The origins of the alphabet are unknown, but there are several theories as to how it developed. One popular proposal — the Proto-Sinaitic theory — is that the history of the alphabet began in Ancient Egypt, more than a millennium into the history of writing. Under this theory, the alphabet was invented to represent the language of Semitic workers in Egypt (see Middle Bronze Age alphabets), and was at least influenced by the alphabetic principles of the Egyptian hieratic script. If correct, nearly all alphabets in the world today either descend directly from this development or were inspired by its design.
The most widely used alphabet today is the Latin alphabet. It derives from the Greek, the first true alphabet in that it consistently assigns letters to both consonants and vowels. The Greek alphabet in turn was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, which was an abjad – a system where each symbol usually stands for a consonant.
Read more about History Of The Alphabet: Pre-history, Predecessors
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“The history of our era is the nauseating and repulsive history of the crucifixion of the procreative body for the glorification of the spirit.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“The history of the genesis or the old mythology repeats itself in the experience of every child. He too is a demon or god thrown into a particular chaos, where he strives ever to lead things from disorder into order.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I wonder, Mr. Bone man, what you’re thinking
of your fury now, gone sour as a sinking whale,
crawling up the alphabet on her own bones.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)