A Brief History of Writing

A Brief History of Writing The history of writing instruments, which humans have used to record and convey  thoughts, feelings and grocery lists is, in some ways, the history of civilization itself. It is through the drawings, signs, and words weve recorded that weve come to understand the story of our species.   Some of the first tools used by early humans were the hunting club and the handy sharpened-stone. The latter, initially used as an all-purpose skinning and killing tool, was later adapted into the first writing instrument. Cavemen scratched pictures with the sharpened-stone tool onto the walls of  cave dwellings. These drawings represented events in daily life such as the planting of crops or hunting victories. With time, the record-keepers developed systematized symbols from their drawings. These symbols represented words and sentences, but were easier and faster to draw. Over time, these symbols became shared and universalized among small, groups and later, across different groups and tribes as well. It was the discovery of clay that made portable records possible. Early merchants used clay tokens with pictographs to record the quantities of materials traded or shipped. These tokens date back to about 8500 B.C. With the high volume of and the repetition inherent in record keeping, pictographs evolved and slowly lost their detail. They became abstract-figures representing sounds in spoken communication. Around 400 B.C., the Greek alphabet was developed and began to replace pictographs as the most commonly-used form of visual communication. Greek was the first script written from left to right. From Greek followed the Byzantine and then the Roman writings. In the beginning, all writing systems had only uppercase letters, but when the writing instruments were refined enough for detailed faces, lowercase was used as well (around 600 A.D.) The Greeks employed a writing stylus made of metal, bone or ivory to place marks upon wax-coated tablets. The tablets were made in hinged pairs and closed to protect the scribes notes. The first examples of handwriting also originated in Greece and it was the Grecian scholar Cadmus who invented the written alphabet. Across the globe, writing was developing beyond chiseling pictures into stone or wedging pictographs into wet clay. The Chinese invented and perfected Indian Ink. Originally designed for blacking the surfaces of raised stone-carved hieroglyphics, the ink was a mixture of soot from pine smoke and lamp oil mixed with the gelatin of donkey skin and musk. By 1200 B.C., the ink invented by the Chinese philosopher, Tien-Lcheu (2697 B.C.), became common. Other cultures developed inks using the natural dyes and colors derived from berries, plants and minerals. In early writings, different colored inks had ritual meaning attached to each color. The invention of ink  paralleled that of of paper. The early Egyptians, Romans, Greeks and Hebrews used papyrus and parchment papers began using parchment paper around 2000 B.C., when the earliest piece of writing on Papyrus known to us today, the Egyptian Prisse Papyrus was created.   The Romans created a reed-pen perfect for parchment and ink from the hollow tubular-stems of marsh grasses, especially from the jointed bamboo plant. They converted bamboo stems into a primitive form of fountain pen and cut one end into the form of a pen nib or point. A writing fluid or ink filled the stem and squeezing the reed forced fluid to the nib. By the year 400, a stable form of ink developed, a composite of iron-salts, nutgalls and gum. This became the basic formula for centuries. Its color when first applied to paper was a bluish-black, rapidly turning into a darker black before fading to the familiar dull brown color commonly seen in old documents. Wood-fiber paper was invented in China in the year 105 but was not widely used throughout Europe until paper mills were built in the late 14th century. The writing instrument that dominated for the longest period in history (over one-thousand years) was the quill pen. Introduced around the year 700, the quill is a pen made from a bird feather. The strongest quills were those taken from living birds in the spring from the five outer left wing feathers. The left wing was favored because the feathers curved outward and away when used by a right-handed writer. Quill pens lasted for only a week before it was necessary to replace them. There were other disadvantages associated with their use, including a lengthy preparation time. Early European writing parchments made from animal skins required careful scraping and cleaning. To sharpen the quill, the writer needed a special knife.  Ã‚  Beneath the writers high-top desk was a coal stove, used to dry the ink as quickly as possible. Plant-fiber paper became the primary medium for writing after another dramatic invention took place. In 1436,  Johannes Gutenberg  invented the printing press with replaceable wooden or metal letters. Later, newer printing technologies were developed based on Gutenbergs printing machine, such as offset printing. The ability to mass-produce writing in this way revolutionized the way  humans communicate. As much as any other invention since the sharpened-stone, Gutenbergs printing press set forth a new era of human history.

Idioms and Expressions - Come

Idioms and Expressions - Come The following idioms and expressions use the verb come. Each idiom or expression has a definition and two example sentences to help understanding of these common idiomatic expressions with come. You can also learn idioms in context with these stories, or learn further expressions with these idiom resources on the site.   Come apart at the seams completely lose emotional control Theres no need to come apart at the seams. Things will get better.On hearing of the death of his friend, Peter came apart at the seams. Come away empty-handed return from a meeting, situation or other event without any gain We came away empty-handed from the negotiations.The competition was so intense that our company came away empty-handed. Come by something travel by means of some vehicle We came by train.Did you come by plane or by car? Come down in the world lose financial or social prestige and position Im afraid Tom has come down in the world. Lifes been pretty hard for him lately.I think youre taking too much risk. You might come down in the world. Come full circle return to an original state At first life was very difficult for Jane. However, things eventually came full circle and she returned to power.Looks like things have come full circle! How does it feel? Come in out of the rain start paying attention to a situation If he doesnt come in out of the rain, things will get out of control.Alex, come in out of the rain! Open your eyes to what is happening! Come into ones own begin having success and satisfaction in life Since he was appointed to vice-president, hes really come into his own.Keep working hard. One day youll come into your own. Come of age reach maturity required to do something such as marry, drink, vote, etc. You can have a beer once you come of age.When this generation comes of age, theyll be more ecologically alert. Come out ahead to be in a position of profit, or advantage after an event It was difficult, but in the end we came out ahead.Yes, higher education is expensive. However, in the end, youll come out ahead. Come to a bad end end in disaster Im afraid Jack has come to a bad end.If you dont change your behavior, youll come to a bad end. Come to a dead end arrive at an impasse in a situation, not be able to move forward Well have to rethink everything. Weve come to absolute dead end.They changed strategies once they came to a dead end. Come to a head reach a point of crisis when action is called for Things are coming to a head, we have to make a decision.I think everything will come to a head next month. Come to an untimely end die before your time His crazy driving brought him to an untimely end.She came to an untimely end last year. Come to a standstill not able to make any progress forward Can you help me? Ive come to a standstill on this project.We came to a standstill and had to rethink everything. Come to grips with something deal with something difficult Ill have to come to grips with this problem if I want to succeed.I think you first need to come to grips with his complaints before you move forward. Come to light become known A number of facts have come to light which change everything.A new solution has come to light. Come to ones senses begin thinking clearly about a situation Alan, come to your senses! Its not going to happen.She finally came to her senses and left her husband. Come to pass to occur Everything I had predicted came to pass.The prophecy has come to pass. Come true Become real Hard work and patience can help make your dreams come true.Did his plans come true?