphic writing of cursive form that was used in handwritten texts from the early 7th century BCE until the 5th century CE. - Phoenician and Ancient Hebrew (or Paleo-Hebrew / Proto-Hebrew) alphabets[2] are very similar if not the same. Talmud even calls it "Lebanon script". "The Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets are two slight regional variants of the same script."[2] BTW: this is a well researched area, I'm just too lazy to find the relevant papers/books. But there are relatively good resources even on YouTube, but not necessarily in English. -- 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demotic_(Egyptian) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demotic_(Egyptian) 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet
    - nivertech 3y ago
      oops, it seems that demotic script was developed 1000 years later than Hyksos period. So Hyksos is out, but these still might be Canaanites, or maybe there were earlier versions of rusive/handwriting script like demoitic. Each letter was developed from a logogram of Semitic word starting with the same letter in Semitic language, e.g. Alef - ox Bet - house Gimmel - camel Dalet - door etc.
KoftaBob 3y ago
I've seen this infographic many times before, and being a huge history buff, I've double checked a bunch of the alphabet/script progressions to see if wikipedia has sources confirming. As far as I can tell, it's pretty accurate.
kps 3y ago
The chart looks fine. I don't know all the scripts, so there could be a contentious arrow or two in it somewhere, but it's broadly correct. The alphabet (in the sense of a writing system that represents the language with a small fixed set of symbols representing sounds) appears to have been invented only once.

resolutebat 3y ago

Based on a cursory look, it appears largely correct historically. Here are a few pointers on the evolution of the Latin and Brahmi scripts if you'd like to dig in more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_script

KoftaBob 3y ago
A super interesting example: - It is generally held that the Latins derived their alphabet (the very one we're using to write these comments!) from the Etruscan alphabet. - The Etruscan alphabet originated as an adaptation of the Euboean alphabet used by the Euboean Greeks in their first colonies in Italy - The Greek alphabet was originally based on the shared inventory of the 22 symbols of the Phoenician alphabet - Canaanites and/or Hyksos who spoke a Semitic language repurposed Egyptian hieroglyphs to construct what would become the Phoenician script.
- nivertech 3y ago
  > - Canaanites and/or Hyksos who spoke a Semitic language repurposed Egyptian hieroglyphs to construct what would become the Phoenician script. - If they did it was via demotic script[1], Egyptian hieroglyphic writing of cursive form that was used in handwritten texts from the early 7th century BCE until the 5th century CE. - Phoenician and Ancient Hebrew (or Paleo-Hebrew / Proto-Hebrew) alphabets[2] are very similar if not the same. Talmud even calls it "Lebanon script". "The Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets are two slight regional variants of the same script."[2] BTW: this is a well researched area, I'm just too lazy to find the relevant papers/books. But there are relatively good resources even on YouTube, but not necessarily in English. -- 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demotic_(Egyptian) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demotic_(Egyptian) 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet
  - nivertech 3y ago
    oops, it seems that demotic script was developed 1000 years later than Hyksos period. So Hyksos is out, but these still might be Canaanites, or maybe there were earlier versions of rusive/handwriting script like demoitic. Each letter was developed from a logogram of Semitic word starting with the same letter in Semitic language, e.g. Alef - ox Bet - house Gimmel - camel Dalet - door etc.

KoftaBob 3y ago

I've seen this infographic many times before, and being a huge history buff, I've double checked a bunch of the alphabet/script progressions to see if wikipedia has sources confirming. As far as I can tell, it's pretty accurate.

kps 3y ago

The chart looks fine. I don't know all the scripts, so there could be a contentious arrow or two in it somewhere, but it's broadly correct. The alphabet (in the sense of a writing system that represents the language with a small fixed set of symbols representing sounds) appears to have been invented only once.