The Latin alphabet is also called the Latin alphabet, the Latin language is called Latin. The phrase “write in Cyrillic” means writing using Russian letters, the phrase “writing in Latin” generally means writing using English letters.

Popular alphabets:

• Morse code (Morse code or "Morse code");
• Braille alphabet (alphabet for visually impaired and blind or Braille alphabet);
• the Gestuno alphabet (the alphabet of the deaf and dumb or the dactyl alphabet);
• semaphore alphabet.

Today it is difficult to imagine the life of mankind without the alphabet. However, it was not there for a long time. It is interesting to look at the origins of the origin of the first alphabets, to understand the idea of ​​their creation, the first experience of using them.

The emergence of the alphabet

With the development of Homo sapiens, an urgent need arose to develop a unified way of transmitting history, advice and traditions from generation to generation. Initially, drawings and oral speech were used to solve this problem. The carriers of information were people who passed on their knowledge to generations through speech. However, this method was ineffective. The accumulation of knowledge, the change in speech concepts and the subjective perception of oral data transmission led to inaccuracies and the loss of many important aspects of history. Therefore, humanity faced the need to develop a unified system for the transfer of accumulated knowledge.

Northern Syria is considered the ancestor of the alphabet, the creation of the alphabet marked the beginning of the development of writing. Egypt is called the ancestor of writing, but those used in the XXVII century BC. Egyptian hieroglyphs cannot be considered an alphabet in the sense we are accustomed to. Over time, the alphabet developed, changed by different peoples, new systems and letters were developed.

The very word "alphabet" ancient history, the word appeared after the appearance of the first alphabet only 700 years later. The word "alphabet" in its usual sound appeared in the Phoenician alphabet by combining its first two letters into one word.

International alphabet

There is an international alphabet developed in 1956 by ICAO. This is the phonetic alphabet adopted for use by most international organizations, including NATO. The basis for its creation was the English language. The alphabet includes letters and numbers with a fixed sound. In fact, the international alphabet is a set of sound signals. The alphabet is used for radio communications, transmission of digital codes, military signals and identification names.

Popular alphabets

Each language has its own alphabet: English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian and others. English language considered to be international, it is studied in educational institutions, it is used at international conferences, negotiations are conducted at it, it is often installed by default in computer programs and information systems. Most of the languages ​​are a branch of the Latin language, therefore, in the fields of science and medicine, Latin is the undisputed leader.

Alphabet, from the names of the first 2 letters of the Greek. alphabet - "alpha" and "beta"; a system of written signs-letters that displays and fixes the sound structure of the language and is the basis of writing.

The alphabet includes:

1. letters in their basic styles, arranged in a certain sequence;
2. in some alphabets, diacritics or diacritical letters that indicate signs of sound or change the reading of a letter;
3. names of letters and signs (Church Slav. "az", "beeches", "er"), usually containing the designated sounds or their signs in writing and pronunciation.

The number of letters of the alphabet roughly corresponds to the number of phonemes of the language (20–80), but alphabets, as a rule, only approximately reflect the phonetic system of the language, since the language changes over time, and the composition of written works expands and enriches due to multi-dialect and foreign texts, while the structure of the alphabet remains unchanged.

A developed system of letter writing, in addition to the alphabet, includes:

• graphics - a set of techniques for displaying sounds in writing;
• spelling - a set of rules for writing words;
• punctuation - a set of rules for the division of written speech and the design of a written text through punctuation marks.

Types of the alphabet

Depending on the method of naming sounds, alphabets are divided into

• consonant,
• vocal and
• neosyllabic.

The letters of the consonant alphabets (Phenic, Hebrew, Arabic) denote consonant sounds or syllables with an indefinite outcome, vowel sounds are transmitted in writing through the so-called. reading mothers (matres lectionis) - letters denoting semi-vowels or aspirated sounds - or diacritics.

The letters of the vocal alphabets denote consonants and vowels (Greek a, b, g; Russian a, b, c, d), sometimes individual syllables (Russian e, u, z), thereby obtaining a clearly distinguishable sound value in writing .

The letters of the neosyllabic alphabets (Ind. Devanagari, Ethiopian) denote syllables of the same composition with an outcome in a vowel, initial vowels, vowel length, vowels; neosyllabic ind. alphabets are distinguished by a special matrix construction, in which the arrangement of sounds reflects the ratio of the distinguishing features of phonemes. The letters of a number of alphabets have a numerical value.

The emergence of alphabetic writing

Alphabetical writing arose at the intersection of ancient written cultures: Egypt. hieroglyphics (early III millennium BC), Sumero-Akkadian. cuneiform (early III millennium BC), Cretan-Mycenaean (Aegean) hieroglyphics (early II millennium BC - not deciphered) and syllabic writing (1st half II millennium BC AD), which has been in use since about the 15th century. BC. for ancient Greek language (the so-called linear B), Hittite cuneiform (XVIII-XIII centuries BC) and hieroglyphics (XVI century BC) in the era of migrations and migrations of peoples - the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (-1200 BC), the destruction of Troy and the Hittite kingdom (c. 1200 BC), the invasion of Canaan and Egypt by the “peoples of the sea”, the settlement of the tribes of Israel in Palestine.

Ideographic writing contains determinative signs (designation of concepts) and the so-called. phonetic complements with syllabic or sound meaning; in Egyptian writing there are 23 signs with a sound value, which can be considered as the initial prototype of the alphabet. The creators of the first alphabets used the phonetic components of the ideographic writing (Egyptian and Akkadian), but rejected the ideographic and logographic signs associated with the religious and ideological representations of Egypt, Mesopotamia or Crete and with specific languages. Thus, alphabetic writing became a universal tool for fixing any language and began the rapid spread of writing among the peoples of Asia, Europe and Africa.

Among the West Semitic peoples, the alphabetic writing (Canaanite-Aramic group of Semitic languages) developed in the space from the North. Lebanon to the Sinai Peninsula in the 2nd half. II millennium BC The oldest cuneiform alphabet of Ugarit (the Mediterranean coast of Syria) dates back to the 13th century. BC. ; it contains 30 (later 22) characters denoting a Semite. consonants, the order of which is reproduced in subsequent alphabets, but the outline of the Ugaritic cuneiform letters does not correspond to the signs of other Semites. alphabets. Monuments of the syllabic writing of Byblos (XV century BC), Sinai-Palestine. letters of the middle - 2nd half. II millennium BC presumably associated with the tribes of the Philistines, who settled in the XIII-XI centuries. BC. a number of areas of Canaan. The oldest monuments of the South Semites date back to approximately the same time. letters from Arabia and Sinai. Canaanite, or phoenix, alphabet (22 letters), the first monuments of which date back to the 12th century. BC. , is considered the ancestor of Greek and Aramaic writing.

Eastern alphabets

Aram. a language that was used as an international language as far back as the Assyrians. period from the 6th century BC. became the official language of Achaemenid Persia and spread from Egypt to the North-West. India. Directly from the old-timers. alphabets were formed Persian-Aram. (VI century BC) and Nabataean letter (II century BC), ind. A. - Indo-Bactrian Kharoshthi (mid-III century BC) and Brahmi (III century BC). These alphabets became the ancestors of the script families.

Heb. square writing (merubba) from the 4th century. BC. became the main alphabet of the Holy. Scriptures, but part of the books of the Old Testament (Gen. 31.47; Jeremiah 10; Ezra 4.8-18; 7.12-26, etc.) in biblical-aram. dialect was written in the Old Canaanite script in the 8th-7th centuries. BC. The Old Canaanite letter, represented by the “Dead Sea monuments” (II century BC - century A.D.) in the Paleoev. variant, gradually developed into the so-called. rabbinic (-4th century A.D.) letter of the Talmud and into the Middle Ages. heb. cursive, and then in modern. Hebrew letter.

The Indian Brahmi alphabet is based on Aram. letters, but, obviously, under the influence of ancient Greek. letters with its consecutive vowel notation. The earliest Brahmi monuments date from the 3rd century BC. BC. (the reign of Ashoka, the spread of Buddhism), the Brahmi script is the oldest Indian script for Indo-European. language (Prakrit dialects). Brahmi and the script derived from it fell in the 1st century BC. BC. in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Buddhist canon (tripitaka) was written down, which marked the beginning of the formation of the written literature of India. The Vedic texts were written down in the A.D.C. According to R. Kh., Brahmanism developed in India and the main body of Hindu written literature (Vedas, Upanishads, epic poems) took shape. In c. the Gupta alphabet, more perfect and adapted for classical Sanskrit, spreads along the R. Kh. On the gupta and the nagari that developed from it in the 7th-8th centuries. written classical Indian literature. The subsequent development of Nagari is the Devanagari (“divine urban”, XIII) century alphabet, on the basis of which the later scripts of India were formed.

The Nabataean script was used until c. according to R. Kh. and presented by Christ. epigraphic monuments. It underlies the Arab. A. (-VII) centuries, which took shape in the letter of the Koran and Islam. literature. With the spread of Islam, the Arab the letter supplanted the writing and literature of Syria, Mesopotamia, Iran, Bactria, Sev. India, Egypt, Libya, Nubia. Derived from Arabic. A. Writing systems are used by the languages ​​Urdu, Farsi (modern Persian), Ottoman Tur. (to) and a number of others.

From South Arabian writing, which obviously arose very early, and is represented by the monuments of Yemen until the 7th century A.D., in - cc. according to R. Kh., the Ethiopian developed. syllabic alphabet. B - cc. in the Aksumite kingdom with the adoption of Christianity and the translation into the Geez language of the Holy. Ethiopian scriptures and liturgical literature. alphabet under the influence of Greek. letters has been significantly improved and, with some modifications, has been used to this day. time for the Amharic, Tigre and Tigrinya languages.

The writing of the Syrian kingdom of Palmyra (Tadmor) II century. BC. - III century. according to R. Kh. in aram. basis has played a significant role in the history of Eastern Christianity. At the beginning of the III century. according to R. Kh., a sir was created in Edessa. translation of the Holy Scriptures, for which the estrangelo alphabet was developed. Sir. Christ. Literature developed successfully until the 8th and even the 13th century. according to R. Kh. In the 1st floor. in. East-Sir was formed. "Nestorian" writing, which spread in Asia as far as Tibet, China and India.

Alphabet based on Greek script

Under the influence of the Phoenician letter in the –VIII centuries. BC. formed vocal Greek. and consonant aram. alphabet. In Greek. the letter developed the designation of vowel sounds, and the outline of the characters of the alphabet is represented by 2 options - east. (Hellas, M. Asia) and zap. (Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, the Mediterranean coast of modern France and Spain). K-V centuries. BC. east variant of the archaic Greek letters were transformed into classical Greek. a letter that developed in - centuries. according to R. Kh. in Byzantium. letter. In the century according to R. Kh. on the basis of the Greek. a cop was created. alphabet. All R. in. ep. Wulfil was created by a Goth. letter for the translation of the books of St. Scriptures and liturgical texts using Greek. letters and digraphs to designate specific germs. sounds. In con. in. ep. Mesrop Mashtots invented the arm. alphabet, which underlies the Armenian. liturgical and lit. language (grabar). In the beginning. in. cargo has been formed. alphabet.

Alphabet based on Latin script

From Western Greek alphabet developed Etruscan (7th century BC), lat. (VII century BC) letter and other Italian alphabets. Classical lat. writing was formed in the 3rd century. BC. Based on lat. alphabet, the writings of the peoples of the Zap were formed. Europe: Germanic runes (-III centuries AD), Irish (ogamic - c., Latin - end.) c., English (VII) c., French () c., Italian () c., Sardinian () c., Portuguese (XII) c., Polish (XVI) c. etc. The peculiarity of the formation of new scripts based on lat. alphabet lies in their transcriptional character: lat. the alphabet retains its composition and sound meanings of letters, and is used to record texts of predominantly secular content. At the same time, lit. bilingualism: St. Scripture, liturgical, theological, scientific literature were preserved until the Reformation in lat. language, and secular literature, partly homiletics and business writing - in the vernacular.

Slavic alphabets

There are examples of the interpretation of the initial letters of her name: “Mater Alma Redemptoris, Incentivum Amoris”, “Maria Advocata Renatorum, Imperatrix Angelorum” (Mary, Intercessor for the Reborn, Ruler of Angels) and others (Barndenhewer O. Der Name Marias. 1895. S. 97ff). The 1420 manuscript contains a common interpretation: "Mediatrix, Auxiliatrix, Reparatrix, Imperatrix, Amatrix" (Mediator, Helper, Regenerator, Ruler, Loving).

The alphabet is one of the possible principles for organizing hymnographic material (see Acrostic). The full set of letters of the alphabet in the acrostic and their strict order symbolize the hymnographer's striving for perfection (in the OT: Ps 9; 10; 119; 142, etc. Lamentations 1-4). From Sir. and Byzantium. the writers of chants to the Old Testament examples were Saints Methodius of Olympus, Gregory the Theologian, Romanus the Melodist, John of Damascus; from lat. anthemists - Hilary of Pictavius ​​("Ante saecula"), Sedulius ("A solis ortus cardine"), Venantius Fortunatus (Hymnus de Leontio episcopo "Agnoscat").

The mystical interpretation of letters underlies the "magic" letter square-palindrome "Sator Arepo" ("ROTAS-formula"), which was written in Latin. or Greek. letters and when reading from left to right, from right to left, from top to bottom and from bottom to top, one and the same phrase was obtained: “Sator arepo tenet opera rotas”, “the sower Arepo holds the wheels with difficulty”.

The early use of this formula, dating back to 63, is evidenced by its discovery in Pompeii (2 graffiti) (for a list of places of early finds of the formula, see: Din-kler). Among the many attempts to explain the symbolism of these letters is the Christological interpretation of "Sator Arepo", in which the square is reduced to the cross "Pater Noster" with the center in the letter N and double AO (Grosser F. Ein neuer Vorschlag zur Deutung der Sator-Formel / / ARW 1926, Bd 24, pp. 165–169).

This letter square is widely used in Cyrillic transliteration in slav. (especially Russian) handwritten tradition -XIX centuries. and in popular prints of the 18th-19th centuries. titled "The Seals of the Wise King Solomon" or "The Seals of King Leo the Wise". Senior Russian. list, dated between and years. (The Explanatory Psalter with additional articles, rewritten in the Vologda Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery - YIAMZ. No. 15231). Later lists are very numerous, especially from the 17th century. Senior Yugoslav. (Serb.) the list was found in handwritten postscripts of the 17th century. to the edition of the New Testament with the Psalter (Ostrog, 1580). It is possible that an error in the 3rd word (“tepot” instead of “snare”) of the most ancient Rus. the list and a number of younger ones reflect the influence of the Glagolitic original (“n” and “p”, “e” and “o” have similar styles in the Glagolitic); if this assumption is true, the appearance of the "ROTAS-formula" in glories. writing should be attributed to a time no later than c. (later on, the monument was obviously transliterated more than once).

In the senior Russian the list (and a number of younger ones) the content of the “magic square” (“Seal of Solomon”) is interpreted as a symbolic designation of the nails driven into the hands and feet of the Savior during the crucifixion. In the lists of the XVII-XIX centuries. there is a recommendation to use the text "ROTAS-formulas" as a prayer from the bite of a rabid dog. In the lists of the XVIII-XIX centuries. and contemporary lubok engraving, the text is “deciphered” as an acrostic verse about the creation of the world and man, the global flood, the coming of the Savior into the world and His crucifixion, known in several. options. In manuscripts, the drawing of the "Seal of Solomon" is placed with the calendar-Easter texts in the following Psalms, Charters, calendars, "Circles of Peace", medical books and collections.

A famous example of religion symbols of letters in lat. In the West, there are meditation crosses, on which letters are inscribed with no apparent meaning. Eg. in the Cross of Zechariah, which, according to legend, was opened to the fathers of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) during the plague (HWDA 9. 875), (ill.) the letters represent the beginnings of lat. prayers: Z - "Zelus domus tuae liberet me" (Zealous of your house, set me free); D - "Deus meus expellet pestem" (My God, may the plague be driven away). Here you can also name the “Cross of blessing” (Benediсtus), the first letters of which should have the meaning: “Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux / Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux” (Holy Cross be my light, let the dragon not be my driver) (HWDA 1 .1035). The magic formula "Ananisapta" was originally, apparently, a prayer-spell against the plague: "Antidotum Nazareni auferat necem intoxicationis, sanctificet alimenta poculaque trinitas, Amen" (May the Nazarene's antidote take away death from poison, May the Trinity sanctify food and drink. Amen) (HWDA 1.395).

In glory. medieval alphabetic cryptograms, usually dedicated to the praise of the Cross, are placed on the crosses (regardless of the technique of their execution) or near their images, both independent and crowning the composition of headpieces in handwritten and early printed books; hence their name - "cross (or cross) words." The most developed and complex cryptograms of this kind are placed in Serb. manuscripts of the 14th-16th centuries. (for example, in the Gospel Tetrs of 1372 - Vienna. National Library. Slav. 52. L. 69) and Venetian editions of the 16th century. printing houses of the Vukovichi (starting with the Prayer Book of 1536 with an engraving on L. 214v.), as well as on Old Believer cast crosses and folds of the 18th-19th centuries. (in some cases, Cyrillic transliteration of similar Greek cryptograms is possible for Serbian monuments of the XIV century). At least from the 2nd floor. in. in Russian manuscripts contain (interpretations) of the deciphering of the “words of the cross” (RGADA Typ. No. 387. L. 197 rev.-198, 90s).

Judaism

The Jewish doctrine of the symbolic meaning of letters was influenced by the idea of ​​the pre-existence of the letters of Heb. alphabets that God used in the creation of the world and the creation of the Torah. Each letter of the alphabet, according to these ideas, has its own secret and symbolic meaning, by unraveling which one can penetrate the secrets of creation and the Torah. This meaning is revealed in the external form of letters, in the peculiarities of their pronunciation, combinations of letters and their numerical value. The earliest Jewish texts that reflect this view are midrashim from the Amoraic period. Examples of symbolic interpretation of some Heb. letters are given in the treatise "Genesis Rabbah", the earliest collection of midrashim to the book. Genesis (-3rd century A.D.). In the interpretation of Genesis 2. 4 (“when they were created”; in the Jewish editions of the Torah), the graphic outline of Heb. the letter (hey), open at the bottom and at the top left, is understood as an indication that evil people will be cast into hell, and for the few pious there is an opportunity to be saved (Genesis Rabba. 12. 10). The pronunciation of the letter “hey” is here considered as a sign that God created the world without difficulty, since “hey” is pronounced without tension - it is just a light exhalation (Genesis Rabbah. 12. 12). In the interpretation of Is. 26. 4 (“for the Lord God is an eternal stronghold”) the combination of the letters “Hey” and “Yod” is an indication of the existence of 2 worlds - this world and the world to come - while this world was created by the letter “Hey”, and the coming one - with the help of "iodine" (Jerus. Talmud, Hagaga 2. 77c, 45; Peshikta Rabbati 21; Midrash Tehillim 114 § 3; Babyl. Talmud Menachot 29).

In the introductory part of the treatise "Gereshit Rabbah" there is a question why God chose the letter "bet" (the 2nd letter of Heb. A., with which the first word of the Heb. Bible - "Gereshit" (In the beginning)) begins with it Toru. To this question, the Midrash on Genesis 1.1 gives several Answers: God preferred to create the world with the help of the letter "bet", because it symbolizes blessing, because Heb. begins with this letter. the word "blessing" (beraha), while from the first letter (aleph) - the word "curse" (arira) (Genesis Rabbah 1.10); in its graphic design, “bet” is open on the one hand, this was interpreted as an indication that one cannot ask what is above or below the earth, what happened before the creation of the world and will happen in the future (Genesis Rabbah 1.10); the numerical value of "bet" - 2, was also interpreted, which indicated the existence of 2 worlds - this world and the world to come (Genesis Rabbah 1.10).

A more systematic exposition of the Middle Ages. Jewish speculations about the graphic design of letters and their secret symbolic meaning are contained in the collections of midrash, known as the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva. One of his editions (A) offers midrashim collected in a free associative connection to consonants and vowels that make up the name of individual Heb letters. alphabet. Eg. the name of the letter "alef" consists of the letters "alef", "lamed" and "pe"; in accordance with this, the next series of aggadic utterances is introduced by biblical and other sayings, which in turn begin with the letters aleph, lamed, and ne. Dr. the edition of the "Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva" (B), on the contrary, contains midrashim starting with letters in reverse alphabetical order: each letter of the alphabet is first of all the last letter of Heb. alphabet "tav" - approaches God and asks that He use it first in the creation of the world and begin, therefore, with her the text of the Torah. But God refuses all letters until the letter "bet" fits. All arguments in this dispute of letters are built on free association with the names of Heb. letters. In addition to the "Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva" there are a number of other texts containing arguments about the allegorical and symbolic meaning of Heb. letters. Eg. "shin" means false, and "tav" means truth. The fact that the letters of the word "sheker" (lie) in Heb. alphabet are not far from each other, and the words "emet" (truth) are quite far away, it is interpreted that falsehood is common, and the truth, on the contrary, is rare (Vabil. Talmud, Shabbat 104a).

Significant distribution in Jude. exegesis received a gematric interpretation, examples of which are already given in the code of hermeneutic rules of Eliezer ben José the Galilean (ca. AD). An example of numerical gematria is seen in the story of Abraham's victory at the head of a detachment of 318 armed servants over 4 east. kings, while the name of Eliezer's servant is understood as an indication of the number of servants, since the numerical value of the letters that make up his name adds up to 318. An example of letter gematria is found by the interpreter in Jer. 51.1, where Babylonia is named (in the synodal translation: "My adversaries"). If the letters that make up this word are replaced with paired ones, based on the rule: the first is replaced by the last, the second from the beginning - by the second from the end, the third - by the third from the end, etc., then the word (Chaldea) will be obtained. In midrashim, and later in Kabbalistic literature, the total numerical values ​​of the letters of a certain word were interpreted as indicating a secret relationship between various words in the Torah.

A complex form of letter symbolism is proposed in Jude. the book "Sefer Yetzirah" (Book of Creation, see Tantlevsky. S. 286-298) - a small text dating from to the VIII centuries. In the 2nd part of "Sefer Yetzirah" the letters of the alphabet are divided into 3 groups: 3 "mothers" (letters "Aleph", "Mem" and "Shin"), 7 doubled ones ("Bet", "Gimel", "Dalet", “kaf”, “pe”, “resh”, “tav”), as well as 12 simple ones - the rest of the letters of the “Mother” alphabet are symbols of the 3 primary elements that underlie everything that exists, - the dumb letter “mem” symbolizes water in which dumb fish live; the hissing "shin" corresponds to the hissing fire and the airy "aleph" represents (spirit, air). According to the cosmogony of the Sefer Yetzirah, the first emanation of the Spirit of God was that which produced fire, from which in turn came water. These 3 basic substances exist potentially and only come into actual existence through the 3 "mothers". The cosmos, which arose from these 3 basic elements, consists of 3 parts: the world, the year (or time) and man. Each of these parts contains all 3 primary elements. Water formed the earth, from fire came the sky, the spirit produced the air between heaven and earth. 3 seasons - winter, summer and rainy period - correspond to water, fire and spirit. Man also consists of a head (corresponding to fire), a body (represented by the spirit), and other parts of the body (corresponding to water). 7 double letters produced 7 planets in continuous motion, now approaching the Earth, then moving away from it, which is justified by the soft or hard pronunciation of double letters, 7 days changing in time according to their relation to the planets, 7 holes in a person connecting him with the world, as a result of which its organs are subordinate to the planets. 12 simple letters created 12 signs of the zodiac, they belong to 12 months in time and 12 "leaders" in a person (arms, legs, kidneys, bile, entrails, stomach, liver, pancreas and spleen), which are subordinate to the signs of the zodiac. Along with this schematic theory, the book points out various methods of combining and replacing letters to form new words that name new phenomena. In Kabbalistic literature there are several. methods of interpretation, with the help of which the principles of interpretation first mentioned in the Sefer Yetzirah are developed, e.g. Kabbalistic authors began to rearrange the letters of the tetragram, greatly developing the idea that God revealed Himself in language. The Heb. mystics of the thirteenth century. in Yuzh. France.

Islam

Ibn al-Arabi (-), al-Buni (d.), al-Dairabi (d.), al-Ghazali (-) and others wrote about the mysticism of letters and magical manipulations with them (Dornseiff. Das Alphabet. S. 142; Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabis-chen Literatur, Weimar, 1898, Bd. 1. S. 426, 446, 497; Bd. 2. S. 323). 7 letters that were missing in the first sura of the Qur'an were interpreted as especially holy and correlated with 7 especially important names of God, days of the week and planets (Dornseiff. Das Alphabet. S. 142-143). The idea of ​​the symbolic meaning of the letters of the alphabet developed primarily among the Hurufis (Birge; Schimmel). According to the teachings of the Hurufis, God reveals Himself in human face, because the name of God Allah was written on the face of a person, especially the founder of the Fadl Allah sect from Asterabad: the letter “alif” forms the nose, the wings of the nose are two “lams”, the eyes form the letter “ha”. With the help of this symbolism, the Hurufis express a special relationship between God and man. In other, especially mystical, directions of Islam, the “science of letters” (Arab. Ilm alkhuruf) was used, according to which 28 letters are Arabic. alphabets were divided into 4 groups of 7 letters, each group was subordinated to one of the 4 elements (fire, air, water, earth). In connection with the numerical value of the letters of the word, especially the names of God, could be interpreted mantically. At the same time, the assessment of the Arab plays a significant role. language as the language of revelation of Allah and Arabic. letters as the letters on which the Qur'an was written.

Literature

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Used materials

• Article from the second volume of the "Orthodox Encyclopedia"

The appearance of alphabets was a true breakthrough compared to other types of writing. Pictographic writing, built on images of specific objects, is too complex, not always clear, and cannot convey either grammatical rules or text structure. Ideographic writing is no less complex, where signs denote concepts. For example, the number of hieroglyphs was in the thousands! No wonder the scribe was a respected person in ancient Egypt.

There are much fewer sounds in any language than there are words, concepts, and even syllables. By inventing signs for individual sounds, it was possible to create a writing system that would capture speech accurately and at the same time be quite easy to learn. Writing to a certain extent ceased to be "the privilege of the elite" and turned into a convenient "working tool".

The emergence of alphabets

The first prototype of the alphabet appeared in Ancient Egypt. The system of hieroglyphs did not allow to designate word changes, as well as foreign words. For this, around 2700 BC. developed a set of hieroglyphs denoting consonant sounds, there were 22 of them. However, this could not be called a full-fledged alphabet, it occupied a subordinate position.

Semitic became the first true alphabet. It was developed on the basis of ancient Egyptian writing by the Semites living in this country, and brought to Canaan - to the west of the Fertile Crescent. Here the Semitic alphabet was adopted by the Phoenicians.

Phoenicia was located at the crossroads of trade routes, which contributed to the spread of the Phoenician alphabet in the Mediterranean. His "descendants" were the Aramaic and Greek alphabets.

The Aramaic alphabet gave rise to the modern Hebrew, Arabic and Indian alphabets. The descendants of the Greek alphabet are the Latin, Slavic, Armenian and some other alphabets that are not in use today.

Types of alphabets

Alphabets are divided into consonant, consonant-vocal and syllabic. The latter, in which signs denote not sounds, but syllables, are classified as alphabets with a large degree of conventionality, they occupy an intermediate position between ideographic writing and alphabets proper. Such was the Sumerian cuneiform, Mayan writing. At present, logographic Chinese has features of a syllabary.

In consonantal alphabets, there are signs only to designate consonant sounds, and vowels have to be "thought out" by the reader. Contemporaries coped with this without any problems, but it is not easy for modern scientists deciphering ancient writings. Such was, for example, the Phoenician alphabet and many other systems of the Ancient World.

Consonant-vocal alphabets have signs for both consonants and vowels. The first alphabet of this kind was Greek, and so are its descendants - Latin and Slavic.

The number of characters varies from alphabet to alphabet. To date, the “record holders” are the alphabet of the Khmer language (the main language of Cambodia) and the alphabet of the Rotokas language, which is spoken on one of the islands in Papua New Guinea. The Khmer alphabet contains 72 characters, while the Rotokas alphabet contains only 12.

Modern scientists consider writing to be one of the characteristic features of civilization. The ancients considered it a divine gift. One way or another, but it was writing that became an important step in the transfer of accumulated experience. In our review of 10 ancient writing systems. Some are still used today, while other scientists have not been able to decipher to the end.

1. Braille

This is the only tactile writing system on this list. Braille was invented in 1821 by a blind Frenchman, Louis Braille, who was inspired by "night writing", a raised dot code used by the French military. Up to this point, Braille had been able to read books with raised letters, but he also wanted to write books. As a result, Braille invented his own writing system, which used only six dots to display a letter (in "night writing" they used 12 dots). During Braille's lifetime, this system did not gain much popularity, but after his death it turned into a means of written communication for the blind and visually impaired. Today, Braille has been adapted to a huge number of languages ​​around the world.

2. Cyrillic

In the 9th century AD, the Greek brothers Methodius and Cyril invented two alphabets, Glagolitic and Cyrillic, as a writing system for Old Church Slavonic. Cyrillic, which was based on the Glagolitic and Greek alphabet, eventually became the system of choice for writing the Slavic languages. Cyrillic is used today in the writing of many Slavic languages ​​(Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Belarusian and Serbian), as well as a number of non-Slavic languages ​​that fell under the influence of the Soviet Union. Throughout history, Cyrillic has been adapted to write more than 50 languages.

3. Cuneiform

Cuneiform is known as the earliest known writing system in the world. It first appeared in the 34th century BC. the Sumerians (who lived in the territory of modern southern Iraq). Cuneiform was adapted to record several languages ​​(including Akkadian, Hittite and Hurrian), and later the Ugaritic and Old Persian alphabets were made on its basis. For more than 3,000 years, cuneiform was very common in the Middle East, but gradually it was replaced by the Aramaic alphabet. Finally cuneiform disappeared in 100 AD.

4. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs are believed to have developed shortly after Sumerian cuneiform, around 3200 BC. Along with the well-known hieroglyphs, there are two other ancient Egyptian writing systems: hieratic (used mainly for religious purposes) and vernacular (for most other purposes). This writing system served as inspiration for the creation of the first alphabet.

5. Chinese writing

Chinese writing is known not only for being used by a huge number of people, but also for being one of the oldest continuously used writing systems in the world. It originated in the 2nd millennium BC and is used to this day. Initially, the symbols were pictograms, in which there was a resemblance to what the symbol stood for. Each pictogram represented a whole word. Chinese characters have been adapted for other languages ​​due to China's huge influence in East Asia. Chinese characters were adopted by the Koreans and Japanese (the meaning of the characters), as well as the Vietnamese (the sound or meaning of the characters). In the 20th century, Chinese writing was divided into two main forms: traditional and simplified in order to improve the literacy rate in the country.

6. Brahmi

Numerous writing systems in use in South Asia are derived from the Brahmi. Over the next millennium, Brahmi was divided into dozens of regional systems, which began to be associated with the languages ​​of the respective regions. The southern group of these scripts spread throughout Southeast Asia, while the northern group spread to Tibet. Today, the Brahmi script is used in many Asian countries (especially India) and is also used for religious purposes in areas where Buddhism is prevalent.

7. Arabic script

Due to the large number of people who speak Arabic, as well as the widespread use of Islam, the Arabic alphabet has become the second most used alphabet in the world. The Arabic script is used mainly in North Africa, Western and Central Asia. The alphabet originated around 400 AD. (200 years before the emergence of Islam), but the spread of Islam and the writing of the Koran led to major changes in the Arabic writing system.

The Greek alphabet was a huge step forward in the development of alphabets, especially since the vowels were singled out for the first time. The Greek alphabet has existed since 800 BC. until today, and over its long history it has been used to write Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Gaulish and Albanian. Greek writing was tried to be used in Mycenaean Greece, but the Greek alphabet was the first successful attempt, which was already implemented in Ancient Greece. The Greek alphabet had a huge impact on other writing systems, it was on its basis that the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets arose.

The Latin alphabet is the most widely used alphabet ever. The Latin alphabet, which appeared as a variant of the Greek alphabet around 700 BC, quickly spread first in Europe and then throughout the world. Following the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Latin alphabet spread to Western Europe, and then, with the spread of Christianity in the Middle Ages, to Central and Northern Europe. Some Slavic languages ​​also began to use this alphabet with the adoption of Catholicism. European colonization then brought the Latin alphabet with it to the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and Asia.

9. Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician writing

The Proto-Sinaitic script was the first alphabet, and therefore it is in fact the parent of almost all alphabetic writing systems that have appeared after it. It originated in Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula around 1900 BC. and was inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs. Phoenician writing is a direct descendant of Proto-Sinaitic and differs little from it. It was widely distributed by Phoenician merchants throughout the Mediterranean, and came to be used as the alphabet of several languages.

People have always sought to know the secret. , which set out complex and mysterious rituals, is the key to communicating with the other world. True, many of these books, no one could read it.

student of grade 3B, MAOU secondary school No. 2, Muravlenko

« What different alphabets

Completed by: Khazieva Adelina Rinatovna, student of grade 3B

Municipal Autonomous General Educational Institution

basic comprehensive school No. 2

Brief annotation

A book is leaving the life of children, which means that literacy, intelligence, and moral education suffer. Lack of interest in reading is often main problem the younger generation, a problem that a child cannot solve alone. The chosen topic is relevant, because it is impossible to allow books to be perceived only as entertainment, or only as education. The world of fiction is very rich and multicolored, it has a place for both serious conversation and a fun game. The purpose of our project: to study and compare the alphabet.

The task is to collect material on this topic. An element of novelty in our project is the creation of author's thematic alphabets by students of the first grades. The practical significance of the presented project lies in the fact that its materials can be used by teachers and children of different ages.

We hope that my classmates will have a real interest not only in different types alphabet, but also a genuine interest in many works of art. The main thing is to form a positive attitude towards the book as a source of knowledge, as a "textbook of life", as a faithful and reliable companion in our school life...

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Introduction

A book is leaving the life of children, which means that literacy, intelligence, and moral education suffer. Lack of interest in reading is oftenmain problemthe younger generation, a problem that a child cannot solve alone.

Books cannot be allowed to be perceived only as entertainment, or only as education. The world of fiction is very rich and multicolored, it has a place for both serious conversation and a fun game.

The purpose of our project:study and compare alphabets.

Project objectives:

1. identify students' knowledge on the topic being studied (before studying the topic);
2. clarify the meaning of the word "alphabet";
3. get acquainted with various alphabets;
4. conduct a comparative analysis of the alphabet;
5. create author's thematic alphabets;
6. conduct a control survey of students (after studying the topic).

Project hypothesis:

We assume that

1. if conduct a survey among students of parallel grades 2.3 on the topic of the project being studied, then we will find out that students are poorly informed about the varieties of alphabets;
2. if conduct explanatory work among students (class hour, a thematic lesson in the library), offer to create author's thematic alphabets, then the children will increase their interest in conscious reading and fixing the visual image of letters.

Project activity on the topic: "What are the different alphabets" was carried out in several stages:

Stage 1 (November-December 2011) -search and work with information on the topic under study from various sources;

Stage 2 (February-March 2012) -conducting a survey among students of the 2nd and 3rd grades on the topic “What alphabets do you know?”; processing results;

Stage 3 (April 2012) -explanatory work with students: the creation of alphabets by first grade students, class hour "ABC - the way to the country of books", visiting the city library;

Stage 4 (May 2012) - conducting a control survey for the purpose of comparative analysis of the results; summarizing the project.

The work on the project included:

1. questioning students before and after studying the topic (What alphabet do you know?);
2. conversations with adults (finding out what adults know about the topic);
3. work with explanatory dictionaries (What does the word "alphabet" mean?);
4. study of the alphabet (Slavic alphabet, semaphore alphabet, Braille, Morse code, dactyl alphabet);
5. creation of author's thematic alphabets by students of the first grades;
6. visits to the school library (library lesson on the topic "Slavic alphabet").

Chapter 1. Types of alphabets

§ 1. What is the alphabet?

From sources I learned that the ABC is

1) letters in the prescribed order, i.e. alphabet;

2) literacy textbook, primer.

And also that the ABCs are different ...

§ 2. Slavic alphabet

The Old Slavonic alphabet got its name from a combination of two letters "az" and "beeches", which denoted the first letters of the alphabet A and B. The most interesting fact is that the ancient Slavic alphabet was a graffiti, i.e. graffiti scrawled on the walls. The first Old Slavonic letters appeared on the walls of churches in Pereslavl around the 9th century. And by the 11th century, ancient graffiti appeared in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. It was on these walls that the letters of the alphabet were indicated in several styles, and below was the interpretation of the letter-word. In 1574, an important event took place, which contributed to a new round in the development of Slavic writing. The first printed "Azbuka" appeared in Lviv, which was seen by Ivan Fedorov - the man who printed it.

ABC structure

If you look back, you will see that Cyril and Methodius created not just an alphabet, they opened a new path for the Slavic people, leading to the perfection of man on earth and the triumph of a new faith. If you look at historical events, the difference between which is only 125 years, you will understand that in fact the path of establishing Christianity in our land is directly related to the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Indeed, literally in one century, the Slavic people eradicated archaic cults and adopted a new faith. The connection between the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and the adoption of Christianity today is beyond doubt. The Cyrillic alphabet was created in 863, and already in 988, Prince Vladimir officially announced the introduction of Christianity and the overthrow of primitive cults.

Studying the Old Slavonic alphabet, many scientists come to the conclusion that in fact the first "ABC" is a cryptography that has a deep religious and philosophical meaning, and most importantly, that it is built in such a way that it is a complex logical and mathematical organism. In addition, comparing many finds, the researchers came to the conclusion that the first Slavic alphabet was created as a holistic invention, and not as a creation that was created in parts by adding new letter forms. It is also interesting that most of the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet are letters-numbers. Moreover, if you look at the entire alphabet, you will see that it can be conditionally divided into two parts, which are fundamentally different from each other. In this case, we will conditionally call the first half of the alphabet the “higher” part, and the second “lower”. The upper part includes letters from A to F, i.e. from “az” to “fert” and is a list of letter-words that carry a meaning understandable to the Slav. The lower part of the alphabet begins with the letter "sha" and ends with "izhitsa". The letters of the lower part of the Old Slavonic alphabet do not have a numerical value, unlike the letters of the higher part, and carry a negative connotation. In order to understand the secret writing of the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary not only to skim through it, but to read each letter-word. After all, each letter-word contains a semantic core that Konstantin put into it.

Slavic alphabet- created by Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century AD. Used by the people for reading and writing.

§ 3. Semaphore alphabet

Semaphore alphabet. Using the semaphore alphabet various information can be transmitted, for example: "Man overboard", "Help needed", etc.The Russian semaphore alphabet that exists today in the fleet was developed in year vice admiralStepan Osipovich Makarov. The Russian semaphore alphabet is compiled in accordance withRussian alphabet, includes 29 alphabetic and 3 service characters. It does not contain numberspunctuation marks. Their transfer is made by letters, words. For example, the number "7" will be conveyed by the word "seven", and the sign "," - by the word "comma". Each letter and symbol corresponds to a certain position of the hands with flags.semaphore messageconsists of words made up of letters, represented by the corresponding position of the flags.Transfer of informationsemaphoremade by signalmen using flags, the fabric size of which is 30x35 cm. The color of the fabric of the flags depends on the time of day: in the dark, flags with a light-colored fabric (yellow, white) are used, and in the daytime - with a dark-colored fabric (red, the black). In the absence of flags - semaphorepeakless caps. The average transmission speed of a flag semaphore by a trained signalman is 60-80 characters per minute. Position / specialtysignalmanin the fleet was introducedDecember 13thof the year by order of the fleet No. 161. Since December 1, 2011, "flag signal production" has been excluded from the curriculum of junior communications specialists.

Semaphore alphabet- Created by Stepan Osipovich Makarov. Used in the Navy. Information is transmitted by signalers using flags.

§ 4. Braille (ABC of the blind)

Braille - font for the blind, read by touch, using the index finger of one or both hands. There are two methods of writing braille by hand: using a braille instrument and lead, and using a braille typewriter. The chain of events that led to the emergence of Braille began during the Crusades of the French King Louis IX. Having suffered a crushing defeat in the crusades, the king returned to Paris with the confidence that God was teaching him humility. With this belief, he founded the world's first asylum for the blind in Russian "fifteen points". The first guests of the shelter were 300 knights blinded during campaigns. In the future, the shelter served as a refuge for the homeless blind. The fair was one of the most spectacular places in Paris. From August 14 to September 15, every year street vendors, circus performers, puppeteers demonstrated their skills here. In 1771, a young man named Valentine Howey visits a fair and gives alms to a blind boy. To his amazement, the boy named the denomination of the coin. So Howie realized that the blind can comprehend reading and writing with the help of touch. 12-year-old beggar Francois Lesueur becomes his first student. Valentine taught him to read, first using embossed wooden letters to form words. Francois was a talented student and after 6 months he learned to touch the printed pages.

Louis Braille was born in January 1809 in the small French town of Couvre. As a child, he accidentally injured his eye with a saddlery knife and went blind. In 1819, Louis was enrolled in the Paris School for the Blind. The training was based on the books of the Howey system, very large and expensive. The school in Paris had only 14 such books, which Louis successfully perused, feeling each letter. Howey's system was imperfect. It took several seconds to feel each letter, and when a person reached the end of a sentence, he almost forgot what happened at the beginning. Louis realized that he needed to find a way to read quickly and easily. And again the case helped. At the time, the French army was using the original letter code of artillery officer Charles Barbier to deliver night messages. Messages could not be written on paper, because in order to be read, one had to light a match, and therefore unmask. The letters were holes punched in cardboard. At the age of 15, he changed the "night font" of artillery captain Charles Barbier (fr. Charles Barbier), which he developed for reading in the dark. In 1821, retired artillery captain Charles-Marie Barbier de la Serre introduced blind students to his "sound" or "night" writing system, which he had developed to enable soldiers to write and read reports at night. Louis was not even 16 years old when, at the end of 1824, he had a brilliant idea - to createa conditional alphabet of various combinations of six relief dots arranged in two columns of three. There are a total of 63 permutations possible in this system. The distance between two points of Braille is 2-2.5 mm, and to read the text, the "reader" runs his fingertips along the extruded lines. In 1829, Louis Braille published a small work outlining his system, which he supplemented with punctuation marks, numbers and musical signs. The final version of his embossed type was published in 1837. For the blind and visually impaired, the ability to read and write Braille is the key to literacy, successful employment, and independence. Learning the Braille system will enable a blind child to move on to working on a computer with a Braille display and on a Braille printer. Modern displays for the blind operate as follows. Braille cells are arranged in a row. The text is converted into signals, some rods in the cells are extended, a person runs his finger through all the cells and reads the words. These displays weigh more than a kilogram and cost more than $2,000. The question arises - have the devices reached their peak of development or can new solutions be found? The main disadvantages when working with Braille fonts are the slow reading speed of the text and the inability to communicate in real time. Progress in creating more and more perfect ways of communication goes along the path of increasing the speed of letter recognition. At first there were relief-linear fonts (Hauie's raised letters). They were replaced by embossed dot fonts (Braille). Possible next step: one dot - one character. In 1852, the Braille method was used mainly within the walls of the Royal Institute for the Blind and a few enthusiasts outside it. But already in 1854, the Braille method was officially recognized in France and began to spread in European countries. And in 1878, at the World Congress in Rome, the Braille method was approved as the most suitable method of reading and writing for blind people. 100 years after the death of Louis Braille, his body was transferred to the French Pantheon and buried along with other prominent people of France.

Braille (ABC for the blind) by Louis Braille. Used by the blind for reading. To depict letters in Braille, 6 dots are used, arranged in two columns, 3 in each.

§ 4. Morse code

Morse code, “Morse code” (Morse code began to be called only from the First World War) is a sign encoding method (representation of letters of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation marks and other characters by a sequence of binary signals, for example, long and short: “dash” and “dots "). The unit of time is the duration of one point. The length of a dash is three dots. A pause between elements of the same character is one dot, between characters in a word is 3 dots, between words is 7 dots. Named after Samuel Morse. Letter codes (actually "alphabet") were added by Morse's colleague, Alfred Weil - a fact that Morse subsequently denied in every possible way (and at the same time attributed to himself the invention of the telegraph as such). Weil, perhaps, also invented the digital part of the code. And in 1848, the Weyl/Morse code was improved by the German Friedrich Hercke. The code improved by Gercke is still in use today.

Morse code (telegraphic alphabet) - created by Samuel Morse. The way the letters of the alphabet are encoded is with the help of long and short

signals ("dashes" and "dots").

§ 5. Dactyl alphabet (alphabet for the deaf and dumb)

Gesture speech of those who do not hear. She annoys a lot of people. How many times in a theatre, at a lecture or a meeting, when an interpreter, using facial expressions and gestures, translates the content of dialogues or speeches to a group of deaf people, have you heard: “Don’t wave your hands, you are disturbing us!”. People who say this know little or nothing about the deaf. They do not realize what a terrible lack of information always surrounds the deaf, they do not understand that sign language is able to compensate for this deficiency to some extent. The luxury of human communication, about which the French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery spoke so well, is achieved here much more difficult. Russian manual (finger, dactyl) alphabet for the deaf and dumb. It was developed by Spanish philosophers and monks. Each combination of the positions of the fingers of the hand and the direction of their movement corresponds to a certain letter of the alphabet. It is used as a substitute for spoken language for communication and as a means of teaching the deaf. There are as many dactyl signs in the Russian manual alphabet as there are letters in the Russian alphabet - 33. Each dactyl sign stands for a letter (grapheme). The assimilation of signs is facilitated by the fact that some of them, for example, m-sh-sh have a common configuration, but differ only in additional features: the direction of the fingers, the movement of the hand. The mention of a one-handed dactyl alphabet for the Latin language appeared in Spain as early as the 16th century. Then, through France and Germany in the 19th century, it came to the territory of Russia and was adapted for Russian letters. About half of the letters of our alphabet in the "finger" image resemble the corresponding images of the same letters in the conventional spelling. This is g, d, e, s, l, m, o, p, s, t, w, u, e, u. The remaining letters are represented by symbols. It is curious that in England and the USA, which have a common language and a common Latin alphabet, the deaf use different dactyl alphabet. In the USA, this is a one-handed alphabet, which does not differ from Spanish, French, Italian, etc. In England, a two-handed dactyl alphabet is used. This situation is connected with the traditions of these countries. The United States borrowed the one-handed European alphabet from Latin America, where it came from Spain after the Spanish language. In "good old" England, despite its proximity to the European continent, much is different from its neighbors. For example, vehicles there move on the left side of the streets, and black cats bring happiness. And they have their own alphabet for the deaf, quite unlike the European and American ones. In the English dactyl alphabet, for example, vowels are denoted as follows. Forefinger right hand points to one of the five fingers of the left hand. In this case, the letter "a" corresponds to thumb, "e" - forefinger, "i" - middle, "o" - nameless and "i" - little finger. The dactyl alphabet is easily mastered by those who hear. Therefore, the deaf, who work without interpreters in hearing groups, try to teach this alphabet to people with whom they constantly meet. Despite the relatively slow way of such communication, it facilitates the life of the deaf, his connection with the hearing. In Moscow, on Izmailovsky Boulevard, there is an unusual theater - Facial expressions and gestures. All the actors in this theater are deaf. Only gestural speech allows deaf spectators visiting their theater to understand the dialogues, to follow the action as freely as those who hear. All replicas are transmitted by sign language. However, the pantomime is so expressive that the content of the scenes is understandable to those who do not speak sign language. The actor playing the role of Goya creates a memorable image of a true artist standing up to a blind and cruel crowd.

The performance, which premiered in 1976, was highly appreciated by the audience. For him, the Theater of Mimicry and Gesture was awarded an Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR and the All-Union Theater Society.

In this way: having studied and compared various types of alphabets, we came to conclusion that all alphabets are different, but they all serve to convey information and communicate with people.

Chapter 2. Practical part

§ 1. Questioning of primary school students

What we found out...

In March 2012, we conducted a survey among students in grades 2 and 3