4. WRITING AND THE ALPHABET
PICTURE WRITING
Though history is always based on written records, the first steps toward writing are prehistoric. We start with the pictures or rough drawings which have been found among the remains of the early Stone Age. [8] Primitive man, however, could not rest satisfied with portraying objects.
[Illustration: VARIOUS SIGNS OF SYMBOLIC PICTURE WRITING 1, "war" (Dakota Indian); 2, "morning" (Ojibwa Indian); 3, "nothing" (Ojibwa Indian); 4 and 5, "to eat" (Indian, Mexican, Egyptian, etc.).]
He wanted to record thoughts and actions, and so his pictures tended to become symbols of ideas. The figure of an arrow might be made to represent, not a real object, but the idea of an "enemy." A "fight" could then be shown simply by drawing two arrows directed against each other. Many uncivilized tribes still employ picture writing of this sort. The American Indians developed it in most elaborate fashion. On rolls of birch bark or the skins of animals they wrote messages, hunting stories, and songs, and even preserved tribal annals extending over a century.
SOUND WRITING; THE REBUS
A new stage in the development of writing was reached when the picture represented, not an actual object or an idea, but a sound of the human voice. This difficult but all-important step appears to have been taken through the use of the rebus, that is, writing words by pictures of objects which stand for sounds. Such rebuses are found in prehistoric Egyptian writing; for example, the Egyptian words for "sun" and "goose" were so nearly alike that the royal title, "Son of the Sun," could be suggested by grouping the pictures of the sun and a goose. Rebus making is still a common game among children, but to primitive men it must have been a serious occupation.
[Illustration: MEXICAN REBUS The Latin Pater Noster, "Our Father," is written by a flag (pan), a stone (te), a prickly pear (noch), and another stone (te).]
[Illustration: CHINESE PICTURE WRITING AND LATER CONVENTIONAL CHARACTERS]
WORDS AND SYLLABLES
In the simplest form of sound writing each separate picture or symbol stands for the sound of an entire word. This method was employed by the Chinese, who have never given it up. A more developed form of sound writing occurs when signs are used for the sounds, not of entire words, but of separate syllables. Since the number of different syllables which the voice can utter is limited, it now becomes possible to write all the words of a language with a few hundred signs. The Japanese, who borrowed some of the Chinese symbols, used them to denote syllables, instead of entire words. The Babylonians possessed, in their cuneiform [9] characters, signs for about five hundred syllables. The prehistoric inhabitants of Crete appear to have been acquainted with a somewhat similar system. [10]
LETTERS
The final step in the development of writing is taken when the separate sounds of the voice are analyzed and each is represented by a single sign or letter. With alphabets of a few score letters every word in a language may easily be written.
[Illustration: CRETAN WRITING
A large tablet with linear script found in the palace at Gnossus, Crete
There are eight lines of writing, with a total of about twenty words
Notice the upright lines, which appear to mark the termination of each
group of signs.]
EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS
The Egyptians early developed such an alphabet. Unfortunately they never gave up their older methods of writing and learned to rely upon alphabetic signs alone. Egyptian hieroglyphics [11] are a curious jumble of object- pictures, symbols of ideas, and signs for entire words, separate syllables, and letters. The writing is a museum of all the steps in the development from the picture to the letter.
PHOENICIAN ALPHABET
As early, apparently, as the tenth century B.C. we find the Phoenicians of western Asia in possession of an alphabet. It consisted of twenty-two letters, each representing a consonant. The Phoenicians do not seem to have invented their alphabetic signs. It is generally believed that they borrowed them from the Egyptians, but recent discoveries in Crete perhaps point to that island as the source of the Phoenician alphabet.
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN WRITING Below the pictured hieroglyphics in the first line is the same text in a simpler writing known as hieratic. The two systems, however, were not distinct; they were as identical as our own printed and written characters. The third line illustrates old Babylonian cuneiform, in which the characters, like the hieroglyphics, are rude and broken-down pictures of objects. Derived from them is the later cuneiform shown in lines four and five.]
DIFFUSION OF THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET
If they did not originate the alphabet now in use, the Phoenicians did most to spread a knowledge of it in other lands. They were bold sailors and traders who bought and sold throughout the Mediterranean. Wherever they went, they took their alphabet. From the Phoenicians the Greeks learned their letters. Then the Greeks taught them to the Romans, from whom other European peoples borrowed them. [12]
[Illustration: THE MOABITE STONE, (Louvre, Paris) Found in 1868 A.D. at Diban east of the Dead Sea. The monument records the victory of Mesha king of Moab, over the united armies of Israel and Judah about 850 B.C. The inscription, consisting of 34 lines is one of the most ancient examples of Phoenician writing.]