A Little History of The Word - One for the Copywriters.

 I am currently reading A Little History of The World by E. H. Gombrich. You may recognise this author if you've studied a history of art, as he wrote the classic text book The Story of Art. Anyway, like the title suggests, Gombrich's earlier text History of The World, which he wrote in six weeks! Anyway, within this is a small chapter called I C-A-N R-E-A-D, which explains the connection between the construction of contemporary and ancient words. The origins of the English alphabet stem from the Phoenicians a wealthy and creative civilization based in modern day Lebanon. They were maritime merchants who took their culture across the Mediterranean. 'For Phoenician craftsmanship was known throughout the world...most popular of all their goods was their dyed cloth, especially the purple' (Gombrich, 1985, p30). Gombrich suggests that through inventing a series of signs where each represented a sound 'and that just twenty-six of those signs were all you needed to write every conceivable word' (Gombrich, 1985, p29 the Phoenicians invented 3000 years ago the most convenient way to communicate. A tool that you copywriters still use today. Did you know that our alphabet originated from Lebanon before you read this post? If not where did you think it originated?