CAS XL 260 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: West Semitic Languages, Phoenician Alphabet, Habiru
2 Feb 2020
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Basically, any egyptian word can be written with the help of consonantal symbols only. Why did they make this sign system containing more than 700 signs: guilds of scribes were interested in keeping their craft inaccessible to everyone. Writing was viewed as a sacred activity hence, this idea. Consonantal writing invented to write west semitic languages: Consonantal script: abjad. (one sign = one consonant, no vowels written). Emerged around 1800 bce, used throughout levant to write west semitic languages. Bce the pharaohs built mines in sinai (turquoise and copper) using migrant labors (habiru) who were fleeing famines in canaan. Habiru can be the same people as the hebrews. And alludes to the slavery of hebrews by egyptians. Speakers of west semitic languages worked for egyptians in sinai. The sinai sphinx: found in serabit ek-khadim in 1905 dated to 1800-1500 bce. Exactly where the habiru people worked for the egyptians. It has inscriptions in two different writing systems - hathor (egyptian.
