text:
User:Vuara/Thoughts on The Alphabet Effect

Thoughts on Logan's The Alphabet Effect by Dominic Yu 2003 January 3

In Chapter 3 ("A Comparison of Eastern and Western Writing Systems and Their Impact on Cultural Patterns") of Robert K. Logan's The Alphabet Effect, Logan claims that "the absence of Western-style abstractions and classification schemes in Chinese culture" (47), including such things as systematic logical reasoning, codified legal systems, and monotheism, is due to the fact that Western writing is alphabetic, whereas Chinese writing is not. In this essay, I will show that most of Logan's arguments are flawed, and that Logan's main points, although interesting, ultimately tell us little more than the fact that Chinese characters are complex.

Logan's basic premise, that Chinese characters are inherently less abstract than alphabetic characters, is incorrect. He states that "the alphabet is used phonetically to visually represent the sound of a word," whereas "Chinese characters are used pictographically to represent the idea of a word and hence are less abstract than alphabetic writing" (47, emphasis mine). However, this is an inaccurate description of Chinese writing. While there do exist characters which are historically derived from pictograms, all Chinese characters represent sounds, just as the symbols from all other writing systems in the world represent sounds. Moreover, the forms of Chinese characters have been revised and simplified so many times in the course of their development that the vast majority of them are no longer transparently recognizable (one would need the help of historical texts). Thus, the description of Chinese writing as "pictographic" applied to the standard characters that have been used for the last two thousand years or so is not appropriate. Take, for example, the character ?, representing the third person singular pronoun "ta". The left hand component, the "person" radical, indicates that this character vaguely has something to do with a person or people. I say "vaguely" because this is a very common radical is also used in characters such as ?, ?, and ?, meaning, "portion," "fake," and "to do," respectively. The right side is a phonetic component indicating that (at some earlier stage of Chinese), this character rhymed with ?, now pronounced "ye?." Nothing in this character indicates the idea of "third person singular pronoun." From this example, we can see that Chinese characters mainly represent sounds, and only represent ideas in a rather insignificant way. Thus, Logan's claim that Chinese characters represent the "idea of a word" is baseless.

In his first concrete example, Logan talks about the Chinese legal system, saying that Chinese law was not codified. While this may be a true statement, Logan provides no evidence that this has anything to do with the writing system. He only states that "the Chinese developed two concepts of law: 'fa' and li'" (50), and then proceeds to explain these two concepts. What he overlooks, though, is that this has nothing to do with the writing system; the number and/or types of concepts associated with any concept, including law, is independent of the writing system. The concepts develop, and people subsequently find ways of writing them down on paper. Indeed, concepts are borrowed from culture to culture throughout history; with the influence of Buddhism from India, for example, Chinese writing adapted by making up new characters or adapting old ones for new uses. Another example: many of the philosophers/thinkers of the Enlightenment in seventeenth century Europe, such as Leibniz and Voltaire, were inspired by Chinese philosophy. But I digress.

Next, Logan claims that "the Chinese ideographic script" was one of the "inhibitory factors to the growth of modern science" (54), for two reasons: first, the Chinese script has subliminal or hidden effects which are adverse to abstract scientific thinking; second, the alphabet, being a natural tool for classification, served as a paradigm for scientific classification (55). Logan gives absolutely no evidence to support the first claim. He merely lists, in his Table III (56), twelve characters, the scientific term in English that each character is supposed to represent, and a description of what the original symbol represented. For example, the character ?, meaning "to begin," is described as "a drawing of a woman and a fetus." Logan states:

an examination of the table reveals that even the most abstract scientific term must be rendered in a concrete form when it is written. This, no doubt, has had a subliminal effect on Chinese scientific thinking. (55)

As we have argued above, the forms of the Chinese characters in use for the last two thousand years can hardly be described as "concrete." In fact, I would guess that most readers of Chinese would not even think of the character for "begin" as being a drawing of a woman and a fetus (if indeed that is what it is; it seems like a simple phonetic to me, as it rhymes with things like ?, ?, and ?), and even if they had read elsewhere that that was what the character originally represented, their minds have better things to do than to dwell upon that fact every time they come across the character in their readings. Thus, in the spirit of the scientific method, I would suggest that the subliminal effect that Chinese characters have on scientific thinking is a topic to be investigated, rather than the foregone conclusion that Logan thinks it is.

Logan's second reason, that alphabetic writing served as a paradigm for scientific classification and therefore abstract scientific thought, also stands on shaky ground. First of all, Chinese characters can certainly be classified, in any number of ways: by radical, stroke order, stroke count, or even phonetically. In fact, the sheer number of them necessitates some sort of classification scheme. But even granted that the Chinese script is complex (e.g., it has been said that Chinese phone books are hard to use, and looking in a dictionary for a character which one does not know the pronunciation of can certainly bring up its own difficulties), we must first discuss a more fundamental issue, and that is the nature of modern science. Logan seems to think that classification is key to modern science. In fact, classification is a fundamental cognitive process, and humans have been engaging in it for millenia. What is unique about modern science, it seems to me, is not classification, but the entire process which we call the scientific method: observation, analysis, construction of a hypothesis, and testing of said hypothesis, which goes back to observation and analysis. Modern science is about building unified theories and models that help up explain and predict the world; it is not about classifying things into a set number of categories.

Logan's most ridiculous claim is that the development of monotheism was encouraged by alphabetic writing. (Indeed, there is no reason to think that polytheism vs. monotheism even falls into the concrete/abstract distinction that Logan makes, but this is beyond the scope of this essay.) Of the major religions practiced today, all three monotheistic ones—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--can be said to be derived from the same source, the religion of the Israelites, which began, let's say, with Moses around 1300 BCE. This was several centuries before the Greek alphabet (the first true alphabet) was developed, around 1000 BCE. Note also that Greek religion was by no means monotheistic, even though their writing system was alphabetic. The other noteworthy monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism, came about around 600 BCE in modern-day Afghanistan/Iran, where at that time they were still using cuneiform.

We have seen above that Logan's arguments about the impact of Chinese logographic writing on law, science, and religion are completely without basis. Moreover, Chinese characters, though complex, are not more concrete than alphabetic writing in any essential way, and certainly not pictographic, as he describes. The history of cultures and ideas is complex, with many different concepts and entities interacting. In view of this, the impact that the form of a writing system makes on concepts such as science, law, and religion must be very negligible indeed.

References Logan, Robert K. The Alphabet Effect. 1986. Smart, Ninian. The World's Religions. 1989.

I welcome comments, questions, or suggestions. Please contact me using the link below.

by Dominic Yu last modified 2003.01.03


text:
User:Vuara/Who really invented the alphabet

Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

So who really invented the alphabet? Stephanie Saldana The Daily Star March 18, 2002 Lebanese, Syrians and Egyptians all vie for a piece of ABC history Ask the folks in Byblos who invented the alphabet and chances are high that they’ll claim they did. Up and down the cobbled alleys of the souq, shop windows display tablets proclaiming the first alphabet as Phoenician, and locals insist that the earliest remnants of it were unearthed in ruins nearby.

“Of course it was invented here,” said souvenir shop owner Tony Karam from behind the counter of his shop downtown.

If the Phoenicians invented the alphabet in Byblos, apparently no one ever told that to the Syrians hanging out near their port city of Lattakia. Here, outside of the archaeological site of Ras Shamra, locals peddle postcards headlined Earliest Alphabet in the World, but display a picture of a different alphabet altogether: the Ugaritic.

Local guide Saji Qorqmaz, who leads tours through the crumbling Royal Palace where that alphabet was discovered, holds fast to his own explanations of alphabetic origins. “The idea for the alphabet was created in Egypt, the invention was in Ugarit, and the distribution was in Byblos,” he said. Byblos? Ugarit? Egypt? If the alphabet is really as easy as ABC, how did so many people become confused about its origins? According to Jo Ann Hackett, professor of Near Eastern languages at Harvard University and an expert on the alphabet, Syria and Lebanon might both have claims to developing “an alphabet,” but today scholars are looking toward Egypt for true alphabetic origins.

“The Ugaritic alphabet and the Phoenician, or linear alphabet, were separate inventions, so they can’t really be compared as if they were on the same timeline,” she said in an interview via email. “Still, both the Syrians and perhaps the Lebanese can claim that their ancestors developed ‘an’ alphabet.”

Robert Fradkin, professor of Asian and East European languages at the University of Maryland, agrees. “Quite a controversy indeed, but I don’t think it’s worth arguing over who was first, as if ‘the alphabet’ was a conscious concrete goal like a race to land a man on the moon,” he said. “It was part of a large cultural trend.”

While tour guides might be anxious to build on earliest alphabet hype, scholars argue that the search for the origins of the alphabet involves far more than merely digging up and deciphering old inscriptions. The alphabet evolved over thousands of years, possibly in response to trade in the ancient Middle East. The fact that people, products and alphabets moved from place to place makes it nearly impossible for archaeologists to be certain if the alphabets they dig up originated where they found them, or were carried there from somewhere else.

“How did the alphabet develop? There is no final or conclusive evidence on the origin of the alphabet,” said Helen Sader, professor at the American University of Beirut and an expert on Semitic languages. “What is certain is that it did not develop overnight.”

Recently Yale Egyptologist John Darnell stumbled upon evidence that may shed light upon the alphabet debate. Surveying ancient travel routes in southern Egypt in 1993-94, he and his wife Deborah came upon strange graffiti marked into walls near Wadi al-Hol located across from the ancient city of Thebes.

In 1999, scholars determined that the graffiti was an alphabet that predates the Byblos Phoenician example by 800 years. Not yet deciphered, the Semitic script, written with Egyptian influences between 1900-1800 BC, seems to have been developed by Semitic people working in Egypt. Unable to read thousands of Egyptian pictographs, Semites may have developed their own crude alphabet for communication.

Yet like most things involving the alphabet, scholars disagree on origins.

“We don’t actually know where this alphabet was invented,” said Hackett of the finds. Bruce Tuckerman, who photographed the inscriptions, told The New York Times wryly: “This is fresh meat for the alphabet people.”

The Egyptian discovery may help scholars understand why Phoenicians in Byblos used the alphabet they did some 800 year later. Scholars believe that Darnell’s alphabet  based partially on sounds represented by Egyptian pictographs, may have traveled north over centuries toward Lebanon, changing and modernizing along the way.

Evidence of an alphabet dating from 1600 BC  200 years after the Wadi al-Hol alphabet  has been discovered by archaeologists in Semitic speaking territory in the Sinai peninsula and farther north in the Syria-Palestine region occupied by Canaanites. Not only do these alphabets bear similarities to those of Wadi al-Hol, but they also appear to be the ancestors of what would later become the Phoenician alphabet, the most famous inscription of which was found in Byblos on the tomb of Ahram dating from 1000 BC.

“The linear (Phoenician) alphabet seems to have been developed by Semites in Egypt and adapted by Canaanites,” said Sader, adding that evidence for this development was found mainly in Palestine in the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Phoenicians adapted the script even further, laying the foundations for the Greek and Latin alphabets.

As to why so many Lebanese still believe that Phoenicians invented the alphabet, Sader blames the Greeks. “Today nobody believes that one man sat down and had the genius to invent the alphabet … Greek legend attributes the discovery of the alphabet to the Phoenicians, because they did not know of the development of their alphabet before then,” she said. “What the Phoenicians have done is … spread the alphabet through all of Europe.”

While this clears up the confusion between Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt, it still doesn’t explain how Syrians found their way into the alphabet soup. Strangely, the story of Syria’s claims to creating the alphabet involve not just another country, but different people and another alphabet altogether.

In the late 1940s, archaeologists excavating in the Royal Palace of Ras Shamra in coastal Syria uncovered something rather extraordinary  an entire library of ancient clay tablets, sacred and administrative documents impressed with unusual wedge shaped letters. Further investigation revealed that these shapes were in fact the components of what would later be known as the “Ugaritic” alphabet, a simplified system of 30 symbols, each symbol representing a different consonant sound of the local Ugaritic language. Developed between the 14th and 12th centuries BC, the Ugaritic alphabet was in use at virtually the same time as the predecessors of the Phoenician or “linear” alphabet. By the 14th century, communities in the Middle East were using different alphabets simultaneously.

Unlike the linear or “Phoenician” alphabet, which seems to have developed from Egypt, partially from pictographs, the Ugaritic is a cuneiform alphabet based on wedge shaped consonants, with origins that remain mysterious to this day. That means that while Syrians can’t claim to have the earliest alphabet in the world, they can at least claim the earliest known “cuneiform” alphabet.

Yet even this could change.

Scholars admit that, limited by archaeology, they may never understand the origins of the alphabet. And in the meantime, this won’t keep tour guides from claiming the alphabet as their own.

“Guides all want to be proud of their own place  in Syria you’ll hear Ugarit, in Lebanon you’ll hear Byblos, in Egypt you’ll hear I don’t know what,” admitted Waad Khalife, a Byblos tour guide.

“Colleagues and local civilians are not the most objective in their jobs.”

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Cryptography/Vigenère cipher

Vigenère Cipher
One of the most famous and simple polyalphabetic cipher is the Vigenere Cipher developed by Blaise de Vigenere in the 16th century. The Vigenère cipher operates in a manner similar to a ../Caesar cipher/, however, rather than shifting the plaintext character by a fixed value n, a keyword (or phrase) is chosen and the ordinal values of the characters in that keyword are used to determine the offset. The process that creates encrypted text is simple, but it was unbroken for 300 years.The system is so simple that the Vigenere encryption system has been discovered and rediscovered dozens of times.

For example, if the keyword is "KEY" and the plaintext is "VIGENERE CIPHER," then first the key must be repeated so that it is the same length as the text (so key becomes keykeykeykeyke). Next, the ordinal value of V (22) is shifted by the ordinal value of K (11) yielding F (6), the ordinal value of I (9) by the ordinal value of E (5) yielding M (13), etc. The keyword is repeated until the entire message is encrypted:

P: VIGENERECIPHER K: KEYKEYKEYKEYKE C: FMEORCBIASTFOV

An easier, but equivalent way of encrypting text is by writing out each letter of the alphabet and the key, and simply matching up the letters:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJ EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD YZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX

First The V in the first row would up with the F in the second. Then, one would go down a row, and see that the I in the first row lines up with the M in the third. After one reaches the bottom row, then they would continue lining up letters with the second row. This uses exactly the same cipher, and is simply an easier method of performing the encryption when doing so by hand.

The Caesar cipher could be seen as a special case of the Vigenère cipher in which the chosen keyword is only a single character long.

An algorithmic way of expressing this cipher would be:

(plain_text_letter + (key_letter - 1)) mod 26 = cipher_text_letter

GROMARK cipher
The Gronsfeld cipher is variation of Vigenere using a pseudo-random decimal key.

The Gronsfeld cipher was invented by José de Bronckhorst, earl of Gronsfeld, in 1744.

The cipher developed by Count Gronsfeld (Gronsfeld's cipher) was used throughout Europe. It is enciphered and deciphered identically to the Vigenere cipher, except the key is a block of decimal digits (repeated as necessary) shifting each plaintext character 0 to 9, rather than a block of letters (repeated as necessary) shifting each plaintext character 0 to 25. It was more popular than the Vigenère cipher, despite its limitations.

An algorithmic way of expressing this cipher would be:

(plain_text_letter + key_digit) mod 26 = cipher_text_letter

The GROMARK Cipher is a Gronsfeld cipher using a mixed alphabet and a running key.

running key cipher
The running key cipher is a type of polyalphabetic substitution cipher in which a text, typically from a book, is used to provide a very long keystream. Usually, the book to be used would be agreed ahead of time, while the passage to use would be chosen randomly for each message and secretly indicated somewhere in the message.

A cryptanalyst will see peaks in the ciphertext letter distribution corresponding to letters that are formed when high-frequency plaintext letters are encrypted with high-frequency key text letters.

If a cryptanalyst discovers two ciphertexts produced by (incorrectly) encrypting two different plaintext messages with the same "one-time" pad, the cryptanalyst can combine those messages to produce a new ciphertext that is the same as using one of the original plaintext messages as a running key to encrypt the other original plaintext, then use techniques that decode running key ciphers to try to recover both plaintexts.

title: Cryptography/Vigenère cipher


text:
User:Vuara/The best chinese dictionary

What Character Is That?: An Easy-Access Dictionary of 5,000 Chinese Characters by Authors: Go Ping-Gam Released: November, 1997 Paperback

Sales Rank: 16,352 List price: $19.95 Our price: $13.97 (You save: $5.98)

Customer Review #1:

What Character Is That? Chinese dictionary by Go Ping-Gam

This dictionary is a Â¡Â°mustÂ¡Â± for all Americans who want to easily learn to read ,write and speak Chinese. To tour and work in mainland China, I needed a dictionary which would allow me, a non-native speaker, to read Chinese characters on maps, street signs, menus etc. I found all other Â¡Â°Chinese to EnglishÂ¡Â± dictionaries at bookstores in the USA totally useless to me. Why? They were organized phonetically by Chinese words in alphabetical order. This meant I had to already know Chinese to find out what the character meant! I was a Yale language major many years ago, joined the Foreign Service and taught English in Brazil. Several years ago, at age 64, I returned to my earlier profession and taught English in southern China. With the help of this extraordinary book, I was able to read and write letters in Chinese characters. It also helped me learn to speak Chinese at the basic level in both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects. I am now 66 years old and continue to learn.

Recently I happily married a Chinese woman from Beijing who is only 50 years old. Without Mr.Gos books, I doubt that my new, great happiness in life would be possible.

Customer Review #2:

A Quick, Easy Guide Worth the Money

I was looking for a dictionary with maximum characters, and I found this one to be a great resource if you can pick out the character radical right away. Its much quicker than my other dictionary, and used in tandem with something like Oxfords Chinese Dictionary, it can cover all the bases of most characters you will encounter. My main need was a book that gave me less common characters used to transliterate foreign names and for characters that I couldnt find in my main dictionary. This book breaks down the radicals so simply that I think it makes them easier to learn as well. If you dont know the radical or cant easily identify it, I found I still needed the Oxford. As for the other reviewers who complained about the printing and the fact that it was self-published, I would recommend this book anyway because it doesnt look bad at all and the information is well worth the purchase.

Customer Review #3:

The Best Chinese Dictionary for an english speaking person.

I practically collect chinese dictionaries and books and this is the best book on the subject I own. Its the easiest dictionary to use for an english speaking person because its alphabetically arranged around the *english* names of the radicals and words. If I would have to keep only one of my books and dictionaries, I would keep this one and I wouldnt miss a thing.

Related Products

Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary Learn to Write Chinese Characters (Yale Language Series) Reading and Writing Chinese: A Guide to the Chinese Writing System Analysis of Chinese Characters Beginners Chinese The Starter Oxford Chinese Dictionary Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary Understanding Chinese Characters by Their Ancestral Forms The Art of Chinese Calligraphy The Nature of the Chinese Character: Gifts from the Earth

+++

Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary Chinese/English English/Chinese by Langenscheidt Staff, Langenscheidt Publishers, Langenscheidt Editorial

List Price:  $13.95 Price:  $11.16 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.

15 used & new from $9.55

Edition: Paperback

Customers who bought this book also bought:

The Starter Oxford Chinese Dictionary by Boping Yuan (Editor), Sally Church (Editor) (Rate it)

Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day by Kristine K. Kershul (Rate it)

Learn to Write Chinese Characters (Yale Language Series) by Johan Bjorksten (Rate it)

Reading and Writing Chinese: A Guide to the Chinese Writing System by William McNaughton, Li Ying (Rate it)

Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary by Rick Harbaugh (Editor) (Rate it)

Pocket PC Dictionary Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus for Pocket PC. www.handmark.com

Chinese Dictionary Talking Electronic Dictionary. We'll match any advertised price! powerdictionary.com

Paperback: ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.02 x 6.14 x 3.90 Publisher: Langenscheidt Publishing Group; Miniature edition (February 15, 2001)

The Perfect Dictionary For China, December 14, 2002 Reviewer: Matt (see more about me) from Portland, Oregon I took a quick course in conversational Chinese. Being a bad student, all I really learned was basic phrases and how to read pinyin. Suddenly I was offered a chance to go to Shanghai for two months to stay with a friend of my Chinese teacher. His friend ran a middle school and wanted an American to talk with the students. I agreed, but between the time I agreed and when I arrived in Shanghai, the agreement changed from talking with the students to teaching four hours of classes a day! Having very bad Chinese skills (almost none), this was a little daunting. I somehow managed to get through teaching 13 year-old Chinese students with only a few years of English training, even while I knew almost no Chinese. There is one main reason I was able to do this: Langenscheidt's Pocket Chinese Dictionary. This book saved me every day, and that is no exaggeration.

The book gives single words, but it also gives common phrases in which that word is used. The radical index is pretty good, though like others have said, it leaves some characters out. Most of the ones I couldn't find were (I discovered) local characters used mostly in the Shanghai area. When I was standing around trying to read signs, I often would consult this book. Since I had a conversation class, I didn't know how to read anything when I arrived. Once I was able to learn how to pick out a radical, though, I was usually able to find out what the word was just by using this dictionary. During class, when I had written an English word on the board and wanted to write the Chinese word, all I had to do was look up the English word in here. You not only will find the Chinese pinyin next to it, but also the character(s) for writing it. When I wanted to find something, I could do the same thing. Even if I didn't say the pinyin right, I could point to the characters in the book, and almost always people would immediately know what it was and would help me get it.

Like others have said, the cover is rubbery, and stands up well to wear and tear. As I accidentally found out, this also means you can cover it with marker writings, or spill coffee and tea on the cover, yet it will wipe away clean.

In the back of the book is a quick number section for dealing with all numbers, big and small. It also shows you the characters for writing numbers on checks, which are different than the characters for the regular use of numbers.

The book also has the Chinese way of saying a lot of useful in-country phrases, like Communist Party, CCTV, People's Republic of China, and other things like that. It has slang and formal words in it, and covers thousands of words. I cannot believe how many things the dictionary has. I was teaching 13 year-olds, and like most kids that age, they wanted to know how to say some rather weird phrases in English. When they would write the Chinese, I could use the radical chart and look it up. Or, if they spoke it, I could find the pinyin using the Chinese side of the dictionary. I still cannot believe how many seemingly random words were in there. I'd say I could find any word (and I mean ANY word) about 95% of the time (one notable lack I found one day: "caravan" - can't have them all I guess). It is amazing.

I have put this book to the test. The sides of the pages are covered in dirt. The blue L on the front is slowly starting to wear off (not surprising after all I put it through). Physically, as well as language-wise, this book is great. I used it every day, flipping through and referencing it nearly non-stop. It has pulled me through every time.

I've never really used another dictionary much, but I've never really had to. This one is great. If you are going to China and need a quick, handy, durable, and travel-friendly dictionary, this is what you want. Believe me, after two intense months of being one of the few English-speakers in a suburb of Shanghai, I know for a fact, this dictionary is good. Get it. You won't be disappointed.

OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD, August 17, 2002 Reviewer: A reader from Midwest I found this dictionary very help for beginning Mandarin. I thought I once bought a better dictionary but they are almost exactly the same. I reccomend this dictionary to anyone.

Probably The Best, Still Not Ideal., March 5, 2002 Reviewer: BENJAMIN GEORGE (see more about me) from Richmond, TX United States I've been studying Chinese in Suzhou (Jiangsu State) for about 4 months now, and of all the dictionaries I've bought this one has the most China-street-grime on it's pages. It is my everyday dictionary, I use it all the time.

It's layout is nice and clean, no eye straining here, the character lookup uses a nice big font. I LOVE the tough rubber cover, it's nice and rugged.

Wishlist:

1: A Traditional character lookup.

2: A Stroke order index for characters with obscure radicals (the ABC Dictionary has this). Many of the very most common characters have very weird radicals.

3: Markings for the different types of Chinese parts of speech, as a previous reviewer also noted, the parts of speech in Chinese are a little different. For example: "tiaowu" means "to dance", but is it's "le" form "tiaowule" or "tiaolewu"? Help us out here folks, just mark it as a splittable verb.

4: Update the vocab. When you wanna say "cell phone" you say "shouji", but that's not the word they give, and in fact if you go to lookup "shouji" it's not there. All in all though this book has the most up to date lexicon of any of the dictionaries that I've seen. And like a previous reviewer said, it has all the words that other prudist editors leave out.

5: More usage notes on the grammer type words, less on the nouns, I don't need usage notes for "banana" or whatever, but i would really like it if they told me how to use "chule" (kinda like "unless" but not exactly)

6: Mark which single character entires can be used alone and which must be used in combo with other characters. But for Pete's sake DON'T get rid of the single character entries, they are invaluble for learning Chinese, even if you can't use them on their own. More single character entries would be better.

7: Do a little more research on the frequency of words, I always end up sounding [bad] cause I use some stodgy word, while the dictionary doesn't even HAVE the common way to say it.

8: Mark written-vs-spoken words. Chinese has a big split in the written and spoken languages.

Hmm, everyday I think of other ways to improve this dictionary, but the fact that I use it everyday tells you something, the other dictionaries sit at home on my shelf.

very good over all but a few things missing, September 4, 2001 Reviewer: John Williams from Austin, TX USA This is the best Chinese dictionary I could find when I shopped around at several local bookstores. It covers simplified Chinese organized first by pinyin romanization and then by tones, which is generally helpful except when looking up multicharacter words because all entires starting with the same character do not always fall together.

The type face is very clear and easy to read and the entries are clearly laid out, presenting all the necessary information (including liberal usage notes) with no frills (such as pronunciation of English words, etc.) It is clearly designed more for English speakers than Chinese speakers. The vocabulary seems up to date (including, for instance, DVD) and also includes all the "dirty" words that prudish editors leave out. The book focuses on words used in mainland China but has a three-page appendix of Taiwanese equivalents of some terms.

I like the small size of this dictionary, and the plastic cover means it's probably durable enough to survive being carried around in a book bag quite a bit. My main gripe is that "Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary" spoiled me--I miss the character etymologies and having multiple indicies for looking up characters, but in practice the single radical index in this dictionary seems to work just as well if not better. I gave this dictionary four stars instead of five because I would have liked some treatment of traditional characters, an appendix listing measure words like in the compact Oxford dictionary, and information about parts of speech that more closely reflects Chinese grammar instead of just the standard English parts of speech.

An excellent little dictionary, July 26, 2001 Reviewer: hbridge from New York, NY USA I bought this dictionary a month ago, in preparation for a trip to Beijing. Many people who study chinese are probably familiar with the "little red" chinese dictionary, this one is superior for a number of reasons.

First of all, the size is slightly wider and thinner, which is much less akward to carry around.

Second, it's translations are usually more accurate; Time and time again have I looked a word up in english with other dictionaries, only to be scolded by my chinese teacher when the meaning wasn't quite right - this books example sentences are very... didao.

Also, for someone who speaks less chinese this dictionary is far better because it is orgainized completely alphabetically by pinyin - not by pinyin then leading character. This could be annoying for someone who speaks the language (especially for writing), but for someone new to it, it's a blessing. The organization is the only reason i give it a 4, not a 5.

Langenscheidt is logical, May 8, 2001 Reviewer: z_simpsoncv (see more about me) from Auburn, Alabama USA I use this brand for latin and spanish as well. the dictionaries are laid out very logically and easy to understand.

first half is eng to chinese and the second is chinese to eng. However until you know chinese pronouciation rules for pinyin. it is difficult to actually speak it for chinese people to understand you. How ever if you merely show them the characters that correspond to the word you looked up the people instantly know what you are trying to convey. Some of my friend who went with me on the trip bought dictionaries overthere but they are not as good.

+++

Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary by Rick Harbaugh (Editor)

Paperback: 545 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.10 x 6.90 x 5.01 Publisher: Zhongwen.com; 1 edition (August 1, 1998) ISBN: 0966075005 Book Description: This dictionary is specially designed to help students understand, appreciate and remember Chinese characters. It has the following features: • Every character entry includes a brief traditional Chinese etymology. • Genealogical charts highlight the connections between characters, showing the creation of more than 4000 characters from less than 200 simple pictographs and ideographs. • Mandarin standards in China and Taiwan are distinguished. • Simplified forms for each character are given. • Character entries list all words which use the character in any position, allowing a word to be found even if the first character is unknown. • English definitions are referenced in an English-Chinese index. • A word pronunciation index allows students to directly search for an overheard word without having to guess the initial character. • A stroke count index lists every character by number of strokes.

About the Author: Rick Harbaugh started the dictionary many years ago while a graduate student in economics at National Taiwan University. He now teaches economics and strategy at the Yale School of Management.

Customer Reviews A great addition to my collection, January 28, 2003 Reviewer: A reader from Seattle, WA USA This book is one of my favorite Christmas presents! I've been interested in Chinese language for a number of years, and particularly in the written language and its history. I'm certain my Chinese friends have gotten tired of my questions: How did this evolve, when did this enter the language, why, etc. Now I own a book that will help me solve some of the puzzles. Very interesting, accurate, and fun to explore.

extremely useful, January 21, 2003 Reviewer: esseyo from Jersey City, NJ United States The traditional way of ordering Chinese characters is so woefully inadequate and antiquated. It is so much easier to find the character you want using this dictionary. The typography is very nice and easy on my eyes.

The online version is a very handy supplement because you can click on any Chinese character in the entry and it will take you there (no more looking in the indices). Additionally the associated etymology tree is right there underneath (not on the next page or 3 pages back). Additionally for each character there is a link to the Cantonese pronunciation (.wav file) as well as various other dictionaries/db.

If you need more words, I suggest complementing this book with the FarEast Books' Chinese-English dictionary (one version in traditional, another in simplied (with traditional characters listed for reference but referred to as "corrupt forms"), and several pocket-size versions (but you shouldn't need to consider those)). It has much more depth than any other Chinese-English dictionaries you normally find.

Fascinating and Unique Approach for a Dictionary, September 2, 2002 Reviewer: professordavid from Zionsville, IN USA Guess I should have gathered that from its title, but my initial mistake was thinking it was a traditional dictionary. I am now in my second year of learning Chinese. Two titles are indispensible, this one and the brief McNaughton one (revised, 1999). I continue to see increasing value in the Harbaugh approach: variable ways to find words and a thoroughly exhaustive entry on a word. As pointed out by other reviewers, entries include permutations of the word you are looking up with other words (in any order). Examining the genealogy helps you remember the character because of its origins, similar to McNaughton (but perhaps not with the humor that McNaughton displays occasionally).

On the down side, definitions don't give many contextual examples, so occasionally you might mis-use a word. This is a problem with any dictionary however, so I'm not sure it's a fair criticism.

Not to labor the point, this book dramatically improves with one's own knowledge of Chinese. It's remakably complete given its size and your ability to actually see the type.

I've used both the paper-edition and the online edition. I think the paper edition is easier to browse.

Now, if he only had an accompanying CD with all the words pronounced, I would be in heaven. But this book is a deal...

Great for searching and mnemonics; NOT accurate on origins, May 2, 2002 Reviewer: Kent Suarez from Taipei Taiwan This a superb book for finding characters you don't know, when you only know one part of them (not necessarily the dictionary classifier, often mis-termed ¡§radical¡¨). It's also great as a mnemonic device, breaking characters down into their parts to help you learn them. The innovative organization into family trees teaches you the graphic relationships between the modern forms of the characters, although the reader should be forewarned that some of these relationships are spurious; they don't necessarily mean the characters originally had any relationship between them.

A caveat is in order: the so-called ¡§etymologies¡¨(explanations of character origins) in it are based on an out-of-date, 2000-year-old book, the Shuowen Jiezi. Some are even misreadings of Shuowen. Harbaugh unfortunately totally ignores the last hundred years' research based on oracle bones (Shang dynasty writings from ca 1300 BCE on turtle shells and livestock scapulae), which gives us a better picture of the true origins of the characters. While this was also a fatal problem with Wieger¡¦s Chinese Characters (and Wilder and Ingram¡¦s Analysis of Chinese Characters, which is a Wieger re-hashing), it is perhaps forgivable for Wieger, who began writing so soon after the oracle bones were found, around the turn of the 20th century. But it is much less forgivable for more recent authors like Harbaugh, and Tan Huay Peng, who did the Fun With Chinese Characters cartoon books (Straits Times Collection).

In fact, decent books on Chinese etymology are virtually non-existent. The best I¡¦ve found are Teresa L. Wu¡¦s out-of-print Origin and Dissemination of Chinese Characters (1990; Caves Books, Taipei ISBN 957-606-002-8; fairly good; if you find a used copy, snap it up!), and Xie Guanghui¡¦s fairly good and in-print Composition of Common Chinese Characters: An Illustrated Account (Peking (sic) University Press; ISBN 7-301-03329-x; 1997). I can't say I agree 100% with the etymologies in Wu and Xie, but they're as good as it gets, in English works. They both have examples of old forms for each character: Wu consistently has the oracle bone, bronze, seal, and clerical forms (hand-copied), while Xie tends to list fewer (but in facsimile).

No disparagement of Harbaugh is intended; his work fulfills admirably its goal as a tool for non-scholarly, graphically based character searches, and the etymologies in it are mnemonically useful. But it most definitely should NOT be

relied on or trusted as a real reference on etymology.

Find a character with ease, March 15, 2002 Reviewer: solidoak from Pennsylvania & Taiwan What a cleverly designed book! • Search by pinyin (romanization) • Search by bopomofo (zhuyinfuhao) • Search the English word list • Search by THE PART OF THE CHARACTER YOU RECOGNIZE (doesn't have to be the radical) • Or, ok, search by stroke or radical • Another way to search, not mentioned in other reviews or even in the intro to the book itself: search by looking for a character that goes with the target character (i.e. I have no idea what this character is, but I just saw it printed right after the word for water. Fine, I'll just look up water, and there's my mystery character). And the definitions show plenty of combinations as well. After all, what is a zi (character) by itself?

With this book, you will not be squinting through row after row of tiny characters as with, say, the Far East brand dictionary. You can find a word or combination in seconds, I promise.

Focuses on "traditional" characters, as used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc, the same characters that have been used for the last 2000 years. Also, includes simplified form in brackets, which have been used in Mainland China for 50 years.

If you don't care about written Chinese, and you just want to look up what you hear, then John DeFrancis' ABC Dictionary is surely the book for you. (It has simplified characters searchable by pinyin combinations).

If you love Chinese writing, and long to look up every word you see, but are tired of asking your friend to explain it to you, then this book, 'Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary by Rick Harbaugh' is perfect.

One thing on the website which is missing from the book: reference numbers linking the character to Wieger's etymology, which (correctly or not) attempts to further explain a character's origins with samples of gu-wen (ancient writing).

Notice that this book currently takes 1-2 weeks to ship.

The best Chinese dictionary I've met so far!, February 16, 2002 Reviewer: sema I do not speak Chinese, just use this book to read the legends on old money which I collect. It's also helpful when I have to read the coin catalogs in Chinese. Though I have some other dictionaries, this one is the best.

Easy to use even for a person who does not know Chinese!

This dictionary is great organized for searching the traditional characters, but it also gives simplified form for these characters.

Useful in some respects, February 7, 2002 Reviewer: mizhi from Easton, PA United States

I bought this book when I began studying the Chinese language and after I had become acquainted with the author's excellent website. Unfortunately, this book is mostly useful for students learning the traditional character set. It does include the simplified versions of characters; however, the layout and organization are heavily biased towards the traditional way of writing the characters. For those students who are learning the simplified way of writing characters (the set used by mainland China), I recommend the Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary by Oxford University Press that can be found elseware on amazon.

zhong wen zi pu, December 13, 2001 Reviewer: beiyiyang from USA

This book is the most consisce ans efficent Chinese dictionary out there. due to it's layout it is perfect for memorizing characters, their roots, and meanings.

Most useful dictionary for a foreign student of Chinese, November 27, 2001 Reviewer: Christina Ng Bergstrom from New Orleans, LA United States This dictionary is compact, so it is easy to carry in a bookbag or while travelling. But perhaps the most important part is that it is extremely easy to use. There are indexes to search for words via radicals, the bopomofo alphabet, total stroke number, pinyin, and english. Moreover, the dictionary is organized "etymologically", that is, characters with similar stems are located together. For example, (if you're a student you may know these words) cheng-to become, cheng-honesty, cheng-city all have a common stem. They are all on the same page. I found this vastly interesting in terms of learning how characters were formed (each definition contains a brief etymological description). Additionally, by viewing easily mistakable words in this context I was better able to distinguish them later, and this process has given me a better understanding of the written language.

The particular organization of this dictionary also speeds up the process of finding words that I don't know. For example, say I didn't know the word cheng-honesty, but i recognize that it resembles cheng-to become. I can look up cheng-to become phonetically, find it in the dictionary and voila there is cheng-honesty. For someone unaccustomed to the seemingly impossible practice of searching via radicals, this method is extremely useful. I

took this dictionary with me when I travelled in Asia. I highly recommend it.

i planned to use it as a dictionary, November 8, 2001 Reviewer: Tom Anderson from Stamford, CT United States but there are others that are better for that purpose

title: User:Vuara/The best chinese dictionary


text:
User:Vuara/HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE

Just So Stories by Ruyard Kiping

TABLE OF CONTENTS: ... HOW THE FIRST LETTER WAS WRITTEN HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE ...

HOW THE FIRST LETTER WAS WRITTEN

ONCE upon a most early time was a Neolithic man. He was not a Jute or an Angle, or even a Dravidian, which he might well have been, Best Beloved, but never mind why. He was a Primitive, and he lived cavily in a Cave, and he wore very few clothes, and he couldn't read and he couldn't write and he didn't want to, and except when he was hungry he was quite happy. His name was Tegumai Bopsulai, and that means, 'Man-who-does-not-put-his-foot- forward-in-a-hurry'; but we, O Best Beloved, will call him Tegumai, for short. And his wife's name was Teshumai Tewindrow, and that means, 'Lady-who-asks-a-very-many-questions'; but we, O Best Beloved, will call her Teshumai, for short. And his little girl-daughter's name was Taffimai Metallumai, and that means, 'Small-person-without-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked'; but I'm going to call her Taffy. And she was Tegumai Bopsulai's Best Beloved and her own Mummy's Best Beloved, and she was not spanked half as much as was good for her; and they were all three very happy. As soon as Taffy could run about she went everywhere with her Daddy Tegumai, and sometimes they would not come home to the Cave till they were hungry, and then Teshumai Tewindrow would say, 'Where in the world have you two been to, to get so shocking dirty? Really, my Tegumai, you're no better than my Taffy.'

Now attend and listen!

One day Tegumai Bopsulai went down through the beaver-swamp to the Wagai river to spear carp-fish for dinner, and Taffy went too. Tegumai's spear was made of wood with shark's teeth at the end, and before he had caught any fish at all he accidentally broke it clean across by jabbing it down too hard on the bottom of the river. They were miles and miles from home (of course they had their lunch with them in a little bag), and Tegumai had forgotten to bring any extra spears.

'Here's a pretty kettle of fish!' said Tegumai. 'It will take me half the day to mend this.'

'There's your big black spear at home,' said Taffy. 'Let me run back to the Cave and ask Mummy to give it me.'

'It's too far for your little fat legs,' said Tegumai. 'Besides, you might fall into the beaver-swamp and be drowned. We must make the best of a bad job.' He sat down and took out a little leather mendy-bag, full of reindeer-sinews and strips of leather, and lumps of bee's-wax and resin, and began to mend the spear.

Taffy sat down too, with her toes in the water and her chin in her hand, and thought very hard. Then she said--'I say, Daddy, it's an awful nuisance that you and I don't know how to write, isn't it? If we did we could send a message for the new spear.'

'Taffy,' said Tegumai, 'how often have I told you not to use slang? "Awful" isn't a pretty word, but it could be a convenience, now you mention it, if we could write home.'

Just then a Stranger-man came along the river, but he belonged to a far tribe, the Tewaras, and he did not understand one word of Tegumai's language. He stood on the bank and smiled at Taffy, because he had a little girl-daughter Of his own at home. Tegumai drew a hank of deer-sinews from his mendy-bag and began to mend his spear.

'Come here, said Taffy. 'Do you know where my Mummy lives?' And the Stranger-man said 'Um!' being, as you know, a Tewara.

'Silly!' said Taffy, and she stamped her foot, because she saw a shoal of very big carp going up the river just when her Daddy couldn't use his spear.

'Don't bother grown-ups,' said Tegumai, so busy with his spear-mending that he did not turn round.

'I aren't, said Taffy. 'I only want him to do what I want him to do, and he won't understand.'

'Then don't bother me, said Tegumai, and he went on pulling and straining at the deer-sinews with his mouth full of loose ends. The Stranger-man--a genuine Tewara he was--sat down on the grass, and Taffy showed him what her Daddy was doing. The Stranger-man thought, this is a very wonderful child. She stamps her foot at me and she makes faces. She must be the daughter of that noble Chief who is so great that he won't take any notice of me.' So he smiled more politely than ever.

'Now,' said Taffy, 'I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs are longer than mine, and you won't fall into the beaver-swamp, and ask for Daddy's other spear--the one with the black handle that hangs over our fireplace.'

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) thought, 'This is a very, very wonderful child. She waves her arms and she shouts at me, but I don't understand a word of what she says. But if I don't do what she wants, I greatly fear that that haughty Chief, Man-who-turns-his-back-on-callers, will be angry.' He got up and twisted a big flat piece of bark off a birch-tree and gave it to Taffy. He did this, Best Beloved, to show that his heart was as white as the birch-bark and that he meant no harm; but Taffy didn't quite understand.

'Oh!' said she. 'Now I see! You want my Mummy's living-address? Of course I can't write, but I can draw pictures if I've anything sharp to scratch with. Please lend me the shark's tooth off your necklace.'

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) didn't say anything, So Taffy put up her little hand and pulled at the beautiful bead and seed and shark-tooth necklace round his neck.

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) thought, 'This is a very, very, very wonderful child. The shark's tooth on my necklace is a magic shark's tooth, and I was always told that if anybody touched it without my leave they would immediately swell up or burst, but this child doesn't swell up or burst, and that important Chief, Man-who-attends-strictly-to-his-business, who has not yet taken any notice of me at all, doesn't seem to be afraid that she will swell up or burst. I had better be more polite.'

So he gave Taffy the shark's tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy with her legs in the air, like some people on the drawing-room floor when they want to draw pictures, and she said, 'Now I'll draw you some beautiful pictures! You can look over my shoulder, but you mustn't joggle. First I'll draw Daddy fishing. It isn't very like him; but Mummy will know, because I've drawn his spear all broken. Well, now I'll draw the other spear that he wants, the black-handled spear. It looks as if it was sticking in Daddy's back, but that's because the shark's tooth slipped and this piece of bark isn't big enough. That's the spear I want you to fetch; so I'll draw a picture of me myself 'splaining to you. My hair doesn't stand up like I've drawn, but it's easier to draw that way. Now I'll draw you. I think you're very nice really, but I can't make you pretty in the picture, so you mustn't be 'fended. Are you 'fended?'

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) smiled. He thought, 'There must be a big battle going to be fought somewhere, and this extraordinary child, who takes my magic shark's tooth but who does not swell up or burst, is telling me to call all the great Chief's tribe to help him. He is a great Chief, or he would have noticed me.

'Look,' said Taffy, drawing very hard and rather scratchily, 'now I've drawn you, and I've put the spear that Daddy wants into your hand, just to remind you that you're to bring it. Now I'll show you how to find my Mummy's living-address. You go along till you come to two trees (those are trees), and then you go over a hill (that's a hill), and then you come into a beaver-swamp all full of beavers. I haven't put in all the beavers, because I can't draw beavers, but I've drawn their heads, and that's all you'll see of them when you cross the swamp. Mind you don't fall in! Then our Cave is just beyond the beaver-swamp. It isn't as high as the hills really, but I can't draw things very small. That's my Mummy outside. She is beautiful. She is the most beautifullest Mummy there ever was, but she won't be 'fended when she sees I've drawn her so plain. She'll be pleased of me because I can draw. Now, in case you forget, I've drawn the spear that Daddy wants outside our Cave. It's inside really, but you show the picture to my Mummy and she'll give it you. I've made her holding up her hands, because I know she'll be so pleased to see you. Isn't it a beautiful picture? And do you quite understand, or shall I 'splain again?'

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) looked at the picture and nodded very hard. He said to himself,' If I do not fetch this great Chief's tribe to help him, he will be slain by his enemies who are coming up on all sides with spears. Now I see why the great Chief pretended not to notice me! He feared that his enemies were hiding in the bushes and would see him. Therefore he turned to me his back, and let the wise and wondetful child draw the terrible picture showing me his difficulties. I will away and get help for him from his tribe.' He did not even ask Taffy the road, but raced off into the bushes like the wind, with the birch-bark in his hand, and Taffy sat down most pleased.

Now this is the picture that Taffy had drawn for him!

'What have you been doing, Taffy?' said Tegumai. He had mended his spear and was carefully waving it to and fro.

'It's a little berangement of my own, Daddy dear,' said Taffy. 'If you won't ask me questions, you'll know all about it in a little time, and you'll be surprised. You don't know how surprised you'll be, Daddy! Promise you'll be surprised.'

'Very well,' said Tegumai, and went on fishing.

The Stranger-man--did you know he was a Tewara?--hurried away with the picture and ran for some miles, till quite by accident he found Teshumai Tewindrow at the door of her Cave, talking to some other Neolithic ladies who had come in to a Primitive lunch. Taffy was very like Teshumai, especially about the upper part of the face and the eyes, so the Stranger-man--always a pure Tewara--smiled politely and handed Teshumai the birch-bark. He had run hard, so that he panted, and his legs were scratched with brambles, but he still tried to be polite.

As soon as Teshumai saw the picture she screamed like anything and flew at the Stranger-man. The other Neolithic ladies at once knocked him down and sat on him in a long line of six, while Teshumai pulled his hair.

'It's as plain as the nose on this Stranger-man's face,' she said. 'He has stuck my Tegumai all full of spears, and frightened poor Taffy so that her hair stands all on end; and not content with that, he brings me a horrid picture of how it was done. Look!' She showed the picture to all the Neolithic ladies sitting patiently on the Stranger-man. 'Here is my Tegumai with his arm broken; here is a spear sticking into his back; here is a man with a spear ready to throw; here is another man throwing a spear from a Cave, and here are a whole pack of people' (they were Taffy's beavers really, but they did look rather like people) 'coming up behind Tegumai. Isn't it shocking!'

'Most shocking!' said the Neolithic ladies, and they filled the Stranger-man's hair with mud (at which he was surprised), and they beat upon the Reverberating Tribal Drums, and called together all the chiefs of the Tribe of Tegumai, with their Hetmans and Dolmans, all Neguses, Woons, and Akhoonds of the organisation, in addition to the Warlocks, Angekoks, Juju-men, Bonzes, and the rest, who decided that before they chopped the Stranger-man's head off he should instantly lead them down to the river and show them where he had hidden poor Taffy.

By this time the Stranger-man (in spite of being a Tewara) was really annoyed. They had filled his hair quite solid with mud; they had rolled him up and down on knobby pebbles; they had sat upon him in a long line of six; they had thumped him and bumped him till he could hardly breathe; and though he did not understand their language, he was almost sure that the names the Neolithic ladies called him were not ladylike. However, he said nothing till all the Tribe of Tegumai were assembled, and then he led them back to the bank of the Wagai river, and there they found Taffy making daisy-chains, and Tegumai carefully spearing small carp with his mended spear.

'Well, you have been quick!' said Taffy. 'But why did you bring so many people? Daddy dear, this is my surprise. Are you surprised, Daddy?'

'Very,' said Tegumai; 'but it has ruined all my fishing for the day. Why, the whole dear, kind, nice, clean, quiet Tribe is here, Taffy.'

And so they were. First of all walked Teshumai Tewindrow and the Neolithic ladies, tightly holding on to the Stranger-man, whose hair was full of mud (although he was a Tewara). Behind them came the Head Chief, the Vice-Chief, the Deputy and Assistant Chiefs (all armed to the upper teeth), the Hetmans and Heads of Hundreds, Platoffs with their Platoons, and Dolmans with their Detachments; Woons, Neguses, and Akhoonds ranking in the rear (still armed to the teeth). Behind them was the Tribe in hierarchical order, from owners of four caves (one for each season), a private reindeer-run, and two salmon-leaps, to feudal and prognathous Villeins, semi-entitled to half a bearskin of winter nights, seven yards from the fire, and adscript serfs, holding the reversion of a scraped marrow-bone under heriot (Aren't those beautiful words, Best Beloved?). They were all there, prancing and shouting, and they frightened every fish for twenty miles, and Tegumai thanked them in a fluid Neolithic oration.

Then Teshumai Tewindrow ran down and kissed and hugged Taffy very much indeed; but the Head Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai took Tegumai by the top-knot feathers and shook him severely.

'Explain! Explain! Explain!' cried all the Tribe of Tegumai.

'Goodness' sakes alive!' said Tegumai. 'Let go of my top-knot. Can't a man break his carp-spear without the whole countryside descending on him? You're a very interfering people.'

'I don't believe you've brought my Daddy's black-handled spear after all,' said Taffy. 'And what are you doing to my nice Stranger-man?'

They were thumping him by twos and threes and tens till his eyes turned round and round. He could only gasp and point at Taffy.

'Where are the bad people who speared you, my darling?' said Teshumai Tewindrow.

'There weren't any,' said Tegumai. 'My only visitor this morning was the poor fellow that you are trying to choke. Aren't you well, or are you ill, O Tribe of Tegumai?'

'He came with a horrible picture,' said the Head Chief,--'a picture that showed you were full of spears.'

'Er-um-Pr'aps I'd better 'splain that I gave him that picture,' said Taffy, but she did not feel quite comfy.

'You!' said the Tribe of Tegumai all together. 'Small-person-with-no-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked! You?'

'Taffy dear, I'm afraid we're in for a little trouble,' said her Daddy, and put his arm round her, so she didn't care.

'Explain! Explain! Explain!' said the Head Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai, and he hopped on one foot.

'I wanted the Stranger-man to fetch Daddy's spear, so I drawded it,' said Taffy. 'There wasn't lots of spears. There was only one spear. I drawded it three times to make sure. I couldn't help it looking as if it stuck into Daddy's head--there wasn't room on the birch-bark; and those things that Mummy called bad people are my beavers. I drawded them to show him the way through the swamp; and I drawded Mummy at the mouth of the Cave looking pleased because he is a nice Stranger-man, and I think you are just the stupidest people in the world,' said Taffy. 'He is a very nice man. Why have you filled his hair with mud? Wash him!'

Nobody said anything at all for a longtime, till the Head Chief laughed; then the Stranger-man (who was at least a Tewara) laughed; then Tegumai laughed till he fell down flat on the bank; then all the Tribe laughed more and worse and louder. The only people who did not laugh were Teshumai Tewindrow and all the Neolithic ladies. They were very polite to all their husbands, and said 'Idiot!' ever so often.

Then the Head Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai cried and said and sang, 'O Small-person-with-out-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked, you've hit upon a great invention!'

'I didn't intend to; I only wanted Daddy's black-handled spear,' said Taffy.

'Never mind. It is a great invention, and some day men will call it writing. At present it is only pictures, and, as we have seen to-day, pictures are not always properly understood. But a time will come, O Babe of Tegumai, when we shall make letters--all twenty-six of 'em,--and when we shall be able to read as well as to write, and then we shall always say exactly what we mean without any mistakes. Let the Neolithic ladies wash the mud out of the stranger's hair.'

'I shall be glad of that,' said Taffy, 'because, after all, though you've brought every single other spear in the Tribe of Tegumai, you've forgotten my Daddy's black-handled spear.'

Then the Head Chief cried and said and sang, 'Taffy dear, the next time you write a picture-letter, you'd better send a man who can talk our language with it, to explain what it means. I don't mind it myself, because I am a Head Chief, but it's very bad for the rest of the Tribe of Tegumai, and, as you can see, it surprises the stranger.'

Then they adopted the Stranger-man (a genuine Tewara of Tewar) into the Tribe of Tegumai, because he was a gentleman and did not make a fuss about the mud that the Neolithic ladies had put into his hair. But from that day to this (and I suppose it is all Taffy's fault), very few little girls have ever liked learning to read or write. Most of them prefer to draw pictures and play about with their Daddies--just like Taffy.

THERE runs a road by Merrow Down-- A grassy track to-day it is An hour out of Guildford town, Above the river Wey it is.

Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring, The ancient Britons dressed and rode To watch the dark Phoenicians bring Their goods along the Western Road.

And here, or hereabouts, they met To hold their racial talks and such-- To barter beads for Whitby jet, And tin for gay shell torques and such.

But long and long before that time (When bison used to roam on it) Did Taffy and her Daddy climb That down, and had their home on it.

Then beavers built in Broadstone brook And made a swamp where Bramley stands: And hears from Shere would come and look For Taffimai where Shamley stands.

The Wey, that Taffy called Wagai, Was more than six times bigger then; And all the Tribe of Tegumai They cut a noble figure then!

HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE

THE week after Taffimai Metallumai (we will still call her Taffy, Best Beloved) made that little mistake about her Daddy's spear and the Stranger-man and the picture-letter and all, she went carp-fishing again with her Daddy. Her Mummy wanted her to stay at home and help hang up hides to dry on the big drying-poles outside their Neolithic Cave, but Taffy slipped away down to her Daddy quite early, and they fished. Presently she began to giggle, and her Daddy said, 'Don't be silly, child.'

'But wasn't it inciting!' said Taffy. 'Don't you remember how the Head Chief puffed out his cheeks, and how funny the nice Stranger-man looked with the mud in his hair?'

'Well do I,' said Tegumai. 'I had to pay two deerskins--soft ones with fringes--to the Stranger-man for the things we did to him.'

'We didn't do anything,' said Taffy. 'It was Mummy and the other Neolithic ladies--and the mud.'

'We won't talk about that,' said her Daddy, 'Let's have lunch.'

Taffy took a marrow-bone and sat mousy-quiet for ten whole minutes, while her Daddy scratched on pieces of birch-bark with a shark's tooth. Then she said, 'Daddy, I've thinked of a secret surprise. You make a noise--any sort of noise.'

'Ah!' said Tegumai. 'Will that do to begin with?'

'Yes,' said Taffy. 'You look just like a carp-fish with its mouth open. Say it again, please.'

'Ah! ah! ah!' said her Daddy. 'Don't be rude, my daughter.'

'I'm not meaning rude, really and truly,' said Taffy. 'It's part of my secret-surprise-think. Do say ah, Daddy, and keep your mouth open at the end, and lend me that tooth. I'm going to draw a carp-fish's mouth wide-open.'

'What for?' said her Daddy.

'Don't you see?' said Taffy, scratching away on the bark. 'That will be our little secret s'prise. When I draw a carp-fish with his mouth open in the smoke at the back of our Cave--if Mummy doesn't mind--it will remind you of that ah-noise. Then we can play that it was me jumped out of the dark and s'prised you with that noise--same as I did in the beaver-swamp last winter.'

'Really?' said her Daddy, in the voice that grown-ups use when they are truly attending. 'Go on, Taffy.'

'Oh bother!' she said. 'I can't draw all of a carp-fish, but I can draw something that means a carp-fish's mouth. Don't you know how they stand on their heads rooting in the mud? Well, here's a pretence carp-fish (we can play that the rest of him is drawn). Here's just his mouth, and that means ah.' And she drew this. (1.)

'That's not bad,' said Tegumai, and scratched on his own piece of bark for himself; but you've forgotten the feeler that hangs across his mouth.'

'But I can't draw, Daddy.'

'You needn't draw anything of him except just the opening of his mouth and the feeler across. Then we'll know he's a carp-fish, 'cause the perches and trouts haven't got feelers. Look here, Taffy.' And he drew this. (2.)

'Now I'll copy it.' said Taffy. 'Will you understand this when you see it?'

'Perfectly,' said her Daddy.

And she drew this. (3.) 'And I'll be quite as s'prised when I see it anywhere, as if you had jumped out from behind a tree and said '"Ah!"'

'Now, make another noise,' said Taffy, very proud.

'Yah!' said her Daddy, very loud.

'H'm,' said Taffy. 'That's a mixy noise. The end part is ah-carp-fish-mouth; but what can we do about the front part? Yer- yer-yer and ah! Ya!'

'It's very like the carp-fish-mouth noise. Let's draw another bit of the carp-fish and join 'em,' said her Daddy. He was quite incited too.

'No. If they're joined, I'll forget. Draw it separate. Draw his tail. If he's standing on his head the tail will come first. 'Sides, I think I can draw tails easiest,' said Taffy.

'A good notion,' said Tegumai. "Here's a carp-fish tail for the yer-noise.' And he drew this. (4.)

'I'll try now,' said Taffy. ''Member I can't draw like you, Daddy. Will it do if I just draw the split part of the tail, and the sticky-down line for where it joins?' And she drew this. (5.)

Her Daddy nodded, and his eyes were shiny bright with 'citement.

'That's beautiful,' she said. 'Now make another noise, Daddy.'

'Oh!' said her Daddy, very loud.

'That's quite easy,' said Taffy. 'You make your mouth all around like an egg or a stone. So an egg or a stone will do for that.'

'You can't always find eggs or stones. We'll have to scratch a round something like one.' And he drew this. (6.)

'My gracious!' said Taffy, 'what a lot of noise-pictures we've made,--carp-mouth, carp-tail, and egg! Now, make another noise, Daddy.'

'Ssh!' said her Daddy, and frowned to himself, but Taffy was too incited to notice.

'That's quite easy,' she said, scratching on the bark.

'Eh, what?' said her Daddy. 'I meant I was thinking, and didn't want to be disturbed.'

'It's a noise just the same. It's the noise a snake makes, Daddy, when it is thinking and doesn't want to be disturbed. Let's make the ssh-noise a snake. Will this do?' And she drew this. (7.)

'There,' she said. 'That's another s'prise-secret. When you draw a hissy-snake by the door of your little back-cave where you mend the spears, I'll know you're thinking hard; and I'll come in most mousy-quiet. And if you draw it on a tree by the river when you are fishing, I'll know you want me to walk most most mousy-quiet, so as not to shake the banks.'

'Perfectly true,' said Tegumai. And there's more in this game than you think. Taffy, dear, I've a notion that your Daddy's daughter has hit upon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai took to using shark's teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads. I believe we've found out the big secret of the world.'

'Why?' said Taffy, and her eyes shone too with incitement.

'I'll show,' said her Daddy. 'What's water in the Tegumai language?'

'Ya, of course, and it means river too--like Wagai-ya--the Wagai river.'

'What is bad water that gives you fever if you drink it--black water--swamp-water?'

'Yo, of course.'

'Now look,' said her Daddy. 'S'pose you saw this scratched by the side of a pool in the beaver-swamp?' And he drew this. (8.)

'Carp-tail and round egg. Two noises mixed! Yo, bad water,' said Taffy. ''Course I wouldn't drink that water because I'd know you said it was bad.'

'But I needn't be near the water at all. I might be miles away, hunting, and still--'

'And still it would be just the same as if you stood there and said, "G'way, Taffy, or you'll get fever." All that in a carp-fish-tail and a round egg! O Daddy, we must tell Mummy, quick!' and Taffy danced all round him.

'Not yet,' said Tegumai; 'not till we've gone a little further. Let's see. Yo is bad water, but So is food cooked on the fire, isn't it?' And he drew this. (9.)

'Yes. Snake and egg,' said Taffy 'So that means dinner's ready. If you saw that scratched on a tree you'd know it was time to come to the Cave. So'd I.'

'My Winkie!' said Tegumai. 'That's true too. But wait a minute. I see a difficulty. SO means "come and have dinner," but sho means the drying-poles where we hang our hides.'

'Horrid old drying-poles!' said Taffy. 'I hate helping to hang heavy, hot, hairy hides on them. If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what would I do?'

'You'd be cross. So'd Mummy. We must make a new picture for sho. We must draw a spotty snake that hisses sh-sh, and we'll play that the plain snake only hisses ssss.'

'I couldn't be sure how to put in the spots,' said Taffy. 'And p'raps if you were in a hurry you might leave them out, and I'd think it was so when it was sho, and then Mummy would catch me just the same. No! I think we'd better draw a picture of the horrid high drying-poles their very selves, and make quite sure. I'll put them in just after the hissy-snake. Look!' And she drew this. (10.)

'P'raps that's safest. It's very like our drying-poles, anyhow,' said her Daddy, laughing. 'Now I'll make a new noise with a snake and drying-pole sound in it. I'll say shi. That's Tegumai for spear, Taffy.' And he laughed.

'Don't make fun of me,' said Taffy, as she thought of her picture-letter and the mud in the Stranger-man's hair. 'You draw it, Daddy.'

'We won't have beavers or hills this time, eh?' said her Daddy, 'I'll just draw a straight line for my spear.' and he drew this. (11.)

'Even Mummy couldn't mistake that for me being killed.'

'Please don't, Daddy. It makes me uncomfy. Do some more noises. We're getting on beautifully.'

'Er-hm!' said Tegumai, looking up. 'We'll say shu. That means sky.'

Taffy drew the snake and the drying-pole. Then she stopped. 'We must make a new picture for that end sound, mustn't we?'

'Shu-shu-u-u-u!' said her Daddy. 'Why, it's just like the round-egg-sound made thin.'

'Then s'pose we draw a thin round egg, and pretend it's a frog that hasn't eaten anything for years.'

'N-no,' said her Daddy. 'If we drew that in a hurry we might mistake it for the round egg itself. Shu-shu-shu! 'I tell you what we'll do. We'll open a little hole at the end of the round egg to show how the O-noise runs out all thin, ooo-oo-oo. Like this.' And he drew this. (12.)

'Oh, that's lovely ! Much better than a thin frog. Go on,' said Taffy, using her shark's tooth. Her Daddy went on drawing, and his hand shook with incitement. He went on till he had drawn this. (13.)

'Don't look up, Taffy,' he said. 'Try if you can make out what that means in the Tegumai language. If you can, we've found the Secret.'

'Snake--pole--broken--egg--carp--tail and carp-mouth,' said Taffy. 'Shu-ya. Sky-water (rain).' Just then a drop fell on her hand, for the day had clouded over. 'Why, Daddy, it's raining. Was that what you meant to tell me?'

'Of course,' said her Daddy. 'And I told it you without saying a word, didn't I?'

'Well, I think I would have known it in a minute, but that raindrop made me quite sure. I'll always remember now. Shu-ya means rain, or "it is going to rain." Why, Daddy!' She gotup and danced round him. 'S'pose you went out before I was awake, and drawed shu-ya in the smoke on the wall, I'd know it was going to rain and I'd take my beaver-skin hood. Wouldn't Mummy be surprised?'

Tegumai got up and danced. (Daddies didn't mind doing those things in those days.) 'More than that! More than that!' he said. 'S'pose I wanted to tell you it wasn't going to rain much and you must come down to the river, what would we draw? Say the words in Tegumai-talk first.'

'Shu-ya-las, ya maru. (Sky-water ending. River come to.) what a lot of new sounds! I don't see how we can draw them.'

'But I do--but I do!' said Tegumai. 'Just attend a minute, Taffy, and we won't do any more to-day. We've got shu-ya all right, haven't we? But this las is a teaser. La-la-la' and he waved his shark-tooth.

'There's the hissy-snake at the end and the carp-mouth before the snake--as-as-as. We only want la-la,' said Taffy.

'I know it, but we have to make la-la. And we're the first people in all the world who've ever tried to do it, Taffimai!'

'Well,' said Taffy, yawning, for she was rather tired. 'Las means breaking or finishing as well as ending, doesn't it?'

'So it does,' said Tegumai. 'To-las means that there's no water in the tank for Mummy to cook with--just when I'm going hunting, too.'

'And shi-las means that your spear is broken. If I'd only thought of that instead of drawing silly beaver pictures for the Stranger!'

'La! La! La!' said Tegumai, waiving his stick and frowning. 'Oh bother!'

'I could have drawn shi quite easily,' Taffy went on. 'Then I'd have drawn your spear all broken--this way!' And she drew. (14.)

'The very thing,' said Tegumai. 'That's la all over. It isn't like any of the other marks either.' And he drew this. (15.)

'Now for ya. Oh, we've done that before. Now for maru. Mum-mum-mum. Mum shuts one's mouth up, doesn't it? We'll draw a shut mouth like this.' And he drew. (16.)

'Then the carp-mouth open. That makes Ma-ma-ma! But what about this rrrrr-thing, Taffy?'

'It sounds all rough and edgy, like your shark-tooth saw when you're cutting out a plank for the canoe,' said Taffy.

'You mean all sharp at the edges, like this?' said Tegumai. And he drew. (17.)

''Xactly,' said Taffy. 'But we don't want all those teeth: only put two.'

'I'll only put in one,' said Tegumai. 'If this game of ours is going to be what I think it will, the easier we make our sound- pictures the better for everybody.' And he drew. (18.)

'Now, we've got it,' said Tegumai, standing on one leg. 'I'll draw 'em all in a string like fish.'

'Hadn't we better put a little bit of stick or something between each word, so's they won't rub up against each other and jostle, same as if they were carps?'

'Oh, I'll leave a space for that,' said her Daddy. And very incitedly he drew them all without stopping, on a big new bit of birch-bark. (19.)

'Shu-ya-las ya-maru,' said Taffy, reading it out sound by sound.

'That's enough for to-day,' said Tegumai. 'Besides, you're getting tired, Taffy. Never mind, dear. We'll finish it all to- morrow, and then we'll be remembered for years and years after the biggest trees you can see are all chopped up for firewood.'

So they went home, and all that evening Tegumai sat on one side of the fire and Taffy on the other, drawing ya's and yo's and shu's and shi's in the smoke on the wall and giggling together till her Mummy said, 'Really, Tegumai, you're worse than my Taffy.'

'Please don't mind,' said Taffy. 'It's only our secret-s'prise, Mummy dear, and we'll tell you all about it the very minute it's done; but please don't ask me what it is now, or else I'll have to tell.'

So her Mummy most carefully didn't; and bright and early next morning Tegumai went down to the river to think about new sound pictures, and when Taffy got up she saw Ya-las (water is ending or running out) chalked on the side of the big stone water-tank, outside the Cave.

'Um,' said Taffy. 'These picture-sounds are rather a bother! Daddy's just as good as come here himself and told me to get more water for Mummy to cook with.' She went to the spring at the back of the house and filled the tank from a bark bucket, and then she ran down to the river and pulled her Daddy's left ear--the one that belonged to her to pull when she was good.

'Now come along and we'll draw all the left-over sound-pictures,' said her Daddy, and they had a most inciting day of it, and a beautiful lunch in the middle, and two games of romps. When they came to T, Taffy said that as her name, and her Daddy's, and her Mummy's all began with that sound, they should draw a sort of family group of themselves holding hands. That was all very well to draw once or twice; but when it came to drawing it six or seven times, Taffy and Tegumai drew it scratchier and scratchier, till at last the T-sound was only a thin long Tegumai with his arms out to hold Taffy and Teshumai. You can see from these three pictures partly how it happened. (20, 21, 22.)

Many of the other pictures were much too beautiful to begin with, especially before lunch, but as they were drawn over and over again on birch-bark, they became plainer and easier, till at last even Tegumai said he could find no fault with them. They turned the hissy-snake the other way round for the Z-sound, to show it was hissing backwards in a soft and gentle way (23); and they just made a twiddle for E, because it came into the pictures so often (24); and they drew pictures of the sacred Beaver of the Tegumais for the B-sound (25, 26, 27, 28); and because it was a nasty, nosy noise, they just drew noses for the N-sound, till they were tired (29); and they drew a picture of the big lake-pike's mouth for the greedy Ga-sound (30); and they drew the pike's mouth again with a spear behind it for the scratchy, hurty Ka-sound (31); and they drew pictures of a little bit of the winding Wagai river for the nice windy-windy Wa-sound (32, 33); and so on and so forth and so following till they had done and drawn all the sound-pictures that they wanted, and there was the Alphabet, all complete.

And after thousands and thousands and thousands of years, and after Hieroglyphics and Demotics, and Nilotics, and Cryptics, and Cufics, and Runics, and Dorics, and Ionics, and all sorts of other ricks and tricks (because the Woons, and the Neguses, and the Akhoonds, and the Repositories of Tradition would never leave a good thing alone when they saw it), the fine old easy, understandable Alphabet--A, B, C, D, E, and the rest of 'em--got back into its proper shape again for all Best Beloveds to learn when they are old enough.

But I remember Tegumai Bopsulai, and Taffimai Metallumai and Teshumai Tewindrow, her dear Mummy, and all the days gone by. And it was so--just so--a little time ago--on the banks of the big Wagai!

OF all the Tribe of Tegumai Who cut that figure, none remain,-- On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry The silence and the sun remain.

But as the faithful years return And hearts unwounded sing again, Comes Taffy dancing through the fern To lead the Surrey spring again.

Her brows are bound with bracken-fronds, And golden elf-locks fly above; Her eyes are bright as diamonds And bluer than the skies above.

In mocassins and deer-skin cloak, Unfearing, free and fair she flits, And lights her little damp-wood smoke To show her Daddy where she flits.

For far--oh, very far behind, So far she cannot call to him, Comes Tegumai alone to find The daughter that was all to him.

title: User:Vuara/HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE


text:
User:Vuara/The Alphabet is Historic

"Aleph" is the first letter in the Phoenician alphabet, and corresponds to our "A".

Original images and Phoenician type font courtesy of S. George Khalaf, A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia (linked through The Perseus Project).

Date Created: 11/25/03 Historical reference maps for Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome Alphabet interactives: Phoenician, Greek Alphabet animations The Alphabet is Historic: The Phoenicians and the Beginnings of the Alphabet Lesson One of Curriculum Unit:

The Alphabet is Historic

Introduction

Our first lesson will be about the Phoenicians, who invented the alphabet inherited by the Greeks, Romans, and eventually, us.

Guiding Questions: Who were the Phoenicians and where did they live? When and why did they invent the alphabet? What did their alphabet look like? Can we see some early forms of our own letters in this very old alphabet?

Learning Objectives: After completing this lesson students will be able to: Describe the Phoenicians as a trading people who lived long ago on the shores of the Mediterranean. Understand that the Phoenicians invented the first form of our alphabet. Say why the alphabet was important for the Phoenicians. Compare some of the Phoenician letters to our letters. Write a short paragraph (with the teacher or alone) on a topic related to learning or using the Phoenician alphabet.

Preparing to teach the lesson: The Phoenician Alphabet

A short narrative description of the Phoenicians is included below. You could use it, together with the maps and illustrations provided, to introduce your students to the Phoenicians. In order to do the activities outlined here you will need to download or project the The Phoenician World and the The NEH Phoenician Alphabet Page.

Other useful maps may be found at A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia. Click on “The Phoenician World with Cities “ and "Phoenician Land and Sea Voyages". Images of Phoenician ships can be also be downloaded at this site.

Project or Show the map of the Mediterranean as you introduce the Phoenicians.

Historical Introduction: The Phoenicians were a trading people who came from the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Their two main cities were Sidon and Tyre. They had very wonderful ships, built with timber from Lebanon, and they traded in all sorts of good things: metals, cloth, purple dye, fine jewelry and craft work, salt, wine and olives, grain, and many other things. The Phoenicians were sailors and city dwellers, and as they grew more and more prosperous and populous they did not spread out into the land as other people might. Rather, they founded many new cities, or colonies, all around the Mediterranean Sea. Be sure to show your students that some of these colonies were as distant from Phoenicia as the southern coast of Spain. You could also point out Carthage, in North Africa. Carthage was the most famous of the Phoenician colonies. It became a very powerful city, and later on in time it became Rome's adversary in a battle for dominance over the western Mediterranean.

Two Activities based on the Phoenician Alphabet Phoenician Alphabet Activity: Speak about the Phoenicians' extensive trading all around the Mediterranean and show your students some pictures of the Phoenician ships. Now use your map to show the students Tyre and Athens, Greece. (We'll be using Athens again in the Greek part of the unit.) Ask the children to pretend that they are Phoenician merchants trading purple cloth from Tyre for olive oil from Athens. They are stationed at Athens, and they must stay there to continue with their business. But they must also report back to Tyre about how much they've sold and what new supplies they will need. How will they send the message? (Answer: They will have to send a letter, probably with the next ship.) Then ask the students if the Phoenician traders could write a letter if they didn't have an alphabet. Using the NEH Phoenician Alphabet page the teacher could show the students the Phoenician alphabet. S/he could say something like: "Three thousand years ago, when the ancient Phoenicians wrote letters, this is the alphabet they used." Do the children recognize any of the old Phoenician letters? Several are easy to recognize once you see that the form is slightly different from what we are used to. Point out that A and S, for instance, are nearly the same as they are now, except that they are lying sideways ["S" is the second to last letter of this alphabet]. Again, the teacher could show the students that O looks just the same now as it did three thousand years ago, and so does T. Encourage your students to draw further comparisons. (Ask about the letters in the “D” and “E” position, for instance. Do they look somewhat familiar?)

Congratulate the children on being able to identify letters that are about 3,000 years old and come from a different language! Let the children count the letters and copy some of the strange ones. They'll see that this first alphabet has fewer letters than ours, and they will notice many other differences.

You could talk with the class about how things change form and appearance as they develop. For instance, you could ask the children if they think that they will look the same when they are 12, or when they're grown up, as they do now. Just like people, the alphabet changes its appearance over time.

Possible assignments: Ask the children to write (or write with them) a short story or descriptive paragraph about a Phoenician child who is learning the alphabet. Alternatively, write with them, or ask them to write, the letter the Phoenicians traders wrote back to Tyre. They could tell about their success at Athens and request more things to sell. Assessment Activity: Conclude the lesson by asking the children to identify Phoenicia and the Mediterranean Sea on the map. Can the children trace the route from Tyre to Athens? Can they show the Phoenician colonies? Ask the children what sorts of things the Phoenicians loaded onto their boats to trade.

Finally, ask the children who invented the alphabet that would someday become our alphabet. Why would a trading people need an alphabet? Can they remember some of the letters the Phoenicians invented that we still use?

Extending the Lesson: If any of your students suggested that it might be just as easy to write with pictures, there are two wonderful Just So stories by Rudyard Kipling—through the EDSITEment-reviewed Internet Public Library—that show in a very amusing way why it is so important to have letters. They are called "How the First Letter was Written" and "How the First Alphabet was Made". They would also be available in any collection of Kipling's stories for children.

Just So

"How the First Letter was Written" and "How the First Alphabet was Made"

Perseus Project

A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia

The Phoenician World with Cities

"Phoenician Land and Sea Voyages

Images of Phoenician ships

title: User:Vuara/The Alphabet is Historic