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The Advent of Writing (Linguistics)
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Nick


In: Madrid
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I mentioned to Mick recently that I was going to write an article on Writing-Origin Myths and he asked me to post my findings:

1. Of the perhaps 10,000 languages that have ever existed only a couple of hundred were ever written down and those that invented NEW writing systems (a tiny minority) seem to have been pretty pleased with themselves, having done something magical.

2. The Egyptians were given their symbols by god Thoth, who also gave them magic, religion and philosophy. The Greeks called the Egyptian pictograms "Hieroglyphs" - you know that - which means sacred carvings/writing (but did you know that?).

3. The Greeks either got their writing from Hermes - who was considered to be the local version of Thoth - or from Cadmus, a Phoenician prince. Cadmus was the brother of Phoenix and Europa. In Samothrace Hermes was worshipped under the name of Cadmus, so they may have been the same geezer.

4. Evander the Arcadian took Greek script to Italy where he founded Pallatium under what would be Rome. Evander was the son of Mercury and Carmenta. As you know Mercury = Hermes.

5. The Irish Ogham writing system was taken to the Emerald Isle by a Scythian prince called Fenius (or Phoeniusa) Farsa. He had helped Nimrod build the Tower of Babel and, when that collapsed, he collected the best bits of each language and created Goidelic (i.e. Irish) and also created the perfect writing system, Ogham.

6. The Viking runes were given to Jarl by his divine god father (in disguise) one day in the woods. The runes were written on a bundle of sticks. The runes had been revealed to Odin Allfather while he had been hanging on the tree Yggdrasill (while up there he was pieced by a spear - now why does that sound so familiar?). Anyway, Jarl taught his son, Kon, the magic runes and the bright kid learned to use them to quench fire, quell stormy seas and talk to the birds.

7. Fu Xi gave the Chinese their writing along with farming (the two are linked in many cultures writing myths). An alternative version says that Cangjie gave the Chinese their pictograms after he had a run-in with a phoenix who dropped the impression of a footprint near him.

So, there's quite a lot of parallels around. Perhaps weirdest of all is the fact that Cadmus, brother of Phoenix, the Phoenician prince did the same for the Greeks as Phoeniusa did for the Irish and a phoenix did for the Chinese, but I suppose it could all be a jolly coincidence.
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DPCrisp


In: Bedfordshire
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1. Of the p'raps 10,000 languages that have ever existed only a couple of hundred were ever written down and those that invented NEW writing systems (a tiny minority) seem to have been pretty pleased with themselves, having done something magical.

They did.

2. The Egyptians were given their symbols by god Thoth, who also gave them magic, religion and philosophy. The Greeks called the Egyptian pictograms "Hieroglyphs" - you know that - which means sacred carvings/writing (but did you know that?).

Yes. And Plato relates a very insightful conversation with Amun to this effect:

Thoth: Look, I have invented a formula for remembering.
Amun: It's natural for you to think so, coz it's your baby; but actually it's a formula for not remembering.

5. The Irish Ogham writing system was taken to the Emerald Isle by a Scythian prince called Fenius (or Phoeniusa) Farsa.

Phoenicians and Scythians together, eh? The Scots claim Scythian ancestry, too; and the Welsh, Persian. We(chiefly Komorikid)'ve been banging on about the Irish-Phoenician connection for ages. And, of course, Scyth = Scut = Scot.

He had helped Nimrod build the Tower of Babel

I take it the Tower of Babel is synonymous with civilisation. Writing and civilisation are always in the same breath.

Jarl taught his son, Kon, the magic runes and the bright kid learned to use them to quench fire, quell stormy seas and talk to the birds.

Ah-hah. Magic is all about mastering (getting in tune with) elemental forces. This is clearly about knowledge and technology, synonymous with writing. The birds will have been Odin's familiars, in particular: a pair of ravens called Huginn (Thought) and Munin (Memory). (It's the owl that is synonymous with knowledge in the case of the female, Greek Odin, Athena. {TH = D})

7. Fu Xi gave the Chinese their writing along with farming (the two are linked in many cultures writing myths).

Coz they equal civilisation, which equals mankind.

An alternative version says that Cangjie gave the Chinese their pictograms

Kanji?

I suppose it could all be a jolly coincidence.

Yes, yes, assuredly.

Not.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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5. The Irish Ogham writing system was taken to the Emerald Isle by a Scythian prince called Fenius (or Phoeniusa) Farsa.

Phoenicians and Scythians together, eh? The Scots claim Scythian ancestry, too; and the Welsh, Persian. We(chiefly Komorikid)'ve been banging on about the Irish-Phoenician connection for ages. And, of course, Scyth = Scut = Scot.

For bystanders, Farsi is the language of Persia (or Iran as they so presumptuously call themselves, though actually the academics do put the origins of the Indo-Europeans thereabouts, so that's out.)

An alternative version says that Cangjie gave the Chinese their pictograms

Kanji?

For bystanders. Kanji are Chinese characters used in the Japanese language.

I spotted these two myself but I haven't got used to you posting out of office hours, Dan, so got beaten to it.
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Boreades


In: finity and beyond
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Mick Harper wrote:

For bystanders, Farsi is the language of Persia (or Iran as they so presumptuously call themselves, though actually the academics do put the origins of the Indo-Europeans thereabouts, so that's out.)


Err, what's out?
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