#alphabet history

[thusjuniperus]

history of the latin alphabet I guess

Act I: Early Alphabet As the Neolithic era gave way to the Bronze Age, people were increasingly living in cities and needed some kind of record-keeping. The human brain might be able to remember that you owe Eshanak a goat in exchange for twenty measures of grain, but when you're running a bustling metropolis' Ye Olde Goat Shoppe and have to track goats payable and goats receivable for hundreds of people, the grey matter starts to falter. So ancient accountants were like, "I shall draw these signs to represent goats and grain, alongside tally marks. As well, I shall come up with a mark for Eshanak's Feed and Seed Store, with whom we often do custom," and you're off to the races. More and more symbols get invented and standardized, and pretty soon you can say things like "I, the Pharaoh of Kemet, have erected this grand obelisk in commemoration of my reign," instead of just counting goats.

Logographic writing systems have advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, you don't necessarily need to know the spoken language. You see the sign for sun, you know it means sun. A French person writes down "98", you don't need to know what "quatre-vingt-dix-huit" means. On the other hand, you need to memorize a symbol or combination of symbols for like every goddamn concept in existence. And if you don't know a symbol, you can't "sound it out" on your own.

Many people did not like this, because it is nice to be able to use written language without having to basically get a PhD in it, so simpler systems arose. At one point, probably inspired by similar systems that were floating around at the time, some Semitic day laborers in Egypt decided to think of every consonant they could, all the buhs and duhs and puhs and tuhs, and copy down a hieroglyph for each one. "D is for DOOR," they said. "Where I have drawn a DOOR in the text, do not say the entire word DOOR. Instead, make only the initial DUH sound." Thus, they only had to memorize a couple dozen signs.

This alphabet was taken home by the day laborers to Canaan, where it later spread all over the place via some Canaanites we know as Phoenicians, who loved sailing new places and meeting new people.

Intermission: Vowels In many Semitic languages, due to reasons I don't fully understand, word roots lean pretty heavily on consonants over vowels. We, for instance, might have a word like "like", where if we wrote it LK we wouldn't know if it was supposed to be like or look or lick or lock or lake. That happens in Semitic languages, but it's less common -- you can often get by without vowels. Still happens, though, so they had the idea of having some letters pull double-duty, like our "Y". Is it a vowel or a consonant? Well, funny story, if you sit around making "yuh" sounds to yourself, you can eventually reach the conclusion that it kind of does both. Try dragging out the "y" in "yes", you get "eeee-uhh-ess". Try saying Ian and the yuh shows up in the middle ("ee-yan"). Same thing with oo and wuh. This is more relevant to modern Semitic writing, but was somewhat present in the original Phoenician and probably influenced which letters Greek repurposed as vowels.

Act II: Greek Greeks NEED their vowels. Can't live without them. The Phoenicians handed their script over like "This is a Bet (house). It used to look more like a real house floorplan, but we simplified it for faster, neater writing. This is a Dalet (door)," and the Greeks were like "Beta, Delta, got it. And this one's Alpha? And this one's just 'E'? A simple E -- an e 'psilon', if you will?" and the Phoenicians were like "uh, it's actually [Glottal-stop]'aleph and He," and the Greeks were like "Yeah, that's what I said?" and voila, there are vowels.

Some other changes the Greeks made include:

Many symbols flipped due to being written left-to-right instead of right-to-left. Also, Greeks love symmetry as much as they love vowels, so tended to make symbols more symmetrical.

Glottal stop consonants 'Alef and 'Ayin became vowels Alpha and O (the latter later split into little O, Omicron, and big O, Omega). One of the two H noises (and much later the second) became the vowel E. Iota was used only as a vowel, since they didn't have the consonant yuh sound.

They did have both oo and wuh sounds, and wanted separate signs for them, so Waw was split into Digamma (consonant, head of the symbol is bent to the right so it looks like two Gammas) and U (vowel, drawn as "Y"), which was added to the end of the alphabet and later named "simple U"/Upsilon (or Ypsilon). Then later they were like "Huh, guess we don't use that consonant sound anymore? Wine is just 'ine'?" and got rid of Digamma. But not fast enough. The Etruscans cribbed it first.

Greeks kept both Kappa and Qoppa as kuh sounds (there was a difference in the original Semitic). Later they would realize this was dumb and drop Qoppa--again, not fast enough.

Greeks [long sigh] took in Samek (suh), Tsade (tsuh), and Shin (shuh), and then had trouble telling them apart. They dropped Tsade/San entirely. They presumably misattributed the name Samek to Shin, which they called Sigma and gave a suh sound. Then they (the eastern Greeks, anyway) decided the now-nameless O.G. Samek symbol should make a /ks/ sound (why???) and called it Xi.

There were a lot of different regional variations of the Greek alphabet at this time, which were later eliminated as the modern Greek alphabet solidified. For instance, the western variant, instead of turning Samek into Xi, took it out entirely and threw a /ks/ sound written as "X" in after Upsilon at the end of the alphabet. This western variant is the one the Etruscans inherited.

Act III: Etruscan My knee-jerk reaction is to talk about how the Etruscans fucked it up, but that's not fair to them. They did a pretty good job establishing the alphabet in Italy. It's not their fault they didn't make a distinction between guh and kuh. It's just…

"sorry for accidentally inventing the letter C" "some crimes can't be forgiven"

One fun thing they did that I like quite a lot: Instead of cluelessly imitating the clueless Greek imitation of the Semitic letter names, the Etruscans just put each sound up alongside a vowel, essentially making our current "el, em, en, oh, pe" pronunciations. But there was a rule! Consonants you can drag out, like ffff and ssss, got put after the vowel. Consonants you make once and they're done, like p- t- k- (called plosives), got put before it. Modern changes in pronunciation and some letters getting dropped/added have messed this up in several spots, but it largely holds true. In case you've ever wondered why the alphabet isn't sung Le Me Ne Oh Pe.

Also, Digamma pronounciation has moved from wuh to vuh. The Romans are soon going to change it to fuh because this letter is a neverending nightmare.

Act IV: Latin Let's check in on the alphabet line-up. 𐌀 𐌁 𐌂 𐌃 𐌄 𐌅 𐌆 𐌇 𐌉 𐌊 𐌋 𐌌 𐌍 𐌏 𐌐 𐌒 𐌓 𐌔 𐌕 𐌖 𐌗 A B K/G D E F Z H I/Y K/G L M N O P K/G R S T U/W KS

Romans: "Hey, does this letter make a /k/ sound or a /g/ sound?" Etruscans: "Yes." Romans: "Cool, alright. Let's take all three k/g symbols and make convoluted grammar rules about which of them gets used based on the following vowel."

These rules gradually faded, with K mostly being used in Greek loanwords, Q just being used before U, and C being used for everything else. Romans didn't use the Z sound much either, so they gave it some thought and decided the reasonable thing to do would be to remove it from the alphabet, under the rationale that--well, actually, the reason recorded in Roman histories is that Appius Claudius (of the Appian Way) hated the Z sound because he thought it caused you to make the look of a death rictus, but I'm sure it was that first thing. Anyway, there was fortunately a different Roman dude around this time who said "Why don't we put a downstroke at the tip of this C, and that one can be our /g/ sound?" so they moved this new symbol "G" into Z's old spot.

The letter that makes a puh sound, originally sort of a crook shape, started to be drawn curled in tight enough that it looked like P. But "P" was already the symbol of the letter that went ruh; so, to distinguish them, they added a leg to ruh ("P") and made "R". I feel like there was a more graceful and less confusing way they could have done this.

Update on Waw's demon children: Claudius (a different one, this guy's an emperor) tried adding an upside-down F to the alphabet to represent the W sound, but it didn't take. Sorry, buddy, you tried. Oh, and the Romans have taken Upsilon (Y) from Greek. "Wait, don't we already have an Upsilon?" No, the Latin "Y" lost its "stem" a long while back and is now normally drawn like U or V. It still makes a U/W sound. Sorry, I saved that update for the "Waw's demon children" section. "But that's still an Upsilon, though. Why do they need to re-import Upsilon drawn with a stem when they've still got Upsilon drawn without one?" Because Greek Upsilon has evolved into a weird vowel that bears more phonetic resemblance to I, and the Romans want to call it "Greek I" ("I Graeca") and use it in their cool Greek loanwords. FINE, I GUESS. At least they brought Z back home with it.

As the "classical" Latin era ends, the alphabet looks like this. A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z

Intermission: Lowercase Over time, Greek and its derived alphabets made "miniscule" letters, messy little scribbles that were much faster to write than ALL CAPS. People now use the miniscule forms for most writing, but have developed specific grammatical rules to use majuscule for important things like beginnings of sentences, names, etc.

Act V: Catching up to the Present I'm not going to list every weird-ass letter adopted by every European country, but here are some notable things that happened that help explain the modern English alphabet.

In various Romance languages, C, instead of being pronounced /k/, started being pronounced like "tsh"/"ch" or "ts" when used before the vowels e/i/y. Wikipedia says this inexplicable nonsense is called "palatalization". In English and a few other languages, these sounds later softened to "s". Instead of instituting any kind of reform here, we just decided C would continue to make both noises. Thanks, I hate it.

Simultaneously, G palatalized as a "dzh" sound (think d + the sound in the middle of "vision") in front of e/i/y. At least this one gave us the apple of discord that is the GIF debate.

[deep breath] Waw's descendents include F, U, and Y. F is still F. A doubled U started being used to denote a wuh sound, though sometimes the runic glyph Wynn was used instead. U and V split so that the curved version is the vowel and the pointy version is the consonant. Y (formerly "Greek I") is still a vowel, though by the time of Middle English its sound has merged with normal I ("ee") entirely; in Middle English, Y started being used as a consonant in place of obscure letter Yogh for a "yuh" sound (perhaps because the sounds ee and yuh are related); it was also sometimes used by printers in place of thorn (þ), hence "ye olde".

People had long been putting a fun little curvy tail on the letter i when they felt like it needed some pizazz. In the 16th century, some Germanic people decided to split these into two letters, with the original being the vowel (ee) and the curly-tailed variant the consonant (yuh). Well done! This long-overdue innovation spread through northern Europe into Baltic and Slavic alphabets, and then slammed headlong into the goddamn Romance languages that decided to use J as a "dzh" sound because that's how they pronounce "yuh" now I guess. (Speakers of Romance languges, and also British people who say Tjchewsday, and also I suppose all of us who say "didja": Why do you keep cramming tshzjch sounds into everything?) This divide in "J" pronunciations exists to this day.

The default Latin alphabet now looks like this. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[realityfragments]

The NPC Meme Taught Me Alphabet History.

DALL-E apparently sucks at rendering the alphabet, but not that many people may notice. This has potential as a NPC Litmus test. I caught a reel on Facebook this morning that one guy explaining the NPC Meme to another – as it happens, kind of poorly. He said that some people respond to cliche things in cliche ways, which is kind of on the right track. The NPC meme is really about people that…

[kawaiizombiepizza]

They are just like me fr

[blueiskewl]

Stone With 1,600-Year-Old Irish Inscription Found in English Garden

A geography teacher, Graham Senior, stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions while tidying his overgrown garden in Coventry, England. The discovery of a small stone carved with an early form of Celtic script has caused excitement among archaeologists.

The rectangular sandstone rock was found by Graham Senior in Coventry during lockdown in 2020 while he was weeding, but its true value was only recently understood.

The 11-centimeter-long and 139-gram rectangular sandstone rock had cryptic inscriptions on it that suggested a history spanning over 1,600 years, all written in the mysterious Ogham alphabet.

Ogham is an early medieval alphabet used to write the Archaic Irish language from the 4th to the 6th century and Old Irish from the 6th to the 9th century. It is usually found carved on stones in Ireland, Wales, and western Britain. It was the first written language in Ireland. The majority of the 400 or so known inscriptions from the Archaic Irish period are family name pillars that were built to announce land ownership.

Ogham is an extremely unique writing system among all writing systems, with lines arranged in groups of one to five only. The stones provide insight into the Irish language before the use of the Latin insular script.

Finds liaison officer for the Birmingham Museums Trust, Teresa Gilmore, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the discovery on an Ogham stone in the English midlands was a rare find.

“These finds do not turn up in the midlands. The bulk of Ogham inscriptions are found over in Ireland,” she said.

Professor Katherine Forsyth of Celtic Studies at the University of Glasgow conducted additional research that shed more light on the stone’s provenance. Her findings point to a period suggesting a timeframe ranging from the fifth to sixth centuries, with the possibility of an even earlier date in the fourth century.

The stone is inscribed on three of its four sides. The inscription on the stone, “Maldumcail/S/ Lass,” puzzled researchers, with interpretations pointing towards a version of the personal name Mael Dumcail, but the meaning of the S and LASS is unclear. Given the usual purpose and significance of ogham stones, it may be a location reference.

Theories regarding the origins of the stone abound, with speculations ranging from migration patterns to the presence of early medieval monasteries in the region.

The rock will be displayed at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Senior has donated it permanently. It will feature in the forthcoming Collecting Coventry exhibition, which opens on 11 May.

By Oguz Kayra.

[lavendermaelk]

Henry Winter Spicy Alphabet

Henry Winter x Reader, The Secret History Warnings: What it says on the tin, Minors DNI.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex) Henry likes to take care of you but he tries his best not to show that he also needs to be taken care of. Sometimes a night with you can take a lot out of him and his leg. He makes sure you drink water and get properly cleaned up before he lets you try to take care of him.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s) I think Henry rather likes his abs or arms. It's canon that he works out because of his injury but i wouldn't put it past him to make a full body routine and stick with it. Now he's sculpted and really just warrior-like despite the fact that his leg is still not in the best condition. I think he really likes your waist or your hands. No matter how thick or thin you are he just really likes holding onto your middle and pulling you close or watching how your fingers move on a typewriter or flip a page or how the grip onto him so desperately.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically) This man's precum leaks from him like a fucking faucet and when he cums it's like a an open dam. It's thick and he floods your holes with the salty load. His diet is rather plain but with you he eats better so his load isn't battery acid but it's more of a salty tang with a slight sweetness.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs) He gets off on you spending his money. Yes, he hates when Bunny does it but you're his sweet darling and you just look so cute in all the things you get him to buy you. He lets you buy clothes and decorations for the apartment and little trinkets. You have your own money, of course but Henry always insists. He just loves taking care of you in every way possible.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?) Henry was very much a virgin until he met you. He didn't have a pressing interest in sex and romance as much as his peers did in high school. He's thought about it but he found that his studies were just more important than such things. You probably guided him through it or learned together. I feel like he was too prideful to ask someone about it or be caught looking for 'reference material' so he relied on you a bit for your first time together.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying) Definitely mating press. He likes to see you folded in half and squirming under him and your faces will be close enough for him to give you kisses while you cry.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.) Henry is a more serious guy in general but if you were to crack a joke in the middle of it, he wouldn't be put off. He'd probably give a little chuckle, kiss you to shut you up and keep going.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.) Carpet definitely matches the drapes. Henry's always been a rather well groomed person but he also doesn't seem like the type to fully shave down there. Probably just keeps it well trimmed and clean. He definitely has a happy trail tho and he doesn't really mess with that.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect) Henry definitely loves to make it romantic. He's not rose petals and candles everywhere kind of romantic but he definitely sets the mood. Lots of slow and drawn out kisses, kisses all over your body and words of love and adoration in each language he speaks flowing from his lips like water from a spring.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon) He doesn't do it often just because he doesn't really see a reason to. He doesn't get aroused by anything that isn't you. If you weren't around, say you spend summer or winter break apart, he'd do it once in a while because it's supposed to be healthy. He really just prefers to be with you rather than think of you.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks) Creampies, overstimulation and edging are big ones for him, also a little bit of dacryphilia. I think he just likes seeing you get off on him and need him so desperately.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do) He loves to lay you out across his desk or keep you on his lap in your armchair. The bed is always a good default but sometimes he just likes watching you take him with Greek and Latin texts underneath you.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going) Really, anything you do. He likes watching you get focused or heated in a debate. He finds your intellect and wit infinitely beautiful and riveting. He'll wake up next to you and watch as you whine when the morning light hits your face, how the sheets hug your body and how you turn to grasp at him and cuddle up against him. He cant help but kiss you deep and hold you close.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs) Anything that would hurt you is immediately off the table. He may be a bit crazy but hurting you is too far.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.) Absolutely loves it, bot giving and receiving. Loves being between you legs and watching you squirm, loves your taste and how you grip his hair. It's always a delight to see you down on your knees in front of him and looking up at him while you take him down your throat.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.) Henry prefers going slow and worshipping your body. It's easier on his leg and he gets to take his time showing you how much he loves every little bit of you. He loves to feel the warmth of your body against his and how your curves and angles fit so well against his own. He likes watching you take in his love and pleasure like it keeps you alive.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.) Henry has definitely warmed up the the idea of it after being with you for a while. You guys don't do it too often because he's a gentleman and you're not usually in a position where it needs to happen but you two have fucked in a bathroom at Francis' aunts while the rest of them were milling around the house or being drunk in a library

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.) He's not opposed to taking risks and experimenting in the bedroom, he just prefers that the two of you do as much research as you can and take things slow. Wanna do shibari? Henry's looking up the best type of ropes, ties and knots. He wants to make sure the both of you have the best experience possible when doing something for the first time.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?) Henry can go for two or three rounds before he tires out or his leg starts to bother him too much to keep going. If his leg bothers him before you both get off, he lets you ride him until you're both finished.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?) He doesn't own any for himself but he's probably bought one or two to help you get off. Like, this guy doesn't even like electric lights, I doubt he's a fan of vibrating sex toys but I feel like he'd like he's down to have a glass toy to tease you with.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease) Often times he gets right to business but there are some times where he feels a bit more playful or cruel where he'll sit you in his lap and rub at you until you're begging for release or he'll give you a passing grope or spank when you two are alone. Sometimes he'll kiss you with an intense passion that sweeps you off your feet and rattles you to you core before he just goes back to doing his work like nothing happened. Maybe with a little bit of a smirk.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.) Henry's not too loud but the groans you pull from him are just so perfect every time. Like the way he says your name or curses in that breathy voice is just chefs kiss

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character) When Henry was recovering from his accident, the doctors and his parents wanted to give him a cane or an arm crutch but he refused them because of his issue with aesthetics and everything having to be perfect so he opted to just build himself stronger.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes) We've established that this man has sculpted himself into one worthy of a marble statue. He's definitely more well equipped than those immortalized in stone, though he is more of a grower than a shower. Hard, he's about 7 1/2 inches and a bit thick, uncut

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?) It's pretty average. He could have sex every night if he wanted to but it's not a must for him. If he's stressed he'll abstain until the problem is solved and then he'll go wild with you to blow off the steam.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards) It's established that Henry has insomnia like Richard does so he'd probably take a bit to fall asleep after if at all. If you fall asleep before him, he'd lay with you for a while and see if he passes out but if he's not passing out after about an hour then he get's up and reads his books or finishes whatever work he might have for the day.

[animentality]

[vintage-russia]

"Alphabet and reading book" (1873)

[veryqueermovies]

Happy Women's History Month!

Here's a list of films about Queer Women! 🏳️‍🌈

For every list I post there's always more films out there, Letterbox'd is a great place to find movies.

(This was supposed to be up yesterday for International Women's Day but I've been sick for while and don't know what day it is ✌🏼)

•

Desert Hearts (1985)

The Women Of Brewster Place (1989)

When Night Is Falling (1995)

Fire (1996)

Bound (1996)

Set it Off (1996)

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

But I'm A Cheerleader (1999)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Saving Face (2004)

Fingersmith (2005)

Imagine Me & You (2009)

Black Swan (2010)

Cloudburst (2011)

With Every Heartbeat (2011)

Pariah (2011)

The Guest House (2012)

Stud Life (2012)

Liz In September (2014)

Carol (2015)

La Belle Saison (2015)

The Girl King (2015)

Bessie (2015)

Lovesong (2016)

AWOL (2016)

Our Love Story (2016)

Below Her Mouth (2016)

The Handmaiden (2016)

Carmilla (2017)

The Feels (2017)

Disobedience (2017)

Professor Marston And The Wonder Women (2017)

Princess Cyd (2017)

The Favourite (2018)

Duck Butter (2018)

Tell It To The Bees (2018)

Vita & Virginia (2018)

Rafiki (2018)

Hearts Beat Loud (2018)

The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

Elisa & Marcella (2019)

Booksmart (2019)

The World To Come (2020)

The Half Of It (2020)

My First Summer (2020)

Ammonite (2020)

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Fear Street Part One (2021)

Fear Street Part Three (2021)

Do Revenge (2022)

Beauty (2022)

[sunnysam-my]

Why I don't use 'Progressive flag'

And why you should consider not to either.

Short answer? It's not progressive. It's as simple as that. Oh, and it's ugly as hell. And the creator of the OG flag advocated to go back to the older flag before he died.

Seriously, it's a nightmare of a design. Just like saying LGBTQIA2S+ is impossible to properly comprehend. It's simply too busy, too long, there's too much going on. By adding more letters or stripes we lose the meaning.

There are so many flags, are we going to add them all?

The intentions are good, but unfortunately progressive flags are way less inclusive than any other rainbow flag.

You see, pride flag was always inclusive. It has always represented queer POC, and trans people and intersex and anyone else who see themselves as part of the LGBT+ community.

The idea in highlighting certain parts of community that are often left out and controversial in the community had it's reasons. Despite that it's a stupid ass decision that implies people of colour, trans and intersex weren't a part of the community. That the flag didn't represent them.

In 1978, the artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and a drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag, urged by Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. Baker saw the rainbow as a natural flag from the sky, so he adopted eight colors for the stripes, each color with its own meaning (hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit).

Baker and a team of volunteers had made the first flag by hand, for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade on June 25, 1978. Quickly he wanted to mass-produce the flag for consumption by all. However, because of production issues, the pink stripe was removed while indigo and turquoise merged to create basic blue, which resulted in the famous six-striped flag.

{source of slightly altered text about the history of the flag}

Since 2003 Gilbert Baker has been advocating to restore the flag to its original 8 stripe state. He died in 2017.

So here's my proposal:

Let's get back to the pink. Let's give it a new meaning. Let's put pink on the 6 striped flag for those of us who were thrown out, just like the pink was, because it was inconvenient to keep us. Nowadays it's not as hard to produce pink, so why not? It doesn't divide or alienate us more, it pays tribute to the old flag while also being distinct and new.

[memoriesofthingspast]

[archaeologs]

Nestor's cup, Pithekoussai (Naples, Italy). 700 - 750 BCE. Famous for featuring a written reference to King Nestor of Homer's Iliad, the inscription is one of the earliest surviving examples of the Greek alphabet.

Learn more / Daha fazlası https://www.archaeologs.com/w/nestors-cup/

[bidotorg]

Learn about the #BiSpy Josephine Baker! #Biconic 🍌

[magnetothemagnificent]

Hi, I wanted to thank you for your post about the distinction of Judeo-Aramaic and Aramaic. I wanted to share that I have ended up becoming friends with some Assyrians who feel a strong sense of kinship with Jews due to their modern situation and have had some really interesting conversations with them.

I also wanted to say, it's an important distinction because by misnaming Judeo-Aramaic "Aramaic" people may not realize there are separate but related languages still spoken and used by modern-day Arameans, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, usually written in the Syriac script, which are considered neo-Aramaic languages.

I hope you don't mind my asking, I have recently been interested in understanding the shift from the paleo-Hebrew alphabet to the Hebrew alphabet used now, do you have any good resources for the history of that change? It's also okay if you don't know or don't have time/energy to answer.

I'm glad you like my post! Yes, a lot of people don't realize that Aramaic variations are still spoken today, and that Aramaic is its own language distinct from Hebrew.

So the short answer for the shift from Paleo-Hebrew script (which is most similar to Pheonician script) to current Hebrew script (Ktav Arami) has a lot to do with the Babylonian colonization of ancient Israel and Judea.

Here is a diagram I found showing the evolution of Hebrew script:

If you notice, early Hebrew script is indistinguishable from Pheonician

While later Hebrew looks a lot more like Aramaic

And then the Hebrew alphabet evolves further into the alphabet we recognize today.

But the old Aramaic script is actually preserved in Hebrew script. While more modern Hebrew text is used in official printing, the handwriting native Hebrew speakers (including myself) looks a lot more like the Aramaic alphabet

Sephardic script, or "Rashi Script", another script of Hebrew used in the middle ages, also draws similarities with the Aramaic alphabet

Basically, alphabets change over time. The Pheonicians were longtime trade partners with the Ancient Israelites, so it makes sense that they'd have the same alphabet. Then, the Babylonians invaded many many years later. Aramaic turned to Judeo-Aramaic to become the language of the Jewish diaspora, which influenced the alphabet. The alphabet evolved further into a distinct alphabet, but the Aramaic influence remains in the handwriting.

Some articles I recommend for more reading:

About the evolution of Hebrew

About "Rashi Script"

About Jewish diasporic languages

About Aramaic in Jewish History

About the Hebrew Alphabet and its spiritual significance

About Judeo-Aramaic

About the importance of Hebrew

Enjoy!

[note: very very brief image descriptions in alt text]

[ancientorigins]

What’s the hardest language to read and write in? Ogham, an ancient Irish language written by carving notches into stones, is a strong contender.

[bandzboy]

korean is probably the most fun language i have ever tried to learn the way that i still haven't given up on it and i still study every day says a lot 😭

[amethyinst]

my liddol friend... this is princess antygona bela rastopkina of the house of bela rastopkin the seventh dynasty to rule the city-state zhivotsk of the province of samara of the continent rodina. aneka for short<3 she is nine years old and a little baby. she's one of the hostages during the initial volkyy invasion of rodina and the youngest. she loves orphans and peasants and wants to become a famous and generous sestra ('sister', nun) who everyone loves and who helps the poor. <3 her mother is evil her brothers are insane and her dad is idk probably dead im not sure yet