Origins of Writing and Early Languages in the Middle East

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to the origins of writing, ancient scripts, and the relationships between languages in the Middle East.

Mesopotamia

Land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern Iraq and parts of Syria and Turkey); cradle of the first civilizations and of early writing (cuneiform).

Sumerians

An early Mesopotamian civilization known for developing one of the world’s first writing systems (cuneiform).

Cuneiform

One of the world’s first writing systems; wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets used in Mesopotamia and Sumeria .

•   Meso (meaning middle) and Potamos (meaning river)

• Mesopotamia was the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which is modern-day Iraq, parts of Syria, and Turkey

•   Mesopotamia is where some of the first cities and writing systems were created  

Rosetta Stone

Ancient stone inscribed in Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphic texts that helped researchers decode Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphics

Ancient Egyptian sacred writing using pictures and symbols; carved on temple walls and written on scrolls.

• Comes from Greek meaning “sacred carvings”. Hieros (sacred) and glyphe (carving)

• Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics to write on Temple Walls, tombs, and Scrolls. Their writing used pictures and symbols to stand for words or sounds 

• EX: The Rosetta Stone helped understand the ancient hieroglyphics

Phoenician Alphabet

• Named after the Phoenicians, an ancient people who lived in the region that is now Lebanon and parts of Syria and Israel.

• Phoinikes (purple people): purple dye from snails,  valuable during trade

• It was one of the first alphabetic systems where each symbol (or letter) represented a sound, making it easier to write than older systems

• Origins of modern languages

Alphabet

A writing system where symbols represent individual sounds; easier to learn and adapt than logographic systems.

Aramaic

• Aram, the name of an ancient region in the Near East. Located in what is now Syria, Turkey, and parts of Iraq

• Semitic language that became widely spoken across the Near East starting around the 10^th century BCE, especially after the Assyrian Empire and later the Babylonian Empire.  It was the Lingua Franca (common language) of much of the ancient world for many centuries. Has a huge influence on both Hebrew and Arabic

Syriac

An ancient Aramaic-based language used in Christian communities; later supplanted by Arabic but still used liturgically in some churches

  It's not widely spoken today:

• considered “liturgical” and “historical” language now

• “Arabic replaced it over time” – After the spread of Islam in the 7^th century, Arabic slowly became the common language for government, religion, and everyday use

• “Modern focus is on currently spoken languages” – major languages only include languages spoken by millions today (Syriac doesn’t cut it)

Hebrew

Language of the Old Testament; closely related to Aramaic; uses a square script derived from Aramaic/Phoenician; triliteral root system.

Biblical Hebrew

Form of Hebrew used in the Old Testament; features triliteral roots and pattern-based word formation; vowels added later by Masoretes.

Paleo-Hebrew

Older Hebrew script similar to Phoenician; a precursor to the later square Hebrew script.

Language and Culture

Language is a key component of culture; it enables sharing ideas, history, trade, religion, and knowledge across generations.

Writing as a form of Legacy

  Being able to write gave a person a position in religion and governmental positions, giving them power and knowledge

Lingua Franca

The common language of a time period