The Fascinating Origins of Our Alphabet

🔤Our alphabet has its origins in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which were used to represent words and sounds.

🌍The alphabet was passed down through various civilizations, including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, each making slight modifications.

🐄The letter A started as an Egyptian hieroglyph representing an ox, while E was derived from an Egyptian gesture meaning 'hey.'

🤲The letter K originated from the ancient Egyptian symbol of a hand, which evolved over time.

🌊The letter M can be traced back to an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting wavy water.

How did the ancient Egyptians use hieroglyphics in their writing?

—Hieroglyphics were used by the ancient Egyptians to represent both words and sounds in their written language.

Which civilization first adopted the alphabet from the Phoenicians?

—The Greeks were the first civilization to adopt the alphabet from the Phoenicians and made slight modifications to fit their own language.

What is the significance of the letter A in the Egyptian hieroglyphics?

—The letter A in Egyptian hieroglyphics originally represented an ox, symbolizing the sound at the start of the word for ox.

How did the letter E evolve from Egyptian gestures?

—The letter E evolved from an Egyptian gesture that resembled someone waving their hands and yelling 'hey!' It represented the sound 'e' for the Canaanites and Phoenicians.

What was the original symbol that the letter K represented?

—The letter K originated from an ancient Egyptian symbol of a hand, which eventually transformed into its current form.

00:00The origin of our alphabet can be traced back to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which represented both words and sounds.

02:23The Egyptians used hieroglyphics to write their sentences, with each symbol representing a word or sound.

03:35Foreign workers in Egypt adopted the hieroglyphics and used them to represent individual sounds for easier communication.

06:46The Canaanites borrowed some Egyptian hieroglyphs to create their own alphabet, which eventually passed on to the Phoenicians and Greeks.

08:31The letter U has its origins in the Phoenician character, which also gave birth to Y, V, and F in different languages.

11:37The Romans considered I and J as the same letter, with J being introduced later to differentiate.

13:14G and H evolved with additional elements to distinguish their different sounds in the Roman alphabet.

14:01P, T, X, and Z were derived from ancient Phoenician symbols, with some modifications over time.