tlE THE ■ \ EX BIBLIOTHECA CAR. I. TAB ORI S. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORWA. SAN WEGO lA JOLU. CALIFORNIA THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET BY EDWARD CLODD AUTHOR OK THE STORY OF PRIMITIVE MAN," "PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION, '•the STOKV of CREATION," ETC, ETC. '* The i-^vo greatest inz'entions of the human mind are 'vriting and money — thecomtMon /ttngitage of intel- ligence, and the common language of self-interest."— Marquis de Miraheai.-. WITH NINKTV ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON GEORGE NEWNES, Limited SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND 19CX) THIS LITTLE HISTORY OF ABC IS DEDICATED lO DOROTHY DAY BY HER LOVIXG GRANDFATHER PREFACE If this little book does not supply a want, it fills, however imperfectly, a gap ; for the only work in the English language on the subject — Canon Isaac Taylor's "History of the Alphabet" — is necessarily charged with a mass of techni- cal detail which is stiff reading even for the student of graphiology. Moreover, invaluable and indispensable as is that work, it furnishes only a meagre account of those primitive stages of the art of writing, knowledge of which is essential for tracing the development of that art, so that its place in the general evolution of human inventions is made clear. Prominence is therefore given to this branch of the subject in the following pages. In the recent reprint of Canon Taylor's book no reference occurs to the important materials collected by Professor Flinders Petrie and Mr. Arthur J. Evans in Egypt and Crete, the result of which is to revolutionise the old theory of the source of the Alphabet whence our own and others are derived. This opens up a big ques- tion for experts to settle ; and here it must suttee to present a statement of the new evi- dence, and to point out its significance, so that the reader be not taken into the troubled atmosphere of controversy. That he may, further, not be distracted by footnotes, references to the authorities cited are printed in the text. E. C. ROSEMONT. 19 CARLF.TON RoAD, Tlfnkll Pakk. X. CONTENTS CHAP. I. INTRODUCTORY .... II. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE AI.l'HAHET , III. MEMORY-AIDS AND I'lCTURK-WRlTINi: {a) Mnemonic (/;) IMctorial . (c) Ideographic (d) Phonetic . IV. CHINESE, JAl'ANESK, AND COREAN SCKIl'T: V. CUNEIFORM WRITING . VI. EGYPTIAN HIEKOGLYrillCS . {a) Ilierof^lyphic Writini {/>) Hieratic Writing (c) Demotic Writing VII. THE ROSE IT A STONE . VIII. EGYPTIAN WRITING IN ITS RELATION T< OTHER SCRIPTS .... IX. CRETAN AND ALLIED SCRIPTS X. GREEK PAPYRI The Diffusion of the " Ph'vnician Alphabet — {a) Aramean .... (/') Sabean .... (c) Hellenic .... XI. RUNES AND OGAMS .... INDEX . PAGE 9 37 S2 89 113 "5 125 127 12S 134 157 iqS 207 212 213 223 229 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Indian Petition to t'tf Unite J States Congress Frontispiece difa^ical Pictograph against Stings . Magical Detnce against Skin Disease A /'Original Kock Cart'ings {Australia) Al'original Koik l^aintings {Australia) Bushman Paintings .... Ituihitiiin Paintings . ... S/>eiinit-n o/ llushmen Rock Sculptures Engravin!;s found on Rocks in Algeria Pushman Rain-L hartn Seinang Rain-CUartn , Record I'/ Expedition I'arious Types of the Human p'orm Quipu,/or Reckoning, «!-•<. Double Calumet ll'ampum ... Double Calumet Council Heart i: Jesuit Missionary Wampum /''our \at ions' Alliance ll'ampum . I'cnn U'atnpum ...... 13. Imiian i',ra7>e-posts I'omh-board 0/ Indian Chief .... Hunter's Crax>€-post A Cadgers Map of a Begging District Ojiiiva LoT'e-letter ..... I.oz-e-song Mnemonic Song of an Ojiinva Medicine-pnan . II 'til'eno destroying an Enemy .... Etching on Innuit Drilld>ozv .... cyihva Hunting Record ..... Hidatsa Pictograph on a Buffalo Shoulder-blcuie Alaskan Hunting Record ..... Record of Starzung Hunter .... Alaskan Hunting Life Indian Expedition ...... Biography of Indian Chief .... ITar-Si-ng ........ Letter offer ing Treaty of Peace Census Roll of an Indian Band Record of Departure {Innuit) .... vii Xiii LIST OF ILLU5TF.ATIOX5 FIG. P-^"^^ 33. Statue from. Palenque "' 34. Itzcr^atl •''"!' 35. Reo-us of Itzcoa±l ,•.....• ^^ 3^. PateTKOsteT Rehvs . . ~- y;. Ckiiuse PictiiTe