A few years ago I ran across a video on YouTube about the Evolution of the Alphabet. Every now and then I remember it and spend some time amazed at how we got the alphabet we all take for granted.

He starts by showing how ancient Egyptian heiroglyphics used pictures of objects to represent sounds, and thus reduced the number of symbols required to represent their speech from hundreds down to 20-30. A crude drawing of a house became a symbol to represent a sound approximating the sound of the letter b. A drawing of a fish represented the sound of the letter d. The Phoenecians later took these ideas and adapted the heiroglyphics into stylized versions of their own.

During the video there are wonderful graphics demonstrating all of the various changes in the alphabet over time, until we get to our alphabet today. The author of the video has a website where you can buy a paper copy of the chart here.

Along the way we learn how the Hebrews and Greeks adapted the Phoenecian letters into their own versions. Then the Romans came along and tossed out the letters they didn’t use and added their own to the list. Over time you see how various European cultures further adapted and changed the shapes of the letters.

It’s a super fascinating video and I’ve lost track of the time spent staring at the chart.