The visual history of A
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Over 32,000 years, the letter 'A' evolved from early cave drawings of oxen by ancient ancestors through various cultures, each modifying the symbol slightly, including the Egyptians drawing an ox hieroglyph, Phoenicians taking the ox head as a symbol that became the letter "Aleph", Greeks borrowing and rotating it to "Alpha", and eventually becoming our simplified lowercase letter "A". While technology has advanced communication greatly, some of the visual meaning was lost as symbols became abstract letters.
The visual history of A
- 3. 32,000 years ago, our ancestors drew animals.
- 4. One of the animals they drew was an ox.
- 5. 5,000 years ago, Egyptians also dew an ox.
- 6. As a hieroglyphic, this ox meant Ox.
- 7. The trading Phoenicians liked this Ox.
- 8. So they took its head as a symbol of Ox.
- 9. The Phoenician word for Ox was Alf.
- 10. The Phoenicians simplified the Ox.
- 11. Then they rotated it and called it Aleph.
- 12. Aleph became the 1st letter of their Alphabet.
- 13. 2,500 years ago, the Greeks borrowed Aleph and rotated it again.
- 14. The Greeks called it Alpha.
- 15. We simplified it again and called it A.
- 16. Simple, digital, compact. Just a sound now.
- 17. Amazing progress, isnt it? 32,000 years from cave to Twitter.
- 18. But I cant help thinking that weve lost something along the way.
- 19. Join me for more lessons like this on: www.napkinacademy.com The power of visual thinking. In video.