--- title: History of the Alphabet (Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic, Latin, Arabic) description: The BBC just put up a five-minute audio slideshow “The story of how we got our alphabets” about the development of western writing, starting in 3,000 BC in Mesopotamia with various attempts at proto-writing systems and then Cuneiform script. It shows the history of the alphabet, stemming from the Phoenician alphabet and continuing to the […] url: https://canonical.com/blog/alphabet-development?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 22 August 2011 # History of the Alphabet (Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic, Latin, Arabic) [Arabic](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/arabic) [Design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/design) [Development](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/development) [Education](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/education) [font](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/font) [Hebrew](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/hebrew) [illustration](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/illustration) [typography](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/typography-2) --- Share the article The BBC just put up a five-minute audio slideshow *[“The story of how we got our alphabets”](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14544388)* about the development of western writing, starting in 3,000 BC in [Mesopotamia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia) with various attempts at proto-writing systems and then [Cuneiform script](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform). It shows the [history of the alphabet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_alphabet), stemming from the [Phoenician alphabet](https://canonical.com/blog/Phoenician alphabet) and continuing to the Semitic alphabets based around consonants (Arabic and Hebrew) and those derived further via Greek and its addition of vowel sounds (Latin and Cyrillic). With the development of the Ubuntu Font Family we’re getting to the stage where it’s possible to demonstrate some the similarity using the font itself. The diagram on the right shows Hebrew on the left, Arabic on the right and Greek, Cyrillic and Latin in the centre columns. As Dr James Clackson notes in the slideshow, things are fairly consistent up until T/Τ/Т, after which the additions and expansions of letters diverge in each alphabet system. The term [Alphabet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet) comes from the first two letters in the Greek—and other similar—alphabets: ΑΒ, АБ, AB, אב, اب. The diagram in this first cut can likely be improved with input from a knowledgeable linguist/palaeolinguist. Please get in contact, or leave suggestions and corrections below if you know how to improve it! [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Vanilla 4.0 release](https://canonical.com/blog/vanilla-4-0-release) Last week we released a new major version of the Vanilla framework. Vanilla 4.0 introduces the elements of the new style used for a current rebranding of Canonical’s brochure... [Bartek Szopka](https://canonical.com/blog/author/bartoszopka) 18 July 2023 [### Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)](https://canonical.com/blog/challenges-designers-face-in-open-source-and-how-to-fix-them) Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core... [Kola Ojoodide](https://canonical.com/blog/author/kola-ojoodide) 26 June 2026 [### Why web engineering is great](https://canonical.com/blog/why-web-engineering-is-great) Hi, I’m Johann! I’m an engineering manager in Canonical’s web team. For the larger part of my 15 years of work experience as engineer, I’ve been working in web development.... [Johann Wolf](https://canonical.com/blog/author/johannwolf) 27 April 2026 [### Meet our EDU team at EDUCAUSE 2024](https://canonical.com/blog/meet-our-edu-team-at-educause-2024) We’re excited to announce our participation in EDUCAUSE 2024. [Marina Khachatryan](https://canonical.com/blog/author/marinakhachatryan) 17 October 2024