The Origin of Alphabets.
                     THE ORIGIN OF ALPHABETS
INTRODUCTION
• Often considered one of the more difficult languages to master thanks to the incredible number of 
inconsistencies in the language, it should come as no surprise that the development of the modern 
English alphabet involved several languages, hundreds of years and a variety of conquers, 
missionaries and scholars.
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WHAT IS AN ALPHABET?
• The letters used by a language are collectively called an alphabet. It has a fixed order based on the 
custom of the users. 
• The alphabet is used for writing and the symbols used for writing are called letters. Each letter 
represents one sound, or a related sound used by the spoken language.
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ORIGINS OF ALPHABETIC WRITING
• Building on this ancient foundation, the first widely used alphabet was developed by the 
Phoenicians about seven hundred years later. 
• Consisting of 22 letters, all consonants, this Semitic language became used throughout the 
Mediterranean, including in the Levant, the Iberian peninsula, North Africa and southern Europe.
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INTRODUCTION OF VOWELS
• The Greeks built on the Phoenician alphabet by adding vowels sometime around 750 BC. 
• Considered the first true alphabet, it was later appropriated by the Latins (later to become the 
Romans) who combined it with notable Etruscan characters including the letters “F” and “S”. 
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OLD ENGLISH
• In the seventh century AD, the Latin alphabet introduced by Christian missionaries had begun to 
take hold. 
• By 1011, a formal list of the Old English alphabet was made and included all of our present letters 
except J, U (or V)* and W.
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MIDDLE ENGLISH
• Shortly after the Old English alphabet was first set down, the Normans invaded (1066 AD). By the 
13th century when writing in English began to become more prominent again, the language 
reflected two centuries of Norman rule.
• This form of the language, called Middle English, while still difficult at times, is comprehensible to 
the modern English reader. 
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MODERN ENGLISH 
• in the mid-16th century, V and U were split into two letters, with U becoming the vowel, and V, the 
consonant. 
• In 1604, Robert Cawdrey published the first English dictionary, the Table Alphabeticall, and about 
this time, J was added to create the modern English alphabet we know today.  
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THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ALPHABET
• The evolution of the alphabet involved two 
important achievements. The first was the step 
taken by a group of Semitic-speaking people, 
perhaps the Phoenicians, on the eastern shore of 
the Mediterranean between 1700 and 1500 BCE.
• The second was the invention, by the Greeks, of 
characters for representing vowels during 800 and 
700 BCE.
Source: www.britannica.com
DEVELOPMENT AND DIFFUSION OF ALPHABETS
• The modern alphabet with 26 letters started in the 16th century. The development of the English 
alphabet had influences from the Semitic, Phoenician, Greek and Roman scripts. It’s quite 
interesting to learn how each letter was formed.
Source: www.britannica.com
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