The Alphabet
The English alphabet can be traced back to ancient Egypt.
Key words
- Pictogram: a picture or symbol that represents a word, phrase, or idea
A computer icon is a small pictogram.
- Ox: a bull / male cow
Oxen are castrated to make them docile.
- Semitic: Semitic languages are a group of languages that include Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic
The earliest known alphabet was North Semitic, developed in the 2nd century BC in Palestine and Syria.
- Suit: to be convenient and cause the least difficulty for someone
We could go now or this afternoon - whatever time suits you best.
- form the basis: the most important facts, ideas, etc. from which something is developed
This document will form the basis for our discussion.
Read the article to find the answers
- What did the English letter 'A' originally represent?
- Who was inspired by the Egyptian hieroglyphic system?
- Which two sounds were represented by the letter "f" in Old English?
- Why did ⟨Y⟩ replace ⟨Þ⟩?
Egyptian Origins
The origins of the English alphabet can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, who used hieroglyphs both as pictograms to represent whole words and as symbols to represent individual sounds. The English letter 'A', for example, began as a hieroglyph representing an ox.
The Canaanites, early Semitic peoples, were inspired by the Egyptian hieroglyphic system and adapted it to their own Semitic language. They chose hieroglyphs such as the ox symbol for the letter 'Aleph', the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.