Scholar deciphers oldest known alphabet primer, in ancient Egyptian

A Dutch Egyptologist recently deciphered the oldest known abecedary or alphabet-like primer on a 3,500-year-old shard of pottery from an Egyptian tomb excavated 20 years ago. The earliest alphabets go back to the 19^th century BC.

The text on the ostracon or shard had not been understood in the 20 years since it was found in the tomb near Luxor until Dutch Egyptologist Ben Haring deciphered it this year, says a news release from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, which financed the research project. The tomb was of an Egyptian official named Senneferi, who lived during the reign of Pharaoh Tuthmose III.

The text that Dr. Haring deciphered is important in understanding the history of alphabets.The words in an English abecedary read like “As as in apple, B as in boy,” with an image of the item described. This Egyptian fragment, however, is in Halaḥam (HLḤM), which is different than Western alphabets.