Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-10-04

History of the Alphabet.

HiStOFy VI tHo Aipuduct.
How many of the millions that
daily use the alphabet ever stop to
think of its origin and long. history :?
In the true spirit of a student, Isaac
Taylor, well-known English writer
on pathological subjects, has recently
written and published in London, two
stout volumes under the title " The
Alphabet, An Account of the Origin
and Development of Letters" 1t is
only by help of recent discoveries Of
early inscriptions and the progress in
the art of reading lost languages and
deciphering hitherto unknown SYM
bols, that such well posted history
has become possible. By careful
study of the essays, and scientific in
vestigations Of the latest philologists,
Taylor has set forth in language with
in easy comprehension the origin of
the alphabet showing that our own
Roman" letters may be followed
back to their very beginning, some
twenty or more centuries ago, as he
asserts. We have no better let
tiers, according to this account,
than those of the italian printers
of the fifteenth century. They were
initiated from the beautiful manu-
scripts of the tenth and eleventh CEN
turtles, the lettering of these being de-
rived from the Roman of the Angus
tan age. The Roman letters, in turn,
are traced to those employed at Rome
in the third century B. c., ana these
do not differ greatly from forms used
in the earliest existing specimen of
Latin writing, dating from the fifth
century B. c. This primitive alpha
bet Of Rome was derived from local
form of the Greek alphabet, in use
about the the sixth century B. c., and
that was variety of the earliest Greek
alphabet belonging to the eighth or
even the ninth century b. G. The
Greeks got their letters from thePhe-
means, and theirs are clearly trace
able in the most ancient known form
of the Semitic.
The most ancient of books, a Papyr-
us found at Thebes, and now preserv-
ed in the French National Library,
supplies the earliest forms of the let
tiers used in the Semitic alphabet.
The Stone Tables of the Law could
have been possible to the Jews, only
because of their possession of an al
phabet, and thus the Bible and mod
ern pathological science unite in ascrib-
ing common origin to the alphabet
which is in daily use throughout the
world. The nineteenth century C.,
is held by Taylor to be the approx
mate date of tie origin of alphabetic
and from that time it grew
by slow degrees, while from Egypt,
the home of the Jews during their
long captivity, the knowledge of the
alphabet was carried in all directions
where alphabets are now found.
The Aryans are thought to have
been the first to bring the primitive
alphabet to perfection, and each letter
and each sound may be traced by Tay-
lor's careful analysis through all the
changes that have marked the growth,
progress, and, in some instances, the
decay of different letters of various
alphabets. 1t is an interesting fact
that the oldest known GA B. C' in
existence is achild's alphabet, scratch
ed on little ink bottle, of black ware,
found in one of the oldest Greek set |
dement's in Italy, attributed to the
fifth century B. G. The earliest let
ters and many later ones are known
only by the inpcriptions, and it is the
by recent discoveries of
precious fragments, that has inspired
more dilligent research, and quicken
ed the zeal of learned students in
the elements Of knowledge
of their origin and history through
out the world. AS late as 1876 there
were found in Cyprus some bronze
plates inscribed with Phenician char
acters, dating back to the tenth, even
the eleventh century, B. c.
Each epoch has its fragments, and
the industry of English explorers, the
perseverance of German students. and
the genius of French scholars, have
all contributed to group them in their
chronological order. CONS, engraved
gems, inscribed statues, and last ofall
the Sloan inscription, found in 1880
at Jerusalem, on the wall of an old
tunnel, have supplied new material
for the history. From the common
mother of many alphabets, the Phe-
nician, are descended the Greek and
other European systems on the one
side, including that which we use and
have the greatest interest in !; and on
the other, the alphabets of Asia, from
which have sprung those of the East,
Syriac, Arabic and Hebrew.