It was started by Arlee over at tossing it out. The idea is to write a blog about a topic (any topic) that corresponds to the day's letter. I've been reading the blog entries of Jen at unedited and Summer at ...and this time concentrate and decided to join in the fun. Actually I tossed and turned last night because my head was filled with ideas and wouldn't stop talking to itself.
I thought about cheating and starting with the letter "I" as that is today's letter. But I'm going to start from the beginning. Why not? And though I may not blog everyday, I will be blogging the alphabet until I'm through.
Hang in there, it could be a fun and scary ride.
So for me, today's letter is A.
As writers where would we be without our letters, our alphabets?
Thus I give you,
A Brief History of the Alphabet.
Literally the word is alpha and beta the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. The first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are aleph, meaning ox, and beth, meaning house.
Alphabets have a long, glorious and prestigious heritage. Most can trace their ancestry all the way back to Egypt. The Egyptians had their hieroglyphics to represent consonant sounds, but it was Semitic workers who devised the first consonantal alphabet around 2000 BCE. From this humble beginning does our own alphabet descended.
It was the Greeks who gave us the first script that consistently assigned letters to both consonants and vowels. The Romans changed it up a bit and gave us Latin which became the most widely used alphabet and the one we use today.
Left to right, Latin, Greek, original Phoenician, Hebrew and Arabic.
So let us be respectful, let us be reverent, let us not take it for granted. Let us be thankful for those first inventive souls who experimented with a new form of writing. Let us rejoice, for our 26 letters have given us wealth beyond measure.
A toast to the humble building block. The Alphabet.
So true about being reverent about our alphabet. We have been helping a newly arrived immigrant family who speaks Arabic. I can't imagine learning another one seemingly more complex than our own.
ReplyDeleteOf these, the Hebrew and Greek are my favorites. Also learned the Spanish in high school.
ReplyDeleteA-Z blogs? You're quite a brave soul. X alone would make me sweat. :)
ReplyDeleteWell done on starting the challenge. It's a lot of fun, though I've had sleepless nights too! :o)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above - you're brave! I was tempted to take part in this as well but then decided against it. Looking forward to reading yours though :)
ReplyDeleteSuper post, and I love looking at that chart. Thank you, Bish!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, Bish. I too, saw it late or else I would have wanted to do it. As you know, I love A to Z stuff. That's what my Dilly books are about. Maybe I can do it sometime. :)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Looking at the alternatives, I now understand why we chose to use the latin alphabet. Whew! Good luck with the other 25 letters:) I'll be keeping up.
ReplyDeleteA-Z Blog? What a neat idea. Looking forward to what's in store. Especially for C (my favorite letter)!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the challenge! I really liked this post - I've never actually thought about the history of the alphabet!
ReplyDeleteSo: thanks! Happy Sunday!
This would be a great article for a children's magazine...
ReplyDelete1 down, 25 to go! ;) Gotta love the alphabet.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your A-Z challenge - I can imagine I would have a hard time shutting my brain down if I were to attempt it as well. Too much stuff to think about!
ReplyDeleteYay for alphabets! Seriously, it's hard to imagine my life without being able to read and write, and so many millions of people don't have that privilege.
ReplyDeleteI once took a linguistics class and if I weren't a scientist, I would surely want to study that! It is amazing what the alphabet does for us!
ReplyDeleteFun to see them all side by side.