Wikipedia Trails: From the Hebrew Alphabet to Proto-Sinaitic Script
The Aleppo Codex, a tenth century text of the Hebrew Bible, Book of Joshua 1:1
The Hebrew alphabet, probably soon to be featured in the project for this semester, has a delightful backstory regarding the letters themselves in Hebrew folklore. When God decided to choose the letter ordering for the first alphabet, each of the characters vied for the chance to be placed first.
However, the Hebrew alphabet was actually derived from the Aramaic alphabet, which was adapted from the Phoenician alphabet, which in turn was derived from Proto-Sinaitic script (originating from Egyptian hieroglyphs).
The Aramaic alphabet differentiated from the Phoenician by the 8th century BCE, and is actually an alphabet of all consonants; this is original language responsible for nearly all modern writing systems used in the Middle East.
The earlier Phoenician alphabet was actually not discovered until the 17th century, and its origins were unknown until the 19th century. There was quite a bit of variation in letter formations across geographical areas, which didn't help in figuring out where and when this language belonged.
The Proto-Sinaitic script is also referred to as Canaanite, Old Canaanite, or Sinaitic, and range in dates from mid-19th to mid-16th century BCE.
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