Cuneiform Writing Summary Britannica

Cuneiform Writing Summary Britannica Cuneiform writing, system of writing employed in ancient times to write a number of languages of the middle east. the original and primary writing material for cuneiform texts was a damp clay tablet, into which the scribe would press a wedge shaped stroke with a reed stylus. a configuration of such impressions constituted a character, or sign. Archaeologists unearth tiny 3,500 year old clay tablet following an earthquake. cuneiform, system of writing used in the ancient middle east. the name, a coinage from latin and middle french roots meaning “wedge shaped,” has been the modern designation from the early 18th century onward. cuneiform was the most widespread and historically.

Cuneiform Definition History Facts Britannica The writing system takes the name cuneiform from the shape of the strokes that form the symbols (from latin cuneus, “wedge”). the next major stage in the evolution of sumerian writing was the adoption of the phonographic principle, the use of a sign to represent a common sound rather than a common meaning. for example, the graph. The drawings were made by pressing a stylus—probably a piece of reed with a three cornered end—into the clay. the impressions made by the stylus looked like wedges. the name cuneiform comes from a latin word meaning “wedge shaped.”. in early sumerian writing, simple pictures stood for words—for example, a picture of a sheep. Cuneiform law , body of laws revealed by documents written in cuneiform script (see cuneiform writing). it includes the laws of the sumerians, babylonians, assyrians, elamites, hurrians, kassites, and hittites. unlike modern legal codes, these ancient codes do not systematically treat all the rules applicable to a given area of law; rather. Writing scripts, alphabets, cuneiform: while spoken or signed language is a more or less universal human competence that has been characteristic of the species from the beginning and that is commonly acquired by human beings without systematic instruction, writing is a technology of relatively recent history that must be taught to each generation of children. historical accounts of the.