Alphabet Evolution

October 7, 2003 5:44 AM

Alphabet Evolution
See the evolutionary progression of alphabets through time and cultures. Examples include Cuneiform, Phoenician, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, modern Cyrillic and the Latin character sets. The Latin is the best documented character set and requires a wide screen to see all the evolutionary events (especially Y and Z)
posted by Irontom (9 comments total)

Very cool. Thanks.

Wish there were a similar one there for han'gul, the Korean alphabet, which is one of my favorites, but still snazzy indeed.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:04 AM on October 7, 2003

The evolution of the alphabet RULES! Thanks Irontom!
posted by oissubke at 6:44 AM on October 7, 2003

fantastic link - thanks
posted by brettski at 7:06 AM on October 7, 2003

Bad. Ass.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:11 AM on October 7, 2003

Excellent, Irontom! I am saving these and scrolling through them frame by frame with Quicktime.
posted by carter at 7:18 AM on October 7, 2003

Nifty!
posted by widdershins at 8:03 AM on October 7, 2003

Groovy find, Irontom.

I hope Robert Fradkin finds time to include other scripts, too. Arabic script apparently drifted eastwards to influence Mongolian and Manchu. Arabic script was introduced into India and broke into more than a dozen scripts which then were brought to Burma and other Buddhist areas. Egyptian hieroglyphics were the basis of Semitic symbols. And yes, hangul should be there.
posted by philfromhavelock at 8:41 AM on October 7, 2003

I think it's incredible to watch a little drawing of a fish evolve into the letter "D".

[this is good]
posted by fuzz at 11:09 AM on October 7, 2003

Not as fancy, but a nice supplement:

Evolution of Chinese Characters
posted by linux at 2:07 PM on October 7, 2003