Fresh Batch #111: Letter Types and Alphabets Claimed to be from Greek

Origin and Progress of Writing Part 4

This article continues my examination of Thomas Astle’s research on the origins and progress of writing.

Chapter V.

Of the Manner of Writing in Different Countries at Different Periods of Time

Lemuel Dole Nelme published An Essay towards an Investigation of the Origin and Elements of Language and Letters, which, according to Thomas Astle, Nelme published a work wherein he endeavored to show that all elementary characters or letters derive their forms from the Line and the Circle. Astle wrote (Ib. f2. p. 63), “Mr. Nelme adduces several ingenious arguments in favour of his opinion. His alphabet consists of thirteen radical letters, four diminished, and four augmented. His radical letters are L, O, S, A, B, C, D, N, U, I, E, M, R. Mr. Nelme says, that H is derived from A; P from B; T from D; and F from U: these he calls diminished characters. Z is derived from S; G from C; W from U; and Y from I: these, he says, are augmented letters. This author proves, that his characters are very similar to those of the ancient Etruscans; but all letters whatsoever must necessarily be formed of lines or curves, or be composed of both.”

Astle wrote on p. 64 (Ib.), “The letters of the ten first alphabets in the first plate are so similar in their general outlines, that we apprehend it will be easily admitted that they are all derived from the same source. They are taken from Monsieur Gebelin’s Monde Primitif, vol. iii, plate 6. This author says, that sixteen letters original composed the primitive alphabets, and that no more were for a long time used; though the author of a work, on the alphabet and language of Phenician, says, that the most ancient Phenician alphabet consisted but of thirteen letters (Del Alphabeto y Lengua de los Fenices, y de sus Colonias. Madrid 1772, fol.—This author gives the pure Phenician alphabet, which consists of thirteen letters;—The Carthaginian or Sicilian Phenician, and the Bastulan or Spanish Phenician alphabets.—These differ very little from each other in their forms.); and the Primogenium Alphabetum Etruscorum, given us by Dr. Swinton and others, was composed of the like number. The Phenician alphabet from the inscription at Oxford, differs from that given by Monsieur Gebeliin, yet they are very similar.

“The general alphabet of the Phenician, ancient Hebrew or Samaritan, is deduced from the Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, vol. i. p. 656, and from several coins, medals, and other most ancient documents; as are also the alphabets of the Punic, the Pelasgian, the Arcadian, and the ancient Gaulish. The pure Phenician characters, as also those of the Bastulan and Punic, were lost in the Pelasgian.

“The general alphabet of the Etruscans, at the bottom of the plate, comprehends not only all the letters which we find in the Pelasgian, but also such letters as were afterwards introduced into Italy, before the Ionic or Roman letters were received in that country.”

He continued on p. 65 (Ib.), “The most ancient inscriptions in the Pelasgian characters and language, I have seen, are those found at Eugubium, a city in Umbria in the Apennines, in the year 1456. Seven tables of brass were discovered; five of which were in Pelasgic or Etruscan characters, and two in Latin. The first of these Eugubian tables contains a poem or lamentation after a pestilence, which was composed about 168 years after the taking of Troy, or 1016 before Christ, and 1332 after the deluge. It appears by these tables that the republic of Eugubium was much anterior to Rome.

“The Oscan alphabet in the same plate, is very similar to the Pelasgic and Etruscan; it is taken from an inscription on marble, in the Oscan or Volscian tongue, now preserved in the museum of the seminary at Nola, in Italy. This marble was found at Abella, a town not far distant from Nola (the inscription is imperfect, but fifty-seven lines are now remaining, which are read from right to left). Before the discovery of this inscription, we had no Oscan letters, except a few on coins, or on precious stones, which were not sufficient to furnish an alphabet: some of the letters have a resemblance to the Roman.

“This alphabet consists of sixteen characters; the Osci seem to have wanted the letters D, G, O, Q, X, and Z. The Oscan or Volscian language, was chiefly spoken in Campania and Ausonia; and Passer demonstrates, that there is a great affinity between the Oscan and Latin tongue.”

I suspect that the Greek letters are derived from the Etruscan abecedarium known as the Marsiliana Tablet. This tablet, formerly thought to be Greek, is Etruscan, and it is simultaneously the oldest Etruscan and alleged Greek abecedarium thus far. During the 18th and 19th centuries, some scholars supposed that Greek came from Egyptian while others supposed it was a result of Phoenician Pelasgi who settled/civilized the Greeks. I suspect the latter, but rather than calling them Phoenician Pelasgi, I just call them by their true appellation: Etruscans. There are other opinions that the origin of Greek letters comes from Cadmus, a story that is too legendary and astrotheological to be true, but the dating of it circa 750-500 BC may have some validity. The Greek letters have also been attributed to Cecrops. If we follow the evidence, the Greek letters are clearly derived from the Etrusco-Phoenician system, for one has to be the greatest coincidence theorist of all time to suppose the Marsiliana Tablet, found in Italy, could share the same letters of Greek at the time, yet the Etruscan has no affinity to Indo-European like the Greek language has, along with the archaeological evidence that demonstrates there was no mass migration into Italy from the north or east during the 1st millennium BC.

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