Category Archives: technology influenced

Elder Futhark — 160 AD, Denmark

Posted on October 9, 2011 by ducky

Elder Futhark, an early runic script, was definitely used in 160AD in Denmark.  Based on linguistic clues, some people think that it is much older. One of the clues cited is that it is written both left-to-right and right-to-left, like … Continue reading →

Posted in Alphabet, first in its area, Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!", technology influenced | 3 Comments

Tamil — 700 AD, India

Posted on May 24, 2011 by ducky

Tamil is descended in part from Grantha and in part from Vatteluttu.  Grantha and Vatteluttu are relatively closely related, and the two were used together for a time, so it was relatively easy to smear the two together. Tamil has … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 3 "I did not know that", technology influenced | 1 Comment

Oriya — 1100 AD, India

Posted on April 23, 2011 by ducky

Oriya probably descended from Bengali, though some say Kalinga (a script so obscure I can’t find out much about it, and which unfortunately shares a name with a language spoken in the Phillipines). Oriya looks quite different from the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Abugida, Rating: 5 "Whoa!!", technology influenced | 4 Comments

Hittite — 1700 BC?, Turkey

Posted on January 23, 2011 by ducky

In around 1700BC, the Hittites adapted Assyrian cuneiform (which was basically just Akkadian cuneiform which had been around long enough to evolve slightly) to their language.  They only took about half of the symbols from Assyrian cuneiform, of which roughly … Continue reading →

Posted in Logograms, Rating: 2 "Not all that interesting", Syllabaries, technology influenced | 2 Comments

Elamite cuneiform — 2200 BC, Iran

Posted on January 19, 2011 by ducky

Linear Elamite petered out after a few hundred years, ignored in favour of more prestigious languages/writing systems like Babylonian (which was an organic descendant of Akkadian in both language and script).  When the Elamite language reappeared after a few hundred … Continue reading →

Posted in Logograms, Rating: 5 "Whoa!!", Syllabaries, technology influenced | 1 Comment

Traditional Chinese — 220 AD, China

Posted on January 8, 2011 by ducky

Traditional Chinese — also called “Regular Chinese” or “kǎishū”, appeared around 200 BC. There were numerous evolutionary stages between Small Seal and Traditional Chinese, including a looser, more calligraphic style called “Clerical Script”. At this stage, some of the stylistic … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolved slowly from parent, Logograms, Rating: 5 "Whoa!!", technology influenced | 18 Comments

Sumerian cuneiform — 3200 BC, Iraq

Posted on January 2, 2011 by ducky

Scholars argue about which came first, Egyptian hieroglyphics or Sumerian cuneiform, but neither side has convinced me. Given that they developed within 100 years (in about 3200 BC) and 1000 kilometers of each other, it’s pretty certain that one led … Continue reading →

Posted in Logograms, probably developed by illiterate(s), probably first in its area, Rating: 4 "Huh, interesting!", technology influenced | 9 Comments