Introduction
In the back of my mind I would like to
survey the writing systems of the world, but rather than working from
general to
specific , as I'm inclined to do, I'd like to create needed
nodes and pull them together later into a
metanode of writing systems, thus avoiding the criticism of creating nodes without
links.
E2 already has an excellent node for cuneiform. This writeup was created to pull together
information located in the many writeups that already exist and to add new information.
Description
The name
cuneiform technically does not refer to a writing system. The term is applied to several kinds of writing systems, including:
logo-syllabic - (a mixture of word signs and syllables
syllabic - signs representing combinations of sounds, usually consonant + vowel
alphabetic - signs representing individual sounds of the language
The
word comes from the Latin
cuneus, which means
wedge. Therefore, any
writing system can be called cuneiform whenever individual signs are composed of wedges. Many languages, including
Semitic,
Indo-European, and isolates (
languages that appear to be unrelated to any other group) are written in cuneiform.
Earliest Examples
The first examples of this
script appear in the form of
clay tokens which date back to end of the 4th millenium BCE, arising at the same time as the the development of urban centers like
Nippur,
Susa, and
Ur. These early records are used almost exclusively for
accounting and
record keeping. Evidence of
clay tokens of various sizes and shapes were used for
counting as far back as 8,000 BC.
Sumerian
Akkadian/Assyrian/Babylonian (Eastern Semitic)
Elamite
Eblaite
Hittite
Hurrian
Ugaritic: This is actually an alphabetic system.
Old Persian: a mostly syllabic system, but there are a few logograms