Maya Hieroglyphic Writing. An Introduction.

Makoto (まこと, lit.: truth, genuineness, reality, “realness”) is an element of the conceptual apparatus of the traditional worldview of the Japanese. In Japan, it is generally accepted that makoto is a philosophical and aesthetic concept that underlies Japanese spirituality, involving among other principles understanding of the order and laws of the truly existing Universum (shinrabansho̅; 森羅万象) and the universal interconnectedness of things (bambutsu ittai; 万物一体), the desire to understand the true essence of everything that person meets in life, and, unlike other spiritual values, is purely Shinto in origin. After getting acquainted with the Chinese hieroglyphic writing three Chinese characters were borrowed for the word makoto. Each of these characters means truthfulness, genuineness, but has its own distinctive nuances: 真 means truth, authenticity, truthfulness, 実 signifies truth, reality, essence, content, and 誠 again means truthfulness, sincerity, and truth. Makoto (“true words”) and makoto (“true deeds”) imply the highest degree of sincerity of words and honesty, correctness of thoughts, actions, and deeds. The relationship “true words — true deeds” can be seen as one of the driving factors of moral obligation, prompting everyone in their field, as well as in relations between people, to strive to be real. This desire contributed to the formation of a heightened sense of duty and responsibility among the Japanese, which became a hallmark of their character. However, makoto has not only ethical connotation, but aesthetic one as well, and can be considered as the basis on which were formed the concept of mono no aware (もののあわれ、物の哀れ) and the aesthetic ideal of the same name, that became the first link in the chain of japanese perceptions of beauty. Each link in this chain is an expression of a new facet of makoto, which was revealed as a result of certain elements of the worldview that came to the fore in the historical era.

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Form, Layout, and Specific Potentialities of the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Script

The Oxford Handbook of Egyptian Epigraphy and Paleography ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190604653.013.1 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 12-30

Author(s):

Pascal Vernus

Keyword(s):

Complex System ◽

Writing System ◽

Linguistic Data ◽

Ancient Egyptian ◽

Hieroglyphic Writing

Egyptian hieroglyphic script is figurative; its signs are images depicting the realia of the pharaonic universe in the same manner as do the figurative arts. To become script signs these images undergo three constraints: calibration, dense and harmonious arrangement, and orientation (i.e. direction of reading). Its figurativity, its flexible manner of engaging with the writing surfaces, and its complex system of encoding the linguistic data provide the hieroglyphic script with important specific potentialities that were carefully exploited in its symbiotic adaptation to objects and monuments and in its enriching the linguistic messages it conveyed with ideological connotations. Egyptian hieroglyphs—but not the very hieroglyphic writing system!—were borrowed in the Meroitic hieroglyphic script and chiefly in the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. Via this alphabet and its Semitic successors, some hieroglyphs are ultimately the ancestors of European characters.

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Javier Urcid Serrano. Zapotec hieroglyphic writing. xviii+487 pages, 338 figures, 54 tables. 2001. Washington (DC): Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection; 0-88402-267-6 hardback $40.

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x0009150x ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 76 (293) ◽

pp. 904-905

Author(s):

Andrew Balkansky

Keyword(s):

Research Library ◽

Washington Dc ◽

Library Collection ◽

Hieroglyphic Writing

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The Nature and Development of the Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing

The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology ◽

10.1177/030751331500200121 ◽

1915 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 61-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alan H. Gardiner

Keyword(s):

Hieroglyphic Writing

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The Egyptian context of the invention of the alphabet (inscriptions from serabit Al-Khadim and Wadi Al-Hôl)

Saeculum Christianum ◽

10.21697/sc.2015.22.01en ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 22 ◽

pp. 3-11

Author(s):

Przemysław Nowogórski

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Early Development ◽

Present State ◽

Direct Impact ◽

Sinai Peninsula ◽

Hieroglyphic Writing ◽

Copper Mines ◽

State Of Research ◽

Alphabetic Writing

The article presents the beginnings of alphabetic writing in Sinai (Serabit al-Chadim) in the context of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing and the subsequent early alphabetic inscriptions from Wadi al-Hôl (Egypt) and Wadi Arava (Israel). In the light of the present state of research it can be concluded that the oldest alphabet (type: abgad) was established by Semites working in the copper mines on the Sinai Peninsula under the rule of Egypt, probably in the nineteenth century BC. Egyptian hieroglyphs had direct impact on the Semitic alphabetic writing. The alphabetic inscriptions in the Wadi al-Hôl and Wadi Arava discovered in recent years turned out to be younger than the Sinaitic inscriptions and are another element in the early development of alphabetic writing.

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