The first forms of the Archaic Greek script are dated circa 750 BCE. Over time, the alphabet continued to become adopted and evolve across different languages. Evolving into the Greek, Roman, and Latin Alphabets It was the precursor to the Phoenician alphabet, which was used in the area of modern-day Lebanon and spread across the Mediterranean and became the basis for Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, and of course, Greek.

Proto-Sinaitic Letter (Reconstructed Name)Īs the first Semitic script, Proto-Sinaitic soon influenced other Semitic languages. It was repurposed from Egyptian hieroglyphs that were commonly seen in the area (its name comes from Mount Sinai), and used to describe sounds instead of meanings. It’s All Proto-Sinaitic to Meīefore there was English, or Latin, or even Greek, there was Proto-Sinaitic.Ĭonsidered the first alphabet ever used, the Proto-Sinaitic script was derived in Canaan, around the biblical Land of Israel. This visualization from Matt Baker at demonstrates how the modern Latin script used in English evolved from Greek, and other, alphabets. For example, Greek letters are commonly used in mathematics and science, like Sigma (Σ) denoting a sum or Lambda (λ) used to represent the half-life of radioactive material.Īnd the study of linguistics shows us why using Greek letters in English isn’t completely farfetched. Seemingly overnight, the Omicron variant discovered in South Africa has now taken the mantle as the most discussed variant.īut the Greek alphabet is used in other parts of our lives as well. From the Alpha variant in the UK, to the Delta variant that spread from India to become the dominant global strain, the Greek alphabet was everywhere. Over the course of 2021, the Greek alphabet was a major part of the news cycle.ĬOVID-19 variants, which are labeled with Greek letters when becoming a variant of concern, normalized their usage. From Greek to Latin: Visualizing the Evolution of the Alphabet

How to get greek letters in inkscpae