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Tracing back to the history of Alphabet

January 9, 2021
Posted by: elanwp
Category: English Blogs

Tracing back to the history of Alphabet

Have you ever wondered about the history of the alphabets? It’s not like we had to do it forever. Or did we? Well the development and creation of each letter has its very own story. In today’s world, English being the most common language has changed the perspective of many as well as leaving behind the history. This blog will give you an insight on all that you need to know and various interesting facts about the origin.

When the early alphabetic system was introduced, it was over 4000 years ago. Many people state that the early alphabetic was written in Egypt, in the time of 1800 to 1900 BC. However, the origin is Proto-Sinaitic which was a form of writing which wasn’t very well known. Although, over 700 years later, a group of people known as Phoenicians was created as the main foundation. When it was first introduced It was highly used in the Mediterranean, southern Europe, North Africa, Levant and Peninsula. In the beginning there were only 22 letters and they were all consonants.

During the 750 BC the Greeks were the ones who introduced vowels to the Phoenician alphabet. This addition was considered the true alphabet. The collaboration of lations and Etruscan characters, they created the letters S and F. Moving further on to the 3^rd century led the ancient Latin script to remove the letter G, J, V/U, W, Y and Z. This pertained for a very long time. However, when the Roman empire was circling around various nations, they introduced the Alphabets J to W.

Evolution of the Alphabets

Through the journeys of the Roman Empire, when they reached Britain they carried along their Latin language as an influence. During those times, when the Anglo-Saxons were in control there was a Germanic tribe who used Old English. However, during those times, old English consisted of Futhorc, which is an older alphabet also known as runic alphabet.

Old English

The collaboration of the Latin alphabets as well as the runic alphabet created the modern English alphabets. There have been many more additions to the runic alphabets which has created a connection with sounds and consonants. Over the following years came the letters J and U. It’s also created connections with symbols and ampersands.

Modern English

During the 15^th century, that is when the printing press was created in Great Britain by William Caxton. At this time is when English language was standardized. Its was then when all the alphabets were established and grounded. The first dictionary in English also known as The Table Alphabetical was published by Robert Cowdrey in 1604. In the modern alphabets, they are 26 letters which was in 16^th century. It had been developed through the Semitic, Phoenician, green and roman scripts.

Facts about Alphabets

E is the most commonly used letter in the English language.
The longest word in English which doesn’t use the letter E is floccinaucinihilipilification.
The least commonly used letter in English is Z.
The dot over the letter ‘I’ is called title.
The word ‘rhythm’ is the longest word without a vowel.
If you try to say the alphabet without moving your lips or tongue every later it will sound the same.
‘I am.’ Is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
The most commonly used work in English is THE.