The History of Writing is a great visual example of the development of writing.
Here is a brief timeline of writing I put together:
Time Line for Writing
4000BC-Various forms of first written language found in Africa
3500BC-the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq) invented a
handwriting-called cuneiform (pictographic (wedged shaped) language
that stands for an idea, not a word)
2500BC-Egyptian hieroglyphics
2500BC-Chinese ideograms (picture symbols usually stands for a word)
Much like picture symbols today
(Egyptian and Chinese writing appeared about the same time)
2500BC First Library in Northern Syria-
1600 Cuneiform Tablets with dictionaries-
1500BC-The First Alphabet –reduced the number of symbols by making a sign represent a sound-
The precursor of Greek, Latin, Cyrillic Alphabets
1500BC-Phoenicians (shores of Modern Lebanon) created the first
alphabet-only consonants
1000BC-Egyptians use papyrus up to this century
1000BC-Arabs make paper in Damascus and Tripoli
1100BC-Arabs introduce paper to Europe
800 BC-Greek Alphabet appears
600BC-Latin writing appears from Greek Alphabet
Modern Indian Writing appears
500 AD-Modern Arab Writing Appears
800AD-Printing invented by Chinese
1000AD-Cyrillic Writing Appears
1400 AD-Gutenberg Printing Press
1867 Typewriter was invented
1960’s Word Processing Computer (IBM)
1980’s Personal Computers
Writing moved very slowly away from the drawing forms to writing. The
more people moved around, the simpler and more adaptable writing became.
Writing styles depend on the writing materials.
Square, geometrical shapes are used on stone or wood.
Loose, curved shapes are used on paper or parchment with a pencil,
paint, or ink.
Here are some things people used to write on:
Stone
Leather
Bronze
Bone
Shell
Bark
Silk
Wax
Papyrus-Egyptians used the outside leaves
Paper-Made in China out of vegetable fiber
Parchment-made from animal skin used until the 1400’s
Writing Instruments-
Clam (sharpened reed)
Chisel (stone writing)
Feather-split and sharpened point
Brush
Metal pen
Ball point pen
Chinese made ink with soot, chalk, coal and graphite
5 Families of Writing
1. Chinese-only non alphabet still in use today
a. Each ideogram means an idea or word. Each word in this language is
only one syllable.
2. Latin Writing-came from the Greek alphabet is the most used,
changes, and grows continually.
3. Indian Writing-it has signs from the Phoenician alphabet
4. Arab Writing-uses only consonants. Vowels are marked above or
below the consonants with a mark or line.
5. Cyrillic Writing-This is the newest type of writing. It looks a
lot like Greek script. It is used in Slavic countries. Greek script
is still used in Greece. Greek script is the first writing that uses
vowels.
Note: Dates are always changing depending on references and new
information. So change any date that doesn’t seem right in light of
new information or another source.
Source: Wikipedia and “Scripts of the World”
You can get more information from Miss Barbara
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