Who Created the First English Alphabet?

English is a beautiful language. It is one of the most complex forms of language around the world, and yet, almost every person in the world wishes to learn it.

However, did you know that English has its beauty because of an alphabet that has almost borrowed everything from ancient languages? Yes, the development of modern English as we know it today, took place over thousands of years, thereby adapting and borrowing things from a lot of other languages in the process.

This might make you wonder, how the English alphabet came into being. In this article, we’ll try and track down the history of one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Take a look:

Origins Of The English Alphabet

When English was being developed as a language, it was not developed in terms of the alphabet and the vocabulary as it is today. In fact, the first alphabet building happened around four thousand years ago. Back then, the letters were represented in the form of various lines that represented spoken sounds. This was called the Proto-Sinatic model of the alphabet.

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It was the Proto-Sinatic model that became the basis of further developing the alphabet. Then, came the Phoenicians, who created an alphabet that consisted of 22 letters, which were all consonants. The Greeks then added vowels to the Phoenician alphabet. However, it was the Romans who shaped up the alphabet that resembled the modern version, we all are familiar with.

So, Who Created The English Alphabet?

In all honesty, there is no one person, or community, or even an era that can be attributed to the creation of the English Alphabet. The English alphabet had been in a state of constant flux, with civilizations and centuries, slowly shaping it and giving it the mold of one of the most complex languages on the planet. In fact, there was a time, not very long ago, when the modern English alphabet used to have 27 letters!

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You can say that the Proto-Sinatic model of the alphabet is at the foundation of today’s alphabet, but that would mean, you forget the contribution of the Greeks, and more importantly the Romans. In fact, modern English, as we know it today, was largely influenced by the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. It was only then that the alphabet could be printed and circulated widely, only so that scholars throughout the world could make influential changes to it.

Today, after almost four thousand years of its inception, English continues to evolve as a language. Today, the English alphabet has 26 letters, but who knows that might change over the coming years.

Do you love the English language? Do you feel it is one of the most beautiful and complex languages in the world? Do you think that it has evolved into a language that is hard to beat in terms of popularity? Let us know in the comments below.

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