The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-12-04
History of the Alphabet.

How many millions that daily use
the alphabet ever stop to think of its
origin and long history? la the true
spirit of 4 student. Isaac Taylor, a well
known English writer ON philosophical
and pathological subiec;s, has recently
written and published in London two
Stout volumes under the title of 1.-The
Alphabet: An Account of the Origin
and Development of Letters" 1t is
only by the help of recent discoveries
of early inscriptions and the progress
in the art of reading lost languages
and deciphering hitherto unknown
symbols that such a well-posted his
tory has become possible. By careful
study of the ESSAYS and scientific inyes-
legations of the latest philolegists, Tay-
lor has set forth in language within
easy comprehension, the origin of the
alphabet. showing that our town Ro-
man letters may be followed back to
their very beginning, some twenty or
more centuries ago. as he asserts. We
have no better letters, according to
this account, than those of the italian
printers of the fifteenth century.
These were Initiated from the beautiful
manuscripts OF the tenth and eleventh
centuries. the lettering of these being
derived from the Roman of the Angus
tinian age. The Roman letters, in
turn, are traced to those employed at
Rome in the third century before Christ,
and these do not differ greatly from
forms used in the earliest existing spec
linens of Latin writing, dating from
the fifth century before Christ. This
primitive alphabet of Rome was de-
rived from a local form of the Greek
alphabet, in use about the sixth century
before Christ. The Greeks got their
letters from the Ph9nicians, and theirs
are clearly traeeable to the most an
cient known form of the Semitic.
The most ancient of books, q papy-
rus found at Thebes, now preserved in
the French National Library, supplies
the earliest forms of the letters used in
the Semitic alphabet. The stone tab
let's of the law could have been possi-
BILE to the Jews only because of their
possession of an alphabet, and thus the
bible and modern pathological science
unite in ascribing common origin to
the alphabet which is in daily use
throughout the world. The nineteenth
century before Christ is held by Taylor
to be the approximate date of the or
igin of alphabetic writing, 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
fn DarfantiOn anH aaoI, lattar M aaoh
sound may be traced by Taylor's care
full analysis through all the changes
that have marked the growth, progress
and, in some instances, the decay, of
different letters of various aIphabets.
1t is an interesting fact that the oldest
known "A B C'' in existence is child s
alphabet scratched on an ink bottle of
black ware, found in one of the Oldest
Greek settlements in Italy. attributed
to the fifth century before Christ The
earliest letters, and many later ones,
are known only by inscriptions; and it
is the rapid increase, by recent discov-
cry, of these precious fragments that
has inspired more diligent research
and quickened the zeal of learned stu
dents in mastering the elements of
knowledge of their origin and history
throughout the world. As late as 1876
there were found in Cyprus some bronze
plates inscribed with Ph9nician char
acters, dating back to the tenth and
even the eleventh century before Christ.
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. Coins, engraved
gems, inscribed statues, and, last of all,
The Sloan inscription, found in 1880 at
Jerusalem on the wall of an old tunnel,
have supplied new material for the his
tory. From the common mother of
many alphabets-the Phenician-are
descended the Greek and other. Euro
pean systems, on the one side, includ-
ing 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, Ara
bic and Hebrew.