Michael Watterson wrote:
...
> I've never quite
> understood where Ogham and Viking runes originated as they seem
> curiously to be simply different symbols for the same Alphabet system.
Maybe it came from the available technology.
If you want to bash symbols into granite, and you don't have angle
grinders or good chisels, you want to stick to straight lines. Letters
like P, B, R, O etc. are going to be a right pain otherwise.
It's hardly an original idea. I'm reminded of Orson Scott Card's
"Homecoming saga".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homecoming_Saga
At one point, one character is prompted to write a record that will last
indefinitely. He starts writing with indentations made on gold sheets.
Sometime later, another book with gold pages is found. The script is not
intelligible, but it is similar to the script in the first book, even
though one is in a language derived from Russian, the other from Arabic.
The similar goals (text to last forever) prompts similar technologies,
and convergent evolution of the script.
Frank
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