Phoenician Alphabet

• Established around 1000 B.C.
• 22 letters based on consonant sounds (no vowels are indicated)
• Around 8th century B.C. the Greeks construct their alphabet based on the Phoenician alphabet
• Therefore, the Phoenician alphabet is the ancestor of all western modern alphabets
• Phoenician trade facilitated the spread of the alphabet along the Phoenician trade routes
• Interesting fact: the first five books (the Pentateuch) of the Old Testament in the bible were written down in Phoenician script

Related Terms
Phone = Etymology: Greek phOnE.  a speech sound considered as a physical event without regard to its place in the sound system of a language
(Meriam-Webster OnLine Dictionaryhttp://www.m-w.com/)

Phonetics = the system of speech sounds of a language or group of languages
(Meriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary http://www.m-w.com/)
 

For More Information:

Table of Phoenician Alphabet: http://www.phoenicia.org/tblalpha.html

Alphabet Family Tree: http://www.phoenicia.org/alphabet.html

General Informaiton (and source of information for this page): http://www.phoenicia.org