The Greek Alphabet
During the 5th Century BCE in Greece, Greeks adapted the Phoenician writing system, which was known to be the basis of most western languages. Prior to the creation of the Greek Alphabet, the Greeks used the Linear B Script, which was only restricted to palaces at the time, because it was mostly restricted to administrative purposes (Violatti 1). Later on, the Greeks migrated to the Phoenician writing system, but realized that the Phoenician writing system was limited on consonants so the Greeks would adapt consonants to express vowels. In other words, the Greek alphabet was the first alphabetic writing system to have distinct consonants and vowels (Crabben 1). The reason for this change was because a majority of words in the Greek language started with vowels while in the Phoenician writing system it was the opposite.
The Greeks knew that they had to alter the Phoenician writing system in order to accurately write out Greek or it wouldn’t make any sense. It was this decision that would mark Greek as the first legitimate alphabet. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, the Greek alphabet was created during 8th Century BCE because that was when archeological records started showing it being used. Another thing that the Greeks also did early on was following the Phoenician writing system by writing from right to left. This was done to make it easier to write the Phoenician letters because of the arrangement of the symbols (Mark 1). However, when the Greeks modified the writing system they changed their approach and began writing left to right (Violatti 1). After its initial conception, the Greek alphabet had inspired the creation of other alphabetic systems such as the Gothic alphabet, the Latin alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, etc. and has become the foundation for most writing systems in western culture.
The Greek alphabet is still being used today in a variety of ways, but the most popular is for college sororities and fraternities, specifically in North American culture, with the first fraternity (Phi Beta Kappa Society) being formed at the College of William and Mary in 1776. At first many fraternities and sororities had special meanings behind their names that would be disclosed only to members, but as of late many sororities and fraternities have strayed away from having meanings behind the Greek letters they use. Even though the use of the Greek alphabet isn’t as prominent now does not shy away from the fact that it was a revolutionary invention that has shaped the fabric and makeup of the writing systems that we use today.
Work Cited:
- Crabben, Jan van der. “Alphabet.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 28 Apr. 2011, www.ancient.eu/alphabet/.
- Crabben is the Founder and CEO of Ancient History Encyclopedia, and has a BA in Journalism and a MA in War Studies. Crabben expresses vast knowledge on the subject of the Greek alphabet which made learning about this topic a lot easier to grasp. I found this article in particular to be very helpful because of how in depth it was. It was a great jumping off point to venture into other subsets mentioned in the article (which will be mentioned).
- Mark, Joshua J. “Phoenicia.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 19 Mar. 2018, www.ancient.eu/phoenicia/.
- Joshua J. Mark is a freelance writer who is the co-founder and director of Ancient History Encyclopedia. Much like Crabben’s article, Mark displays a well rounded knowledge of the topic. I personally had no idea about the Phoenician alphabet so learning that it derived from Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was really interesting. It was also interesting to find out that the Phoenician writing system was written right to left.
- Violatti, Cristian. “Greek Alphabet.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 5 Feb. 2015, www.ancient.eu/Greek_Alphabet/.
- Cristian Violatti is a writer for Ancient History Encyclopedia and has a vast knowledge and fondness of ancient history. Much like the previous two, Violatti exuded an impressive and well articulated article about the history of the Greek alphabet. It was interesting seeing the ways that the Greeks modified the Phoenician alphabet in order to benefit the ways that the Greeks wrote i.e. changing consonants to vowels and writing left to right.