The Story of Writing

Donoughue, Carol. The Story of Writing. 2007. 48p. ISBN 978-1-55407-306-1. Available at 411 DOU on the library shelves.

How did we first begin writing? At some point in the distant past, our ancestors noticed that keeping track of information through the process of creating symbols and signs was easier than having to memorize it. As hunter-gatherer tribes grew into city-states, it became important to keep records of ownership, taxes, and obligations. Thus, writing evolved from scratch marks into sophisticated writing systems.

The first form of writing to truly take off was the cuneiform, used by the ancient Babylonians and other groups in what was Mesopotamia. Reeds cut in a specific way were pressed in wet clay which was then dried, thus allowing for the transmission of information. At about the same time, hieroglyphs appeared in Egypt. Unlike cuneiform, which had an alphabet of sorts, hieroglyphs were visual representations of ideas or sounds as well as objects. Similarly, Chinese script also represents ideas and sounds.

Phoenicians adapted cuneiform into the first true alphabet, which was spread around the Mediterranean. The Greeks made their own changes, and the Romans provided clearer lines to end up with our alphabet.

Middle age illustrations and calligraphy created beautiful works, but it wasn’t until the invention of the printing press that writing finally took off and began appealing to the masses. With instant communications, writing is changing and evolving again (witness the rise of emojis). The story of writing is fascinating and illustrates how great ideas spread around the world.