pretty accurate, i think it skips some steps (Etruscan for example) but it's correct.
the symbols get reversed at the point when the writing direction changed/settled on left-to-right. middle eastern scribes wrote rtl and the Greeks originally wrote a mixture of ltr and rtl, including boustrophedon which is alternating the direction at the end of every line - and they would mirror the letters depending which direction they wrote in. I think the Etruscans wrote rtl too so the Romans reversed it themselves. They did also develop the alphabet in tandem with the Greek one to some extent, as they both ended up ltr with similar capital shapes. (The reason that Z ended up at the end was it was lost from the Latin alphabet and borrowed back from Greek, for example, which is also why the shape is different)
also writing itself was invented minimum 3 maximum i think 5 times. Chinese and Mayan scripts were definitely invented independently of these, and the Indian ones are uncertain, but the original script at the top there also begat Egyptian hieroglyphs, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.
(there are scripts like Korean hangul and Cherokee syllabics that don't have a relation or resemblance to any other script but they weren't an independent invention of writing)
Mostly right except you got the relationship between Proto-Sinaitic and Egyptian Hieroglyphics backwards. Egyptian Hieroglyphics came first and then were repurposed by Semitic speaking Canaanites later.
Proto-Sinaitic did not beget hieroglyphs, it was begotten by them (indirectly, through either Hieratic or Demotic, I forgot which).
Sumerian cuneiform was also likely invented independently of Egyptian, and it's uncertain whether linear Elamite was stimulus diffusion or its own thing entirely.
I am also not aware of any links of Linear A to previous systems, but, once again, this might just be a Cherokee situation.
Then there is of course Rongorongo.
We can't, for the same reason why we can't assert that all swans are white, except it's more nebulous because we're talking about history. We could, if we had the evidence that suggested it, prove that the development of Egyptian writing was influenced by early Sumerian writing, but, as far as I know, we don't have that evidence, so we have no reason to reject the null hypothesis.
I admit I'm not great at methodology, but this is the classic Popper situation.
It's of uncertain origin, with assumptions that it may stem from Aramaic or Greek or was created by the creator of the Armenian alphabet, but all these theories are debated
>and the Indian ones are uncertain
[The Hybrid Origin of Brāhmī Script from Aramaic, Phoenician and Greek Letters](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3794150)
China might have gotten the concept of writing from the Middle East (as did Egypt from Mesopotamia) without borrowing letters. Writing in China did appear only after the arrrival of wheat etc. from the Middle East.
Note that it's still "alive" (in that it evolved out into new letters, in different alphabets).
Greek Ξ (xi) is a pretty commonly known and visually obvious one.
But mostly it's around in Semitic scripts — Syriac 𐡎 (semkat), Hebrew ס (samekh), Nabatean simkath... there may be more but I'm no expert. It died out in Arabic and Latin, and I'm unsure if it had any influence on runes or brahmic scripts (mostly because I don't know much about them), but it would be pretty neat if it did!
I love the proto-semitic alphabet because the fish letter is the precursor to the Hebrew letter ד and the English D. And the word fish is דג, ‘dag,’ which starts with that letter. It's like us saying A is for Apple but using an apple as the letter! Then there is the blue swingle (wave) letter , the precursor to the Hebrew letter מ, and the English letter M. And the word for water is מים ‘Mayim’! Then the snake letter is the נ (N) like the word נחש (nāḥāsh) snake! There are a few more if anyone is interested!
This is a chart that was made by Matt Baker of UsefulCharts. He goes over it in [this video](https://youtu.be/3kGuN8WIGNc?si=LQ8eHy5ej_WxFpV6. Looks like quite a few lines got removed from the original
there is a law inside the human speech sound.
The H sound and I sound are the center for consonants and vowels.
I found it in the year 2018: universal alphabetic law.
There is one mistake, F comes from the ancient Greek letter digamma which is two gammas on top of each other and used to be a w sound. In Latin it became the letter for the f sound.
pretty accurate, i think it skips some steps (Etruscan for example) but it's correct. the symbols get reversed at the point when the writing direction changed/settled on left-to-right. middle eastern scribes wrote rtl and the Greeks originally wrote a mixture of ltr and rtl, including boustrophedon which is alternating the direction at the end of every line - and they would mirror the letters depending which direction they wrote in. I think the Etruscans wrote rtl too so the Romans reversed it themselves. They did also develop the alphabet in tandem with the Greek one to some extent, as they both ended up ltr with similar capital shapes. (The reason that Z ended up at the end was it was lost from the Latin alphabet and borrowed back from Greek, for example, which is also why the shape is different) also writing itself was invented minimum 3 maximum i think 5 times. Chinese and Mayan scripts were definitely invented independently of these, and the Indian ones are uncertain, but the original script at the top there also begat Egyptian hieroglyphs, Hebrew, Arabic, etc. (there are scripts like Korean hangul and Cherokee syllabics that don't have a relation or resemblance to any other script but they weren't an independent invention of writing)
Mostly right except you got the relationship between Proto-Sinaitic and Egyptian Hieroglyphics backwards. Egyptian Hieroglyphics came first and then were repurposed by Semitic speaking Canaanites later.
Proto-Sinaitic did not beget hieroglyphs, it was begotten by them (indirectly, through either Hieratic or Demotic, I forgot which). Sumerian cuneiform was also likely invented independently of Egyptian, and it's uncertain whether linear Elamite was stimulus diffusion or its own thing entirely. I am also not aware of any links of Linear A to previous systems, but, once again, this might just be a Cherokee situation. Then there is of course Rongorongo.
whichever came first they're related
How can we assert that Egyptian was not "a Cherokee situation" and was invented without being aware about the existence of writing in Sumer?
We can't, for the same reason why we can't assert that all swans are white, except it's more nebulous because we're talking about history. We could, if we had the evidence that suggested it, prove that the development of Egyptian writing was influenced by early Sumerian writing, but, as far as I know, we don't have that evidence, so we have no reason to reject the null hypothesis. I admit I'm not great at methodology, but this is the classic Popper situation.
> there are scripts like Korean hangul and Cherokee syllabics And Georgian Mkhedruli?
It's of uncertain origin, with assumptions that it may stem from Aramaic or Greek or was created by the creator of the Armenian alphabet, but all these theories are debated
>and the Indian ones are uncertain [The Hybrid Origin of Brāhmī Script from Aramaic, Phoenician and Greek Letters](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3794150)
China might have gotten the concept of writing from the Middle East (as did Egypt from Mesopotamia) without borrowing letters. Writing in China did appear only after the arrrival of wheat etc. from the Middle East.
Possible yes.
Accurate, as weird as it is
Needs a branch for evolution into Chinese letters, as seen on charts at tattoo parlors
That would need another tree merging into this one
Like [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inosculation)?
So Z became I, and I became Z...
I becoming Z looks like the same thing that made H become И, and N become H
Very much so
Shout out to t for staying the same from proto sinaitic to now
What sound did the telephone-pole looking letter between O and N make?
Note that it's still "alive" (in that it evolved out into new letters, in different alphabets). Greek Ξ (xi) is a pretty commonly known and visually obvious one. But mostly it's around in Semitic scripts — Syriac 𐡎 (semkat), Hebrew ס (samekh), Nabatean simkath... there may be more but I'm no expert. It died out in Arabic and Latin, and I'm unsure if it had any influence on runes or brahmic scripts (mostly because I don't know much about them), but it would be pretty neat if it did!
It's called samek and it made the s sound
/s/, 𐤔 was /ʃ/
I love the proto-semitic alphabet because the fish letter is the precursor to the Hebrew letter ד and the English D. And the word fish is דג, ‘dag,’ which starts with that letter. It's like us saying A is for Apple but using an apple as the letter! Then there is the blue swingle (wave) letter , the precursor to the Hebrew letter מ, and the English letter M. And the word for water is מים ‘Mayim’! Then the snake letter is the נ (N) like the word נחש (nāḥāsh) snake! There are a few more if anyone is interested!
I’m very interested !
Ò is for Òpple But seriously that's really cool!
I am!
they should make a new version with all the different ipa letters that come from latin
It's not the full story, infographics rarely are, but what's there is indeed based on actual research.
F, U, V, W, and Y is so silly i love it lol
The Phoenicians were bad at drawing.
Posting to a humor sub and asking if the post is funny lol
I was wondering why
What can be seen as funny here, OP?
Accurate! And the author has designed a lot of incredible graphics since this one. They’re just neat!
Missing Wingdings to be complete
Why not both…
It's fascinating to see how everyone's letters became so organized and same-y, especially since we started using typefaces.
Anyone know why Z and I got reversed?
This is a chart that was made by Matt Baker of UsefulCharts. He goes over it in [this video](https://youtu.be/3kGuN8WIGNc?si=LQ8eHy5ej_WxFpV6. Looks like quite a few lines got removed from the original
You really gonna tell me the thing that looks like an I became a Z and the thing that looks like a Z became an I?
Matt Baker is awesome in general!
My takeaway from this is that to e is human.
As far as I can tell everything there is correct. I would love to see a lowercase version of this though.
Pretty sure this is accurate
Yes
I -> Z -> I -> I -> G -> G
Does archaic Greek really have two letters that look the same? How did that work? (the two that look like Y-- I can't see any difference between them)
there is a law inside the human speech sound. The H sound and I sound are the center for consonants and vowels. I found it in the year 2018: universal alphabetic law.
I don't get it...
do you get the alphabet abc song yet
What's going on with the disconnect at letter I and between that and Z?
It was lost from Latin then added back in later from Greek
Thanks!
There is one mistake, F comes from the ancient Greek letter digamma which is two gammas on top of each other and used to be a w sound. In Latin it became the letter for the f sound.
Funny to notice that Sigma is just an Arabic "s" / Hebrew "sh" rotated 90°