Changes

==Etymology==

==Etymology==

[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] alphabete, from Late [[Latin]] alphabetum,  from [[Greek]] alphabētos, from alpha + bēta beta

[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] alphabete, from Late [[Latin]] alphabetum,  from [[Greek]] alphabētos, from alpha + bēta beta

*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1513]

*Date: [https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1513]

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

1 a : a set of [[letters]] or other characters with which one or more [[languages]] are written especially if arranged in a customary order  

1 a : a set of [[letters]] or other characters with which one or more [[languages]] are written especially if arranged in a customary order  

:b : a [[system]] of [[signs]] or signals that serve as [[equivalents]] for [[letters]]

:b : a [[system]] of [[signs]] or signals that serve as [[equivalents]] for [[letters]]

==Description==

==Description==

An '''alphabet''' is a [[standardized]] set of [[letters]] — basic [[written]] [[symbols]] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphemes graphemes]  — each of which roughly [[represents]] a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme phoneme] in a [[spoken]] [[language]], either as it exists now or as it was in the [[past]]. There are other [[systems]], such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logograph logographies], in which each character [[represents]] a [[word]], morpheme, or semantic [[unit]], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabary syllabaries], in which each character [[represents]] a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllable syllable]. Alphabets are [[classified]] according to how they indicate vowels:

An '''alphabet''' is a [[standardized]] set of [[letters]] — basic [[written]] [[symbols]] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphemes graphemes]  — each of which roughly [[represents]] a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme phoneme] in a [[spoken]] [[language]], either as it exists now or as it was in the [[past]]. There are other [[systems]], such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logograph logographies], in which each character [[represents]] a [[word]], morpheme, or semantic [[unit]], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabary syllabaries], in which each character [[represents]] a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllable syllable]. Alphabets are [[classified]] according to how they indicate vowels:

* the same way as consonants, as in [[Greek]] (true alphabet)

* the same way as consonants, as in [[Greek]] (true alphabet)

* abbreviation of consonants, as in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari Hindi] (abugida)

* abbreviation of consonants, as in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari Hindi] (abugida)

* not at all, as in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet Phoenician] (abjad)

* not at all, as in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet Phoenician] (abjad)

The [[word]] "alphabet" came into [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] from the Late Latin word Alphabetum, which in turn [[originated]] in the Ancient Greek Αλφάβητος Alphabetos, from alpha and beta, the first two [[letters]] of the Greek alphabet. Alpha and beta in turn came from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet, and meant ox and house respectively. There are dozens of alphabets in use today, the most common being [[Latin]], deriving from the first true alphabet, [[Greek]]. Most of them are [[composed]] of lines ([[linear]] [[writing]]); notable exceptions are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille Braille], fingerspelling (Sign language), and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code Morse code].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet]

The [[word]] "alphabet" came into [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] from the Late Latin word Alphabetum, which in turn [[originated]] in the Ancient Greek Αλφάβητος Alphabetos, from alpha and beta, the first two [[letters]] of the Greek alphabet. Alpha and beta in turn came from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet, and meant ox and house respectively. There are dozens of alphabets in use today, the most common being [[Latin]], deriving from the first true alphabet, [[Greek]]. Most of them are [[composed]] of lines ([[linear]] [[writing]]); notable exceptions are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille Braille], fingerspelling (Sign language), and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code Morse code].[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet]

==Quote==

==Quote==

And all this explains how the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerians Sumerians] appeared so suddenly and [[mysteriously]] on the [[stage]] of [[action]] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia]. Investigators will never be able to trace out and follow these [[tribes]] back to the beginning of the Sumerians, who had their [[origin]] two hundred thousand years ago after the submergence of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_66#66:3._DALAMATIA.E2.80.94THE_CITY_OF_THE_PRINCE Dalamatia]. Without a trace of [[origin]] elsewhere in the world, these ancient [[tribes]] suddenly loom upon the [[horizon]] of [[civilization]] with a full-grown and superior [[culture]], [[embracing]] [[temples]], metalwork, [[agriculture]], animals, pottery, weaving, [[commercial]] [[law]], civil codes, [[religious]] [[ceremonial]], and an old [[system]] of [[writing]]. At the beginning of the [[historical]] era they had long since lost the ''alphabet'' of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_66#66:3._DALAMATIA.E2.80.94THE_CITY_OF_THE_PRINCE Dalamatia], having adopted the peculiar [[writing]] [[system]] originating in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun Dilmun]. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_lanugage Sumerian language], though virtually lost to the world, was not [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic Semitic]; it had much in common with the so-called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_languages Aryan tongues].[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_77#77:4._NODITE_CENTERS_OF_CIVILIZATION]

And all this explains how the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerians Sumerians] appeared so suddenly and [[mysteriously]] on the [[stage]] of [[action]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia]. Investigators will never be able to trace out and follow these [[tribes]] back to the beginning of the Sumerians, who had their [[origin]] two hundred thousand years ago after the submergence of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_66#66:3._DALAMATIA.E2.80.94THE_CITY_OF_THE_PRINCE Dalamatia]. Without a trace of [[origin]] elsewhere in the world, these ancient [[tribes]] suddenly loom upon the [[horizon]] of [[civilization]] with a full-grown and superior [[culture]], [[embracing]] [[temples]], metalwork, [[agriculture]], animals, pottery, weaving, [[commercial]] [[law]], civil codes, [[religious]] [[ceremonial]], and an old [[system]] of [[writing]]. At the beginning of the [[historical]] era they had long since lost the ''alphabet'' of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_66#66:3._DALAMATIA.E2.80.94THE_CITY_OF_THE_PRINCE Dalamatia], having adopted the peculiar [[writing]] [[system]] originating in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun Dilmun]. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_lanugage Sumerian language], though virtually lost to the world, was not [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic Semitic]; it had much in common with the so-called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_languages Aryan tongues].[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_77#77:4._NODITE_CENTERS_OF_CIVILIZATION]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]