Posted on 05/17/2025 9:48:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Greek alphabet might be centuries older than once thought, according to a statement released by the University of Leiden. Scholars theorize that the script emerged around the eighth century b.c., after the ancient Greeks adapted the older Phoenician alphabet -- which was composed of only consonants and no vowels -- to fit their own needs. This period in Greek history was the purported time of the poet Homer, who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey. However, University of Leiden classicist Willemijn Waal has recently suggested the Greek written language appears on pottery earlier than that, and likely dates back to the ninth or even tenth century b.c. Alphabetic scripts written on perishable material such as wood or papyrus may be even older, but have failed to survive in the archaeological record. If the Greek alphabet did exist at this early date, it means that there was no 400-year-long 'Dark Age' without alphabetic writing, as some archaeologists currently believe. "The idea that both the Greek alphabet and Homer date from the eighth century b.c. has been around for almost a hundred years and is widely accepted," Waal said. "I am now questioning this knowledge, and that will undoubtedly meet with some resistance. But new insights are also precisely what makes science fun; you never stop learning."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
When you are chiseling in stone cutting the number of letters in half would be a huge time saver.
That would be surprising as Caanites spoken a Semitic languge while Greek is Indo-European.
Today we prounce HWH as Yahweh but we cannot be 100% sure those are the correct vowel sounds.
From what I understand when the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet they ended up with unused letters so those became the symbols for vowels.
Do not forget the “Egyptian Hieratic developed as a cursive form of hieroglyphic script in the Naqada III period of Ancient Egypt, roughly 3200-3000 BC.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic
Of course it makes sense. It is a basic understanding that not doing something takes more time than doing that very same something. Not writing vowels is very different than not writing them.
A rub-a-dub-dub. Chon lives in Dub.
Actually, today's minds would be frantically searching memory for some ridiculous government entity.
Read “takes more time” as “takes less time” for the “not doing something”. The brain went for a walk, I stayed home.
Isn’t many young people in the US also doing the same on social media? Esp on Twitter when it only allowed to write 140 characters (later expanded to 280).
YS
I didn’t know that. Thank you
C19, genetics and language differ. The indo Europeans spread their languages but not always Gene’s.
The greeks have stories of some of their ancient cities having Phoenician founders.
And Europa, the princess kidnapped by Zeus in the guise of a bull, she was Phoenician.
But genetically I don’t think Greeks have much Semitic blood
Among the GGG topics in the coming week:
Bookmark.
Nope. The languages aren’t even in the same family. However, ancient Greeks wrote of Cadmus having intro’d the alphabet to Greece.
Thanks. Since my youth I’ve considered trying to learn a language, but the truth is, I barely speak English. ;^)
Opposite. I believe the Philistines of Old Testament renown, were Greeks who over time mixed with local Cannanites.
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