# Oldest writing systems?



## JLanguage

1. Greek (8th c. BCE)
2. Latin (7th c. BCE)
3. Hebrew (3rd c. BCE)
4. Chinese (multiple scripts exist, not sure about this one)

I'm basing this mostly on omniglot and wikipedia - not exactly the most authoritative sources. Please correct and contribute as appropriate.

Thanks for your input,
-Jonathan.


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## DareRyan

How about Linear A and B? The ones found on the island of Crete.

Or the Etruscans Proto-Latin Alphabet

And we can't forget Heirogliphics


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## JLanguage

My bad - I forgot the "still in use" part.


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## Outsider

I believe the Chinese script is the oldest one still in use. The Hebrew script is also quite ancient, although it has undergone considerable changes. After that, as far as I know, came the Greek alphabet, but there may be scripts of India as old or older than the Greek script.


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## JLanguage

One must make a distinction between the Proto-Hebrew script used until the end of the 6th century BCE, the Hebrew square script used from then on to write Hebrew. From what I gleaned from wikipedia, it seems that the most ancient scripts of China are the oldest\some of the oldest, but the scripts still in use today are more recent.


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## Outsider

Well, the Chinese script, the Greek script, the Latin script... they too have undergone periodic changes and reformations -- even fashions, like the Gothic style!


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## suzzzenn

Early Writing Systems:

8500-7500 BC. -Plain tokens from the Fertile cresent
3350 B.C. - Complex tokens from the Fertile Crescent
3200 B.C - Sumerian Cuneiform
3050 B.C.- Egyptian hieroglyphics
1650 B.C.- Linear A
1500 B.C.- Old Canaanite alphabet
1380 B.C.- Linear B
1200 B.C.- Chinese
1100 B.C.- Phoenician
1000 B.C.- Old Hebrew
11th cent B.C.- Aramaic
740 B.C.- Greek
620 B.C.- Latin
25 AD- Runes
200 AD- Ogham
292 AD Mayan
328 AD-Arabic
800 AD Japanese Kana

Source: The Origin of Writing by Wayne Senner

This list is missing Cypriot, Minoan, Proto-indic, Hittite, Elamite, Etruscan (which probably is being refered to as Latin in this timeline since they were closely related), Indus Valley script, and a few others. Even so,  none of these was earlier than Sumerian Cuneiform. Some of the writing sytems are derived from sytems that appeared earlier, others like Chinese and Mayan were completely independent inventions.


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## Jhorer Brishti

The Indus Valley script arose quite early but the current scripts used for the various languages of South and Southeast Asia are derivations from the Ashokan Brahmi Script of the 3rd Century BCE(during Gupta Rule) and this itself seems to be closely related to Aramaic(though none of the current scripts correlate so well).


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## Outsider

_À propos..._


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