What is Writing?Writing is a codified system of standard symbols: the repetition of agreed-upon simple shapes to represent ideas.
The First Writing The first known writing derives from the lower reaches of the two greatest rivers in this extended region, the Nile and the Tigris. So the two civilizations separately responsible for this totally transforming human development are the Egyptian and the Sumerian |
|
Evolution of a script
Most early writing systems begin with small images used as words, literally depicting the thing in question. But pictograms of this kind are limited. There are several ways in which early writing evolves beyond the pictorial stage. One is by combining pictures to suggest a concept. Another is by a form of pun, in which a pictorial version of one object is modified to suggest another quite different object which sounds the same when spoken.
Cuneiform in Mesopotamia: from 3100 BC
In about 3200 BC temple officials in Sumeria develop a reliable and lasting method of keeping track of the animals and other goods which are the temple's wealth. On lumps of wet clay the scribes draw a simplified picture of the item in question. They then make a similar mark in the clay for the number counted and recorded. When allowed to bake hard in the sun, the clay tablet becomes a permanent document. However non-literary the purpose, these practical jottings in Sumeria are the first steps in writing.
In Mesopotamia clay remains the most common writing surface, and the standard writing implement becomes the end of a sharply cut reed. These two ingredients define this early human script. Characters are formed from the wedge-shaped marks which the reed makes when pressed into the damp clay, so the style of writing becomes known as cuneiform (from the Latin cuneus, meaning wedge).
Hieroglyphs and papyrus in Egypt: from 3000 BC
The second civilization to develop writing, shortly after the Sumerians, is Egypt. The Egyptian characters are called hieroglyphs by the Greeks in about 500 BC, because by that time this form of writing is reserved for holy texts; hieros andglypho mean sacred and engrave in Greek.
The seals of the Indus valley: from 2500 BC
As in the other great early civilizations, the bureaucrats of the Indus valley have the benefit of writing to help them in their administration. The Indus script, which has not yet been deciphered, is known from thousands of seals, carved in steatite or soapstone.
Chinese characters: from 1600 BC
The last of the early civilizations to develop writing is China, in about 1600 BC. But China outdoes the others in devising a system which has evolved, as a working script, from that day to this. Chinese characters are profoundly ill-suited to such labor-saving innovations as printing, typewriting or word-processing. Yet they have survived. They have even provided the script for an entirely different language, Japanese.
Phonetics and the alphabet: from the 15th century BC
The most significant development in the history of writing, is the move from a pictographic or syllabic system (characteristic of Sumerian, ancient Egyptian and Chinese) to a phonetic one, based on recording the spoken sound of a word. This change has one enormous potential: it can liberate writing from the status of an arcane skill, requiring years of study to learn large numbers of characters. It makes possible the ideal of a literate community.
The first tentative steps in this direction are taken in the second millennium BC in the trading communities of Phoenicia.
Phoenician is a Semitic language system where only the consonants are written, leaving the vowels to be understood by the reader.
The contribution of the Greeks, adapting the Phoenician system of writing in the 8th century BC, is to add vowels. For some they use the names of existing Phoenician letters (alpha for example), for others entirely new signs are added. The result is a Greek alphabet of twenty-four letters. which takes its name from the first two letters in the Phoenician system, alpha and beta, borrowed and adapted by the Greeks.
The Romans in their turn develop the Greek alphabet to form letters suitable for the writing of Latin. It is in the Roman form - and through the Roman empire - that the alphabet spreads through Europe, and eventually through much of the world, as a standard system of writing. With a system as simple as this, and with portable writing materials such as papyrus, wooden tablets or leaves written correspondence becomes a familiar part of everyday life.
Most early writing systems begin with small images used as words, literally depicting the thing in question. But pictograms of this kind are limited. There are several ways in which early writing evolves beyond the pictorial stage. One is by combining pictures to suggest a concept. Another is by a form of pun, in which a pictorial version of one object is modified to suggest another quite different object which sounds the same when spoken.
Cuneiform in Mesopotamia: from 3100 BC
In about 3200 BC temple officials in Sumeria develop a reliable and lasting method of keeping track of the animals and other goods which are the temple's wealth. On lumps of wet clay the scribes draw a simplified picture of the item in question. They then make a similar mark in the clay for the number counted and recorded. When allowed to bake hard in the sun, the clay tablet becomes a permanent document. However non-literary the purpose, these practical jottings in Sumeria are the first steps in writing.
In Mesopotamia clay remains the most common writing surface, and the standard writing implement becomes the end of a sharply cut reed. These two ingredients define this early human script. Characters are formed from the wedge-shaped marks which the reed makes when pressed into the damp clay, so the style of writing becomes known as cuneiform (from the Latin cuneus, meaning wedge).
Hieroglyphs and papyrus in Egypt: from 3000 BC
The second civilization to develop writing, shortly after the Sumerians, is Egypt. The Egyptian characters are called hieroglyphs by the Greeks in about 500 BC, because by that time this form of writing is reserved for holy texts; hieros andglypho mean sacred and engrave in Greek.
The seals of the Indus valley: from 2500 BC
As in the other great early civilizations, the bureaucrats of the Indus valley have the benefit of writing to help them in their administration. The Indus script, which has not yet been deciphered, is known from thousands of seals, carved in steatite or soapstone.
Chinese characters: from 1600 BC
The last of the early civilizations to develop writing is China, in about 1600 BC. But China outdoes the others in devising a system which has evolved, as a working script, from that day to this. Chinese characters are profoundly ill-suited to such labor-saving innovations as printing, typewriting or word-processing. Yet they have survived. They have even provided the script for an entirely different language, Japanese.
Phonetics and the alphabet: from the 15th century BC
The most significant development in the history of writing, is the move from a pictographic or syllabic system (characteristic of Sumerian, ancient Egyptian and Chinese) to a phonetic one, based on recording the spoken sound of a word. This change has one enormous potential: it can liberate writing from the status of an arcane skill, requiring years of study to learn large numbers of characters. It makes possible the ideal of a literate community.
The first tentative steps in this direction are taken in the second millennium BC in the trading communities of Phoenicia.
Phoenician is a Semitic language system where only the consonants are written, leaving the vowels to be understood by the reader.
The contribution of the Greeks, adapting the Phoenician system of writing in the 8th century BC, is to add vowels. For some they use the names of existing Phoenician letters (alpha for example), for others entirely new signs are added. The result is a Greek alphabet of twenty-four letters. which takes its name from the first two letters in the Phoenician system, alpha and beta, borrowed and adapted by the Greeks.
The Romans in their turn develop the Greek alphabet to form letters suitable for the writing of Latin. It is in the Roman form - and through the Roman empire - that the alphabet spreads through Europe, and eventually through much of the world, as a standard system of writing. With a system as simple as this, and with portable writing materials such as papyrus, wooden tablets or leaves written correspondence becomes a familiar part of everyday life.
|
|