An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. There are other systems of writing such as logograms, in which each symbol represents a morpheme, or word, and syllabaries, in which each symbol represents a syllable. The word "alphabet" itself comes from alpha and beta, the first two symbols of the Greek alphabet. There are dozens of alphabets in use today. Most o ...

Including:

• Alphabet - Types
• Alphabet - Spelling
• Alphabet - Collation
• Alphabet - The Alphabet effect

Read more here: » Alphabet: Encyclopedia - Alphabet

See also:

Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician alphabet - The Alphabet, Phoenician alphabet - Encoding, Phoenician alphabet - Derived alphabets

Read more here: » Phoenician alphabet: Encyclopedia II - Phoenician alphabet - The Alphabet

The original Proto-Sinatic letters had been pictograms, derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs. Philistines, an ancient Minoan civilization race, culturally dominant in the region, had the major influence in the formation of the alphabet into laguage. Some of the name meanings had changed by the time of Phoenician. For example, the character gimel may have originally been the image of a throwing stick. In the chart below: The meanings given are of the letter names in Phoenician. The Phoenician letter names are not directly attested a ...

See also:

Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician alphabet - The Alphabet, Phoenician alphabet - Encoding, Phoenician alphabet - Derived alphabets

Read more here: » Phoenician alphabet: Encyclopedia II - Phoenician alphabet - The Alphabet

The Alphabet of the Magi was an alphabet invented by Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim for the use of engraving angelic names upon talismans. It was likely influenced by the various undefined alphabets from older Grimoires of the time. Other related archivesGrimoires, Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, talismans

Read more here: » Alphabet of the Magi: Encyclopedia - Alphabet of the Magi

Although the Phoenicians used cuneiform (Mesopotamian writing) in what we call Ugaritic, they also produced a script of their own. The Phoenician alphabetic script of 22 letters was used at Byblos as early as the 15th century B.C. This method of writing, later adopted by the Greeks, is the ancestor of the modern Roman alphabet. It was the Phoenicians' most remarkable and distinctive contribution to civilization. Among segmental scripts (that is, scripts that use a separate glyph for each phoneme, commonly called "alphabets"), one may disting ...

See also:

Alphabet, Alphabet - Types, Alphabet - Spelling, Alphabet - Collation, Alphabet - The Alphabet effect

Read more here: » Alphabet: Encyclopedia II - Alphabet - Types

Among segmental scripts (that is, scripts that use a separate glyph for each phoneme, commonly called "alphabets"), one may distinguish abjads, which only record consonants and were first developed by the Egyptians as part of their hieroglyphic script; true alphabets which record consonants and vowels separately, first developed by the Greeks; and abugidas, in which the vowels are indicated by diacritical marks or systematic modification of the form of the consonants, first developed by the Indians. Examples of present-day abjads are the Ara ...

See also:

Alphabet, Alphabet - Types, Alphabet - Spelling, Alphabet - Collation, Alphabet - The Alphabet effect

Read more here: » Alphabet: Encyclopedia II - Alphabet - Types

Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī 6th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyril ...

Including:

• Aramaic alphabet - Imperial Aramaic alphabet

Read more here: » Aramaic alphabet: Encyclopedia - Aramaic alphabet

The Cham script is used to write Cham, an Austronesian language spoken by the Cham people in Vietnam and Cambodia. Cham has about 230,000 speakers. The Cham script is one of the first scripts to develop from the early Brahmi alphabet of India, beginning by 200 AD. Like all the Brahmic family, it is a syllabic alphabet, and is thus classed as an "abugida". It is written horizontally, and left to right, as in English. The Cham now live in two isolated groups: Western Cham in Cambodia, and Eastern Cham in Vietnam. Ea ...

Read more here: » Cham alphabet: Encyclopedia - Cham alphabet

Alphabet soup is a kind of soup containing noodles shaped like the letters of an alphabet. Alphabet soup is usually a prepared, canned tomato soup with letter-shaped noodles. It is traditionally popular with American children, and may be served by parents or schools to encourage young children to learn to read. Spelling words with alphabet-soup noodles is usually a mildly tolerated form of "playing with food". Alphabet soup - Metaphorical sense. In the metaphorical sense, the term is u ...

Including:

• Alphabet soup - Metaphorical sense

Read more here: » Alphabet soup: Encyclopedia - Alphabet soup

Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī 4th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic 10th c. ...

Including:

• Coptic alphabet - Alphabet table

Read more here: » Coptic alphabet: Encyclopedia - Coptic alphabet

History · Adaptations Phonology · Transliteration Diacritics · Writing of the hamza Numerals · Numeration Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī 4th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC ...

Including:

• Arabic alphabet - Structure of the Arabic alphabet
• Arabic alphabet - Abjadi order
• Arabic alphabet - Presentation of the alphabet
• Arabic alphabet - Primary letters
• Arabic alphabet - Hamza
• Arabic alphabet - Diacritics
• Arabic alphabet - Numerals
• Arabic alphabet - History
• Arabic alphabet - Arabic alphabets of other languages
• Arabic alphabet - Current uses of the alphabet for other languages
• Arabic alphabet - Former uses of the alphabet for other languages
• Arabic alphabet - Computers and the Arabic alphabet
• Arabic alphabet - Arabic keyboard layout

Read more here: » Arabic alphabet: Encyclopedia - Arabic alphabet

The Burmese abugida is a script in the Brahmic family used in Myanmar for writing Burmese, Mon, and Kayin (Karen). The characters are rounded in appearance, because the traditional palm leaves used for writing would have been ripped by straight lines. Like English, it is written from left to right. There are about 33 consonants က (pronounced ka) to ဠ (pronounced la). However, the last letter in the alphabet (အ; aa), although recognized as a consonant, is actually a vowel. Since the a is the onl ...

Including:

• Burmese alphabet - Diacritics
• Burmese alphabet - Digits
• Burmese alphabet - Punctuation
• Burmese alphabet - Burmese in Unicode
• Burmese alphabet - Fonts supporting Burmese characters

Read more here: » Burmese alphabet: Encyclopedia - Burmese alphabet

The Vietnamese alphabet, called quốc ngữ (national language), is the current writing system for the Vietnamese language. It is based on the Latin alphabet, with some digraphs and the addition of nine accent marks or diacritics — four of them to create additional sounds, and the other five to indicate the tone of each word. The many diacritics, often two on the same letter, makes written Vietnamese easily recognizable. Vietnamese alphabet - The letters. The Vietnamese alphabet has ...

Including:

• Vietnamese alphabet - The letters
• Vietnamese alphabet - Vowels
• Vietnamese alphabet - Consonants
• Vietnamese alphabet - Tone markings
• Vietnamese alphabet - History
• Vietnamese alphabet - Vietnamese fonts and encoding schemes
• Vietnamese alphabet - Bibliography

Read more here: » Vietnamese alphabet: Encyclopedia - Vietnamese alphabet

The Runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes, formerly used to write Germanic languages, mainly in Scandinavia and the British Isles. In all their varieties they may be considered an ancient writing system of Northern Europe. The Scandinavian version is known as Futhark (derived from its first six letters: 'F', 'U' 'Th', 'A', 'R', and 'K'), and the Anglo-Saxon version as Futhorc (also so named after its first letters). The earliest runic inscriptions date from ca. 150, and the al ...

Including:

• Runic alphabet - Background
• Runic alphabet - Origins
• Runic alphabet - Magic and Divination
• Runic alphabet - Common use
• Runic alphabet - Gothic runes
• Runic alphabet - Elder Fuþark
• Runic alphabet - Names
• Runic alphabet - Frisian and Anglo-Saxon Fuþorc
• Runic alphabet - Intermediary Inscriptions
• Runic alphabet - Younger Fuþark
• Runic alphabet - Long-branch runes
• Runic alphabet - Short-twig runes
• Runic alphabet - Hälsinge Runes staveless runes
• Runic alphabet - Dalecarlian Runic script
• Runic alphabet - Modern use
• Runic alphabet - Third Reich
• Runic alphabet - Neopaganism
• Runic alphabet - Popular culture
• Runic alphabet - Unicode
• Runic alphabet - Distribution
• Runic alphabet - Runiform scripts
• Runic alphabet - Special characters

Read more here: » Runic alphabet: Encyclopedia - Runic alphabet

Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī 4th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyril ...

Including:

• Ugaritic alphabet - Origin
• Ugaritic alphabet - Letters
• Ugaritic alphabet - Ugaritic in Unicode
• Ugaritic alphabet - Abecedaries/ ABCDaries
• Ugaritic alphabet - Special characters

Read more here: » Ugaritic alphabet: Encyclopedia - Ugaritic alphabet

Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī 4th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd c. Gothic 4th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyril ...

Including:

• Avestan alphabet - External link

Read more here: » Avestan alphabet: Encyclopedia - Avestan alphabet

The Alphabet of Ben-Sira (Alphabetum Siracidis, Othijoth ben Sira) is an anonymous medieval text, attributed to Ben Sira (Sirach), the author of Ecclesiastes. It is dated to anywhere between AD 700 and 1000. It is a compilation of two lists of proverbs, 22 in Aramaic and 22 in Hebrew, both arranged as alphabetic acrostics. Each proverb is followed by an Haggadic commentary. The text has been translated into Latin, Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish, French and German. A p ...

Including:

• The Alphabet of Ben-Sira - Aramaic proverbs
• The Alphabet of Ben-Sira - The second Alphabet
• The Alphabet of Ben-Sira - Lilith
• The Alphabet of Ben-Sira - Editions

Read more here: » The Alphabet of Ben-Sira: Encyclopedia - The Alphabet of Ben-Sira

The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first letters) is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. * archaic letters † used in non-Slavic languages Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samarit ...

Including:

• Cyrillic alphabet - Origins
• Cyrillic alphabet - Letter-forms and typography
• Cyrillic alphabet - Romanization
• Cyrillic alphabet - As used in various languages
• Cyrillic alphabet - Slavic languages
• Cyrillic alphabet - Non-Slavic languages
• Cyrillic alphabet - Cyrillic in Unicode

Read more here: » Cyrillic alphabet: Encyclopedia - Cyrillic alphabet

The idea of an alphabet of human thought originates in the 17th century, when proposals were first made for a universal language. René Descartes suggested that the lexicon of a universal language should be composed of primitive elements. By systematically combining these, one could generate "an infinity of different words." In the early 18th century, Gottfried Leibniz outlined a language in which grammatical and logical structure would coincide, thus making possible the automation of thinking. The basic elements of his ideal l ...

Read more here: » Alphabet of human thought: Encyclopedia - Alphabet of human thought

Saint Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet in AD 406. It is used for the Armenian language. Middle Bronze Age 19-15th c. BC Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC Ugaritic 13th c. BC Phoenician 11th c. BC Samaritan 6th c. BC Aramaic 9th c. BC Brāhmī 4th c. BC Hebrew 3rd c. BC Syriac 2nd c. BC Avestan 3th c. Arabic 4th c. Greek 8th c. BC Old Italic 8th c. BC Latin 7th c. BC Runes 2nd ...

Read more here: » Armenian alphabet: Encyclopedia - Armenian alphabet