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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 Etrusca

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.

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.