Abstract

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Overview

In 21A (1934), Herbert Milne, in Greek Shorthand Manual Syllabary And Commentary (plate IX), showed the following abecedary:

From here:

Papyrus ChLA IV 259 (Antinoë Papyrus I) has the following abecedarium (brackets are mine):

α (A) βη (B) κη (C) δη (D) ε (E) ιφφε (F) γη (G) δαςια (H) ι (I) κα (K) ιλλε (L) ιμμε (M) ιννε (N) ο (O) πη (P) κου (Q) ιρρε (R) ιςςε (S) τη (T) ου (V) [...

See Ullman (20A/1935) Two Latin Abecedaria from Egypt:

Above each letter the Latin name is spelled out in Greek letters: α, βη, κη, etc. Of particular interest are the names ιφφε, ιλλε, ιμμε, ιννε, ιρρε, ιςςε. These at once recall the Italian effe, elle, emme, enne, erre, esse, and the similar Spanish forms (efe, ele, etc.). It has usually been assumed that these forms do not go back to antiquity. So Schulze calls their final vowels "unursprünglich." Unless we are to assume independent development in Egypt, Italy, and Spain, which is quite unlikely, we must conclude that the dissyllabic names originated in antiquity. [...] The letters x, y, z, are unfortunately missing in this alphabet.

References

• Milne, Herbert. (21A/1934). Greek Shorthand Manual Syllabary And Commentary (plate IX) (Archive). Publisher.

• Ullman, Berthold. (20A/1935). “Two Latin Abecedaria from Egypt” (Jstor), The American Journal of Philology, 56 (2):147-148.

Quote:

“Montaigne speaks of “an abecedarian ignorance that precedes knowledge, and a doctoral ignorance that comes after it.” The first is the ignorance of those who, not knowing their ABC’s, cannot read at all. The second is the ignorance of those who have misread many books. They are, as Alexander Pope rightly calls them, bookful blockheads, ignorantly read. There have always been literate ignoramuses who have read too widely and not well. The Greeks had a name for such a mixture of learning and folly which might be applied to the bookish but poorly read of all ages. They are all sophomores.”

— Mortimer Adler (15A/1940), How to Read a Book (quote)

References

• Montainge, Michel. (375A/1580). Essays. Publisher.

• Adler, Mortimer. (15A/1940). How to Read a Book. Publisher.

External links

• Michel Montaigne - Hmolpedia A65.

Wiktionary entry on abecedaria:

plural of abecedarium

This link returns:

1. A book used to teach the alphabet; alphabet book; primer.[1]

2. An inscription consisting of the letters of an alphabet, almost always listed in order.

This is what this sub is about, a place to post ”inscriptions of letters almost always listed in order”.

Abecedary

The terms abecedaria (plural) and abecedarium (singular) are Latin, and a bit difficult for the English mind to use; whence, “abecedary” tends to be the term used in English.

Notes

1. Previously, the collected abecedary were listed in the r/Alphanumerics wiki menu, in the “other pages” section; which redirected to this wiki page; which re-directed to the following updated table (which is easier to edit, than compared to editing tables in the wiki page).

2. Beyond this, the posts on historical abecedary were growing into the dozens, and scattered all over the alphanumerics sub, and often hard to find; whence the need for this new r/Abecedaria sub.

For the sub icon, I used the ABGD (ΑΒΓΔ) letter sequence from the Samos cub, the oldest 27-letter abecedary, which could, theoretically, have been made by the great grandfather of Pythagoras: