Inspiring Young  Writers

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A Bill of Writes

The History of Writing

Writing Systems Around the World

When was the First Writing-Related Technology?

The History of Writing

Writing by Hand May Increase Brain Connectivity More Than Typing, NBC News (January 27, 2024)

• Typing may be faster than writing by hand, but it’s less stimulating for the brain, according to research published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

October 20 is the National Day of Writing in the United States.

The Written Word:  The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization. Martin Puchner (Random House, 2017). This book explores 16 works of literature and how they shaped human history.

The Book:  A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time. Keith Houston (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016).

Beginnings

How Humans Invented Writing -- Four Different Times. Discover (December 19, 2018).

• Cuneiform. Sumer in Mesopotamia around 5500 BCE.

• Hieroglyphs. Ancient Egypt around 3200 BCE.

• Chinese characters. Shang Dynasty in China around 1300 BCE.

• Mesoamerican language symbols. Aztecs, Maya and other cultures around 900 BCE.

Writing in Different Cultures and Civilizations

• Cuneiform Writing (Mesopotamia)

• Phoenician Writing System (Phoenicia)

• Hieroglyphic Writing (Egypt)

• The Chinese Writing System

• The Roman Alphabet and Latin Language

Writing began in the Middle East between 8000 and 3200 BCE when the Mesopotamians used clay "tokens" to count their goods.  

It was called Cuneiform.  In cuneiform, each sign stood for a syllable of a word.

• • Watch this video, Writing Cuneiform from the Getty Museum

  • Make Your Own Cuneiform Inscription!

  • Write Your Name in Cuneiform

Papyrus Making 101 from the University of Michigan Library

• • Before paper there was papyrus, a paper-like material that came from reeds that grew along the marshy areas of the Nile River in ancient Egypt.

  • Click on the link above to watch a slideshow of a modern day papyrus making process.

Paper and Paper Making

• • Paper was made in China around the year 105 CE

    • • • • Ts'ai Lun was the first to begin a paper-making industry.

          • Ts’ai Lun seems to have made his paper by mixing finely chopped mulberry bark and hemp rags with water, mashing it flat, and then pressing out the water and letting it dry in the sun.

          • Explore the history at Technologies and Inventions of Ancient China

  • Woodblock printing happened in China around 600 CE; the first printed newspaper 740 CE.

  • In the 8th century, Arabs learned the secret of Chinese paper-making after the famous battle of Talas in 751 CE; some Chinese prisoners from the battle were papermakers and Arabs learned the secret from them.

  • Paper came to Europe when the Muslims invaded Spain around 1150.

  • Johann Guttenberg invented the printing press in 1453.

  • In 1690, the first U.S. paper mill opened in Pennsylvania.

Shakespeare Invented 1700 New Words

• Link here for a list with each word hyperlinked to the play where it appears

A Timeline of Firsts for Books and Stories

• First stories: Cave drawings

• First pages: Egyptian hieroglyphics

• First Book:  Epic of Gilgamesh (The oldest existing versions of this poem date to c 2000 BC, in Sumerian cuneiform.The more complete versions date to c. 700 BC, in the Akkadian language.  The standard, first "complete" version, which includes the flood myth, is dated to c. 1300-1000 BC (the oldest Babylonian version of this flood story dates to (1646–1626 BCE)

• First mechanically printed book: Gutenberg Bible (1450s)

• First book covers:  Penny Dreadfuls (1832)

• First paperback: 10 titles by Penguin (1935) including novels by Hemingway and Agatha Christie

• First eBook: Declaration of Independence (1971)

• Best selling book series: Harry Potter (over 500 million)

• Best selling author of the 20th Century: Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason books; sold 2000 an hour at a time during the 1960s)

Writing Systems Around the World

• • Essay on the development of writing systems in world history

  • The Five Original Writing Systems

  • Writing and World History

  • Historic Writing from the British Museum

  • The Chinese Writing System

  • Quiz: Can You Recognize All of These World Writing Systems?

  • Animated Map Shows How the World's First Written Languages Spread, Business Insider

  • Writing Systems of the World's Languages, Morris Alper, MIT

  • Ancient World Writing Systems from Syracuse University Libraries.

According the PBS History Detectives, The Written Word:

• • Cuneiform was the first language where pictographs represented objects

  • Hieroglyphics followed where written script represented sounds (a one sign-one sound system)

  • Alphabets developed independently in the Middle East, China, the Indus Valley and with the Olmecs and Mayans of Mesoamerica

When was the First Writing-Related Technology?

• Telegraph Message: May 24, 1844 by Samuel Morse ("What hah God wrought?)

• Telephone Call: March 10, 1876 ("Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you")

• Live Television Broadcast: January 26, 1926 (Inventor John Logie Baird transmitted a live image of a dummy's face in London, England)

• Internet Message: October 29, 1969 (the word "Login")

• Text Message: December 3, 1992 ("Merry Christmas")

• Voice from Space: December 19, 1958 (Message of Peace on Earth by President Dwight Eisenhower)

• YouTube Video: April 23, 2005 ("Me at the zoo" featuring co-founder Jawed Karim)

• Tweet: March 21, 2006 ("Just setting up my twttr" by co-founder Jack Dorsey)

• Instagram Picture: July 16, 2010 (Picture of a golden retriever dog at a taco stand)

• United Nations Declares Access to the Internet is a Human Right (2011)