Skarp
The Origin Story of the English Alphabet
Explore how our 26 English letters grew from ancient pictures and symbols into the modern alphabet we use today. You will trace the journey from early Near Eastern signs through Phoenician, Greek, and Latin scripts to Old English runes and the final shape of the English alphabet.
Course Content
8 modules · 2h total
From Pictures to Sounds: Why Alphabets Were Invented
Introduce early writing systems and the big shift from picture‑based writing to symbols that stand for sounds, setting the stage for the English alphabet’s story.
The Phoenician Breakthrough: A Portable Alphabet
Explore how Phoenician traders spread a 22‑letter consonant alphabet around the Mediterranean and why this script became the ancestor of many modern alphabets, including English.
Greek Innovations: Adding Vowels and Shaping the Alphabet
See how the Greeks adapted the Phoenician script, added written vowels, and created one of the first true alphabets that would later influence Latin and English.
From Etruscan to Latin: The Roman Alphabet Takes Shape
Trace how the alphabet passed from Greek to Etruscan to Latin, and how the Romans shaped the letter set that would eventually become the basis of English writing.
Runes and Romans: Writing Old English Before and After Christianization
Examine how early English (Anglo‑Saxon) was first written with runes (futhorc) and later switched to a modified Latin alphabet after Christian missionaries arrived.
Special Old English Letters: Thorn, Eth, Wynn, and Ash
Discover the extra letters used in Old English writing and how they eventually disappeared or were replaced in the move toward the modern English alphabet.
Arriving at 26 Letters: J, U, W, and the Modern Alphabet
Follow the final steps from medieval Latin script to the 26‑letter English alphabet, focusing on how letters like J, U, and W were added and standardized in print.
Shapes, Order, and Impact: How the Alphabet Shapes English Today
Connect the historical journey of the alphabet to modern English, looking at letter shapes, alphabetical order, and how this writing system influences literacy, technology, and culture.
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Writing is a technology humans invented to **save and share information**.
For most of human history, people relied on **memory, speech, and images** (like cave paintings). Around **5,000–5,300 years ago** in places like **Mesopotamia** (modern Iraq) and **Egypt**, people began to create **formal writing systems**.
In this module you will: - Compare **picture‑based writing** and **alphabetic writing** - See **why alphabets were a big breakthrough** - Meet **Proto‑Sinaitic**, an early sound‑based script that helped lead to later alphabets (including those that influenced English)