Proto-Sinaitic Script

About

The Proto-Sinaitic script is considered the first true alphabet, emerging between 1900 and 1700 BC. It was developed by Semitic-speaking people in Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, who adapted Egyptian hieroglyphs using the acrophonic principle. This involved selecting glyphs based on their Egyptian names and using the initial sounds of those names to represent Semitic sounds. For example, the hieroglyph for "water" became the sound /m/ in Semitic, eventually evolving into the Latin letter M. Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions have been found primarily at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai and Wadi el-Hol in Egypt. The script is significant as it influenced the development of subsequent writing systems, including the Phoenician alphabet, which in turn led to many modern alphabets like Greek and Latin. Despite its foundational role, Proto-Sinaitic has not been fully encoded in Unicode, reflecting ongoing discussions about its representation and significance in the history of writing.