The Earliest Alphabetic Writing

Abstract

The Proto-Sinaitic alphabet, allied to Proto-Canaanite writing in Palestine, exemplifies the creation of alphabetic writing, even though the inscriptions on rock or stone reflect a tradition which had originated in some neighbouring country where Egyptians and Canaanites mingled. Proto-Sinaitic writing may have had an influence on both the later Canaanine and South Semitic alphabets. This chapter deals with the slightly later application of the alphabetic principle to cuneiform writing, familiar in Syria, which led there to the Ugaritic alphabetic cuneiform script. Though analogies to Minoan Linear A writing have been pointed out, a number of these signs show vague formal resemblances to Proto-Sinaitic, South Semitic or Phoenician alphabetic letters. A vitally important step for West Semitic was the development of vowel letters. Though South Semitic inscriptions mostly postdate the period, something must be said about South Semitic scripts. These fall into three main groups, North Arabian, South Arabian and Ethiopic.

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