Alphabet

I was curious about our writing letter system, the Latin script. It consists of A through Z. The system has no Alpha or Beta. Alpha (α or A) and Beta (β or B) are within Greek script.

And the most baffling is the writing direction, Abjad has it right, pun intended. They start from right to left, that is natural for any right-handed person to write like that, am I right? Or, in Logographic system (Kanji, Kana, Hanja — Chinese, Japanese, Korean) has it from top to bottom AND RIGHT TO LEFT (back in those days) — it's natural.

Left to right feels awkward at time. I was a left-handed child, but then time made me a right-handed man. You know, tradition.

It goes something like this:

• Phoenician system (~1050 BC)
  The Original Gangster of many writing systems. It was the origin of Abjad, only consonants, no vowels. The writing direction was right to left like a SANE person would do. Well, at least a sane right-handed person chiselling the stone.
• Ancient Greek (~800 BC)
  Yoinked the Phoenician system, slapped vowels on the system. Because it would make the word clearer, without any hesitation. This one I do appreciate. 👍
  Flipped the direction of the writing system — still chiselling the stones. Because hey, because.
• Etruscan system (~700 BC)
  Borrowed the Greek system, put more funkiness into it. Because, why not?
• Roman system (~600 BC onward)
  Stole the Etruscan system, trimmed all the "unnecessaries".

You see there who's to blame?

It was in Boustrophedon Phase (~6th century BC). Where people in ancient Greece wrote things on stone tablets, chiselled it. So the history said, oh it's easier to chisel on each row with an opposing starting point, you know, like plowing a field. You can't just fly to the starting side to do the next plow.

That's awkward. I mean in the same era, other people in Mediterranean region chiselled stones in ONE direction. Right to left, there was no switching direction on each row.

The Greeks thought, Hey, what if we write one line right to left, then the next line left to right, then switch back again? Hey, that's brilliant.

This was called Boustrophedon, which literally means "as the ox turns" (like plowing a field).

Imagine reading a book where every other line is mirrored, absolute chaos.

Some unorthodox experiment indeed.

And then the Greeks afterward, for reasons, they standardised the direction from LEFT to RIGHT. For reasons. Well...

Oh and another thing, ALPHABET, not ALPHABETA.

That's like a brand name, twisting or cutting off the original word such as "supra", "lexus", "vizio", "acura".

On second thought. 🤔 Hebrew's second letter is also "bet" (ב) ➡️ Phoenician root, "bet" (𐤁).

English's alphabet is originally from Latin: alphabetum. The Romans took it from Greek's alphabētos (ἄλφαβητος) ➡️ alpha (ἄλφα) + beta (βῆτα) ➡️ alpha-beta = alphabētos — later compound spelling. Earlier Greek spelling was two words. The trimmed Latin's alphabetum ➡️ alphabet is indeed an English adaptation.

The first letter "alpha" ➡️ "A" was from Phoenician too.

Phoenician's first letter is aleph (𐤀). Borrowed by Hebrew as, also, aleph (א) — alif (ا) in Arabic (Nabataean Aramaic descent). The Greeks borrowed from Phoenician script and rebranded it as alpha (Α). Finally, Roman's "Α". Phoenician ➡️ Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek went somewhat parallel in development ➡️ Latin (Roman).

Back then, everyone used one type of letter case. We now call it uppercase. The lowercase is actually the proceeding "advancement" in alphabet, Greek letters, and Cyrillic (preceded by Glagolitic script) which was gradually developed in the mediaeval period.

Therefore:

OG Phoenician script (Proto-Canaanite descent) ➡️ everybody else used the similar method, right to left. But Greek's writing system, uniqueness-driven, went haywire. Because they still chiselled the stones in that time, no paper, leaf, bamboo. Avant-garde then, as opposed to haywire. But isn't any pioneer went through haywire phase first? Oh, the loop.

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And for Abugida (Sanskrit, Tamil, Khmer, Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Batak, Thai, Lao, Inuit, Tifinagh, Ethiopian Ge'ez, etc.), they had independent timeline. The OG Indian scripts were written on palm leaves and birch bark, not stones like Mediterraneans gang. So, that. Hm.

But specifically for Sanskrit, I have a hunch that it was influenced, or it started by borrowing Semitic script, through merchant contact. Closer in region. And possibly went like the Greek, flipped the writing direction for their convenience or other related reasons (hello, palm leaves and birch bark.) You may want to read it further about this hunch from another post about the ANC (Alphabetic Numerology Calculator) — expansion of Gematria with the alphabet, the gender-base grammar note. The others categorised within Abugida, they were newer in a way. They were most likely heavily influenced by the the early Chinese script combined with early Sanskrit. Quite an elaborate saga of script, that.

You know, when we write something on a leaf, assuming we are right handed ➡️ we hold the leaf with our left hand. ➡️ The left part of the leaf will be the most stable part of it. ➡️ Naturally, we will start to write from the left. ➡️ Left to right system.

⬆️ That. Is. How. The. Legend. Starts.

Top to bottom:

Vertical bamboo strip. ➡️ Grip top with left hand. ➡️ Top part is the most stable. ➡️ Naturally write downward. ➡️ Top to bottom system.

Right to left:

Chiselling stone. ➡️ Right hand moves naturally rightward. ➡️ Right to left system.

Just basic anatomy and material physics doing all the work whilst historians wrote enormous books theorising about it. From asking one simple question — what were they holding it with? But indeed, without historians wrote those books, there would be no this. Oh, the loop.

And now, we have paper and pencil and pen and such, and the table, obviously. I, particularly, sometimes feel awkward writing from left to right. Because... I'm right handed, most of the times. That certain peculiar feeling. 🤷

One example of Chinese calligraphy. 🕯️

知止而后有定

(Zhī zhǐ ér hòu yǒu dìng)

Meaning: Knowing when to stop brings stability.

From the Great Learning (大学), a Confucian classic. Rooted in the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). This line is about self-control and balance.

Sanskrit example. 🕯️

सत्यं शिवं सुंदरम्

(Satyaṁ Śivaṁ Sundaram)

Meaning: Truth, auspiciousness, beauty.

A classic phrase from ancient Vedic and Upanishadic thought (1500–500 BC). It's a triad of what's real, sacred, and beautiful — incredibly elegant, often used in philosophy and the arts.

Both India and China had already implemented ink before the West folks. So to avoid smudging, that direction. But then again, it didn't really have to be like that. The smudging can always be avoided in any direction, it's the writing technique that matters. It was a consensus.

And, chiseling letters (words — sentence) on a slab of stone, for commonly right-handed people, naturally goes from right to left. Except, of course, the ancient Greek and Roman.

The whole ancient Greece-Rome-Egypt narrative is quite... That's why it's interesting. I merely observe.

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So all in all, what works best.

Curiosity is satisfied. Maybe.