Q-Eng

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文字文化のやさしい説明。 謎の多いシュメール文明を再勉強したくなる。　

易　04分・・160wpm　　2013/04/26 新出
　

★下記英文はｸﾞｰｸﾞﾙのマウスオーバー辞書が使えます｡　　　　　　

Who invented writing? Human beings have probably been speaking to each other for tens of thousands of years, but we've only been writing our words down for about 5,000 years. Before then, we recorded information using pictures and diagrams on pottery and cave walls or woven into fabric. Those artistic impulses led us down the path to writing.

The writing system that we use in English actually started with the Sumerian culture（シュメール文明） sometime between 4500 B.C. and 1750 B.C. in lower Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq and Syria. The Sumerians kept records of business deals using tiny, clay sculptures of goats, donkeys, and oxen. They then discovered that two-dimensional engravings on clay tablets were even simpler. For example, this symbol meant, "mountains," this one meant, "head". If the mouth area of head was emphasized, that could mean, "mouth". Mouth combined with water meant, "drink," and mouth joined to bread meant, "eat." Add the symbol for ox, and you have "eat an ox". Voila - the invention of writing! 　　　　（Voila：ほら！、仏語　発音 [vwɑ-'lɑ：] ）
　　(シュメール文明 ：4500-1750 BCのある時期､ﾒｿﾎﾟﾀﾐｱ初期､人類最古の高度な文明)

But some words have meanings that are hard to represent with symbols. How would you draw, "ox in the mountains"? Remember, if you just draw what you mean, that's art, not writing. In order for this to be writing, the symbol has to stand for the word. Can you read this? It's a famous quote from Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Right, "To be or not to be." That's how the Sumerians solved the problem too.

Ox plus water plus mountain. What does water have to do with anything? Well, the Sumerian word for water sounded just like their word for "in," so "ox in mountains". Linguists call this rebus（判じ絵） writing. The Sumerians already knew how to represent meaning through written symbols, and by representing sounds as well, the Sumerians expanded their written vocabulary. Gradually the symbols for sounds were used more often and the symbols for meaning were used less.

The writing system became streamlined into a phonetic alphabet that we know as cuneiform（くさび文字）. Many cultures, like the Acadians and the Syrians, adapted this Sumerian invention to create their own writing systems. The "Epic of Gilgamesh"（ギルガメシュ叙事詩） and the "Code of Hammurabi"（ハムラビ法典） were written in variants of cuneiform.

As this technology spread, these symbols found their way to Greece and into the most widely used alphabet in the world today. But Sumeria wasn't the only place on Earth where writing was invented. Ancient Egyptians developed their hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts at about the same time, 3500 B.C. Then writing was independently invented in China, around 1500 B.C., and then, spread throughout Southeast Asia. Most recently, the Mayan culture in Central America began carving their cartouches in 300 A.D.

So, who invented writing? The Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Mayans for sure. Ultimately, all the writing systems still in use around the world today can be traced back to Sumeria or China. Writing may have also been invented in other parts of the world. Ancient inscriptions left by the Indus Valley and Rapa Nui cultures（ｲｰｽﾀｰ島のラパ・ヌイ文化）have been discovered, but nobody has been able to decipher them. Do you want to try?