History of the Alphabet

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Brit: Informally, we
can think of information

as some message, stored or
transmitted, using some medium.

When you paint you are representing your

message using a continuous pattern with a

seemingly endless number
of possible forms.

You are free to express yourself.

When humans began
developing writing systems,

we naturally had to divide our world

into a finite number of atomic units

which we express using symbols.

Any written language can
be thought of in this way.

Messages are formed by arranging symbols

in specific patterns.

Let's return to 3,000 BC

and explore two ancient writing systems.

First, in ancient Egypt,
we had Hieroglyphics,

a priestly form of
communication reserved for

governmental, fiscal, magical,

and religious purposes.

It was practiced by a select few writers

known as scribes, and
writing was generally

unintelligible to the common people.

The symbols themselves broadly fall

into two categories, word
signs, which are symbols

that represent a single
meaningful concept...

Woman showing mouth: Back.

Apple.

Brit: ...and sound signs.

These symbols represent chunks of sound.

Dark haired woman: Be.

Boy in red shirt: Ze.

Girl in black shirt: Ton.

Boy in green shirt: Ca.

Brit: Now, the total
number of different symbols

in common use was over 1,500,

and if you divide all
of these symbols into

word signs versus sound signs,

we find a much smaller
portion of sound signs.

There were around 140
sound signs, and of these,

only 33 represented distinct consonants,

a tiny fraction of all
of the symbols in use.

At the time, the medium
used to store the symbols

was primarily rock, and this was ideal for

durable inscriptions, allowing messages

to travel into the future.

Mobility was not a main concern when

communicating messages in this way.

However, a new physical
medium for storing symbols

was emerging at the time.

Along the Nile, silk
deposits left from flooding

made the surrounding
land extremely fertile,

and one of the many crops they grew

was Papyrus.

It could be sliced into strips,

and these strips were then soaked,

(bell tones)

Brit: and weaved together
and finally pressed,

allowing the natural
sugars to act as glue.

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Brit: After several
days, it dried and formed

an almost weightless tablet.

(bell tones)

Brit: This medium was
ideal for sending messages

across greater spaces,
rather than the more

durable inscriptions focused on time.

This shift toward cheap portable mediums

for storing symbols
coincided with the spread

of writing into the hands of more people

for new purposes.

Gradually, as people began to write more

on Papyrus, the symbols evolved

to suit more rapid writing.

This lead to a cursive
script, known as Hieratic.

For example, here is the world's oldest

surviving surgical document.

It's written in Hieratic script,

dated to around 1600 BC.

These symbols were based on Hieroglyphics,

however the pictures were simplified

to match the swiftness of
writing in ancient shorthand.

Also, the number of common symbols in use

began to shrink down to around 700.

By escaping from the
heavy medium of stone,

thought gained lightness.

A marked increase in writing by hand was

accompanied by the secularization

of writing, thought, and activity.

This lead to a new writing
system called Demotic

around 650 BC, which was
devised specifically to

facilitate the ease of rapid writing.

For example, this text is known as

a marriage contract, and
is one of the earliest

known examples of Demotic script.

It's interesting to
notice that there was a

dramatic reduction again
in the total number

of symbols with this new system,

roughly 10 percent of the total number of

symbols used before.

This was due to a shift towards the use of

phonetic symbols, or sound signs...

Dark haired woman: Be.

Boy in red shirt: Ze.

Girl in black shirt: Ton.

Boy in green shirt: Ca.

Brit: over word symbols, or meaning signs.

And the new simplicity meant that children

could be taught to write at a young age.

We see this same pattern
in other cultures.

Let's return back to 3,000
BC and visit Mesopotamia,

where Cuneiform was the writing system

originally used for fiscal
purposes, as it was a

powerful method of tracking debt

and surplus commodities

before the invention of coins.

For example, here is a document recording

someone's stock of animal
hides, and this type of

writing evolved to suit other needs.

For example, this tablet
contains a recipe for

bread and beer, and here's another tablet

which contains a legal document.

Originally, the writing system was used

by the Sumerians, and there were over

2,000 different symbols in use,

which could also be divided into

word signs and sound signs.

Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian

as the spoken language, and here is

the earliest known
dictionary from 2,300 BC.

It contains word lists
in Sumerian and Akkadian,

and this was discovered in modern Syria.

When it was adapted by the Akkadians

and fitted to their
language, they reduced the

number of symbols to around 600,

and they did this again by moving towards

sound signs.

Again, we see both
Hieroglyphics and Cuneiform

using several hundred
sound symbols in their

more evolved forms, and
as writing systems escaped

their formal usage and spread to

more and more people,
the soil was ripe for the

invention of a brand new writing system

for the people.

One of the great discoveries
in the history of writing

is dated to around 1700 BC.

The Sinai inscriptions were found in the

Sinai peninsula, and they
were about 20 feet apart.

This was important because
each picture denotes

a consonant sound, and
no word signs are used.

When sounded out correctly, the letters

would produce words in ancient Semitic.

Although not fully
deciphered, this message

appears to be of the form,

"name, rank and prayer".

The two words deciphered
are "Chief" and "God".

This innocent example was part of a

writing revolution,
creating meaning by merging

sound signs only.

Woman showing mouth: A.

Ack.

Back.

Ba.

Pl.

Apple.

Brit: By 1,000 BC, we arrive at

the Phoenician Alphabet,
which emerges along

the Mediterranean used by the Phoenicians

who are a maritime trading culture.

The Phoenician writing system was based on

the principle that one sign represents

one consonant, and it was used to write a

northern Semitic language,

containing only 22 symbols total.

The symbols chosen to
represent these sounds

were often borrowed from
Hieroglyphic pictures,

so that the letter's name began with

the letter's sound.

For example, mem, which stood for water,

became what we know of as the letter M.

Aleph, which stood for
ox, became what we know of

as the letter A, but the
secret power of this alphabet,

unknown to it's inventors,
was that it did not need

Semitic speech in order to work.

Dark haired woman: D.

Boy in green shirt: Ah, eh, i, ou, oo.

Brit: With modest
adjustments, these miraculous

letters would be fitted
to diverse tongues of

Europe, India, and southeast Asia,

Boy in red shirt: Za.

Brit: carrying literacy around the globe.

Boy in red shirt: Ma.

Da.

Brit: This was the source of the Greek

and later Roman alphabet
forms we know today.

The idea of an alphabet
is a powerful method

for transmitting and storing information.

Realize, it doesn't really
matter what the symbols are

or how you choose them,
or even what language

it's in, information is just a selection

from a collection of possible symbols.

And, over time, we have
always looked for faster,

more efficient ways of
transporting information

across greater and greater spaces,

and when we try doing
this using new mediums,

which travel faster than
any human or animal,

an engineering problem presents itself.

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