Evolution of the alphabet

Evolution of the alphabet

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Added on May 21, 2010
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Comments (39)
n May 21, 2010, 8:32 PM - 1 +
some one did some research
Reply
Adrian Morgan Nov 21, 2010, 12:49 AM - -1 +
Yep. Here's the website that the animation comes from:
http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~rfradkin/alphapage.html

It's a site belonging to the University of Maryland, and contains several animations including this one. I'm a bit bothered by the lack of attribution here.
Reply
Greek May 28, 2010, 6:17 PM - 0 +
This isn't accurate at all. Many of the modern derivative letters do not come from the Phoenician and Greek letters that you claim. Many aren't even the same sound. Not even close.
Reply
tedd Oct 12, 2010, 7:27 AM - 0 +
I do have to say that it kind of annoyed me that he made connections between characters that dont have a connection (phonetic or not)
Reply
j May 28, 2010, 7:21 PM - 0 +
^pwnd
Reply
me May 29, 2010, 6:04 PM - 0 +
who cares what sound it makes? he's talking about the characters.
Reply
venom May 30, 2010, 4:32 PM - 0 +
its rubbish. not all latin alphabet from greek. it also affected from asian languages.
Reply
Anders May 31, 2010, 5:01 AM - 0 +
And where do you intend to put in æ, ø and å, Mr. maker?
Reply
BFL@CK May 31, 2010, 11:01 AM - 0 +
ok.. if were solely talking about characters. Then why did the "W" come from the "V"?
its literally a DOUBLE "U"!!
Reply
yb Jun 22, 2010, 3:22 PM - 0 +
actually in French (which is older than english) it's called a double V.
Reply
Fernando Nov 18, 2010, 5:25 PM - 0 +
In Spanish it's also called "Double V"
Reply
Benjamin Koshkin May 31, 2010, 11:02 AM - 0 +
You need to do more and better research.

Benjamin Koshkin
Reply
Kreeps Jun 01, 2010, 9:18 AM - 0 +
Thre was no H-sign in the greek alphabet... it was simply an ' above a vowel.
Reply
Greek student Aug 18, 2010, 10:15 PM - 0 +
There was no h -sound, but there was in fact an H character, the Eta which produced a long a sound.
Reply
meh Jun 01, 2010, 11:08 AM - 0 +
BFL@CK the "w" is also a double "v" when announced in German.
Reply
grozdova Jun 01, 2010, 10:20 PM - 0 +
Awesome graphic, really illustrative. I wish it included the Cyrillic alphabet too, which evolved somewhat separately in its own way from the Greek one. Good stuff.
Reply
Arjan Jun 02, 2010, 10:14 AM - 0 +
@ BFL@CK: your comment that the V is actually a "DOUBLE U" shows me that you think in a single (English) language.
Like meh states: in German it is actually called "Double V"
In Dutch the "V" is called [vay] and the W is called [way], also showing a clear link between the V and W (in origin and sound).

@anders: I believe those are letters "invented" in specific languages to indicate specific sounds (combinations of letters).
In Dutch most if the Scandinavic sounds exist but are noted as combinations of letters ("ui", "oe", "eu", "ie", "ou", "au" etc), Our ancestors just took a different turn when developing writing for their specific language.
Reply
whatever Jun 03, 2010, 12:34 AM - 0 +
@bfl@ck
in french, V is called "vay" and W is called "doobluh-vay"
v.
double-v.

huh.
Reply
JDoe Jun 07, 2010, 5:49 PM - 0 +
And what about the Greek Omega(Ω) ?
Reply
Colby Jun 07, 2010, 9:24 PM - 0 +
very little change to the alphabet in 2000 years ... hence it must not be broken
Reply
Moni ca Jun 17, 2010, 6:00 AM - 0 +
Thanks - v. interesting for language people
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Bob Hume Aug 19, 2010, 9:59 AM - 0 +
Very inaccurate. Where is Å, Ä and Ö????? These are known to everybody but not of course to an American arrogant idiot.
Reply
Frimp Nov 17, 2010, 8:49 PM - 0 +
The word "some" indicates a partial list, containing only a few examples from the given category. This is known to everybody but not of course to a European arrogant idiot.
Reply
Ursula Fred Aug 19, 2010, 10:05 AM - 0 +
Good Hume! Not to talk about the danish AE and OE. Americans are really stupid as you point out.
Reply
Joe Oct 25, 2010, 5:46 PM - 0 +
Just because most Americans aren't bi (or even tri) lingual doesn't mean that all of us are dumb. But thanks for showing everybody that (some) people from (insert your continent here) are. Also, people from Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, and the rest of the South American continent are also Americans, so nice job insulting half of the Western Hemisphere.
Reply
Frimp Nov 17, 2010, 8:48 PM - 0 +
Unlike the Europeans in this thread who can't seem to grasp the meaning of "some?"
Reply
Daren Cari Aug 19, 2010, 5:36 PM - 0 +
In the past, purchasing mitsubishi parts has been difficult for various reasons. However, todays powerful ecommerce sites allow you to buy "mitsubishi parts" with ease.
Reply
troll Aug 29, 2010, 11:45 AM - 0 +
successful troll is successful
Reply
kateweb Oct 19, 2010, 5:03 AM - 0 +
very cool , I would love to see your sources sited, but still cool and intresting.
Reply
peachy Nov 04, 2010, 5:30 AM - 0 +
What about the long s ſ ? or the german double s ß?

The long s fell out of common usage around the early 19th century, but it was still used in some publications up to the 20th Century.
Reply
Mike Nov 08, 2010, 4:01 AM - 0 +
Notice how the 'european additions' bit says that word 'some' , as in its a few examples, not a definitive list.
Reply
Hutbärchen Nov 14, 2010, 12:02 PM - 0 +
The discussion about w having developted from u or v can easily be put to an end, because u was originally also written like this: v
Reply
4funfun Feb 10, 2011, 9:27 AM - 0 +
4funfun.net
Reply
rofl Feb 22, 2011, 12:00 AM - 0 +
shopped, i can tell by the pixels
Reply
lmao Feb 26, 2011, 5:38 AM - 0 +
I can tell also, such bs!
Reply
NIGAHIGA Mar 12, 2011, 5:06 AM - 0 +
Watch this new video i made!(youtube only,partnership);d
Reply
rofl Mar 16, 2011, 2:23 AM - 0 +
OH DEAR LORD NO! NIGA HIGAS AN ADVERTIZER....at least he has grammar
Reply
rofl Apr 24, 2011, 6:21 PM - 0 +
^not me^
Reply
plevel Apr 23, 2013, 4:58 PM - 0 +
hah there are much more added letters in europe :)
Reply
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