• Home
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Hosting
  • Newsletter
  • Advertise
  • Submit
  • Contact

Laughing Squid

A daily dose of unique art, culture and technology.

The Evolution of the Alphabet

by Lori Dorn at 2:49 PM on January 25, 2019

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • More
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Reddit

Evolution of the English Alphabet

Matt Baker of Useful Charts has designed a wonderful high resolution wall chart (larger) that explains the how each letter of the alphabet developed over various periods within thousands of years. The chart shows how modern English language evolved from the ancient Proto-Sinaitic script of biblical times to the Phoenician alphabet to the Archaic Greek alphabet to Archaic Latin to Roman script and the modern Roman form we know and use now. Baker explains that while the chart arranges the letters according to the English alphabet, the letters are not originally English.

I originally titled the chart “Evolution of the English alphabet” and many people commented that there is no such thing as an English alphabet and that the chart should be titled “Evolution of the Latin alphabet”. Actually, both titles are correct. Obviously, many European languages use the same Latin script. But some use a slightly different number of letters. When one is referring to the set of Latin letters used for a particular language, it’s ok to refer to that set as the “[language name] alphabet”. However, in the end, in order to be more inclusive, I decided to change the title to simply “Evolution of the Alphabet” and use the row titles to make it clear that it is the evolution of the standard Latin script that is being shown (as opposed to say, the Cyrillic or Hebrew scripts).

Baker also created a handy video explaining this evolution.

This alphabet evolution is a part of a larger wall chart that encompasses Writing Systems of the World, which is for sale on Baker’s site.

This beautiful wallchart outlines 51 different writing systems from around the world, divided into abjads, alphabets, abugidas, syllabaries, logosyllabaries, and signal-based alternatives. Includes: Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Braille, Burmese, Chinese, Ethiopian, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Inuktitut, Japanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Malayalam, Morse Code, Oriya, Russian, Punjabi, Semaphore, Sinhala, Tamil, Telegu, Thai, Tibetan, and more… over 2000 symbols total!

via this isn’t happiness


  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • More
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Reddit

Related Laughing Squid Posts



Follow Laughing Squid on Facebook, Twitter and Flipboard



← Previous Blog Post
Next Blog Post →


Managed WordPress Hosting

Laughing Squid Hosting offers reliable, scalable and secure Managed WordPress hosting starting at $12/mo. Includes email, Jetpack Premium and a free SSL cert. We'll even migrate your site at no charge. The revenue from hosting helps support this blog.

Popular on Laughing Squid

  • Talking Crow Asks People Passing By on Street ‘Y’alright Love?’ in a Strong Yorkshire Accent
    Talking Crow Asks People Passing By on Street ‘Y’alright Love?’ in a Strong Yorkshire Accent
  • Bagel Shop Worker Captures the Facial Expressions of Dogs as They Come to the Drive-Thru Window
    Bagel Shop Worker Captures the Facial Expressions of Dogs as They Come to the Drive-Thru Window
  • A Curious Orangutan Falls Down Laughing After a Human Performs a Simple Magic Trick for Her
    A Curious Orangutan Falls Down Laughing After a Human Performs a Simple Magic Trick for Her
  • Man Hilariously Autotunes His Cat's Persistent Meow
    Man Hilariously Autotunes His Cat's Persistent Meow
  • The Expert, A Hilarious Comedy Sketch About Being the Only Engineer in a Business Meeting
    The Expert, A Hilarious Comedy Sketch About Being the Only Engineer in a Business Meeting

New on Laughing Squid

  • LemursTrue Facts About the Lemur by Ze Frank
  • Being Rescued by SARDWhat It Looks Like to Be Buried in Snow and Then Found by a Highly Trained Search and Rescue Dog
  • Cat Removes StickClever Cat Removes Wooden Stick From the Sliding Glass Door When His Beloved Human Gets Locked Out
  • Cheese MicrobesAn Intriguing Look at the Microbes That Make Cheese
  • Spiderman Into the Spider-VerseAnimators Behind ‘Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse’ Talk About Prioritizing Believability Over Perfection

Facebook | Twitter | Flipboard | RSS

The Laughing Squid t-shirts are back!

Powered by Laughing Squid Hosting and WordPress VIP | Advertise | Affiliate Disclosure | Privacy Policy | © 1995-2019 Laughing Squid LLC, all rights reserved