How the Alphabet Came to Be

Written English, along with most modern tongues, is so deeply tied to its alphabet that we may take the pairing for granted. But long before Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, there were alternatives. In fact, although the first evidence of writing comes from 5,000-year-old Sumerian cuneiform, it took another millennium for humans to hit upon the language-ordering method most of us now learn as children.